CA: Police Raid Car Enthusiast Gathering, Generate Revenue

[dpatel01]

Found at thenewspaper.com:

Police raid Riverside, California parking lot to issue modified car tickets at local car enthusiast gathering.

Parking lot raidUsing $503,000 in federal and state gas tax revenue to pay for overtime, nine police agencies in Riverside, California sent more than one hundred police officers to surround a gathering of automotive enthusiasts. Owners of imported sport compact cars had gathered at the Canyon Crossing shopping center on Friday night to swap stories, talk about their passion for cars and show off the latest enhancements to their rides. At around 11pm police surprised participants by blocking all exits with fifty police cruisers. Officers then began a warrantless search and interrogation operation of the 150 vehicles that were present.

"If you're not into street racing, why would you need that?" Riverside Police Traffic Sergeant Skip Showalter asked an enthusiast during a similar crackdown last year. "Why would you want more power going to your car?"

Police issued a total of forty-eight tickets for "engine modifications" with police accusing the owners of the parked vehicles of being street racers. Another fifty tickets were issued for paperwork violations, dark window tinting and lack of a front license plate. The most revenue, however, will be generated from the fees imposed on twenty vehicles that were confiscated. Despite labeling the parking lot raid as taking place at a "street racing venue," Riverside Police offered no evidence that any street racing actually took place.

Across the state, gas tax funds are regularly used to fund similar crackdowns that generate big revenue. In 2004, the California Highway Patrol issued a total of 101,553 "modified car" citations worth $10.5 million according to CHP data obtained by TheNewspaper.

Other law enforcement agencies participating in Friday night's raid included the California Highway Patrol, Riverside County Sheriff's Department, and police from Baldwin Park, Fontana, Irwindale, Moreno Valley, Ontario and Mount San Jacinto Community College.

[Cips]

Wow, I guess all 150+ people there were really making a lot of trouble. :roll:

[dpatel01]

Im no fan of the fast n the furious crowd, but the cops certainly overstepped their bounds on this one (nothing new). They picked the targets because most young males, typical of the people hanging out at these events, are not going to fight back.

Riversides Traffic Sergeant now thinks that having more power in your vehicle means automatically means street racer. I'm willing to bet a lot of the compacts that showed up have less power than a modern family sedan. Why don't the police pull over everyone with a 300hp family car because having all this power means insane speeder, right? Perhaps they should pull over all the people hauling dirt in their new 400hp pickup trucks. But wait, they won't pull over the 35 year olds driving the powerful family sedans and pickup trucks because they'll be the ones fighting back, instead of explaining to their parents why they shouldn't be grounded for a week.

[TSi+WRX]

^ Exactly.

I haven't street-raced for more than a decade.

I shake my head at that crowd, but I can understand where they're coming from - and if we think back far enough, weren't the "Hot-Rodders" of the day (who are currently often frowning on the "Import Tuners") the same way (and faced the same kind of "persecution?" It's just the youth and the attitude, versus "the establishment."

So it's a big +1 to all that dpatel01 said above.

Why don't the CHP pull over anyone driving a Ferrari, Porsche, or, for that matter, a Mercedes AMG or BMW M-Series?

Oh, that's right.....those people are liable to have their lawyers on speed-dial, and are more than likely people with enough power in the world to cause the police department some headaches and maybe even embarrassment. :roll:

I'm glad I don't live in California.

I upgrade my vehicle as a hobby. I rarely even exceed the PSL. I don't street-race. I just, as many others, simply "like cars." And it seems that my only sin - if I lived in that area - would be that I chose to "tune" an "import," instead of soup-up a Detroit Classic or, for that matter, even if I just bought a 500+ hp. Mercedes. :x :roll: ops: :?

As I've said before, sure, if you live in those areas, be aware that you may get cited for non-emissions-compliant modifications. But please, for the love of all that's good and fair, officers, if you're going to stop these guys and girls, at least just tell them straight up that it's gonna be a bust for such parts and fines, instead of the "oh, you MUST be a street-racer" assertion.

Get real.