The most thankless job. Period.

by Paula Bowker

Daily Lobo

In his three years as a parking enforcement officer for UNM, Mike Griego said he has been told off about 36 times. He said he was spit at once.

"I think it was someone who didn't like Parking and Transportation," he said. "It might have been someone I had given a ticket to. It might not have been. I give out a lot of tickets in one day."

On the average day, he gives out about 50 to 70 tickets per 11-hour shift.

Griego, the lead parking officer, said people who tell off officers usually want to know why they received a citation.

He said officers usually calm people down by explaining the reason the ticket was written and giving them information on how they can have it appealed or overturned.

Griego said he is diplomatic when he talks to people, and he usually doesn't have a problem with people who receive a citation from him. He said people take it personally when they are having a bad day, but he is just doing his job.

He said even he has to pay for parking on campus.

"There is the misconception that we get free parking," Griego said. "We pay just like everyone else. I have to park legally, and I pay quite a bit for my permit."

He said if a car owner shows up while he's writing the ticket and he or she hasn't received many tickets before, he will give a verbal warning without printing out a ticket.

"I look at all vehicles the same and try to be as fair as possible," Griego said.

If he has printed the ticket when the owner shows up, he can't change or cancel the ticket. Information from the citation is sent to the Parking and Transportation Services directly from his handheld computer.

That's when people get mad, Griego said.

"Sometimes you have people who are understanding," Griego said. "The majority of the people are."

He said the funniest ticket he gave out was to a person who had a black and white photocopy of a permit in his car and tried to pass it off as a real permit.

The most common citation is for parking without a permit, Griego said.

Griego said it is a myth that officers have a quota to fill.

He also said officers do not stand around waiting for meters to expire. They only issue citations if the meters are expired when they are patrolling.

"Most people assume we enjoy giving out all these tickets," he said. "It's not that we enjoy it, it's just what we need to do. Could you imagine what the campus would be like if there weren't officers? It would be chaos. There would be no parking."

He said the majority of tickets given early in the semester are warnings. Most warnings are given to vehicles in A lot by Johnson Center, because most people who park there are visitors.

Officers are designated to a zone and rotate zones every day. Eight officers are in charge of giving out citations for UNM.

Griego said people think UNM officers stop giving tickets around 5 p.m. or 6 p.m., confusing them with city officers. UNM parking officers stop giving out citations at 8 p.m.