SoCal Cities Get Money To Combat Street Racing

[Skiracer]

In addition, the local news just said they're gonna use some confiscated cars from street racing to use as teaching tools to other officers to look for modifications "that will be used for street racing." CLick on link to see news video...

http://cbs2.com/localnews/localnewsla_story_235175351.html
SoCal Cities Get Money To Combat Street Racing

Aug 23, 2005 4:05 pm US/Pacific
LOS ANGELES (AP) Law enforcement agencies in Irwindale, Ontario and Riverside will share more than a million dollars in grants to fight illegal street racing.

Several deaths each year are blamed on the races.

The grants will help pay for officer training to recognize illegally modified vehicles and provide funds for overtime.

The grants announced today will help pay for officer training to recognize illegally modified vehicles and provide funds for officer overtime for joint enforcement operations cracking down on illegal street racing.

The grants are part of a five million-dollar, statewide effort funded by the Office of Traffic Safety through the Business, Transportation and Housing Agency.

In Riverside County, the Board of Supervisors are considering a plan to fine and jail spectators by making it a criminal misdemeanor to watch an illegal racing event. Penalties would include up to 90 days in jail and a one-thousand-dollar fine. gambling.

The city of Riverside has amended its laws to allow the police to arrest and fine spectators watching illegal racing and to confiscate vehicles.

[Chris in SD]

Stock car > BS vehicle inspections...

Like Neil said, I am letting the po-po dictate what I drive, but at least I have piece of mind. Shitty compromise in my book, but that relaxation while I'm driving outweighs my aggravation of getting my hood popped.

[drmosh]

"Combat Street Racing" is just another way to invest more money to attempt to turn revenue for the state.

Another folly but politically "safe" investment.

[Thero]

Haha I like in the end "Any Modification that will be used in Illegal Street Racing"


So what they are saying is that since I put MR Tail Lights on my car im now prone to be a street racer :roll:

[evolcire]

Silly government. Always reactive and never proactive. They could funnel the money to open more opportunities for legal racing -- i.e. more tracks. But of course that won't happen because it doesn't make the pigs happy with their fat pockets.

[evomrguy]

Instead they deny funding to the local tracks in sd and in sb and let track days get fewer and further in between. There just looking to make a quick buck and this wont piss of ma and pa kettle in doing so.

[Absinthe]

Instead they deny funding to the local tracks in sd and in sb and let track days get fewer and further in between. There just looking to make a quick buck and this wont piss of ma and pa kettle in doing so.

a very good point.

[alex_alex]

Silly government. Always reactive and never proactive. They could funnel the money to open more opportunities for legal racing -- i.e. more tracks. But of course that won't happen because it doesn't make the pigs happy with their fat pockets.

politicians looking to use these types of initiatives to help build their platform are going to warm up much better to hard-line street racing crackdowns than building tracks for street racers.

reality sucks

[evolcire]

But this measure doesn't make any sense to me. Assuming the state is not peddling money to law enforcement (which it probably is...but follow my logic here), the billions of our tax dollars spent on "educating" law enforcement to RECOGNIZE possible "illegal street racing automobiles" is a flagrant move to profile modified vehicles. So this means that despite "training," law enforcement must still be able to catch street racers IN THE ACT of illegal racing. You don't need to know that the fool has a HKS/Apex'i/etc exhaust and that the "PSH" sound is an illegal BOV...etc etc...to figure out that the driver was driving recklessly or endangering lives. You don't need billions of dollars to "train" people to recognize street racing in action. Which brings me back to my first point: this is just more reason to cite and ticket vehicles that have been modified. Whether or not the driver of the vehicle was street racing or not. There is just so much wrong with the logic of this initiative...my only question is: who is responsible for passing this? Anyone know where I can find out more information about this initiative? Skiracer? It's just like the double yellow line in the carpool lane...just another source of revenue. Safety my ass. Talib Kweli's words seem to ring loud and clear, "Who they serve and protect? Not you."

[alex_alex]

But this measure doesn't make any sense to me. Assuming the state is not peddling money to law enforcement (which it probably is...but follow my logic here), the billions of our tax dollars spent on "educating" law enforcement to RECOGNIZE possible "illegal street racing automobiles" is a flagrant move to profile modified vehicles. So this means that despite "training," law enforcement must still be able to catch street racers IN THE ACT of illegal racing. You don't need to know that the fool has a HKS/Apex'i/etc exhaust and that the "PSH" sound is an illegal BOV...etc etc...to figure out that the driver was driving recklessly or endangering lives. You don't need billions of dollars to "train" people to recognize street racing in action. Which brings me back to my first point: this is just more reason to cite and ticket vehicles that have been modified. Whether or not the driver of the vehicle was street racing or not. There is just so much wrong with the logic of this initiative...my only question is: who is responsible for passing this? Anyone know where I can find out more information about this initiative? Skiracer? It's just like the double yellow line in the carpool lane...just another source of revenue. Safety my ass. Talib Kweli's words seem to ring loud and clear, "Who they serve and protect? Not you."

your problem is assuming they are doing whatever their doing in the interest of the greater good. these politicians aren't stupid, and im sure are well aware of the fact that this kind of money being spent in this way is inefficient to say the least. Unfortunately, looked at the people in positions of power, and realize that NONE of them are on the side of street racers, for obvious reasons. There is no counter-opinion to this argument; even politicians that may be symphatic would not risk any political fallout by supporting (or i should say opposing) these types of issues

[MyGlue]

