Baltimore committee presses DOT for measurable parking‑enforcement goals as LPR pilot and Tiger team aim to cut backlogs
February 19, 2026 | Baltimore City, Baltimore County, Maryland
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Chair Ryan Dorsey convened the Land Use & Transportation Committee on Feb. 19, 2026, to follow up on parking enforcement, street lighting and community engagement. The Department of Transportation reported a pilot of license plate readers and a city‑led Tiger team to address an enforcement backlog while council members demanded measurable goals, timelines and data on response times.
Council President Zeke Cohen, in opening remarks, credited recent changes but said significant backlogs remain: "DOT restored 24 7 parking enforcement for the first time since the COVID 19 pandemic, and citations are up," he said, while also noting what he described as "around 8,000 open parking enforcement related 3 1 1 service requests" and a backlog of abandoned‑vehicle requests that he said exceeded 4,700. DOT presented a different but overlapping inventory figure, reporting roughly 7,400 parking complaint service requests with about 3,500 abandoned‑vehicle SRs.
DOT Director Veronica Macbeth said the agency has taken several operational steps: separating traffic enforcement officers and parking enforcement officers, launching a Tiger team with the mayor's Office of Performance/Innovation (OPI) to redesign dispatch and build in‑house technology, and piloting license plate readers for residential permit enforcement. "We will put license plate readers into regular operations and evaluate their potential for expanded use," Macbeth said during her presentation.
CityStat and OPI officials described the Tiger team’s three priorities: optimize dispatch processes, provide usable real‑time data for dynamic deployment of Traffic Enforcement Officers, and iterate field technology with frontline staff. CityStat said the Tiger team is active January through June and will test improvements in select areas before recommending how to scale them citywide.
Council members pressed DOT for specific, auditable goals. Chair Dorsey highlighted the need for a clearly stated service level—an example he raised was a 15‑minute response target for certain high‑priority 311 reports—and asked DOT to produce written goals. Director Macbeth and DOT staff committed to providing agency goals in roughly 60 days and said the Tiger team expects to deliver an iterative plan around late June to early July.
Lawmakers also asked for operational data to track whether increased citations reflect better responsiveness or mainly proactive enforcement. Council members requested a breakdown of citation sources (3‑1‑1 driven versus proactive enforcement) and responsiveness metrics for each 3‑1‑1 parking subcategory, including a near‑term report comparing one month before a recent enforcement pause (caused by a winter storm) with the following month.
On policy, CityStat said DOT is evaluating a targeted policy to expire long‑standing service requests after an agreed period because field checks showed over 90% of vehicles tied to longstanding tickets were no longer present. CityStat noted this would be done only after evidence‑based field verification.
Next steps: DOT agreed to share the Tiger team objectives and iterative deliverables after the team's Jan–June activation and to deliver agency parking enforcement goals within about 60 days. The committee also asked DOT for ongoing monthly citation and responsiveness data, and for a written breakdown distinguishing 3‑1‑1 generated citations from proactive ticketing.
The committee recessed after listing these deliverables and scheduling follow‑up for the Tiger team outputs.
Council President Zeke Cohen, in opening remarks, credited recent changes but said significant backlogs remain: "DOT restored 24 7 parking enforcement for the first time since the COVID 19 pandemic, and citations are up," he said, while also noting what he described as "around 8,000 open parking enforcement related 3 1 1 service requests" and a backlog of abandoned‑vehicle requests that he said exceeded 4,700. DOT presented a different but overlapping inventory figure, reporting roughly 7,400 parking complaint service requests with about 3,500 abandoned‑vehicle SRs.
DOT Director Veronica Macbeth said the agency has taken several operational steps: separating traffic enforcement officers and parking enforcement officers, launching a Tiger team with the mayor's Office of Performance/Innovation (OPI) to redesign dispatch and build in‑house technology, and piloting license plate readers for residential permit enforcement. "We will put license plate readers into regular operations and evaluate their potential for expanded use," Macbeth said during her presentation.
CityStat and OPI officials described the Tiger team’s three priorities: optimize dispatch processes, provide usable real‑time data for dynamic deployment of Traffic Enforcement Officers, and iterate field technology with frontline staff. CityStat said the Tiger team is active January through June and will test improvements in select areas before recommending how to scale them citywide.
Council members pressed DOT for specific, auditable goals. Chair Dorsey highlighted the need for a clearly stated service level—an example he raised was a 15‑minute response target for certain high‑priority 311 reports—and asked DOT to produce written goals. Director Macbeth and DOT staff committed to providing agency goals in roughly 60 days and said the Tiger team expects to deliver an iterative plan around late June to early July.
Lawmakers also asked for operational data to track whether increased citations reflect better responsiveness or mainly proactive enforcement. Council members requested a breakdown of citation sources (3‑1‑1 driven versus proactive enforcement) and responsiveness metrics for each 3‑1‑1 parking subcategory, including a near‑term report comparing one month before a recent enforcement pause (caused by a winter storm) with the following month.
On policy, CityStat said DOT is evaluating a targeted policy to expire long‑standing service requests after an agreed period because field checks showed over 90% of vehicles tied to longstanding tickets were no longer present. CityStat noted this would be done only after evidence‑based field verification.
Next steps: DOT agreed to share the Tiger team objectives and iterative deliverables after the team's Jan–June activation and to deliver agency parking enforcement goals within about 60 days. The committee also asked DOT for ongoing monthly citation and responsiveness data, and for a written breakdown distinguishing 3‑1‑1 generated citations from proactive ticketing.
The committee recessed after listing these deliverables and scheduling follow‑up for the Tiger team outputs.
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