Officers and cadets at the El Camino College Police Department are now ticketing vehicles that do not have valid staff permits registered with the college’s new system.
Beginning Monday, Nov. 17, the ECC Police Department increased patrols in the staff parking lots, including Lots J and K, in response to rising complaints of students taking employee spaces.
These patrols come three months after the ECC implemented an online app, Honk Mobile, to sell and manage parking permits.
ECC Police Chief Matthew Vander Horck said that while Honk Mobile changes how permits are purchased and tracked, the biggest shift is the technology backing enforcement.
“The enforcement itself hasn’t changed,” Vander Horck said. “But the process is much easier now.”
Vander Horck expects enforcement to increase even further once ECCPD rolls out a vehicle-mounted scanning system in spring 2026.
“You just drive through the lot, and the cameras scan everything,” he said. “It’s going to make enforcement a lot more efficient.”
Before Honk, cadets had to walk through lots checking for physical hangtags.
They also had to verify the expiration date on each pass, a process Vander Horck described as “very time-consuming.”
Now cadets use Park Loyalty’s handheld license-plate recognition devices, which scan plates and instantly determine whether a vehicle is registered.
“If a car isn’t in the system, they write a citation,” Vander Horck said. “Instead of physically checking every mirror, the software does the work.”
Some faculty initially received warnings because they did not realize they needed to register their plates, despite having year-long permits.
The department issues warnings for nearly a month before writing citations, part of what Vander Horck called a deliberate grace period to let the campus adjust.
But the grace period also created problems.
“Students were parking in faculty spots longer than they should have been,” Vander Horck said.
Complaints increased as employees struggled to find parking, prompting ECCPD to begin actively enforcing staff lot restrictions.
English professor Christopher Glover said parking for staff became more challenging this semester.
The switch to Honk Mobile hasn’t caused him personal issues, but he believes the lack of visible permit stickers makes it harder to identify who belongs in staff areas.
“I’ve noticed more people who appear to be students parking in staff spaces,” Glover said.
Glover said the situation affects instruction.
“I know faculty who have been late to class or missed class because they couldn’t find parking,” he said.
Students, meanwhile, are still adjusting.
Psychology major Mariana Gomez, 21, said the system can be confusing.
“I heard something about parking permits, but navigating where to get one is difficult,” Gomez said.
