Wednesday, August 13, 2014

CA - On July 13, 2012, Governor Brown signed into law AB 1047

OFF THE WIRE
http://www.mercurynews.com/crime-courts/ci_26315385/san-mateo-county-motorcycle-enforcement-yields-over-100
On July 13, 2012, Governor Brown signed into law AB 1047 expressly prohibiting state and local law enforcement agencies from conducting motorcycle only checkpoints...yet...agencies still do in violation of the law under the guise of "safety".
The reality is, operations like this (funded by the CA Office of Traffic Safety, through the National Highway & Traffic Safety Administration) have not proven to lower motorcycle rider fatalities, but they have paid for many law enforcement officer overtime hours and produced thousands of dollars of local revenue generated through traffic citations.
For patch holders, these operations provide pretextual opportunities to for conducting criminal investigations without reasonable suspicion.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
(a) Other states have established motorcycle only checkpoints to address the growing problem of increased motorcycle fatalities.
(b) It is the intent of the Legislature to prohibit the establishment of motorcycle only checkpoints in California and that this prohibition is in no way intended to affect the establishment or conduct of other enforcement programs conducted by state or local law enforcement agencies.
SEC. 2. Section 2814.1 of the Vehicle Code is amended to read:
2814.1.
(d) State and local law enforcement agencies shall not conduct motorcycle only checkpoints.