Cameras

 

By Paul Whetzel, CAPP

Hello Fellow IPMI Friends-

Here is a little background of Charleston County Parking Operations, our primary function is to provide support for the County Office Building and the County Courthouse located in downtown Charleston.  As many of you know, the City of Charleston is known for its history, proximity to beaches and many tourist attractions.  When you factor all of this in, parking is at a premium in downtown Charleston.

I have been employed with Charleston County for over 16 years and in my time our camera surveillance system has improved significantly.  The camera system plays a vital role in our daily operation at Charleston County.  Our staff utilize the cameras to proactively assist customers, verify customers disabled placards, equipment malfunctions, incidents etc.   An excellent example of our staff utilizing the cameras, a customer had a seizure in the elevator and one of our employees saw this on camera and immediately went to check on them and called 9-1-1.  This is just one instance of our staff assisting customers.

One of our biggest benefits of the cameras is recouping damages throughout garages.  Examples are broken gates, hit and runs, breaking and entering, and other criminal activity.  At the garages we have a very complex situation, Charleston County owns and operates garages within the City of Charleston.  This does create some confusion at times on what agency should respond to certain calls. It is extremely important for us to maintain a positive and proactive relationship with the local law enforcement jurisdiction.  The value of these relationships is tremendous not only for us, but for our customers!

Paul Whetzel, CAPP is the Parking Operations Manager for the County of Charleston, SC. Paul can be reached at PWhetzel@charlestoncounty.org.