Emory Transportation and Parking Services is in the process of implementing the use of License Plate Recognition (LPR) technology as an enforcement tool for parking on campus, and now requires all vehicles to park head-in so that the rear license plate is visible.

This technology replaces the manual hand-held process and now allows parking enforcement officers the ability to scan license plates while driving the rows of a parking deck or lot. 

With 16,000 parking spaces on Emory's campus, the ability to scan license plates to ensure cars are registered and permitted for their designated parking spaces creates an efficiency that has already been realized.

"Enforcement officers would have to scan close to 2,000 cars in a deck using a hand-held unit," says Lisa Underwood, associate vice president of parking, transportation and community service. "You can imagine this process took a long time; we weren't always able to get to every vehicle. But now [an enforcement] vehicle will drive through and a beep will happen only if the car is not registered or permitted for that space."

Underwood adds that there is nothing new about the parking enforcement other than the devices used to check license plates and the positioning of the parked cars (no more back-in or pull-through parking). Registration of all vehicles parked on campus, as well as parking only in assigned locations, continues to be the same.

"We've gotten great cooperation from our customers as we implement this new technology," adds Underwood.

To register your car with Emory Transportation and Parking Services go to transportation.emory.edu.