Chalking tires constitutes unreasonable search, 6th Circuit rules

Parking enforcement officers in Saginaw, Michigan, who use chalk to mark the tires of cars to track how long they have been parked are violating the constitution, a federal appeals court ruled Monday.

A three-judge panel of the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals at Cincinnati held that the practice of chalking violated plaintiff Alison Taylor’s right under the Fourth Amendment to be free from unreasonable searches.