Thread: CA: Off-road policy

Off-road policy

Police say it's an effort to make streets safer. Others say checkpoints, impounding cars to stop unlicensed drivers is discrimination.

By Elena Gaona and Hiram Soto
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITERS
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/nort ... check.html
September 2, 2007

When Jim Maher became Escondido's police chief last summer, he decided to increase the number of checkpoints his officers conduct to find people driving drunk or without a license.
Maher figured it was a simple policing move to reduce hit-and-run accidents. In addition, unlicensed drivers are taken off the road, and their cars are impounded for 30 days.


Officer Dave Zacchilli, reserve officer Tom Causey and Sgt. Geoff Galindo of the Escondido Police Department stopped drivers for proof of valid driver's licenses at a checkpoint in April.

The result: Hit-and-run accidents are down in Escondido, police say. There were 370 during the first half of 2006 compared with 281 for the same period this year.

But the impounding of vehicles at the checkpoints has led to a federal lawsuit filed in Los Angeles against the state, Escondido and other California counties and cities.

Critics of the checkpoints say the police are targeting illegal immigrants and Latinos, which Maher denies. Attorneys in the lawsuit allege that impounding the vehicles of all unlicensed drivers at checkpoints is unconstitutional. Attorneys say a vehicle should not be impounded if a licensed driver is in the vehicle or the vehicle can be parked safely.

Because of the lawsuit, Maher won't say why the department impounds vehicles of all unlicensed drivers. Lt. Bob Benton, a department spokesman, said the city impounds the vehicles for 30 days because that is what the law allows.

The reason for the checkpoints is also simple, Benton said.

“Studies show people who drive without a license are more likely to be in a traffic accident versus people with driver's licenses,â€

Is this the future of American justce: When you have become effective in your law enforcement and rounded up a large number of violators, they form a class-action lawsuit?

Hey in Mexico they drive without a valid license, they just pay a bribe to the Police chief. I am sure they want to do the same thing here, not allowing them to is "racist" against their culture.