Ticket totals for illegal parking in disabled spots vary widely in Minnesota. Do the numbers lie?

Mai Thor, who contracted polio at 5, has used a wheelchair nearly her entire life. Now 48, she's seen people parking illegally in disabled spaces for nearly as long.

"Clearly, people don't even think about it. Or they see the signs, and they don't care," said the St. Paul resident. "Usually, people say, 'I'm just going to run in and out.' Like that's OK."

What makes Thor and others nearly as angry is that most disabled parking cheats seem to get away with it.

While state ticketing data collected by the Minnesota Star Tribune show a couple thousand Minnesotans are charged each year, the number of tickets for illegal parking in disabled spots vary widely across the state — from hundreds each year in Minneapolis and St. Paul to none in some suburbs and smaller towns.

Almost all of it, officials acknowledge, is likely undercounted.

"We take a fairly active approach," said Adam Jacobson, deputy chief of police in Coon Rapids, where a half dozen community service officers tag cars after receiving complaints. "But the numbers don't accurately portray what people are seeing."

In 2024, Coon Rapids issued 30 citations, up from 20 the year before. Jacobson said they could easily ticket more disabled parking cheats if they had the time.

"If we looked just for that, there would be plenty of work," he said. "Unfortunately, we don't have the resources."

According to data from the State Court Administrator's Office, police in 58 Minnesota counties issued at least one ticket for illegally parking in a disabled spot over the past five years. That means that no tickets were issued in Minnesota's other 29 counties.

Of the 35 counties that recorded 2,460 disability parking tickets last year, Hennepin County issued 1,748 and Ramsey County issued 282. Eleven counties tallied just one.

David Fenley, ADA director for the Minnesota Council on Disability, said he's frankly surprised it was that many.

"My sense is that [law enforcement] don't do it at all, but it sounds like some are issued," he said of a crime he suspects is mostly overlooked.

"Obviously, they don't enforce it where the number is zero," Fenley said. "It really is the most basic of rights for people with disabilities. But many don't report it because it doesn't get enforced and people have better things to do."

Roseville resident Linda Wolford, 62, uses a wheelchair and has her own van. She needs a driver now, though. Nearly every time she's out, Wolford said, she sees disabled parking violators who don't have a permit tag or license plate allowing them to park there.

It might seem a minor inconvenience, Wolford said, but having needed parking spots taken by illegal parkers can be dangerous. A few years ago, on a frigid Black Friday in a Wal-Mart parking lot, cars without permits forced her to park far away from the store and roll hundreds of feet across the parking lot to the store.

"And there was a police officer there. I went over to him and said, 'Do you see all these cars without disability tags? Could you give them some tickets?'" she said. "He said, 'Nah. I don't do that.'"

Numbers sometimes incomplete

There are some counties where the state ticket numbers don't add up.

In Rochester, with more than 120,000 people, police issued 33 tickets in 2022, 79 in 2023 and 57 in 2024, said Amanda Grayson, Rochester Police crime prevention and communications coordinator. But state records for Olmsted County show just four tickets issued during that time. Grayson said she doesn't why.

In central Minnesota, state data show just 13 tickets over the past five years in Stearns County. But St. Cloud police said they issued 77 to 134 tickets a year the last four years.

Allison Trimpe, who works in the department's Parking Violations office, said she suspects St. Cloud's tickets don't show up in Stearns County's totals because they're handled administratively and not criminally. Several messages left with the city attorney were not returned.

And in northern Minnesota, while state records show only two tickets in 2023 and three in 2024 issued for St. Louis County, Duluth Police handed out 200 tickets for those same years, said Mark Bauer, parking services manager. The reason for the discrepancy between the city and county was unclear.

"The item is high on our radar here in Duluth," Bauer said.

Lack of reported violations

Police insist enforcing disabled parking rules is a priority. And numbers would likely be much higher if more people reported suspected violations.

But Joseph Gerhard, deputy chief in Blaine, said ticket numbers can be affected by whether a department has dedicated parking enforcement officers. And it can be difficult to catch. Blaine issued 27 tickets in 2024 and nine in 2023.

"People can be in and out of those spots in just a few minutes," he said.

Ahmed Adow, director of parking management and traffic control for Minneapolis, said the city's 45 traffic control and parking agents both respond to complaints and proactively look for violators. Minneapolis issued between 336 and 829 tickets a year over the last five years.

"It's an emphasis on our end," Adow said, encouraging residents to call 311 if they suspect someone is illegally parked. "We have to make sure those spaces are always accessible to those who need them."

Jeremy Ellison is commander of the St. Paul Police Traffic and Pedestrian Safety Unit, which issued 185 tickets for illegally parking in a disability spot last year.

Ellison, whose wife has multiple sclerosis, said "it's a big deal" to him and his dozen parking enforcement officers. But, he said, he agrees that violations are likely not reported to the unit.

"I understand why people get frustrated. It's just not right," he said. We want those who need the access to have it. My hope would be that those low numbers mean low violations."