Allyship and Equity Community

As we begin the New Year, I am focused on shifting our parking enforcement culture from that of punitive enforcement to compliance-based enforcement. Compliance-based enforcement shifts the question from "how do we penalize violations?" to "How do we help people comply with the rules?" Compliance-focused enforcement is an approach to parking enforcement that prioritizes education, access, and voluntary compliance over punishment, while still preserving fairness, safety, and accountability.

I value the "education first" over the "citation-first" philosophy specifically when the infraction is considered minor (expired permit, incorrect zone) because it does not impact safety. In addition, I recognize that most violations are unintentional, caused by confusion, poor signage or changing conditions, not blatant disregard. However, it is becoming increasingly more difficult to maintain consistency and fairness for habitual offenders who continue to accrue excessive penalties, often creating (easily avoidable) financial hardship. 

In the interest of maintaining equity, consistency, and transparency, I am curious how others are addressing this shift as it relates to habitual offenders. How do you prevent habitual offenders without extreme consequences; booting and/or towing, revoking parking privileges, withholding official transcripts or the ability to register for classes? 

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Gina L. Hurny, PhD, PTMP
Director, Parking Services
University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC)
Baltimore MD
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When I was working on college campuses, I often stated that we were "equal opportunity enforcers." We worked with people to educate as much as possible. However, the habitual offenders would continue to offend until they were held accountable. That seemed more true with those who believed that as long as they could afford to pay the fines, the rules did NOT apply. That lead to a lack of equity because those with lesser means had to comply because they could not afford not to. Thus, regardless of payment, if they were habitual, they faced immobilization and if that happened a second time, they were sent to Judicial Affairs facing a Code 1 for Failure to Comply because the parking regulations were in the Student Code of Conduct. Sometimes that office revoked students' parking privileges. I worked hard to push education first including giving "Warnings" for first offenses.

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Vanessa Cummings
CEO
Ms. V Consulting, LLC
Oxford OH
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Original Message:
Sent: 01-05-2026 12:06
From: Gina Hurny
Subject: Equity-Centered Enforcement

As we begin the New Year, I am focused on shifting our parking enforcement culture from that of punitive enforcement to compliance-based enforcement. Compliance-based enforcement shifts the question from "how do we penalize violations?" to "How do we help people comply with the rules?" Compliance-focused enforcement is an approach to parking enforcement that prioritizes education, access, and voluntary compliance over punishment, while still preserving fairness, safety, and accountability.

I value the "education first" over the "citation-first" philosophy specifically when the infraction is considered minor (expired permit, incorrect zone) because it does not impact safety. In addition, I recognize that most violations are unintentional, caused by confusion, poor signage or changing conditions, not blatant disregard. However, it is becoming increasingly more difficult to maintain consistency and fairness for habitual offenders who continue to accrue excessive penalties, often creating (easily avoidable) financial hardship. 

In the interest of maintaining equity, consistency, and transparency, I am curious how others are addressing this shift as it relates to habitual offenders. How do you prevent habitual offenders without extreme consequences; booting and/or towing, revoking parking privileges, withholding official transcripts or the ability to register for classes? 

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Gina L. Hurny, PhD, PTMP
Director, Parking Services
University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC)
Baltimore MD
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