Fair Or Not? California Police Raid Car Enthusiast Gathering To Generate Revenue

I hate California. This is 1 reason why I moved out of there. Also, up and down Cali is full of loser *ss gang bangers.

— ricer (View Profile)

Posted on 4/4/2008 4:39:44 PM | reply to this comment | Votes: 13   

Another example of the government declaring war on motorists. Where are the cops when little old ladies get mugged on the street? Bad PR -- the cops just made a bunch of enemies.

— EnnNorak (View Profile)

Posted on 4/4/2008 10:39:08 PM | reply to this comment | Votes: 9   

EnnNorak, their hiding behind bushes waitiing for someone to speed by them 5 miles over the speed limit so that they can write them a ticket.

— 0to60 (View Profile)

Posted on 4/5/2008 8:21:03 AM | reply to this comment | Votes: 6   

Have you ever noticed that at the end of the month cops are out in full force. They have to meet their quota for that month. Looks like in this situation they can sit around and eat donuts for the rest of the month.

— germanautoaddict (View Profile)

Posted on 4/9/2008 8:24:46 AM | reply to this comment | Votes: 1   

Sure like if they only go to share stories!! they should crush all those rice cars.

— carguy68 (View Profile)

Posted on 4/4/2008 3:50:00 PM | reply to this comment | Votes: -12   

I'm not a ricer fan, but that is completely unfair! Just because they are modified doesn't mean they are for racing. That's likes saying you got an M5 for F1.

— Carboy (View Profile)

Posted on 4/4/2008 3:51:41 PM | reply to this comment | Votes: 17   

How this people come up with such unrealistical numbers like $503,000 in overtime pay?
Unless two-three thousand officers were involved in this action, simple math will prove this number wrong.

As for tickets, same as with many other "illegal" things - if the modification is illegal, expect it to cost you. I have nothing against these modifications, all I'm saying is that they might come with the price of ownership.

— vladyxa (View Profile)

Posted on 4/4/2008 3:54:26 PM | reply to this comment | Votes: -1   

This is pure and utter crap, they'd never in a million years try that in WE-HO or Beverly Hills. All that money and time spent, and for what? Window tinting and engine moding tickets. Talk about a total waste of tax money. Go stop a real criminal, and not some people showing off their pride and joy. It's like if you make 100k or more it's ok, but if you look like an extra from the Fast & Furious they'll write you every ticket in the book. It's totally unfair and biased. Laws like these do nothing but keep the rift there, between true car enthusiasts and tools who have too much money, and buy cars that they're not even qualified to drive.

Killbot

— KillBot (View Profile)

Posted on 4/4/2008 3:59:03 PM | reply to this comment | Votes: 11   

Let me start off by saying that Im not a fan of the modified/aftermarket car scene. Totally unfair and just plain wrong. You cant be ticketed just for driving an M3 or an AMG or even less for having it parked.

How would you feel if a police officer just came up to you as you were sitting in a parkinglot searched your car and ticket you because your car had performance enhancements.

Plenty of people here have no problem with it because they werenot the ones who felt violated, but in my book this doesnt seem right, at all.

— w209w114 (View Profile)

Posted on 4/4/2008 4:17:41 PM | reply to this comment | Votes: 16   

Having too many times been on the other side of the window from CHP and other local police, (101mph on the I-5 between SFO and LA is perfectly safe, officer!) I can feel for these kids. However, I wouldnt mind hearing this story from a more balanced source.

example... "surround a gathering of automotive enthusiasts." Others might say to break up an illegal, dangerous street race. just sayin..... Does that make me seem old?

— 1970toyotamarc (View Profile)

Posted on 4/4/2008 4:18:18 PM | reply to this comment | Votes: 3   

This is BS. I guess people have to schedule different locations to meet. Yes some people do deserve tickets for absurd $h1t but it is jacked up that Police make it easy on themselves by raiding a meet instead of pulling them over on the roads.

Yes..take action if they are actually racing or knowledge of illegal activities taking place. I doubt the city actually made up the cost of the raid anyways...lol.

Pisses me off...

— Porschinator (View Profile)

Posted on 4/4/2008 4:22:10 PM | reply to this comment | Votes: 4   

It might not be fair, but I'm sure what they did was "legal". I still smell a lawsuit coming. I agree with KillBot...take care of the real criminals!

