TheAgitator.com
Petty Tyranny in California
Tuesday, April 8th, 2008Terrific bit of investigative journalism from the OC Register finds that nearly one million cars in California owned by public officials are outfitted with special plates that make them immune to fines for traffic violations.
An Orange County Register investigation has found that the program, designed 30 years ago to protect police from criminals, has been expanded to cover hundreds of thousands of public employees – from police dispatchers to museum guards – who face little threat from the public. Their spouses and children can get the plates, too.
This has happened despite warnings from state officials that the safeguard is no longer needed because updated laws have made all DMV information confidential to the public.
The Register found that the confidential plate program shields these motorists in ways most of us can only dream about:
•Vehicles with protected license plates can run through dozens of intersections controlled by red light cameras and breeze along the 91 toll lanes with impunity.
•Parking citations issued to vehicles with protected plates are often dismissed because the process necessary to pierce the shield is too cumbersome.
•Some patrol officers let drivers with protected plates off with a warning because the plates signal that the drivers are “one of their own” or related to someone who is.
[...]
Some police officers confess that when they pull over someone with a confidential license plate they’re more likely to let them off with a warning. In most cases, one said, if an officer realizes a motorist has a confidential plate, the car won’t be pulled over at all.
“It’s an unwritten rule that we would extend professional courtesy,” said Ron Smith, a retired Los Angeles Police Department officer who worked patrol for 23 years. “Nine out of 10 times I would.”
There’s that phrase again: Professional Courtesy. What it really means is “We’re better than you ordinary people”. Equal under the law has become a joke. As Orwell put it, some are more equal than others.
And it’s going to get worse. In fact, a few years from now, we’ll be thinking back fondly of this as the good ol’ days.
Shit, at least in Russia they have to pay for the “I’m immune to traffic laws” token.
Great, another signal to their buddies of ‘don’t pull me over’. It was a sad day for me a little bit ago when I saw a car parked next to mine with a prominent (about 6″ across) county police badge mounted in the corner of the windshield, and I realized that wasn’t there because they were proud of the department, but because they were trying to get preferential treatment over ordinary ‘civilians’.
(Yeah, I know cops are supposed to be civilians too, but I think that wishful thinking bubble has been long popped)
Dave beat me to it. What, just because I work in the private sector and pay taxes, I’m not privy to “professional courtesy”?
I’d be interested to see what would happen if you parked two cars in adjacent handicap spaces - one with the “special” plates and one with regular plates - give a litmus test of how the enforcement officers respond with some tangible measurements regarding the regularity of abuse. The only problem is prying back that “wall of blue”.
Special deals for “special” people.
Try getting the police to investigate a complaint against one of their own.
I can assure you from personal and 2nd hand experience that CA state, LA, and Orange County patrols do NOT extend professional courtesy on a regular basis.
There is seemingly no end to the hypocrisy and privilege entitlement of some in the law enforcement community. The gap grows wider everyday between ‘them’ and ‘us’ . It’s no wonder more and more people stop respecting the badge and what it represents . . . because what it represents is power and prestige . . . no longer protection and service.
I agree with Colson. It would be very interesting to have a show run an investigation on “professional courtesy”.
But I’m sure the networks would be too afraid to tackle something like this..
Go Google the word “nomenklatura,” kids.
Here’s a different angle:
It was three or four times last year alone that I was cold-called at home by the New York State Troopers’ Police Benevolent Association. They want my money. Every time, I told them to leave me alone and go to Albany, which is already trying to beat my brains out in taxes.
Here’s what I wonder: how long before my name ends up on The Wrong List?
Almost 1 million confidential plates in California and they found a half a dozen people gaming the system. What’s that like .0006 of a percent? Color me unimpressed at the magnitude of this problem.
No this was what they were able to piece together via their own work since the DMV was putting up roadblocks to them getting more information.
This is more likely the tip of the iceberg rather than the whole thing. Especially when one takes into account the confidential plates protect people from even getting recorded for violations in the first place.
Edmund, how does it protect people from getting recorded for thier violations? The name of the registered owner is still available, so is the agency which employs them. So it’s not likely the tip of the iceberg but rather a small percentage of people who abuse the system.
