For Civilian Officer, Job’s Just the Ticket

Armed with a pen and blank parking tickets, Josie Hammonds roams the streets of Costa Mesa chalking tires and issuing citations.

Hammonds, 43, is a community service officer for the city of Costa Mesa, a civilian working for the Police Department in parking enforcement.

Other community service officers do technical or paralegal work and assist the Police Department staff with a variety of ongoing assignments.

Four days per week, 10 hours per day, Hammonds travels the roads of Costa Mesa assisting citizens and issuing parking tickets.

She had nearly eight years of experience as a volunteer for the Costa Mesa Police Department.

Before working traffic, she worked part time providing crisis intervention counseling and crime scene support to citizens in peril.

A wife and mother of three, Hammonds began volunteering shortly after her youngest son was born.

About three years ago, when her younger children--Alex, 11, and Michael, 13--became old enough to get involved in school activities, Hammonds began working as a paid employee of the department, and became full time last year.

She has an adult daughter, Angela, who is married and lives in Long Beach.

The chance to get outside was what attracted her to the position.

“I’m not confined to a small office, and I’m out there driving around and can help the people. The Police Department seemed like the place to be,” Hammond said.

But the position does have its drawbacks, the biggest being angry citizens.

And once when Hammond was issuing a citation, a barking and snapping dog chased her onto the hood of a car.

“I guess the dog just didn’t like uniforms,” she said.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

OCCUPATION: Parking Enforcement Officer

* What’s involved: Issuing parking citations and writing minor traffic reports. Directing traffic and impounding vehicles.

* Qualifications: High school diploma, experience working with police department and classes in law enforcement.

* Prospects: By 1998, the number of parking enforcement officers is expected to increase by 30% to 130 positions in Orange County.

* Salary range: The starting pay in Costa Mesa is $2,165 per month.

* Pros: Parking enforcement officers work outdoors, interact frequently with the public and assist citizens.

* Cons: People sometimes get upset when they receive a ticket and parking enforcement officers have to tolerate people’s anger.

* Quote: “People don’t like getting them. Sometimes they get nasty and I tell them to read the back of the ticket and request a hearing if they don’t think it’s fair.”

--Josie Hammonds

Researched by VALERIE WILLIAMS-SANCHEZ / Los Angeles Times