Thread: Why should we follow any laws ?

Under criticism that it was unfairly targeting undocumented immigrants, the Los Angeles Police Department on Friday announced changes to its rules for impounding cars of unlicensed drivers at sobriety checkpoints.

Previously, LAPD officers at such checkpoints followed stringent protocols that called for them to impound a car whenever the driver was found not to have a valid license, regardless of whether the driver had been drinking.

Those rules have drawn the ire of immigration advocacy groups that said they disproportionately targeted undocumented immigrants, who are not able to obtain licenses legally in nearly all U.S. states. Once a vehicle is impounded, law enforcement agencies often require it to remain locked up for at least a month and charge the owner hefty fees to release it.

The new LAPD guidelines soften the department's stance somewhat. Police will be required to make an attempt to contact the registered owner of the stopped vehicle. If the owner is a licensed driver and can respond to the checkpoint in "a reasonable period of time," the officers will release the car to him or her. If the owner is unlicensed, officers will permit another person who is a licensed driver to take the car.

If no one with a license is available, police will impound a vehicle. In any case, police will issue a citation to the unlicensed driver.

Police Chief Charlie Beck said that since he took over the department more than a year ago, the checkpoint policy had "stuck in my craw as one of the things we weren't doing the right way." Beck said he decided to make the change after immigration rights advocates raised the issue with him anew in meetings this week.

"I'm tired of casting the net so wide," he said. "This is the right thing to do. There is a fairness issue here … and we're trying to balance the needs of all segments of our community and keep the roads safe."

The new rules, Beck said, were an attempt to mitigate somewhat "the current reality, which is that for a vast number of people, who are a valuable asset to our community and who have very limited resources, their ability to live and work in L.A. is severely limited by their immigration status."

The change, which the department announced in a news release late Friday afternoon, is likely to anger groups that support strict enforcement of immigration laws. Efforts to contact representatives of several of those groups for comment were unsuccessful.

The issue of impounds has become a controversial topic in recent years. Police in the small cities of Bell and Maywood have been accused of systematically targeting undocumented immigrants when impounding cars in an effort to boost municipal revenues.

Ron Gochez, a member of the steering committee for the Southern California Immigration Coalition, expressed limited praise for the LAPD's change but questioned why the department needed to impound a car if the driver had not been drinking.

"It's a step in the right direction, but it still falls short of what we're asking for," he said. "We're not against checkpoints. We want checkpoints to happen, we want drunk drivers off our streets. We just don't want people to be losing their cars who aren't drunk."


http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me ... 0525.story

"We just don't want people to be losing their cars who aren't drunk."

Ok , So why should we , as law abiding , licensed and insured drivers bother getting or reknewing a license ?

Why do , or should illegals get a pass?

There is something seriously wrong here

The new LAPD guidelines soften the department's stance somewhat. Police will be required to make an attempt to contact the registered owner of the stopped vehicle. If the owner is a licensed driver and can respond to the checkpoint in "a reasonable period of time," the officers will release the car to him or her. If the owner is unlicensed, officers will permit another person who is a licensed driver to take the car.

So...we have illegal invaders driving around in cars not registered to them and without a license and the cops are going to do everything in their power not to impound the cars because "immigration advocacy groups" claim they are targeting "undocumented immigrants."

You know your state is lost to illegal invaders when the police department takes their marching orders from "immigration advocate groups" who are in the business of aiding and abetting criminal illegal invaders.

Illegal invaders have received protected class status here in CA.

If no one with a license is available, police will impound a vehicle. In any case, police will issue a citation to the unlicensed driver.

A citation they will never appear on! What a waste of time. Why don't we just give illegal invaders a special bumper sticker that says, driving while illegal, and leave it at that! Let them do whatever they want and do not pull them over because the laws do not apply to them anyway!

Yep, there is something wrong here in the USA. Too many sympathisers in high places of authority. They have the power that counts

When you have 60,000,000 illegal aliens here illegally, and the women are giving birth at an unbelievable rate, it is a dark situation.

The problem is, the powers that be would rather please the illegal aliens than please the citizens. Evidently they have calculated they will be better off in the end that way.

Well of course:

The new rules, Beck said, were an attempt to mitigate somewhat "the current reality, which is that for a vast number of people, who are a valuable asset to our community and who have very limited resources, their ability to live and work in L.A. is severely limited by their immigration status."


Valuable asset ? To WHOM? SURE as HELL NOT the community unless
you live in a third world corrupt.....lawless....cesspool.. OH... I get it.

Would not want to disturb you. Beck

Originally Posted by Justthefacts

"I'm tired of casting the net so wide," he said. "This is the right thing to do. There is a fairness issue here … and we're trying to balance the needs of all segments of our community and keep the roads safe."

"He obviously doesn't check his own county jail website (booked in last 48hrs.) He just gave illegals a license to kill!"

Sounds like a law suit waiting to happen.

The illegal is pulled over and checked. A licensed driver comes and gets the car, next day the illegal runs a stop sign and kills someone with the same car that was stopped by police the previous day,......Cha-ching, cha-ching!

All that is needed is an ambulance chaser. The new victim status places the liability on the police dept. Had they done their job this could be avoided.

Originally Posted by roundabout

Sounds like a law suit waiting to happen.

The illegal is pulled over and checked. A licensed driver comes and gets the car, next day the illegal runs a stop sign and kills someone with the same car that was stopped by police the previous day,......Cha-ching, cha-ching!

All that is needed is an ambulance chaser. The new victim status places the liability on the police dept. Had they done their job this could be avoided.

Thats exactly whats going to happen

Originally Posted by NoBueno

Illegal invaders have received protected class status here in CA.

"Everywhere NB! everywhere, here we have sec. communities and I swear they just stopped picking them up!"

So its ok for a citizen to just drive with no license , no insurance?

Since they don't enforce the law on illegals , why should I , or anyone else feel they have to follow the rules

Sounds like anarchy to me