WATERBURY, Conn. -- Waterbury police are on the prowl to find and punish citizens with looming debt.

Citizens with outstanding parking tickets or unpaid city taxes are going to get the boot -- on their cars, that is.

“I think it's perfectly legitimate,” said John Westcott, of Watertown.

Every day, a police officer cruises the city with a radar device mounted in his or her car. The device has a database filled with violators’ license plate numbers. When a violator is found, a boot is put on the car.

“I pay them,” said Waterbury resident Sophia Marsh. “I get them all the time and I pay them.”

The city said it’s done everything else it can to get people to take care of their debts, but it’s still a problem.

Now the tax collector said the town has no choice but to take efforts a step further. If a car gets booted, the tax collector said, all debts have to be paid before the boot gets removed. If the owner can't pay, the car gets towed.