But this measure doesn't make any sense to me. Assuming the state is not peddling money to law enforcement (which it probably is...but follow my logic here), the billions of our tax dollars spent on "educating" law enforcement to RECOGNIZE possible "illegal street racing automobiles" is a flagrant move to profile modified vehicles. So this means that despite "training," law enforcement must still be able to catch street racers IN THE ACT of illegal racing. You don't need to know that the fool has a HKS/Apex'i/etc exhaust and that the "PSH" sound is an illegal BOV...etc etc...to figure out that the driver was driving recklessly or endangering lives. You don't need billions of dollars to "train" people to recognize street racing in action. Which brings me back to my first point: this is just more reason to cite and ticket vehicles that have been modified. Whether or not the driver of the vehicle was street racing or not. There is just so much wrong with the logic of this initiative...my only question is: who is responsible for passing this? Anyone know where I can find out more information about this initiative? Skiracer? It's just like the double yellow line in the carpool lane...just another source of revenue. Safety my ass. Talib Kweli's words seem to ring loud and clear, "Who they serve and protect? Not you."


I think evolcire here is making a very very good point. There isnt special training necessary to catch and try to prevent street racing. They did say that money is being used to fund over time which i assume is going to pay the officer to camp out a local race spot. The "education" of the officers is just going to promote profiling. Unless they actually do it right and teach them what is and isnt legal. Maybe then those of us with properly modified vehicles may benefit from this. But that, i think, would be a stretch.

[evolcire]

But this measure doesn't make any sense to me. Assuming the state is not peddling money to law enforcement (which it probably is...but follow my logic here), the billions of our tax dollars spent on "educating" law enforcement to RECOGNIZE possible "illegal street racing automobiles" is a flagrant move to profile modified vehicles. So this means that despite "training," law enforcement must still be able to catch street racers IN THE ACT of illegal racing. You don't need to know that the fool has a HKS/Apex'i/etc exhaust and that the "PSH" sound is an illegal BOV...etc etc...to figure out that the driver was driving recklessly or endangering lives. You don't need billions of dollars to "train" people to recognize street racing in action. Which brings me back to my first point: this is just more reason to cite and ticket vehicles that have been modified. Whether or not the driver of the vehicle was street racing or not. There is just so much wrong with the logic of this initiative...my only question is: who is responsible for passing this? Anyone know where I can find out more information about this initiative? Skiracer? It's just like the double yellow line in the carpool lane...just another source of revenue. Safety my ass. Talib Kweli's words seem to ring loud and clear, "Who they serve and protect? Not you."

your problem is assuming they are doing whatever their doing in the interest of the greater good. these politicians aren't stupid, and im sure are well aware of the fact that this kind of money being spent in this way is inefficient to say the least. Unfortunately, looked at the people in positions of power, and realize that NONE of them are on the side of street racers, for obvious reasons. There is no counter-opinion to this argument; even politicians that may be symphatic would not risk any political fallout by supporting (or i should say opposing) these types of issues

I'm not asking why the politicians are not on the side of street racers. In my opinion, I really don't think ANYONE should be on that side. All I'm saying is, that this measure seems to be a cover-up for targeting and profiling modified vehicles to a much greater extent than before -- the err being the victimization of innocent drivers of modified vehicles. And that the billions spent, although extravagant, seem to be an investment in that regard -- the better the law enforcements can discern modified vehicles, the more reason to pull over the driver of that vehicle, and the more the opportunties to issue citations and tickets -- and ultimately providing more revenue. I completely agree with you that politicians (or anyone for that matter) are mainly concerned with their own interests. However, when that interest uses questionable logic and edges on encroachment upon rights, it should be pointed out and challenged. But of course, no one is willing to put in their own time and effort to do this...myself included. But I would like to exercise my basic right to vote. And I feel that if I knew more about this initiative, I would be better informed to make that vote.

[turbolarry]

... the better the law enforcements can discern modified vehicles, the more reason to pull over the driver of that vehicle, and the more the opportunties to issue citations and tickets -- and ultimately providing more revenue.


Bingo! It's all about the mighty dollar people, nothing else. Cops vs. street racing has been going on for decades. Nothing is going to change that. This is all about money. If you are going to modify your car, you just need to stay one step ahead of the cops. What are they going to be trained for? Shiney parts, open filters, big exhausts, and test pipes. It's just time to go uber stealth, stash everything, and get a lot of Home Depot flat black for $1.99.
That's why I'm also after Corona for the impound fees they charged me a while back; but the DA drops the case and the PD sends me letter saying I don't have to answer to the court.
The best way to fight back in any of this is to hit their wallets when they fuck up. After having to pay us back for some stuff, they will have second thoughts before doing something and back off a little.

[500whp]

One of my frineds friend got his car taken away... he had a evo..... then when he when to go pick it up they said it was 2400.... he didn't have the money the week after when he have money he went back and the car was sold in auction!! becareful guys! it was around SG valley!

[NipponHamFighters]

It is so funny. I was just watching last week channel 9 honoring the pioneers of drag racing, at the historical Santa Ana Drags. Isn't it funny how it is acceptable before when their generation (The people who are cracking down on street racing) went out and raced and supplied open drag courses for weekly racing events on and off the tracks? Older movies depict drag racing on the streets with hot rods and girls, like in GREASE for example. But as they grow older it is now wrong and they close down local racetracks, or perhaps would you think there would be no problems if car enthusiasts only modified USA Domestic Vehicles? I really wonder what it would be like if there were no "Import Drag Racing" and still the normal American muscle huge displacement type of racing.

:idiot2:

[Skiracer]

Anybody notice the police are cracking down more than usual? I have not seen/heard anything myself.