Wikimedia Commons photo by Ildar Sagdejev
Keeping the streets safe is a central responsibility for any local police force.
The Santa Barbara Police Department appears to have decided that unlicensed drivers are their top roadway threat. A recent study of the department’s traffic enforcement data found that Santa Barbara’s officers impound the cars of unlicensed motorists more often than they write speeding tickets.
Russell Trenholme, a retired Santa Barbara resident, partnered with Pueblo, a community organization that aims to benefit low-income households, to produce the study of the police department’s traffic-enforcement data. The study, released last week, included data documenting citations issued from 2007 through most of 2009.
When we look at the statistics on other categories of citations – citations for moving violations, for equipment violations, drunk driving arrests – we find that a 12500 citation is the most common citation given by the Santa Barbara Police Department over the past two years, exceeding the total of all the various moving and equipment citations combined. It appears that impounding vehicles driven by undocumented immigrants is the principal activity of the traffic section.
The “12500 citation” refers to the section of California’s vehicle code prohibiting unlicensed motorists from driving. A separate section of the code (14601) forbids those with suspended or revoked licenses from taking the wheel.
Both unlicensed drivers and those with suspended licenses risk 30-day impounds, and the fines that come with them. Earlier this year, a California Watch investigation found that such impounds at sobriety checkpoints generated an estimated $40 million last year for the state’s cities and tow companies.
Checkpoints generally screen all drivers that pass through the operations. Trenholme used data from Santa Barbara’s checkpoints to calculate what percentage of the city’s drivers is unlicensed, and to compare the results with what happened during other types of traffic enforcement when officers have discretion over which cars to stop.
During specialized patrols, the study found, officers were far more likely to catch an unlicensed driver than during a checkpoint. Many of California’s unlicensed drivers are illegal immigrants, leading Trenholme to speculate in the report that Santa Barbara police are “focusing attention on the type of vehicles typically driven by undocumented immigrant drivers.”
The report (posted in full at bottom) notes that the police department denies engaging in any racial profiling and has no conclusive evidence to the contrary. Santa Barbara Police Chief Cam Sanchez didn’t respond to calls for comment Thursday. (I’ll update this post when he does.)
The Santa Barbara study comes as scrutiny of unlicensed driver impounds picks up across California.
Escondido’s police department recently ended its use of driver’s license checkpoints.
And Baldwin Park’s city council discussed its vehicle seizure policy this week amid allegations the police practice is illegal. Money continues to rest at the center of the impound debate, the San Gabriel Valley Tribune reports.
Baldwin Park collected $338,000 in vehicle-release fees during the fiscal year that ended June 30, according to city documents. In addition to the $145 vehicle-release fee, the city collects $111 per tow and 20 percent of vehicle-storage fees. The city stands to collect more than $38,400 in fees from the 150 vehicles impounded over the weekend.
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