We just passed another law in Kalifornia, that says your DOG can't be a nuisance in your car . Not exactly sure how it reads, but you get the idea .

 

The city believes large automotive-focused get togethers promote street racing and that must also be the purpose of any vehicle equipped with performance modifications. To quell the situation, last Friday night around 11PM, police surprised 150 vehicles and their owners during a meet at Canyon Crossing shopping center. Fifty police cruisers from Riverside County, Irwindale, Ontario and a few other regions were paid overtime to block off parking lot exits and issue citations. Tickets were written for illegal modifications, paperwork violations, window tint and having no front license plate. Twenty vehicles were even impounded due to suspected stolen parts.....Rather than put all the money into aiding traffic flow, California's math calculations have determined that more revenue can be generated by handing out fix-it tickets with increased frequency. Of course, that is as long as the violation fares are more than law enforcement overtime expenses.

http://www.autoblog.com/2008/04/04/p...enerate-reve/3


Also an article from CBS including video that shows the actual raid taking place.
http://cbs2.com/local/Riverside.Stre....2.687707.html

I think we should just stay away from Riverside at 11pm, lol.

Richard

 

Our freedoms and civil rights are chipping away as we speak. However, most Americans keep more up to date with the happenings at "American Idol" than with the scary state of current affairs. Remember Germany in the 1930's? Any similarities are purely coincidential...

 

I'm not a big fan of a sue-happy society, but that's insane. They had no cause to stop or search any of the cars involved, from what it sounds like. This will surely all be thrown out in court, and I would think those involved would have cause to seek additional compensation from the city.

 

most car meets around here are around 11pm. just a social gathering of enthusiasts.

2012 here we come

 

I'm not at all happy to read this. People have a right to peaceful assembly.

To me, this is just another example of how we, as a society, have become so afraid that we're willing to concede our rights in the name of "safety."

Since 9/11 we have become a nation of sheep, so fearful of what might be hiding around the corner that we have given anyone in a uniform "carte blanche" to do as they please. I see it in the attitutdes of the policemen I interact with, and I do not like it.

Respect is earned, and bad/abusive behavior by those we've entrusted with power must be dealt with quickly and forcefully. Sorry, but I am in no way willing to live in a police state. And as an American citizen, I shouldn't have to...

I'll get off my soapbox now!

Let's get back to fun and MINIs!

 

If everyone and their cars were on the up and up they had nothing to worry about, did they????

 

Except for the waste of their tax monies, the violation of their civil rights, and the other crimes which went unprevented due to a sizable portion of the police force being tied up in an illegal fishing expedition for non-violent offenders.

 

I'll do better than stay away from Riverside at 11 pm, I will stay away from it if at all possible. And I vow to never spend a penny in Riverside county. I don't care if I'm passing through and am starving, or nearly running out of gas. I'll risk it. This is completely uncalled for, and I hope that those involved get some legal representation.

 

It is attitudes like this that allow the police and our government to run roughshod over us and take away our civil liberties, and we end up with the whole "They came for the Jews, but I'm not Jewish, so I didn't do anything" thing again.

 

Course that pretty much means the Inland Empire as well since more than just Riverside were involved:

Fifty police cruisers from Riverside County, Irwindale, Ontario and a few other regions...

 

Sorry to say fellow NAMers, but zero cilvl rights were violated. Prove me wrong with a law suit.

If you are correct and I am wrong plenty of lawyers will jump on this case.

I'll be watching the new and NAM for word on the suit.

 

I apologize. I wasn't aware that you were there monitoring the entire situation from start to finish. Luckily you were on the up and up and escaped unscathed, but being the constitutional scholar that you are, I'm sure you weren't at all worried. All those poor lawyers that are going to jump all over this will sure look foolish.

 

Anyone willing to put their reputation on the line and contact a law firm to prove me wrong?

I'll be waiting...

 

I don't live in the area and don't know anything about it other than what was in the article, but notwithstanding the ignorant quotes from the officers involved and the police "accusing the owners of the parked vehicles of being street racers", it sounds like all of the actual citations were for equipment violations and paperwork discrepancies (which are probably things like expired tags, no insurance, etcetera). If the illegal modifications were visible/detectable from the outside of the car, it's likely that the police could have adequately documented the violations without needing to search the cars, so the whole warrant/permission thing wouldn't have been an issue.

I *would* like to know the reason for the confiscations, though - that might be interesting.

