There’s a new cop walking the chalk on the downtown beat.

Parking stall hogs beware: there’s a new cop patrolling the curbside beat.

The Bainbridge Island Police Department hired a new parking enforcement officer to keep watch for evening and weekend violators.

“You should pay attention to parking rules 24-7,” said said Deputy Police Chief Mark Duncan. “But some people, maybe because it’s a small island, learn when they can park and violate the rules.”

Lately, it’s been fairly easy to park illegally without penalty after normal business hours and on weekends.

Nina Jackson, who will start her job on Monday, aims to make it a bit less so. Jackson was rehired this week after working for the department as a parking enforcement officer previously.

When she left almost a year ago, the department struggled to find a replacement, leaving the full-time enforcement officer, Ken Lundgren, to catch all the parking perps himself.

Weekends saw up to four times as many violations as when the department conducted regular patrols, Lundgren said.

“Twelve tickets a day is usual,” he said. But in recent months, an occasional weekend patrol would net about 50 violators.

“One weekend, we even had 94,” he said.

Jackson’s position is part-time, adding an additional 20 hours of enforcement to Lundgren’s 40.

Town & Country Market owner Larry Nakata said a boost in parking patrols is welcome, and long overdue. His business, with its expanse of customer spaces, is often used as a free parking lot for all of downtown.

“I’m all for better parking enforcement,” he said. “It’s helpful and it keeps good people doing good things.”

Lundgren said regular patrols help keep downtown commerce running smoothly.

“A number of businesses are open on the weekends, but when someone eliminates a parking spot for many hours, it prevents customers from using these businesses,” he said. “I know people would like free parking, but it’s a luxury we don’t have. (Winslow) is a destination for people who want to go to Seattle by ferry.

“We need enforcement if people are finding places where it’s not legal to park for extended periods.”

Such behavior will earn a citation, which Lundgren considers part of “the educational process” of letting drivers know the city’s parking rules.

Jackson will likely focus some of her efforts on trouble spots near the ferry terminal, along downtown streets and areas designated disabled parking.

The department had another parking enforcement boost early this year when it obtained a $15,000 ticketing device able to read and record license plates with the push of a button, shoot digital photos, and print tickets on the spot.

But the handheld device is useless unless it has hands to put it to use, police said.

Duncan said having Jackson on the job again will likely mean fewer drivers overstaying their welcome in downtown parking stalls.

He said that putting a new parking officer on the job doesn’t mean the department is trying to hit unsuspecting drivers with tickets.

Duncan said the department is working to give advance public notice of the strengthened enforcement.

“We’re not trying to ambush anybody,” he said. “We’re letting people know as a courtesy, but if you violate the law you might get a ticket.”