Municipalities that rely on chalking cars and sidewalks as part of their parking enforcement should change their practices after a recent ruling.

In Taylor v. City of Saginaw et al., the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit (Ohio) ruled on April 22 that Saginaw’s practice of chalking tires as a method of parking enforcement is a search under the fourth amendment and a trespass bearing no relation to public safety. As “the purpose of chalking is to raise revenue, and not to mitigate public hazard,” the practice represents an unconstitutional violation of the Fourth Amendment’s ban on unreasonable searches.

The court noted “[T]he City does not demonstrate, in law or logic, that the need to deter drivers from exceeding the time permitted for parking – before they have even done so – is sufficient to justify a warrantless search.”