Is It Unconstitutional For Parking Enforcement To Chalk Your Tires?

If you keep getting nabbed by Parking Enforcement Officials with parking tickets, you'll definitely want to hear about this. According to NBC News, The U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati just ruled that it is unconstitutional for Parking Enforcement Officers to chalk tires on a vehicle!

A judge wrote:

The city commences its search on vehicles that are parked legally, without probable cause or even so much as individualized suspicion of wrongdoing, the touchstone of the reasonableness standard.

Meter maids often chalk tires to keep track of how long cars have been in parking spaces. If they come back to the area after the allotted time and see a vehicle with chalked tires still in the parking space, they'll issue a ticket. In Downtown Portland, there is a two hour limit on many of the spaces. In my experience as a Downtown Portland parker, I've noticed chalk on my tire a few times, but not very often. It remains to be seen if this ruling will have an impact on whether or not the City of Portland will continue this practice.