LAPD Commission Rubber Stamps Illegal Alien-Friendly Impound Policy
Also taking part in this charade is Los Angeles City Attorney Carmen Trutanich, whose office issued a nine-page letter to explain why the proposed change is lawful, this despite an opinion from the California Legislative Counsel Bureau stating that it isn’t. Making matters more interesting is the fact that Trutanich is running to succeed Steve Cooley as L.A. County district attorney. Cooley, who will retire rather than seek re-election, has reached the opposite conclusion from that reached by Trutanich, and managed to spell out the statutory and case-law reasons for that conclusion in a mere two pages. (Click here to read in PDF form.)
And it gets even more interesting. On the very day of the commission’s vote, in which the majority relied heavily on Trutanich’s legal advice, Trutanich received the endorsement of the L.A. County Federation of Labor, whose members and leadership have been vocal in support of the rights of illegal immigrants. The timing could not be more suspicious.
And, as if more were needed, there is even more evidence that the new impound policy is not, as its proponents have claimed, aimed at enhancing public safety but rather intended to ease whatever burdens might remain on illegal immigrants in Los Angeles. One reason for the change is the financial burden placed on illegal immigrants whose cars are impounded for 30 days. The associated storage fees can accrue to the point that many illegal immigrants are unable to pay to have their cars released, resulting in the loss of those cars through lien sales.
Responding to this, Commissioner Skobin pointed out that the money recouped by the impound garages through these lien sales averages out at about half of the fees they are owed. With this in mind, Skobin proposed an alternative in which the fees be cut in half, thereby allowing the spirit of the law to be observed while lessening the financial cost on those affected. Skobin may as well have been talking to an empty room. His suggestion was ignored by his fellow commissioners as they congratulated themselves for their compassion and fairness before voting in favor of Beck’s proposal.
Perhaps the most unctuous (though it’s a close call) was commission Vice President John Mack, who said, “While it may not be fashionable to some, [officers should] show some compassion. We’re talking about human beings. . . . Some of the comments suggest that only unlicensed drivers are the ones who are involved in accidents. I would suggest that that’s not the factual case.”
And no one would be foolish enough to say it was. What Mack would know if he had been listening to the debate is that 20 percent of drivers involved in fatal traffic collisions are unlicensed. If anything, it would seem that he and the other three commissioners who voted in favor of the change found it more “fashionable” to overlook such inconvenient statistics for the sake of furthering what is clearly a political goal. But in showing compassion for unlicensed drivers they have chosen to deny it to those who will become their victims.
And what will happen when, as will surely occur, one of the beneficiaries of all this compassion kills someone with a car he might otherwise not have been driving? We’re not even supposed to ask such questions, but don’t expect any apologies.
If I’m ever given a ticket for anything in LA, I’m going to argue selective enforcement and discrimation.
Please do. This will tie up our internal affairs department so much the chief will have to rethink his policy.
Don’t expect any apologies? How about a lawsuit against the City?
My thought, too — the next time some drunken Mexican with a prior record t-bones another driver, can that driver sue (1) LAPD as a whole, (2) Chief Beck personally, (3) this LAPD Commission, and (4) Mayor Villairagosa personally?
Question the Second: why on earth am I still paying for car insurance when the reality on the ground is that nothing will happen if I do *not* have insurance?
IF YOUR WHITE, YOU CAN’T SUE
now now.. white people are only good for paying taxes to make sure the minorities are comfortable.
Ssshhhh! You spoken the unspeakable! That white people are actually slaves to the minority and slothful culture that lives off their labor.
I suppose your argument that this will allow a fatal accident to occur that would not normally have occurred by impounding an unlicensed driver’s car is apparently rebutted by management’s argument that the unlicensed driver is going to get another car and drive anyway and kill another licensed driver in two out of ten fatal “accidents.” Sure does seem to crimp the whole concept of what an accident is though, you know? I guess accidents are just business as usual. Curious, but the management certainly hasn’t been as cavalier when it comes to issuing concealed weapons permits.
Jack, what bothers me in all this is the total turn-around in less than four decades between NY and LA PD’s. LA formerly had character and integrity and in NY anything went. Now it’s the other way around.
I was in an outlying agency that respected – yes, that’s correct, respected your department. Now I feel only sadness and regret at how far the once mighty have fallen. Bumper Morgan must be rotating. I can only hope your retirement will be more personally fulfilling and rewarding. You’ve earned it.
