ESCONDIDO: Most breeze through checkpoint

Controversial traffic stop nets few violators

By CHRIS NICHOLS - Staff Writer | Tuesday, December 30, 2008 7:07 PM PST ∞

ESCONDIDO ---- Driver's license checkpoints are a temporary delay for most, but for a few they can be a costly and prolonged ordeal.

More than 800 drivers, or 95 percent of those screened at Monday morning's checkpoint on Escondido Boulevard, were whisked through after showing a valid license.

The traffic stop was conducted by the Escondido Police Department just north of Valley Parkway, and observed by a North County Times reporter and photographer/videographer.

Many drivers paused just seconds as officers inspected their licenses. Few questioned the checkpoint's purpose.

Twenty-five other drivers did not leave so quickly. They did not have a valid, up-to-date license, and all of their cars were towed.

For most, their vehicles will be impounded for 30 days, as directed by California law.

Driver's license checkpoints in Escondido and across the region remain controversial. Police officials say they have improved traffic safety, cutting down specifically on hit-and-run accidents.

Civil rights groups and many Latino activists say they unfairly target illegal immigrants, who are ineligible for driver's licenses and are forced to drive illegally to work, to visit doctors, and on other necessary trips.

The Escondido Police Department has seized nearly 10,000 vehicles in the last three years from unlicensed drivers, many of them at checkpoints, according to records provided by the city. In the same time period, Oceanside impounded 4,422 vehicles and Carlsbad impounded 705 vehicles.

Monday's checkpoint was routine in many ways. There were no high-speed chases or outbursts from drivers frustrated by the traffic stop. A couple drivers made U-turns to leave the checkpoint lanes, and were ticketed for a moving violation, officers said. Their licenses also were checked.

Officers greeted nearly all residents with a pleasant "Good morning, sir," "Good morning, ma'am. Driver's license please."

They sped licensed drivers through and impounded the cars of people without licenses, many who appeared to be Latino, leaving them to find some other way home.

Checkpoints, step-by-step

There were no demographic studies done prior to choosing a location for a driver's license checkpoint, Escondido Police Chief Jim Maher said. Officials look for a roadway with a high volume of traffic that also has a safe area nearby to conduct secondary screenings, he said.

In Monday's case, they chose the 400 block of Escondido Boulevard. It allowed them to use the public parking lot at the California Center for the Arts for secondary screenings. That's where Monday's drivers who could not immediately show a valid license were sent to speak with one of the 14 sworn police officers on hand, assisted by three non-sworn community service officers, a city tow coordinator and a handful of police volunteers.

Five tow trucks sat in the back of the parking lot.

Once in the secondary screening area, officers asked the drivers whether they had any form of identification, whether they owned the car they were driving and if they had any warrants for their arrest.

Several times, officers performed searches on Latino men who did not have driver's licenses. Officers restrained the men by putting their hands behind their backs and then patted them down. They then directed them to sit on a curb while they searched their vehicles. Not all drivers who could not show valid licenses were searched.

Escondido police Lt. Jim Stuard said officers use discretion in deciding who to pat down. In one case, several Latino men inside a pickup truck were wearing baggy clothing and could have been concealing weapons, he explained.

Officers were instructed not to ask drivers their immigration status, said Maher, the police chief.

If a driver cannot show a form of identification, however, he or she is taken to the police station for fingerprinting and a criminal background check.

From there, officers will contact immigration authorities if they believe the person is in the country illegally and they have a criminal history, Maher said.

Of the 296 people cited for driving without a license in 2007, six were turned over to immigration officials, he said.

Only one person was taken to the police station Monday, Stuard said. The person had an out-of-county warrant and was not booked into jail, Stuard said.

Checkpoint consequences

Under California law, the vehicle impound period is 30 days for those without a license or with a suspended license.

Towing, storage and service fees can add up to $1,200 or more during the monthlong period. That does not include paying for the ticket, lost wages and other related costs.

Virginia Mendez, after having her car towed at the checkpoint Monday, prepared to walk roughly a mile-and-a half home with her two young children, two nieces and a nephew.

She said she's applied to become a U.S. citizen, but has no way of acquiring a valid driver's license in the interim.

"In our heart, we want to have an opportunity to have a driver's license," Mendez said, wiping a tear from her face. "We pray to (God) to give us an opportunity to have our legal rights."

For Mendez, the consequence of the checkpoint will be at least one month without a car. A licensed driver must go with the owner of the car to reclaim it after the 30 days, though many of the cars are never reclaimed.

Despite heavy criticism, Escondido police say the checkpoints have resulted in a safer city.

They've played a role, the police chief contends, in decreasing the number of hit-and-run accidents over the past several years.

Escondido ranked No. 2 in the state for cities its size with 611 hit-and-run accidents in 2007, the state's Office of Traffic Safety reported. It had 675 hit-and-run accidents the year before.

Those accidents numbered 400 through this November, Maher said.

Curious how the checkpoints work, Jon Riksford turned his car around on Escondido Boulevard and entered the line Monday morning.

Upon arriving at the front, the local real estate agent asked, "Who's paying for this?," explaining later he was worried how his taxpayer dollars were being spent.

Officers, including Maher, encouraged him to pull into the secondary screening area.

There Lt. Stuard explained that none of the officers were being paid overtime. Checkpoints are typically held on days when the greatest number of officers are on duty.

He added that the city charges the drivers of impounded cars $180 each. (That's in addition to the tow and per-day storage fees one must pay to the tow companies).

The city fee, officials said, is used to offset the cost of the checkpoint, including the time to process all arrests and paperwork.

After listening to the lieutenant, Riksford said he was satisfied with the answers.

"Pretty painless," is how he described the traffic stop.

Contact staff writer Chris Nichols at (760) 740-5426 or cnichols@nctimes.com

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Legality of car impounds

A federal judge this fall dismissed a lawsuit challenging a state law that allows cities to impound cars for up to 30 days when people are caught driving without a license.

U.S. District Court Judge S. James Otero said in his ruling that taking a vehicle temporarily is within the spirit of the law and is necessary to protect the health and safety of "Californians from the harm of unlicensed drivers."

Civil rights attorneys filed the lawsuit in March 2007 on behalf of about 20 plaintiffs, including two people whose cars were impounded by Escondido police, and named Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Riverside and Los Angeles counties and the cities of Riverside, Escondido, Maywood and Los Angeles as defendants.

The impound law was signed into law in 1994 by then-Gov. Pete Wilson in 1994; it took effect in January 1995.