Parking enforcement officers fired for giving driver break at the meter
By: Melissa Randall
@MRandallABC6
Two veteran parking enforcement officers have been fired by the city of Providence for giving a driver special treatment.
“It’s inappropriate. It’s wrong. There should be no exceptions,” said Steven Pare, Public Safety Commissioner for the city.
Pare says the men formed a casual relationship with a woman who was working at a coffee shop on Empire Street, and would routinely allow her to park without feeding the meter. An orange envelope would appear on her windshield, but it was always empty.
“They were just putting it on that windshield without a violation– giving that employee sort of a break,” explained Pare.
Police investigated after a tip by a concerned citizen. They looked into whether the parking enforcement officers received any compensation from the arrangement.
“I was concerned that there was some kind of kick back or some kind of scheme in which they were profiting either in meals or gifts or cash and there was no evidence of that,” said Pare.
Both the now former workers had more than 2 decades of service with the city. They are not being identified at this time as they are fighting their terminations and have filed a grievance.
“There’s no grey area. It’s either a violation or not, and when you start playing favoritism that’s the beginning of corruption,” said Pare.
We did reach out to local 1033. The union, which represents parking enforcement officers in the city, did not respond to our request for a comment.
© WLNE-TV 2015
