BACKGROUND:
RANGERS AND PARKING PATROL OFFICERS
IN THE COMMUNITY

Vital Role in Our Community
Local government rangers and parking patrol officers fulfill many important roles in our community. For example, they help ensure fair and safe parking access and assist in easing traffic congestion. Rangers also take action in response to a variety of community enquiries  – ranging from concern about dangerous animals, illegal waste dumping, offensive pollutants, destruction of protected plant species and a variety of community health and safety issues.
 
Many roles currently performed by rangers and parking officers have been passed on to local government by the state government. Parking patrol is an example of one of these responsibilities which has become increasingly demanding, particularly in high use tourist areas or urban areas where there is high competition for parking space. This situation has become more problematic in recent years with the dramatic increase in the number of cars on the roads.
 
There is also a human rights component of the work performed by these officers.  For example, when you consider the work they do to ensure that people with a mobility disability are able to access designated parking spaces: they are actually helping to ensure fairer and more equitable access to services and facilities which able-bodied people take for granted.

Aggressive members of the public
Despite the valuable work performed by rangers and parking patrol officers, their role is often not understood by members of the public. Unfortunately there are also some aggressive people who take out their frustration on officers.

Incidents reported have ranged from officers being verbally abused, spat at, threatened, pushed and even more serious incidents. In North Sydney, a council worker was run down in 2005 whilst attempting to control parking outside a school.

In 2006 the USU asked members to complete incident reports and keep records of any violent incident at work. This process assisted the union in preparing a preliminary report. However, a more comprehensive survey was needed. For this reason an extensive survey was conducted between July and December 2008. The findings were published in the report Moving-on for Safety which was launched in July 2009. The report showed that 46.4% of officers experienced some form of physical assault. Over 50% of these experienced their last assault in the 3 months prior to the survey. For more details and list of recommendations for action, download the report.