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California Highway Patrol officers in Dublin received the first of two low-profile patrol vehicles on Wednesday, which aims to help officers crack down on “video game-styled” reckless drivers, according to officials with the agency.
The new Dodge Durango vehicles are part of a statewide special initiative to make the roads a bit safer by having these specially marked patrol vehicles blend in with traffic “just enough to observe the most reckless and dangerous behaviors without immediate detection.”
“The goal is to improve overall driving behavior, not just when a black and white patrol vehicle is in view,” CHP Dublin Officer Tyler Hahn told the Weekly. “This ultimately makes California’s roads safer by reducing the number of deaths per mile driven.”
According to a May 8 CHP press release, there are over 390,000 documented crashes in California every year and almost 1,000 reports of reckless driving each day. Last year, CHP officers issued almost 18,000 citations for drivers going over 100 miles per hour, the agency said.
“Yes, this type of driving is something we see on our local highways, unfortunately,” Hahn said in regards to seeing “video-game-style driving” in the Tri-Valley.
CHP is deploying 100 of the new low-profile patrol vehicles throughout the state.
“The new vehicles give our officers an important advantage,” CHP Commissioner Sean Duryee stated in the press release. “They will allow us to identify and stop drivers who are putting others at risk, while still showing a professional and visible presence once enforcement action is needed.”
The agency began deploying the first 25 of these new vehicles earlier this month — including the first one for Dublin. The rest of the fleet will be “strategically placed along California’s busiest, high-risk roadways by June.”
Ok glad you posted this, since as journalists you have an opportunity to ask them real and important questions.
CVC 40800 outlaws this sort of vehicle.
“40800.
(a) A traffic officer on duty for the exclusive or main purpose of enforcing the provisions of Division 10 (commencing with Section 20000) or Division 11 (commencing with Section 21000) shall wear a full distinctive uniform, and if the officer while on duty uses a motor vehicle, it shall be a distinctive color specified by the commissioner.”
This law exists because the Legislature, whether one agrees with them or not, determined that it is in both the best interest of safety and justice that police officers dedicated for traffic patrols not be hidden or obscured.
So, the natural questions you should ask are
1) What interpretation of CVC 40800 are they taking that they believe allows them to hide their cars?
2) If they answer that they will only use these cars to catch felonies, then why waste an officer on duty?
3) If they answer that they did know about this and have found a clever out, then what is that clever out, why do they think it is okay to disregard the spirit of the law, and how does disregarding the spirit of the law make them reasonable enforcers of the law on others rather than just showing contempt for the law?
Thanks