Sorry to bust your bubble Bill, but LAPD was corrupt and routinely violated citizens’ rights 40 years ago too….
If a computer check indicates that a driver has insurance, that consitutes prima facie evidence that such insurance exists and it becomes the officer’s duty to prove otherwise. Assuming that the Secretary of State’s records indicate the name of the insurance company and the policy number, a simple phone call by the officer to the insurance company can confirm or deny the currency of the insurance policy. To impound a car when the prima facie evidemce indicates that no law has been broken is a violation of the “reasonable search and seizure” demands of the Bill of Rights.
Since when do local cops have the power to abrogate the United States Constitution? This has both reasonable elements and “contempt of cop” elements and needs revision. The potential for abuse is much too great to accept as it is.
You’re assuming too much. In CA there is no “computer check” for insurance. Each driver must carry “proof of insurance”. The discretion comes in defining “proof”.
You are exactly right, Bill. There is no universal system with which to verify a person’s insurance coverage.
I am about to the point that, should I be pulled over, I just may refuse to present any identification at all. If illegals don’t have to have photo id (how will they vote if they have to have proof of citizenship?), don’t have to have verifiable proof of insurance, and don’t have to be law abiding American citizens, then why on earth should I? I’m not even sure I want to continue paying my taxes! I get nothing out of the federal taxes I pay! When are we AMERICAN CITIZENS going to start getting mad and demanding that WE are treated with as much respect as our illegal counterparts?
In addition to the 20% fatality statistic, many auto-pedestrian injuries and non-fatal crashes are caused by these people, as well.
Hardly a week goes by that our local paper doesn’t have a story about a local American family injured or killed by an illegal with no insurance. We’ve had an entire family, 3 generations in one car, killed by a drunk uninsured illegal, who sneaked out of the hospital after being treated for his injuries, never to be seen again. We are Rome, and the barbarians are inside the gates. Obama putts.
Sad story. Unfortunately most local law enforcement, most everywhere, has become a complete joke. Seems that nowdays everything is either overcriminalized–or unenforced. I don’t know when or how the answer will come.
Well, wait for that first wrongful death and I’m sure plenty of ambulance-chasing attorneys will approach the victim’s family with the idea that the Chief, Commission, and City Council should all be sued for wrongful death.
Once the city has had to pay out a few 10s of millions in claims, the city fathers may demand that the policy be reversed.
I used to live in mid-TN, which is another illegal alien haven. Unlicensed and uninsured drivers were involved in most of the fatal accidents in the area. They’d run off uninjured, never to be seen again, while leaving the dead and maimed in their wake. When are we going to wake up? America is being invaded, and our government is standing by and letting it happen.
born in Bedford county, have not been back to Tenn since I was 12. Here in the mile HI city “running” is now considered a legitimate form of Car ins. for illegals. Also, we have blanket policy of charging illegals with “illegal trespass”, and turning them loose. Seems we have havens from the Smokeys to the Rockies and coast to coast.
Jack–
I have my own personal Matricula Consular. It’s as phony as Obama. I got
it for forty bucks at a shop near MacArthur Park. I use it when I’m with
Liberals who say that it is a valid ID card.
My guess is that there are Muslim terrorists who have them also. Mohammed
Hassan bin Aroun has his name on the card as Jorge Gonzales.
I’m not even Mexican.
I don’t agree. Either a person has committed a crime and needs judicial punishment or a fine or he does not. The concept of the police get to impound the car and maybe auction it off and keep the money if its worth 500 dollars or 50 000 dollars just seems ripe for chicanery. Plus its not the cops car its the defendents.
Errr. Possibly you misunderstand. “Cops” don’t get impounded cars. Their agencies get “seized” cars for certain narco cases, but that’s not what this is about. Here, an unlicensed, suspended or revoked driver is stopped and cited and the car turns out to be unlicensed or unregistered, and probably uninsured. If the record shows this is a repeat offense are you saying it’s best to cite the driver and let him/her drive off in the hopes some day in the future all that will be self-corrected? That seems naive.
What most agencies do in these cases is cite and release the driver at the scene, unless a warrant is in place, and impound the car and have it towed by a private company to a storage yard. This establishes a “mechanics lien” process in favor of the tow company for the cost of towing and for a cumulative daily storage fee. Once the car’s owner has satisfied the impound requirements a written “release” is issued which the owner takes to the tow company yard and pays the towage and storage fees – thus satisfying the lien – and the car is then released to be driven or towed away. It’s expensive, but it places the burden of paying on the car owner, not the public, where IMO it rightly belongs.
