137% Increase in Middletown Parking Tickets

Middletown, NJ - If you think Middletown police have been handing out more parking tickets lately, well, you’re right. They are.

The number of parking tickets written by Middletown Township police increased a whopping 137% in the last six months of 2015 compared to the last six months of 2014, Patch has learned.

This is according to new data released by New Jersey’s court system, which compiles statistics for every municipal court in the state. The state keeps a record of all criminal court filings, as well as DWI, traffic and parking tickets, said Winnie Comfort, a spokeswoman for the New Jersey court system.

Middletown officials said the increased number of tickets is because the township hired a Special Law Enforcement Officer last year, specifically assigned to parking enforcement.

“The increase in parking enforcement is primarily due to a change in personnel, which involved the addition of a Special Law Enforcement Officer assigned to parking enforcement,” Cindy Herrschaft, public information officer for the township, told Patch Tuesday. ”Previously, the duties had been handled on a part-time basis by a civilian employee who had other primary duties.”

The township did not answer when asked if any areas of Middletown were being monitored in particular for parking violations.

Ticketing, DWIs up across the board in Middletown

888 parking tickets were written in Middletown from July through December of 2015 compared to just 375 tickets issued in July through December of 2014, according to the data.

The number of traffic tickets issued in those two time periods remains about the same: 5,679 in 2015 compared to 5,418 in 2014, a 5% increase. The number of DWI offenses, however, increased 24%: 109 DWI cases were brought to the town court in 2015, compared to 88 in 2014.

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