Police Chief Brad Duncan has opened an investigation, after a photo of a London Police officer parked in a Accessibility spot outside of a fast food restaurant.
This has sparked outrage among the community, but Rosha Westelakin General Program Coordinator at the Independent Living Center says that it s not surprising.
“Handicapped parking spaces are always being taken by people who don’t hold permits and nobody really says anything about it.” Westelakin says ” the fact that this time it was a police officer, people think that they should know better and abide by the law”
Westelakin went on to point out that the real issue is that people don’t understand how essential those parking spots are for those who need the permit.
“In that five minutes you never know who’s going to show up. And for someone who has that as the only option available that will allow them to get out of their vehicle and get them to where they need to be, parking there can totally throw off their plans.”
Westelakin did commend the actions that the London Police have taken towards the issue. She says its important for them to make a statement.
Chief Brad Duncan has put out a public apology :
“The London Police Service acknowledges that a uniformed member parked a marked cruiser on a portion of a disabled parking space located at an off street business location on January 13, 2015. The matter has been investigated and the issue has been addressed internally with the member. The investigation revealed that the member did not intentionally park in the designated parking space; however, the photograph of the parked cruiser clearly illustrates that this occurred. As Chief of Police, I can reaffirm that unless members are engaged in police activities that involve emergent or exigent circumstances the use of handicapped parking spaces is prohibited. An internal memorandum has been circulated to this effect.”
This story is making headlines after two months ago a city hall vehicle was caught parking illegally in a handicapped parking space.
