City and police officials are scheduled to meet tomorrow to discuss concerns over a proposed program that would allow the city to immobilize the vehicles of owners who have more than three unpaid parking tickets.

The Honolulu Police Department has expressed concern about the proposal because it cannot access a state database that tracks the number of outstanding parking tickets on O'ahu, said city council member Charles K. Djou, who authored a resolution to explore adopting the program.

The police department also has asked if the measure would tax scarce resources and whether the cost of the program and the task of administering it would be added to their responsibilities, Djou said.

Honolulu police declined comment yesterday.

The measure is set to be discussed May 15 by the city council's public safety committee. Djou introduced the resolution on April 30 but it was not on the city council agenda yesterday.

Djou is working on an amendment to a resolution after consulting with police officials on Tuesday.

The amendment includes provisions to hire a third-party vendor that operates similar programs in Mainland cities.

An administrative fee would be included in the program, allowing it to pay for itself, Djou said.

"It would be something like the relationship between HPD and towing companies. HPD would still be the agency issuing the parking tickets but the actual administration of placing the boot on and taking it off and the management of it would be done by a third party. We're not re-inventing the wheel given that other major cities in the U.S. have something like this," he said. "This is definitely something I want to see implemented and this is the first step. It's the principle that if you're a law-abiding citizen and you're paying taxes, you shouldn't be sharing a taxpayer-financed road with someone who is not obeying the law."

Under the program, police would be allowed to place a metal "boot" on one wheel of a vehicle. The boot could be removed if the owner paid outstanding tickets plus a processing fee. Payment could be made by phone with a credit card or debit card.

The owner would be given a code to remove the boot and would have 24 hours to return it or the credit card would be charged an additional $500.

OTHER PROPOSALS

The council also considered two other proposals yesterday.

A proposed ban on liquor ads and posters within 500 feet of city parks to protect minors passed the first of three required readings.

Another bill that passed first reading yesterday would mandate the city to correct the spelling of Hawaiian words on all city signs. The measure states that many signs do not include the diacritical marks — 'okina and kahako — used in written Hawaiian.