Twenty-three thousand drivers are on Lorna Brown's and Cheryl Williams' hit list.
Brown and Williams boot cars for a living. And if they had their way, they would boot everybody on the hit list -- every last one of you.
No car parked on a city street is safe from these keepers of the boot if the car has three or more tickets that are more than 30
days old.
Brown and Williams love their job, even though they have been called profane names and, in one instance, nearly run over as they booted an angry scofflaw's vehicle.
They cruised East Baltimore on a recent day, scouring the curbs for scofflaws, or "scoffs," as the two veteran parking control agents call them.
Brown drove and randomly called out license plate numbers at a rapid-fire pace, while Williams punched the numbers into a lap top computer that told her whether the car should be booted.
Their work was synchronized into a smooth rhythm as Brown called out the tag numbers phonetically in police style: "Young Zebra Edward 495, Zebra Boy Boy 866; Paul Victor Tom 046, William Paul Murray 123."
They averaged 10 license plates per minute.
Within five minutes, they found their first victim, a 20-year-old Chevy with dents and rust on the fenders, parked at the corner of East Monument Street and North Patterson Park Avenue.
The two women began installing a heavy, metal boot to the Chevy's front wheel. They worked quickly, hoping to finish their handiwork before the car's owner discovered them. Suddenly, they heard a man's voice.
"I already paid them tickets! I have someplace to go now!" the man yelled.
Williams radioed parking headquarters to double-check the car's status. She learned that the Chevy had five outstanding tickets, totaling $422 with penalties. The car's owner, Donald Harris, stormed off, but not until he removed his hubcaps and locked them in the car's trunk for safe keeping.
Satisfied that they had nailed a "scoff," the women locked the orange boot, preventing Harris from moving his car until the tickets and penalties are paid.
Outbursts like Harris' are common, and it is not unusual for booters to be assaulted by angry scofflaws, the women said.
"It's a dangerous job, but it's exciting to see their reactions," Brown said of the "scoffs" whose cars are booted.
Brown and Williams are often called unprintable names and once they had a close call when a guy tried to run over them. They were kneeling on the street, applying a boot to his car when he tried to drive off.