If the car is not released, or if the lien fee is too expensive for the car’s owner to pay, the tow company follows a lengthy process of satisfying the lien at auction to recover their money. What usually happens is no one shows up at the auctions and the title goes over to the tow company, which then sells or junks the vehicle. recovering only pennies on the dollar for their services. In no case does the money from the car go to the cops. A tiny bit might go to the city involved in the way of license fees, etc., but not on a per car basis. Ergo, there’s no financial benefit for a cop to have a car towed – unless there’s a private arrangement with a tow company, of course. Not unheard of, but most agencies keep multitudes of tow companies on rotation so the cop never knows which tow will be called and that mostly inhibits the “reward” or “finders fee” element.
Dear John,
Police departments all over the country have been impounding cars for decades. Where have you been? This is the first time I have ever heard of a commission coming up with a “legitimate” reason NOT to impound thus not taking in more revenue for the city.
Also, I find it funny that in Dallas, they passed an ordinance stating that if you do not have proof of financial responsibility (insurance) ON you, they will impound your car on the spot! Needless to say, instead of ignoring the situation they’re throwing the book at it! I’m guessing they’re sick of it! One more reason I love Texas!!
I knew a lady who was very stupid and had her car impounded because her boyfriend left pot in the car. After suitable payment to attorneys she sued and got her car back. What the eff. So in this case she at first lost her car in lieu of conviction fro drugs, ok maybe, then an attorney got her off because a reasonable argument could be made or something.
So it was either someone salivating to re sell the auctioned off car or an attorney but someone was going to make money off that deal and it wasn’t going to be the tax payers.
This is why I would prefer that the government not get in the business of seizing property if it doesn’t have to.
SOME YEARS AGO I HEARD THAT YOU WERE GOING TO RETIRE TO NORTH CAROLINA. AWHILE BACK I ASKED MIKE WHAT THE HOLD UP WAS IN RETIRING, HE SAID “INERTIA”. HAS A DATE BEEN SET?
SO GLAD TO BE RETIRED IN OREGON AND OUT OF THAT MESS IN CALIFORNIA. W.
When I lived in cali, they stopped requiring proof of insurance unless you were involved in an accident. That was in 1996, so I highly doubt that proof of insurance is required.
After that they began requiring proof when renewing annual registration.
I guess this explains why people in California love lawsuits so much! You can’t sue the broke, missing,illegal so let’s sue anyone and everyone who may have contributed even the slightest bit. Very, very sad.
Obama putts? Or, did you mean Obama is a putz?
I believe he is referring to golf !
Sad to see that common sense and clear thinking have all but vanished from the City of Los Angeles. Political Correctness will be the demise of this once great city.
Let’s clear up the insurance certificate thing. In CA, insurance companies must notify the DMV electronically that a vehicle has insurance. If that insurance is cancelled or revoked by the owner or insurance company, the DMV will be notified electronically. That means the DMV will send the owner a notice indicating that his vehicle registration will be suspended within 45 days of the notice, if proof of insurance is not sent. There are many cars being driven out there where the registration is suspended due to no insurance. An officer will know that when he runs a license plate and the DMV return shows the registration is suspended. That car is then able to be stopped for having a suspended registration.
Still, this in no way excuses Chief Beck and the Police Commission making illegal aliens a “protected class” and throwing law-abiding people to the gutter.
Payback will be a bitch.
“One reason for the change is the financial burden placed on illegal immigrants whose cars are impounded for 30 days.”
Funny, the illegal immigrant suspect on a case I am working on had no trouble making $300,000, YES $300k, bail the other day. Guess Beck didn’t look at those statistics.
Chief Beck..i believe in Karma…”goes around and comes around….hope your next traffic accident is with an unlicensed driver ..preferably a head on and the only survivor is the Unlicensed driver~~!! May you rest in “”Pieces”"…
I’ve known Alan Scobin for a long time both as a friend and a fellow reserve police officer! His fairness and level headedness has been exhibited in the past and hopefully in the future as a Commissioner. Hopefully he will be allowed to remain and not targeted as an outlaw! Others should pay attention to what’s lawful and factual and less to which way the wind is blowing! Atta Boy Alan!
FYI the majority of undocumented driver more carefully then the ones who were issued one. Tell you this Hispanic driver are not as threatful as Asian not a stereotype but it’s the truth.