If you're one to play the odds when it comes to parking, a mutual assistance agreement between the City of Oxford and Miami University may change your habits.
Miami University police aren't the only ones who can give tickets on campus. Regardless of being on university property, students can receive tickets from both the Oxford Police Department (OPD) and the Miami University Police Department (MUPD) for the same violation.
Even though there is no formal arrangement between the city and the university when it comes to enforcing parking violations, it still wouldn't stop OPD from issuing a ticket, MUPD Lt. Benjamin Spilman said.
The two departments have a mutual assistance agreement, which states each department will help the other patrol.
OPD Lt. Bob Holzworth said a majority of patrols on campus are looking for cars with unpaid parking tickets with the use of the city's automatic license plate reader. In particular, OPD looks for cars with two or more tickets that are older than 15 days or if fines reach their maximum.
Even though it's unlikely that students will receive tickets from both departments for the same violation, citations can be re-issued every three hours until the violation is fixed, according to Spilman.
"You want to say, ‘Wow, thanks,' but I can see the logic behind it," Miami University alumnus Michael Houser said. "I think you learn the lesson much more quickly."
Miami junior Alex Noyes sees the possibility of double tickets as more of a nuisance. After a ticket for not having a parking pass his first year, Noyes said he found it difficult to understand the fairness of the policy.
"It's not necessarily fair, but like taxes it's not a surprise," he said. "If it's an emergency and you don't know any better, it's hard."
While both departments stress paying tickets as soon as possible, Holzworth said students can petition citations if they feel they are unreasonable.
"We want people to feel like they've been treated fairly," he said.
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Stated in the provisions of the mutual assistance agreement between MUPD and OPD, both have enforcement authority on the following streets:
- Chestnut Street between Campus Avenue and Patterson Avenue
- Campus Avenue between Chestnut and
- High street.
- Sycamore Street from Tallawanda Street to Bouden Lane
- The entire length of Tallawanda Street
- State Route 73 from Patterson Avenue to the City of Oxford limits
- Spring Street from Campus Avenue to
- Patterson Avenue
- Patterson Avenue from campus limits north to the city's corporation limits
- High Street from Patterson Avenue to
- Campus Avenue
- Bonham Road from Sycamore Street and Tallawanda Street to university property limits
- The entire length of Oak Street
- The entire length of Maple Street
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