WTF: 150 SoCal cops surround and bust car meet

JeffShoots

JeffShoots

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:mad: 4/2/2008

Did anyone here see this :confused:

http://www.thenewspaper.com/news/23/2302.asp

California: Police Raid Car Enthusiast Gathering, Generate Revenue
Police raid Riverside, California parking lot to issue modified car tickets at local car enthusiast gathering.

Using $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.
 
Glad to see my tax dollars being put to good use.:frown:
 
:mad: This stuff just pisses me off. The would not DARE attempt this at a group of Ferrari owners or similar make where the owners could afford to have someones a$$ in court for this blatant profiling and warantless searching. Another example of why law abiding people have reason to hate and fear the police. If the officer asks why I need more power...I would politely ask, 'Why does it matter? It is my car'. :mad:
 
Energy1 said:
And probable cause was?.......
Click to expand...

Probable cause was that they hedged their bet that none of the Civic or Integra crowd could afford to sue them for what is essentially profiling and busting people before the possibility of committing a crime that they may never do. :mad:
 
Is this the same location where the PAG meets are held? Just different group?

Shame how ignorant some officers are; assuming that someone who wants to make their car more powerful is doing that because they're street racers.

Are all people who bought a corvette instead of a minivan streetracers too? What if you bought the big engine in your minivan?
 
They (the participants) should contact the ACLU. In my opinion they (ACLU)sometimes take up some questionable causes, but it seems like this might be a good use of their time and effort, especially since the individuals probably don't have the resources at their disposal to take on this cause.

This is really disgusting -- from so many perspectives.
 
I'm sure no one got raped, killed, assaulted, or robbed while this was taking place. Then again, how much money do cops get for catching rapists and stopping crimes again? Oh yeah, zero. How much do they get for harrassing citizens with a low probability of adaquate legal representation that are actively committing no crimes? Still less than they spend doing it.

What a joke, can't say it's much of a surprise though.
 
I guess next they'll be raiding all the Starbucks where car enthusiast's also like to meet up occasionally. :mad:
 
http://www.instantriverside.com/riverside-news/inland-empire-news/riverside-police-surround-suspected-street-racers/2008/03/29

More than 100 police officers from Riverside and allied agencies conducted a surprise operation to deter street racing activity at the Canyon Crossing shopping center, 6187 Valley Springs Parkway, at the eastern edge of the city of Riverside, late Friday night. Street racing activity has been a persistent Friday night problem at the location for several weeks.


At 11 p.m., Friday night, March 28, police halted racing and exhibition of speed activities and conducted a field inspection of more than 150 vehicles. As of 2 a.m., Saturday, the combined police agencies reported approximately 100 citations for various vehicle code violations and 48 citations for illegal engine modifications common to street racing.


Twenty vehicles were impounded and towed – one found with a stolen engine and transmission, 14 for altered engine or transmission identification information, and four for drivers without a license.

There were four arrests at the scene, one each for drunk in public, resisting an officer, an outstanding felony warrant and one for exhibition of speed.


“We want to send a powerful message that street racing will not be tolerated,” said Sgt. Skip Showalter of the Riverside Police Traffic Division and the Riverside County Regional Street Racing Task Force.

In addition to the Riverside Police Department, were officers from the multi-agency Riverside Auto-Theft Interdiction Detail (RAID), Riverside County Sheriff’s Moreno Valley Police Department, California Highway Patrol, Ontario Police Department, Irwindale Police Department, Fontana Police Department, Baldwin Park Police Department and the Mount San Jacinto Community College Police Department.
 
Last edited:
mpkr91 said:
http://www.instantriverside.co...03/29/

More than 100 police officers from Riverside and allied agencies conducted a surprise operation to deter street racing activity at the Canyon Crossing shopping center, 6187 Valley Springs Parkway, at the eastern edge of the city of Riverside, late Friday night. Street racing activity has been a persistent Friday night problem at the location for several weeks.


At 11 p.m., Friday night, March 28, police halted racing and exhibition of speed activities and conducted a field inspection of more than 150 vehicles. As of 2 a.m., Saturday, the combined police agencies reported approximately 100 citations for various vehicle code violations and 48 citations for illegal engine modifications common to street racing.


Twenty vehicles were impounded and towed – one found with a stolen engine and transmission, 14 for altered engine or transmission identification information, and four for drivers without a license.

