(credit: CBS)
From Investigates
DENVER (CBS4) – An incident last week has shaken Denver’s parking enforcement officers. Someone with a knife attacked one of the agent’s vehicles while giving out a ticket.
The officers are so nervous about the latest incident and others that most officers CBS4 spoke with were reluctant to speak on camera about the dangers they face.
It was last week when a parking enforcement employee was checking a car. Someone with a knife suddenly attacked the agent’s vehicle, slashing a tire as the agent watched on.
“She was able to get back in her car safely and call DPD, which is some place where we want to escalate that to when things like this happen,” said Dave Misner, a Denver parking enforcement agent.
No statistics are kept, but harassment of the agents is believed to be on the rise — verbal abuse, spitting, and even throwing coffee on them while doing their jobs. To deal with that, the special police officers are given training that includes role playing called “verbal judo.”
Harassment of parking enforcement agents is so common it’s even the subject of a television program on the A&E channel called “Parking Wars.”
Misner has been on the receiving end. His department insists it’s not a cash machine for the city and doesn’t have quotas.
“The agency has goals just like any other business,” Misner said. “It’s all pretty attainable and easy.”
In another incident that took place a week ago Friday a parking enforcement agent had to help a Denver police officer in a fight in which a motorist tried to get an officer’s gun.
