''Parking Wars'' is an American

reality television Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring ordinary people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 1990s ...

series that aired on the A&E television network from 2008 to 2012. The program followed

parking enforcement officer A parking enforcement officer (PEO),United State ...

s as they engaged in ticketing, "

booting In computing, booting is the process of starting a computer as initiated via Computer hardware, hardware such as a physical button on the computer or by a software command. After it is switched on, a computer's central processing unit (CPU) h ...

towing Towing is coupling two or more objects together so that they may be pulled by a designated power source or sources. The towing source may be a motorized land vehicle, vessel, animal, or human, and the load being anything that can be pulled. ...

and releasing vehicles back to their owners, as part of their

parking violation A parking violation is the act of parking a motor vehicle in a restricted place or in an unauthorized manner. It is against the law virtually everywhere to park a vehicle in the middle of a highway or road; parking on one or both sides of a roa ...

enforcement duties. The show began airing on January 8, 2008. The 7th and final season premiered on October 6, 2012. The final episode was aired on December 22, 2012.

Series overview

Background

The series' original focus was on the employees of the

Philadelphia Parking Authority The Philadelphia Parking Authority (PPA) is an agency of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania that manages many parking operations for Philadelphia. The PPA was created by the Philadelphia City Council on January 11, 1950, for the purpose of cond ...

(PPA) and their daily work – ticketing, "booting" (via

wheel clamp A wheel clamp, also known as wheel boot, parking boot, or Denver boot, is a device that is designed to prevent motor vehicles from being moved. In its most common form, it consists of a clamp that surrounds a vehicle wheel, designed to preven ...

) and

vehicles, as well as dealing with issues that arise with vehicle owners when they try to retrieve their vehicles from the impound lots. The show also includes footage of vehicle owners interacting with

parking enforcement officer A parking enforcement officer (PEO),United State ...

s on the street when their vehicles are ticketed, booted or towed. Each episode consists of three segments, shown either in chronological order of a car entering the PPA violation system (ticket,

boot A boot is a type of footwear. Most boots mainly cover the foot and the ankle, while some also cover some part of the lower calf. Some boots extend up the leg, sometimes as far as the knee or even the hip. Most boots have a heel that is clearl ...

/tow, impound) or reverse chronological order. Booting a car usually requires the PPA employee to snap on a device, locking the mechanism of the front wheel so that it will not be able to move. Sometimes, attaching a boot to a car is difficult because of the size of the wheels. The procedure can often be unnerving because it is a race against time before the owner of the vehicle returns. Many of the booting segments feature the favorite team of Steve (better known by his last name, Garfield), a longtime PPA employee and self-professed "gadget geek", and his partner Sherry (who has "the fastest fingers on the Eastern Seaboard", according to her partner) as they travel on their assigned beats to track down vehicles with three tickets or more, all at least six months old, and "boot" them so that their owners cannot drive away until they pay the outstanding fines. One of the PPA tow truck drivers featured in the series, Martin, died shortly before the show's debut due to heart complications. The show's official page at aetv.com has a section dedicated to his memory.

Production

The first five seasons of ''Parking Wars'' were filmed on location in

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

. Beginning in the third season,

Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

's MPD (Municipal Parking Department) was added as a location as well, in addition to the PPA. Beginning in season 6, the parking enforcement unit of

Providence, Rhode Island Providence () is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Rhode Island, most populous city of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. The county seat of Providence County, Rhode Island, Providence County, it is o ...

, is featured. In season 6, the show added

Staten Island Staten Island ( ) is the southernmost of the boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Richmond County and situated at the southernmost point of New York (state), New York. The borough is separated from the ad ...

and

North Hempstead, New York North Hempstead (officially known as the Town of North Hempstead) is one of three towns in Nassau County, on Long Island, in New York, United States. The population was 237,639 at the time of the 2020 census. It is the 7th largest city or town ...

, and

Trenton, New Jersey Trenton is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of New Jersey and the county seat of Mercer County, New Jersey, Mercer County. It was the federal capital, capital of the United States from November 1 until D ...

, to its list of filming locations. The series was based on a 2001 documentary of the same name about the PPA, produced for A&E and Britain's Channel 5, about a day in the life of the PPA, from morning to late night, taped in April 2001. The documentary featured off-screen narration by Daniel Jenkins, as well as all elements of the PPA's operation – ticketing, booting, impounding, towing,

adjudication Adjudication is the legal process by which an arbiter or judge reviews evidence and argumentation, including legal reasoning set forth by opposing parties or litigants, to come to a decision which determines rights and obligations between th ...

and

auction An auction is usually a process of Trade, buying and selling Good (economics), goods or Service (economics), services by offering them up for Bidding, bids, taking bids, and then selling the item to the highest bidder or buying the item from th ...

ing. When the series debuted seven years later in 2008, the narrator was dropped in favor of the employees telling the stories themselves, each episode had three separate segments, and the adjudication and auctioning aspects were no longer featured (with towing only featured very occasionally). Some of the staffers that appeared in the documentary, such as boot crew member Steve Garfield, would later be seen in the series. When this documentary was rebroadcast after the start of the series, it was listed in television listings as "The Lost Pilot".Per A&E listings at zap2it.com.

References

Supplemental articles

New York Times: ''City Finds a Reality Show Hard to Watch'', June 22, 2009.

External links

* ttps://www.aetv.com/shows/parking-wars Official websitebr>Philadelphia Parking AuthorityDetroit Municipal Parking Department
*{{IMDb title, 1182156
A&E ''Parking Wars'' YouTube Playlist
A&E (TV network) original programming 2000s American reality television series 2008 American television series debuts 2010s American reality television series 2012 American television series endings Television shows set in Philadelphia Television shows set in Detroit Television shows set in Rhode Island Parking law American English-language television shows