On Thursday January 24, 2013 investigators from the California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) and Santa Rosa Junior College Police Department personnel conducted a Disabled Parking Placard Operation at Santa Rosa Junior College.
The purpose of this operation was to educate the public about the proper use, and reduce the misuse, of Disabled Parking Placards and Plates at Santa Rosa Junior College. Investigators made contact with drivers parking in Disabled Parking spaces on campus to verify that they were entitled to use the placards/plates that they were displaying. Those individuals parking in disabled parking spaces and found to be misusing the disabled parking placards/plates were issued criminal citations.
A total of seventeen subjects were contacted by investigators. Some were issued verbal warnings for vehicle code violations. Two citations were issued for Improper Use of Disabled Parking Placards and for being an unlicensed driver.
This joint operation between DMV and SRJC Police Department is intended to preserve the right and ability for those students and District employees who are legally entitled to use handicapped parking spaces the ability to do so. Those who fraudulently and illegally use the spaces are interfering with students’ ability to attend classes and employees to access their work areas.
It is a misdemeanor to illegally use a disabled person’s placard. It is also a criminal violation to allow someone else to use your disabled placard. Additional information, regarding the use of disabled persons’ placards, can be found on the DMV and SRJC Police websites. California DMV and Santa Rosa Junior College Police Department personnel will be conducting another Disabled Parking Placard Operation at Santa Rosa Junior College in the near future.