There were four arrests at the scene, one each for drunk in public, resisting an officer, an outstanding felony warrant and one for exhibition of speed.


“We want to send a powerful message that street racing will not be tolerated,” said Sgt. Skip Showalter of the Riverside Police Traffic Division and the Riverside County Regional Street Racing Task Force.

In addition to the Riverside Police Department, were officers from the multi-agency Riverside Auto-Theft Interdiction Detail (RAID), Riverside County Sheriff’s Moreno Valley Police Department, California Highway Patrol, Ontario Police Department, Irwindale Police Department, Fontana Police Department, Baldwin Park Police Department and the Mount San Jacinto Community College Police Department.
Click to expand...

So they halted "racing" activities but issued no racing tickets. Yeah, like they'd let that one slide - those are high-dollar tickets and you never get a break on them. One "exhibition of speed" ticket which was probably someone doing a donut or a burnout, or maybe sliding the tail out while entering or leaving the parking lot.

Sounds like streetracing alright! :rolleyes:
 
I have been a victim of these BS parking lot rades even in NY they pull this crap, although they don't hand out modified car tickets. I did get a ticket for no front licence plate. One cop asked me to roll up my windows so he could check the tint I refused,:biggrin: so all I got was a stupid no front licence plate ticket.
 
I'm usually one for defending the police as there are alot of good officers out there that do alot of good things, but how do you defend something like this?
 
DRIFTER said:
I have been a victim of these BS parking lot rades even in NY they pull this crap, although they don't hand out modified car tickets. I did get a ticket for no front licence plate. One cop asked me to roll up my windows so he could check the tint I refused,:biggrin: so all I got was a stupid no front licence plate ticket.
Click to expand...

werd:
ScienceofSpeed Stealth License Plate System
 
So, what's up with the public outcry?

People were in a location known for street racing and some were found w/ stolen engines/transmissions, altered VINs, drunk in public, resisting arrest, drivers without a license, vehicle code violations, illegal modifications and an outstanding felony warrant.

Sounds like those breaking the law were caught and those who weren't breaking the law had nothing to worry about.
 
Last edited:
mickeylex said:
So, what's up with the public outcry?

People were in a location known for street racing and some were found w/ stolen engines/transmissions, altered VINs, drunk in public, resisting arrest, drivers without a license, vehicle code violations, illegal modifications and an outstanding felony warrant.
Click to expand...

I'm with you on this but I do have an answer for your question: my public outcry is that a little more than HALF a MILLION dollars was spent to do it.

I'm glad when people such as those described in the quoted text are caught and punished. In fact, I kind of get a kick out of it because I've gone all my years without doing that kind of stupid stuff (well, okay... I've done some illegal mods in the past). But it's a shame that taxpayers paid those friendly peace officers so much overtime to do it. Next headline will be that the PD is under-funded and therefore can't do as many patrols. Nice...

J
 
White92 said:
I'm usually one for defending the police as there are alot of good officers out there that do alot of good things, but how do you defend something like this?
Click to expand...

Ya I hear you on that but I dont think its really the officers who made this decision. Someone higher up made this decision and they are just doing what they were told to do......albeit I'm sure some of them enjoyed giving it to the "Ricers"...."Street racers", but they are told by their superiors to do their job and so they went and did it.

They cant really say, "hey these guys aren't street racing and I sympathize with them so I'm not going to do this" otherwise they can forget a career in law enforcement.

I wonder if it was a gathering of NSXs would this have happened? What if a group of NSXs were amongst the larger group.......would cops have given out meaningless, profit generating tickets like no front plate and window tint?

Anyway I think my tax dollars would have been better spent on surrounding some drug dealers or known gang members or a hundred other things that are far worse then a group of car enthusiasts getting together.
 
Lets hear some comments from actual cops on this incident???? The last time a "bad cops" discussion emerged, you would see our fellow NSX owners (cops) voiced their defense. So let hear some for $hit and giggle:rolleyes:
 
If it were me I would be contacting the other defendants and intead of paying ANY fines be applying those monies to a class action suit against the police and the city.
 
is that even legal?
why can they give you a ticket for engine modifications if it still meets emissions? :mad: esp if you can legally buy a Z06 :confused:
bullshit..... i wouldn't even get a lawyer, i'd go to court an argue my case myself.... i think i could easily call bullshit to the judge.... whether or not he / she wanted to hear it.
that's totally bogus.
 

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