The city of Chicago, Illinois is tapping the persuasive ability of former criminals to collect money from individuals who have not paid a parking ticket. The Department of Revenue project involves handing over the personal information of individuals with unpaid parking tickets to the Collectors Training Institute and North Lawndale Employment Network, a non-profit organization which provides jobs for former offenders.

Ex-cons will make repeated call to alleged offenders, but when an individual decides to pay up, the former criminals are instructed to transfer the call to a payment specialist and not write down the credit card information for their own use.

"Various law firms and collection agencies are doing this now," Chicago Revenue Director Bea Reyna-Hickey told the Chicago Sun-Times. "This will save the city money. Collection costs will be lower."

Mayor Richard Daley has also insisted that the former criminals be allowed to work in city government as part of an attempt to put ex-offenders back to work.