Citizen Car Boot

Car boots make it hard to drive. Generally they are applied only by traffic officals. But what if you see a suspicious car? You wonder why it is parked where it is. What can you do? Wait and challenge the driver(s) when he or she emerges? Call the police - only to have the drivers leave in the interim? Fret and wring your hands? Not good solutions.

I propose the Citizen Boot. Concerned citizens would pay $100 to have such a boot, which they could carry in their trunk or keep in the house. The boot would be coded. On seeing a suspicious parked car, the citizen can apply the boot. On the boot is a number that the driver can call to summon the police and have the boot removed. The driver must explain to the police why he or she was in the neighborhood. If the police like the explanation and all is well, the driver is given $50 (of the $100) for compensation for lost time. The citizen receives a report from the police, and may pay another $100 to receive another boot.

If a given citizen is overzealous in applying boots, boot privileges will be revoked. If a driver trolls about in hopes of gaining a boot and the $50, that will be clear after 3 or 4 visits by the police to the same car.