Feature · Enforcement
Parking enforcement that checks the plate, not a guess
The night shift decides whether a guest parking program feels fair. GuestPark gives patrol a check instead of a guess, holds the cases that deserve a second look, and keeps a record of every action that will stand up when someone asks what happened.
The short answer
GuestPark gives courtesy patrol and towing partners a phone page, opened with a community PIN, that reads plates through the camera as the officer walks and checks each one against live guest passes, permits and banned plates. A near match to a registered plate is held for a second look, a grace period protects guests whose pass just ended, and every violation carries photos, GPS position and server time, chained so it cannot be quietly edited.
The walk
- Open patrol. The officer opens the community’s patrol page, enters the community PIN and their name. No account, no app store.
- Walk the lot. With the camera open, every plate that enters the frame is read and checked. The phone answers with one soft buzz for a registered guest and three for a problem, so the officer can keep eyes on the lot.
- Look closer when it matters. Tapping a result shows the pass, the apartment it belongs to and the time left, or why the plate needs attention.
- Record what you find. A violation is recorded with photos, the GPS position and the time, and stays in the community’s record.
Plates can always be typed too, for a car parked nose in against a wall or a plate the camera cannot see.
What patrol sees for a plate
| Result | What it means | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Guest | A live pass covers this plate, with the apartment and the time left | Nothing. Move on. |
| Permit | The office issued a longer permit for this vehicle | Nothing. Move on. |
| Within grace | A pass ended within the community’s grace period | Leave it. The guest may be on the way to the car. |
| Near match | A registered plate differs by one character or a look alike swap | Hold. Verify with the apartment or the office before any action. |
| Expired | A pass existed but ended before the grace period | Follow your written policy. Record before acting. |
| Banned | The office has banned this plate from guest parking | Follow your written policy. Record before acting. |
| No record | No pass or permit covers this plate | Follow your written policy. Record before acting. |
Near matches: why O and 0 never tow the wrong car
Plates mix characters that look alike. A camera, a tired resident or an officer with a flashlight can read O as 0, I as 1, S as 5, B as 8, Z as 2 or G as 6. GuestPark compares every plate both exactly and in a form where those look alike characters are treated as the same. When a plate is one character from a registered guest, or the same once look alikes are set aside, the result is a near match, and the car is held for a second look.
Readings also snap to plates that are registered tonight. If the camera reads KTW447I and KTW4471 has a live pass, patrol sees the guest, not a stranger.
The grace period
A pass that ended eight minutes ago almost always belongs to a guest saying goodbye at the door. The grace period, 15 minutes for a new community and set by the office, marks those cars as within grace instead of expired. It is a small rule that prevents the most avoidable tow there is.
Sealed evidence for every violation
When a violation is recorded, GuestPark keeps the photos privately, the GPS position with its accuracy, when the car was first seen and the server time of each step. Each record carries a fingerprint of the one before it, so the chain shows if anything was changed or removed afterwards. The office can export the full record for a resident, an owner, a towing company or an attorney.
This protects everyone involved. A resident can see exactly why their guest was flagged, the office can answer a dispute with facts, and the officer has proof of what they saw, when and where.
Access without accounts
Each community has one patrol PIN. Officers enter it with their name, which is attached to every check and violation they record. When patrol staff change, the office sets a new PIN in the console and every phone using the old one is signed out at once. A towing company that serves several communities uses the PIN for each.
Put the protocol in writing
Software makes good enforcement easier, but the decision to tow belongs to people following a written policy and the law. Check every plate, hold near matches, respect the grace period, try to reach the apartment, photograph before acting, and record who authorized each tow. In Florida, section 715.07 sets the conditions for towing from private property, and our Florida towing guide covers signs, notice and the towing company’s duties. For other states, ask your attorney.
If you run a towing or patrol company, see GuestPark for towing and patrol companies. If you manage the property, the property managers page shows the console side.
Questions
- Does patrol need a separate device or reader?
- No. Any recent phone with a camera and a browser works. The patrol page reads plates on the phone itself.
- What does patrol see about a guest?
- What a check needs: whether the plate is covered, by which apartment, and until when. Managing apartments, passcodes and rules stays in the leasing console.
- What happens when the PIN changes?
- Every officer using the old PIN is signed out and needs the new one. Changing the PIN is the way to remove access when staff change.
- Is GuestPark a towing company?
- No. GuestPark is the record and the check. Towing is done by your licensed towing partner under your state and local rules.
See it on your own layout.
Tell us about your buildings, visitor spaces and rules, and we will walk you through GuestPark set up the way your community would use it.