Scanning license plates at El Camino College just got easier.

Through a purchase of $14,250 from Park Loyalty, the El Camino College Police Department will increase the effectiveness of parking citations with automated license plate readers.

“So it’s a lot faster… they can cover a lot more parking lots with the car,” Police Chief Matthew Vander Horck said.

These readers are high-speed cameras that get mounted on top of vehicles, scanning license plates as the vehicle drives by parked cars.

Two cameras to be mounted on a vehicle come with one purchased unit at Park Loyalty.

While the camera can be stacked on almost any vehicle, including a golf cart, ECCPD is placing the unit on an old Crown Victoria police vehicle donated from the Hawthorne Police Department.

But, in the future, they’re hoping to get Toyota Priuses instead or purchase additional camera units, explaining that it would help move the process along faster.

“We’re hoping to find funding maybe for the next fiscal year, or the one after that,”

Cerritos College already utilizes automated license plate readers in their parking enforcement duties, according to Chief Vander Horck.

The new parking tool is supposed to roll out late April or early May; ECCPD first has to register the new ownership of the car with the Department of Motor Vehicles.

Once the registration is confirmed, they can use the vehicle to mount the camera.

Parking Supervisor Mitchell Kekauoha describes common parking violations students make.

“Our main issue is students parking in staff [spaces],” Parking Supervisor Mitchell Kekauoha said, describing common parking violations students make.

According to Kekauoha, on average, around 275 individuals are cited for parking violations monthly.

Parking enforcement duties fall on cadets, who check parking in multiple lots all day.

Cadet Teresa Hurtado said that they try to ticket at least 30 cars a day.

“It’s just going to improve how our parking enforcement becomes…students will learn that they should not park in staff [parking lots],” Hurtado said.

ECCPD also has handheld license plate recognition devices that they purchased from Park Loyalty.

Parking fines are a minimum of $40, according to the ECC parking services website

“Traditionally, money from parking permits and from parking citations, a portion or all went to fund the police department…then in COVID, we stopped issuing permits, and we stopped sighting people,” Chief Vander Horck said.

Money from paid citations and permits can go towards funding the ECC police department and parking infrastructure.