Evening star., 1961-05-03
Parking Meter
AidesCaIIed
No Economy
THE EVENING STAR
Y Washington, D. c.
Wednesday, Moy 3, 1861
By WILLIAM DUKE
Star Staff Writer

By WILLIAM DUKE
Star Staff Writer
The Districts economy ex-
pertinent with civilian parking
meter aides just hasn't worked
out as planned, according to
Deputy Police Chief William j.
Liverman.
Deputy Chief Liverman, ex-
panding on his testimony be-
fore a Senate District Sub
committee last week, said he
had no complaint about the
work of the 20 meter aides.
Their job just doesn't go
far enough" he said, land be-
cause of this, the plan doesn't
save us money"
The plan. started a year ago
as an economy measure, has
come under attack by the
House District Committee. A
motion to abolish the 20-man
corps was attached as rider
to a municipal tax bill by the
House Committee. No one
seems to know why the attack
on the parking aides was
handled in this way.
Aides Duties Restricted
Deputy Chief Liverman is
the official in charge Of the
corps. He also is in charge of
the police traffic division
with its 70 motorcycle police
men-the foremost critics of
the meter aides.
In teStifying before the Sem
ate Committee last week, Dep
uty Chief Liverman said the
meter aides were restricted in
their duties by law and re-
Stricted to the downtown area
because they had no trans
portation.
In an interview later, he
said he had no complaints
about the operation of the
meter aides, and had received
no major complaints against
them from citizens.
He said, however, he Just
doesn't feel the meter aide
plan is efficient or economical.
He explained that the aides
can ticket cars only for meter
and some other minor parking
violations. They have no power
of arrest.
Police Can Do More
"a policeman, doing the
same parking meter job, can
and does-do many things"
Deputy Chief Liverman said.
The fact that he is rowing
around traffic areas acts as a
deterrent to crime. These po-
licemen also make arrests of
all types of criminals, and be-
cause they're on the prowl
they are the first to discover
and help alleviate-traffic tie
ups and Snarls near fires"
Some observers feel arrest
records and economy aren't
the only things that spurred
the House District Committee
to attempt to abolish the aides.
They say motorcycle police
men like the meter duty, be-
cause they can work day
time hours steadily. and be-
cause they can continue to get
$500-a-year hazard pay for
riding the cycles.
At last weeks Senate hear
ing, Police Chief Robert v.
Murray said, Il have no strong
feelings one way or the other
about the use of parking meter
aides"
Later in the hearing, Com
mittee Chairman Bible said
the arguments being presented
against the aides were directly
contrary to arguments pre-
sented by the chief last year
in favor of the program. In
answering this, Chief Murray
told the committee the sug-
gestion to abolish the aide
corps was Deputy Chief Liver
mans, not his own.
Police Not Relieved
The idea in inaugurating the
corps in the first place was
to relieve 16 policemen for
more important duties. Dep
uty Chief Liverman said this
has not been possible. He said
he still has five motorcycle
policemen doing parking work
downtown, and three other Of
ficers following up violations
in Municipal Court.
1--WE need these men, be-
cause the aides can't give tick
cts for parking in front of
a driveway or double parking,
the chief said, land they can't
serve warrants for the court"
Deputy Chief Liverman said
he would like to see the corps
abolished and replaced with
the 16 motorcycle riding po-
licemen he had before the
change.
This wouldn't cost the Dis
trict any more money" he
said, land we could get a lot
more DONE"
He said the move would
bring his motorcycle corps UP
from its complement of 70 to
88, and would help relieve the
precincts from much parking
ticketing.
The meter aides make about
$4,000 a year. A motorcycle
policeman, with seniority and
with hazard pay, makes about
$6,5OO a year. Deputy Chief
Liverman said that if allowed
to abolish the nnr,,c hn ,,,o,,1a