MUPD budgets for new parking system

This semester, the Miami University Police Department (MUPD) fully implemented a new parking pass system, called License Plate Recognition (LPR), which replaces physical parking passes with license plate scanning technology.

The technology costs approximately $34,000 for equipment on each individual MUPD-issued vehicle that utilizes this new system. Each vehicle is equipped with two two-camera imagers, a processing unit, a tablet with GPS systems, cellular and WiFi capabilities and a thermal printer.

The police department has purchased three vehicles to utilize this new technology.

MUPD has been budgeting for this purchase for the past two years.

“Because Parking and Transportation Services is an auxiliary enterprise, it is expected to generate its own revenue to cover expenses. Parking Services generates revenue through parking permit sales, parking garage and meter fees and parking fines,” MUPD Captain Ben Spilman said.

Spilman said that under this new technology, MUPD is employing the same amount of police officers and that the efficiency of the staff’s work is expected to improve with the investment of this new technology.

“Using LPR is far less labor intensive than visual enforcement, and it provides much greater information about the use and availability of parking resources on campus, allowing us to better plan for future needs,” Spilman said.

@haubenstrickerc

haubence@miamioh.edu