Parking employees not subject to checks

Last month, the Oakland, California, City Council decided to merge the city's parking enforcement unit with the Oakland Police Department (OPD), OaklandNorth reports. The move is intended to let parking staff be trained on how to write tickets, submit accident reports and use the OPD's booting program, as well as save the city some money - approximately $74,000 per year. However, as part of the transfer, it was originally thought that city parking employees would be subject to more intensive background checks and credit reports because of the increased access to information they'll have. This did not sit well with councilwoman Rebecca Kaplan, who feared many long-term workers could lose their jobs as a result of the check. "I don't think it will be acceptable to get rid of long-term people based on a background check that was never a requirement before," Kaplan told the news source. "It's unprofessional and fundamentally unfair to tell someone who has done everything right to secure a career that he or she has to go and do something else - something different - than what we've already told them to do." The news source notes in a separate article that Kaplan recently got her wish, as city administrator Deanna Santana re-evaluated the policy and lifted the required background check process.