Having witnessed people calling in favors to get tickets “fixed”, I think you’re being willfully naive about the “small percentage gmaing the system”. I guess that it’s only a small percentage of extremely honest people who don’t game the system.
From reading the Register article, a lot of it is that the private companies who are contracted to do the fine-collecting for the toll roads, parking enforcement, red light cameras etc. are not allowed access to the personal information on drivers with confidential plates.
They DO get the address of the government agency for whom the holder works, but it seems that the record for these violations getting through to the actual violator is poor.
Police agencies can look up these, of course, but it appears that they have little incentive to do it and the statutory time limits on how quickly you must send a violation letter mean that in practice it doesn’t happen.
I’d have my doubts about how well the plates prevent a driver from getting a serious ticket, but I’m pretty sure they’re right about that in practice, it renders a person immune to these kinds of minor violations costing them anything.
One person had 430 recorded toll lane violations, for instance.
Some of the cases are simply that clerical errors don’t get corrected; e.g. if someone’s license plate isn’t correctly in the tollway system and their transponder isn’t working. If they had a regular plate, they’d get an incorrect violation notice and they’d correct the problem; with the confidential plates, they never get a ticket and the problem remains unfixed. I suspect that there are a lot of supposed problems that are actually in this category, at least in the toll lane department.
David,
I don’t know where you live, but in all the states I’m aware of, fixing tickets is a crime. You don’t have to write them, but once they are written, you can only go through the process.
I think your perception of the American people as a whole is sad. I believe the vast majority of people are honest and hardworking, wouldn’t game the system, would turn in a lost wallet if they found it…etc etc. I’m certainly happy not to have your world view, and In the nealry half a century I’ve been on this planet think mine is more accurate….with the exception of politicians of course.
Matthew,
The plates in question are identical to a regular California license plate. The only difference is if you run one through the computer, the address for the registered owner returns as their place of employment. I know for a fact they don’t get you out of parking tickets as a rule. I also know that very few cops run the license plate through the computer until after the traffic stop is made. At that point it’s really up to the cop to write the ticket or not, the license plate has nothing to do with it.
in St. Louis county, red light cameras are becoming very popular. in one venue, all the violations are sent to the police dept for review to see if the violation is ‘justified’. I would love to know what happens when the mayor, an alderman, or another cop’s plate comes through…
anyone who doesn’t think tickets are fixed every day or certain people aren’t given preferential treatment are very uninformed. I’ve been a firefighter for 18 years and have many friends working for different departments- I KNOW what the real policies are around here. Quotas and people who are ‘off limits’ are a given.
Unless you work there, you don’t know the real policies. You may suspect you know them…
Yet another example of the people employed by government becoming a new aristocracy. They’re paid more than private sector employees doing the same labor, they’re exempt from the laws they create for others and they hold a horrifying amount of power ever the ruled class. We’re rapidly approaching a point that resembles medieval situation of Lords and serfs.
the “lords & serfs” analogy is a good one…..but i’m pretty sure we’re already there.
it’s a crime - punishable by imprisonment - to *tell a lie to* a federal agent. not “lie under oath”, oh no no no. ANY lie. ANY time. it started off as “can’t lie to the FBI”, and is gradually morphing, of course, into all gummint agencies. this is moving fist-in-glove with the arming of IRS agents; park rangers; etc.
and if you believe what you’re saying is the truth, but our government masters disagree? TS. am not a lawyer, but i *believe* that’s why martha stewart did time. they said, “did you commit a crime?” she answered, evidently in good faith, “no.”
then they had her. she was of course imprisoned, her lands and monies were of course forfeit to the crown….and the serfs were thus put on notice.
Can anyone say 14th Amendment Equal Protection? The 14th provides absolutely NO out for non-equal treatment for everyone including police, gubbermint officials, or anyone. No special immunity. No special treatment as in death penalty for killing a LEO versus no death penalty for killing just a citizen. Equal is equal is equal.
Damn, when I first saw the title to this post, I thought that it said “Pretty Tranny in California”.
Marty - Not quotas, *goals*. You have to get the right terminology.
Interesting, I cannot prescribe antibiotics to another doctor in my practice for strep throat. By law… heck, I, technically cannot listen to his lungs without billing him.
But cops can make snap judgments about the wife of a security guard. Sweet.