Los Angeles Indymedia : Activist News

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

ONTARIO, California - Members of the immigrant community in Ontario protested the lack of police compliance with a state law designed to reduce the number of cars impounded at checkpoints, where drivers are detained without any probable cause. About 60 people marched through the city, and then presented their demands to the city council.

In October 2011, Governor Jerry Brown signed bill AB 353 (Cedillo and Allen), changing the way police impound vehicles at checkpoints in the state. In the last few years, checkpoints, and the sheer quantity of vehicles impounded at them and held for 30 days, have spurred intense organizing campaigns throughout the state, where immigrants led the way in exposing the unjust impounds and their impacts on families and the economy.

Under the new law, which took effect in January 2012 and only applies to checkpoints, motorists whose only violation of the law is driving while unlicensed (VC 12500) are permitted until the end of the checkpoint to call a licensed driver to retrieve the car and thus avoid impound. When the vehicle is driven by someone other than the registered owner, authorities are required to make a "reasonable effort" to locate the owner of the vehicle. Furthermore, those vehicles impounded at checkpoints are now held for one, rather than 30 days.

However, proper implementation of the law has been spotty. In cities with organized efforts, such as Pomona, where checkpoint start times were moved to 9:00 PM due to community pressure, and Riverside, where organized faith groups secured the pledge of the police department to not hold checkpoints in front of houses of worship, authorities have been eager to show their compliance with the new law. But in cities where communities have been slower to respond to their oppression, or where divisions have prevented such a response, police have been much more reluctant to relinquish the revenue that impounds at checkpoints generate.

Full story: Immigrant Community Stand Up Against Checkpoints by Rockero, photos by Melissa Ayala