From being yelled and beeped at to being followed on the job, parking enforcement officers in Hull say abuse has become their “normal”. Now, it is hoped body-worn cameras will help tackle the problem.
I am walking a regular patrol route in the city with a female civil enforcement officer, but I cannot share her identity because of concerns for her safety.
“I’ll get random people trying to ask me out, even though I’m telling them to move,” she tells me.
She has grown used to people behaving inappropriately towards her and says it happens almost daily.
But sometimes situations can become more extreme. In one case, a woman “attempted to get in the vehicle that we were in and tried to follow us”, she recalls. “That was very stressful.”
Hull City Council’s parking enforcement officers have now been equipped with body-worn cameras following what the authority describes as a successful trial. It is hoped the technology will deter or capture aggressive behaviour.
“I’ve had someone ask my age and I was like, that is not appropriate,” the officer says.
“I didn’t have that on film, so I couldn’t really do anything about it, but this time we could if someone started to ask inappropriate questions.”