You can use the Parkade app's Patrol tab to monitor and take action in a variety of ways:

• Check if vehicles are parked without a reservation.

• Report unauthorized parking and other problems.

These tabs are available to accounts with admin access, so if you don't see them, check with your team or contact us at hello@parkade.com to update your account.

Parking at a busy lot can get hectic. But proactive enforcement by your on-site team or security vendor can be extremely helpful in a few ways: 

• Acting on unauthorized vehicles, which will reduce unauthorized parking in the future (and turn those unauthorized parkers into paying parkers — win-win!)

• Getting ahead of issues and avoiding someone finding an unauthorized vehicle in their spot.

• Recapturing money spent on enforcement and income lost from unauthorized parking.

• Acting on non-parking issues, like a resident leaving a door ajar or using their parking for storage.

To see a list of spots in your lot, see which vehicles are authorized to park in those spots, and make reports about any problems, tap on the Patrol tab.

The Patrol tab is designed to be simple, fast-loading, and to work offline, allowing you to easily check all spots in your lot or to report one-off issues.

First, you'll see a screen to select a lot. If you're a member of multiple lots, you'll see them all listed. Select the one you're patrolling.

You'll see one or two options, depending on the types of spots in that lot.

• Patrol assigned spots: This means the lot includes spots that have specific numbers. When someone has a reservation for an assigned spot, they should park only in the spot number they have reserved.

• Scan unassigned spots: This means the lot includes spots that have no number (or some spots may have numbers, but people are not able to reserve specific spots). When someone has a reservation for an unassigned spot, they can park in any spot designated for unassigned parking.

There's also a "Report a single problem" option. This is best for reporting something like a vehicle parked on a ramp or some other non-spot area.

After you tap Start Patrol, you'll see three tabs: Patrol, Verified, Reported.

• Patrol: Where you'll review spots and make reports.

• Verified: Will list spots you've marked as verified.

• Reported: Will list spots you've made reports for.

At the top you'll see a few options above the list of spots:

• Tap on the magnifying glass to search for a spot or a license plate. This is helpful if there is a specific spot or plate you want to look up, without reviewing all of the spots.

• The zones drop-down menu lets you limit the list of spots to just ones in a specific zone. The list always starts off with all zones selected.

• The vacant spots toggle lets you view only spots that do not have an active reservation in them at the time. It starts toggled on, so that only spots that should be vacant are listed (spots without reservations in them). Tap it to view all spots, which will include spots that are reserved.

The list of spots is organized by zone, and within each zone, spots are listed in numerical or alphabetical order.

As you verify or make reports for the spots, they'll disappear from the list.

Each line for a spot shows:

• The spot number/name.

• "Vacant" if the spot doesn't have a reservation. If the spot does have a reservation, this shows the license plates for vehicles registered to members authorized to park in the spot. The field will show a maximum of two license plates. If there are more, a button will show; tap the button to view all authorized plates.

• A Report button. Tap it to make a report about unauthorized parking or other problems with the spot.

To verify a spot, tap and hold on a spot, and swipe to the right. Verifying a spot will remove it from the Patrol list and add it to the Verified list, and means that there are no issues with the spot.

1. Tap the Report button.

2. Take a photo of the vehicle. Line up the guide that appears with the front or back of the vehicle, to ideally get the full vehicle, the license plate, and the spot number in the picture. The license plate is the most important to include.

3. As you aim at the vehicle and its license plate, the app will read the license plate and show what it's reading. Tap Take photo.

4. You'll see the photo you took, the plate number the app read, and other details.

5. If the license plate that's written is wrong, tap the Edit button to correct it. If no license plate was detected, you can enter it manually.

6. Underneath the license plate will be a message saying one of a few options: the vehicle is authorized in that spot, the vehicle is authorized in a different spot, or the vehicle is not authorized in the lot at all.

7. If you want to use a different photo, tap Retake photo. Once you're all set, tap Report.

8. The spot will disappear from the Patrol list and will show in the Reported list.

If your lot has unassigned spots (the spots are not labeled, and people with reservations can park in any open spot), the patrol process is a little different.

1. In the "Scan unassigned spots" section, tap "Start patrol."

2. If more than one zone in the lot has unassigned spots, you'll see a list of zones that have unassigned spots. Tap "Patrol" for a zone, and you'll see a summary screen. If only one zone has unassigned spots, you'll go right to the summary screen for the zone.

3. The summary screen will show the number of unassigned spots, instructions, and a map with the spots highlighted. (If we don't have dynamic maps enabled for your lot, you won't see a map.)

4. It will also have a "View authorized vehicles" option. Tap this to see a list of vehicles authorized to park in that unassigned spot zone.

5. To begin the patrol, tap "Scan plates."

6. The app will switch to license plate scanning mode. Use your phone camera to look at the license plate of any vehicle in the lot. The app will scan and read plates, displaying what it identified. You can tap Edit to edit the plate detected, in case it detected a character wrong.

7. An info box will appear saying if it's authorized or not.

   • Authorized in this zone: The vehicle is selected for an unassigned spot reservation in that zone.

   • Not authorized in this zone: The vehicle is selected for a reservation in the lot, but not a reservation in that specific zone.

   • Not authorized in this lot: The vehicle is not selected for any reservation in the lot.

8. If the vehicle is authorized, tap "Verify."

9. If you want to report the vehicle, tap "Take photo & report."

   1. Review the details.

   2. Add a note if needed.

   3. Tap "Submit report."

10. If the plate reader cannot detect a plate (or there is no plate on the front or back or the vehicle), tap "Plate not detected." This lets you take a photo, type in the plate, or indicate it has no plate at all, then report it.

11. If you need your flashlight on, tap the flashlight icon in the upper right.

12. When you're done, tap the back button and tap "Mark as patrolled."

As you patrol and verify or report vehicles, those will be listed in the Verified and Reported sections.

The Patrol tab can be used offline, with no internet connection.

If you have poor or no connection while reporting, reopen the Parkade app once you're out of the lot, and the reports you made should upload.

For best results, make sure you have background app refresh turned on for the Parkade app (you'll find this in your phone's settings).

A few different notifications happen after you submit a problem report:

• If we can identify the owner of the vehicle based on the license plate in the report, we will send them an email notifying them about the issue with their vehicle.

• If someone has the spot reserved at the time of the report, we will send them an email about the report. This is helpful for notifying someone that an unregistered vehicle is in their spot, so that if the vehicle does belong to them, they'll add it to their account.

• We'll send a copy of the report to any admins on your lot's account.

• The Parkade team will be notified about the report.

Based on our enforcement agreement, we can take enforcement actions such as issuing penalty fees or towing. In general, Parkade will take it from here.