 

Well, based on the cop quotes, it sounds like they were presumed guilty regardless. These cops assume everyone is into street racing if they have a modification on their car. Yet, if you drive by in a factory Corvette Z06 that is likely faster than most of the cars cited, it's just "cool."

If you are parked in a lot (on private property mind you), with your hood closed it would be nearly impossible for a cop to see "illegal modifications."

I will quite safely assume that the police ordered the vehicles opened for inspection, illegally.

Don't worry bcski, although you seem oblivious to the idea that a police officer could possibly do anything wrong, I'm sure someone WILL contact a law firm, and prove you wrong.

 

Did you read my post#27?

Goes into a bit more detail than the original article about stolen parts, etc...

Richard

 

I don't know about that - I can think of a lot of equipment/paperwork violations that are plainly observable from the outside of a closed car. I can also picture a lot of kids parked at a "car show" with their hoods open that are too dumb to close the hoods when the cops roll in.

And the whole "private property" issue is moot, anyway. It was private property, but it wasn't the violators' property, so they have no legal standing to complain. The owner of the parking lot can legally exclude police that don't have a warrant (unless the police need to enter for exigent circumstances), but I don't see that happening with a business' parking lot, since the last thing a business wants to do is tell the police to stay away.

 

I dont reading about this kind of stuff. Yeah, they can make more money with more fix-it tickets but is that the right thing to do? Yes, it's harder to get the real offenders but that's what my money is suppose to do...to get the bad guys and not the ones who are hanging out and enjoying stories with friends and family.

I'm willing to bet that at least half of the cops, when they were yonger, had something on their cars too.

 

Cops pull people over out here all the time for BS reasons. I got pulled over, lights and sirens blaring (I'm talking about a cop that drove over a center median, almost hit 3 cars, and nearly lost control as he FLOORED it from the other direction to catch up to me) because I don't have a front license plate. I seriously thought he just got a call for an officer involved shooting or something.

There are hundreds of stories of people getting pulled over simply because they have stickers on their car, or it looks fast. They write tickets (For hundreds of dollars) because someone has an exhaust, or an intake.

This was purely motivated by financial gain, nothing else. Then the general public gets the wrong idea about the situation with retarded news broadcasts like the one CBS gave about an illegal street race. They were hanging out in a parking lot with their cars turned off!

If someone was being an idiot and doing burnouts, give him a ticket, but you don't need to send 60, yes 60 police cruisers (probably equal to 50-60% of the available units in the area) to a parking lot to bust people for front license plate violations and non-carb approved intakes.

This is typical CA BS, pulling people over for no reason and issuing tickets for no reason. Santa Barbara PD did the same thing a few years ago at SoCal meets NorCal. They pulled over EVERY SINGLE CAR that left the meet (1000+ cars) and searched top to bottom for mods. Issued hundreds of tickets. The event was so outraged they almost cancelled the venue for the next year, and the Mayor of the town apologized.

Low and behold, 3 weeks later come Bimmerfest, they did the same thing, again, the Mayor apologized a second time, there's a reason the meets have been getting smaller and smaller. People are tired of BS from bored cops. While they're out busting car meets for window tint people are waiting 45 minutes to an hour for LAPD or a Sheriff to show up to their house when there's a REAL emergency, and they call 911.

Regardless of the legality of ordering people to pop their hoods, this is/was a gross abuse of public funds. Last I checked state gas taxes weren't slated towards busting car meets.

I don't pay $4.35 a gallon for gas so I can get cornered in a parking lot by 150 cops while I'm sipping on a soda and chatting with friends.

 

I'd love to know how they determined that an engine was stolen by popping the hood and taking a look. Sounds like media spin to me.

 

I was thinking about that whole "if they didn't do anything wrong they had nothing to worry about" line. I imagine that all MINI owners stay right at (or below) the posted speed limit at all times and wouldn't even accidentally go 1 mph over, but if they did and got caught would have no problem with getting a ticket for speeding.

 

Invoking Niemoller in this case might by a touch over the top. This was not Kristallnacht. Perhaps it's just early and my normally strange sense of humor is still sleeping...

 

Yeah it is over the top, was meant to be hyperbole. My apologies if anyone took offense.

I do think we've been on a slippery slope in bad shoes for a while though.

 

no offense - lack of coffee

for a few years i worked in the finance district in boston, and the path from the train station to the office passed through a small park, marked by what appeared to be crystal chimneys - each rising from the street with a grate below it that breathed warm air in the winter, giving the monument a sort of translucent breath. niemoller was quoted in stone at the entrance to the memorial, where i could not miss it as i walked through.

end of OT!