The Copper Coast Council has implemented the Aero Ranger smart parking monitoring technology. This decision has provoked an encouraging and energetic discussion among the local residents and business owners. Deployed in July, this technology utilizes number plate recognition to enforce parking rules in the council’s three population centres: Kadina, Moonta, and Wallaroo. With this action, the council’s goal is to establish a more equitable and effective approach to compliance. Thus far, criticism has been aimed at its effects on the community.
Following the successful 12-month trial, Aero Ranger was adopted. Fast forward to today, and over 60 councils from across Australia and New Zealand are actively using it. This system allows councils to identify genuine mistakes, such as forgetting to display a ticket or returning to a vehicle shortly after the scheduled time. Rather, the intention is to encourage more leniency to be exercised and more consideration to be given to equitable and fair enforcement.
Community Pushback
Local business owner Brad Galloway has been vocal in his opposition to the Aero Ranger system, labelling it as a method of “revenue raising.” He argues that parking compliance was not an urgent issue, claiming, “You would like to think the council had better things to spend their money on than solicitors’ letters defending … their staff, because of a system that has got a lot of negative kickback from the community.”
In response to Galloway’s criticisms, the Copper Coast Council wrote a letter defending their actions. In her ruling, they wrote that his language was “harassing,” “offensive” and could even be considered defamatory. Following initial action taken against the harassment, the council threatened that further harassment would be referred to South Australia Police. A spokesperson clarified the council’s position, stating, “Whilst [the council] encourages interaction and appropriate public discourse … it will not tolerate abusive and harassing communications.”
Galloway disputed the purported benefits of Aero Ranger. To counter this, he argued that parking is readily available most of the time, except for holidays. His worries are indicative of a deeper tension in the community about the council’s priorities and direction on parking enforcement.
Council’s Justification for Implementation
John Colebrook, managing director of Aero Ranger, explained his defense as to why such a system works. He claimed that councils adopting it are realizing a more fair and balanced approach to compliance. He noted that a human officer vets every possible violation flagged by the system. This collaborative, iterative process produces a much more fair, contextual, and accurate portrayal.
The Copper Coast Council – which developed Aero Ranger – came to that idea after getting a drumbeat of requests from local businesses to take parking compliance up a notch. The council was hopeful that this technology would improve enforcement effectiveness and efficiency while providing leniency for true cases of forgetfulness.
A spokesperson from the council noted, “Every potential infringement detected by the system is reviewed and confirmed by a human officer to ensure fairness, context, and accuracy.” This assurance is intended to address concerns about automated enforcement technologies that they can lead to unfair fines and penalties.
The Future of Parking Enforcement
As the debate goes on, the council is feeling heat from both critics and advocates of the Aero Ranger system. Critics such as Galloway highlight the need for a more community-oriented approach to parking management. Advocates argue that there are benefits in deploying a systematic enforcement tool that makes it possible to identify genuine infractions.
