Police boots having an impact

(Photo: media.wtvh.com/images/wtvh-boot.jpg)
This is the way the yellow boot is placed on a car,
immobilizing the car

The Syracuse police department says it has discovered a very effective method to make people pay their parking fines.

For the past six months, police have been placing a yellow boot on the rear tire of cars that have at least three unpaid parking tickets for more than 90 days. The boot is locked onto the tire and immobilizes the car. The boot is removed only after the parking fines are paid off.

"There have been a lot of people, just knowing we're out there, that have paid," Sergeant Nicholas Kleist, the head of the yellow boot

program, said. "There's also been, we see, compliance [the extent to which people are following the parking laws] in the parking in the street."

The boot is locked onto the tire using a key code. After the owner of the car pays of his or her fines they can call the company that makes the boots, Paylock, and ask it for the key code to unlock the latch.

For further information about the yellow boot program, please contact the Traffic Division of the Syracuse Police Department.