Every day there are a large number of parking citations given to students by Skyline’s Public Safety Department. Many different types of citations are given out, but the ticket that is issued most often is to students who illegally park in one of the disabled lots. When students are first presented with their ticket, there may be many mixed emotions towards the citation—none being anything beneficial towards that person or the Skyline campus.

Many people believe that the issuances of parking tickets do not stem from concerns for the safety of our campus, but instead the motive has been said to involve a greater demand for money. Students are entitled to their own opinion, but that should not conceal the fact that there are valid reasons citations are given out on a daily basis.

One of the biggest advantages to issuing citations is the insurance of student safety on campus. Skyline College Chief of Public Safety Brain Tupper believes heavily in the system he helps to enforce.

“The citation process is currently in great shape,” Tupper said. “It helps the people be honest in following the parking rules and regulations. It has safety levels built within to deal with any problem that may arise.

While many people seem to believe that the safety officials on campus write citations to meet quotas or that somehow money from the tickets benefits the pockets of security officials, it is actually the students who see the money first.  The public safety department on Skyline campus is actually the last department to indulge in the benefits of parking ticket regulation.

“The majority of the fines from the citation goes into the San Mateo County Community College Districts general fund,” Tupper said. “From there, it is distributed into different district budgets. The district benefits as a whole from public safety support spread out to all the district colleges—parking upgrades, public safety improvements, and anywhere else the money could be spread.”

Many people may wonder exactly how many tickets are given out on a daily basis. The answer is that more tickets are given out at the beginning of the semester than towards the end of the semester. It is the job of the Skyline safety officials to enforce their right to cite any car that is illegally parked or is not in compliance with parking lot regulations. Skyline College Public Safety Sergeant Jon Holloway has witnessed first-hand exactly how many tickets are given out on a daily basis.

“In the beginning of the semester before people purchase their parking permits, we issue about 25 parking tickets daily,” Holloway said. “Towards the end of the semester we average around four or five.”

The issue is not about how many tickets are given out, but exactly why students are being cited. In this case, the benefits outweigh the negative aspects—after all, it is still in students’ best interests to follow campus rules and regulations.

“Without regulation, people would just park anywhere,” Holloway said. “Parking regulations stop traffic flow and random parking, essentially alleviating traffic flow.”

Students should understand that parking citations are only used in order to keep parking and safety fair for all people on campus. Without any control of the parking flow, it would make it a lot harder for people to leave and enter campus at their own disposal. Security guards on campus are very beneficial because they keep a constant and sharp vision on student’s safety by regulating parking.

While officers maintain an order by using citations, many students try their best to understand why there would even be tickets given on a college campus. Many students believe that there shouldn’t be any form of regulation on campus, largely because in essence the students are coming here to learn, not to serve an injustice through parking. But, if there weren’t any parking regulations there would be complete chaos in all of the student parking lots and without any control from public safety officials.

Some students do understand that issuing parking tickets also benefit the campus. Skyline student Sthiv Valencia was on the fence at first about tickets on campus.

“I don’t feel that tickets do anything for the campus besides give the security department more money and more trouble for the students,” Valencia said.

But after being put in a situation where traffic was actually being affected, it was easy to see that the security officials were really there to help.

“I was stuck behind a car for a few minutes,” Valencia said. “I guess he was waiting to pick someone up—all of a sudden a security guard came up, wrote him a ticket, and the car in front of me finally gave me enough space to pass. Then I realized that if it was not for the officer doing his job, I would have been stuck.”

It is safe to say that although nobody likes to pay a parking ticket on campus, the price we end up paying pales in comparison to the overall benefits of campus safety. As long as Skyline security officials are maintaining their job duties and the campus maintains a steady economic flow from the regulation of parking, we will all benefit in the long run.