You can get pulled over and ticketed for pretty much anything they want these days.

I'm sure there are gatherings for Hot Rods, classics...etc, but I doubt you'll see 100 cops at those gatherings.

— bigmotov (View Profile)

Posted on 4/4/2008 4:29:55 PM | reply to this comment | Votes: 3   

if they're actually racing, action should be taken. but in a gathering boggles me. there are gatherings here some 3-5 miles from here with all kinds of cars. but if your car has those ugly altezza lights and a huge wing (on some regular car) and a distasteful body kit, yuck. I saw a corolla in these gatherings and laughed my a$$ off.

— Htay7500 (View Profile)

Posted on 4/4/2008 4:59:34 PM | reply to this comment | Votes: 2   

Unless they were actually racing, there should have been no police involvement other than monitoring the situation.
To pull up to a gathering and just pass out tickets like candy is ridiculous. How about going to Long Beach and stopping some of the illegal drugs from being brought into the country?
It seems some of you are forgetting that you were once young and apt to do things young men do -- one of which is to modify their ride. You may not like how they mod their rides, but it's going to happen. It happened in the 1950s, the 1980s, to now, and it will in the future. Get over yourselves.
I'm all for a cop stopping anyone who is driving stupidly or has illegal mods ON THE STREET. But if the car isn't moving, leave it alone.

— gooch (View Profile)

Posted on 4/4/2008 5:16:07 PM | reply to this comment | Votes: 5   

I think all those fast and furious cars are silly. But if the modifications are not in violation of existing law, what's the problem?

You can't bust someone for possibly street racing in the near future.

What is this "Minority Report"?

— answer (View Profile)

Posted on 4/4/2008 5:19:29 PM | reply to this comment | Votes: 7   

California is known for this. Santa Barbara Police did the same thing in 2004 at a European gathering of automotive enthusiasts. The organization rented the Santa Barbara fairgrounds for the gathering with all types of aftermarket sponsors. The fairgrounds is like a fish bowl with exits going out of it onto two main streets. The cops were waiting for the event to end and started ticketing as soon as one drove out for tinted windows, no front license plates, etc. Definitely a set-up.

— VISO (View Profile)

Posted on 4/4/2008 6:01:18 PM | reply to this comment | Votes: 6   

1. For everyone yelling about profiling- profiling based on the type of car someone drives is not the same as profiling based on their race, religion, etc. Sorry, this was perfectly legal.

2. It should be pointed out, no one was ticketed for gathering. They were ticketed for illegal modifications so enough of the ... "we can't even get together and share our automotive passion any more" complaints.

3. There is no rich/poor distinction going on here. If a billionaire with an illegally modified Rolls Royce was there he would be ticketed. It's not the police's fault that this income demographic happens to gather in large numbers and make it very easy for the police to write a lot of tickets in a short amount of time. The lesson is, if you are going to engage in illegal activities maybe you should keep a lower profile.

— ZBL1414 (View Profile)

Posted on 4/4/2008 7:18:53 PM | reply to this comment | Votes: -8   

So it took about half-a-million dollars for the the toy cop pigs to even give a crap and start shit up before it even happens...interesting to know we have more idiots in this world today, when we already thought we had enough...LMAO!!!

— BigShow50 (View Profile)

Posted on 4/4/2008 7:25:57 PM | reply to this comment | Votes: 3   

I hate cops. They have too much free time caring about "traffic violations". They should be out there protecting us, not sneaking around trying to find us "guilty"

— Hwany (View Profile)

Posted on 4/4/2008 7:49:19 PM | reply to this comment | Votes: 8   

I am not so sure this is legal. I am no lawyer, but I did have a friend whose grandfather owned a large number of grocery stores that he is due to inherit.

I remember quite distinctly him telling me that the police could not legally enter their parking lot even if there had been an accident, without some special qualification. I believe they had to acquire permission from his grandfather to enter it.

— cdoke (View Profile)

Posted on 4/4/2008 8:03:38 PM | reply to this comment | Votes: 2   

I have one question. Why? Why if they are just gathering in a parking lot, Why bother them? Because they are young and you think they are up to no good? I didn't read that these people had warrent or Drugs? All this will do is make more people hate the police. I'm in a Subaru Legacy club and we have meets all the time and even Midnight meets and get around 20 to 30 cars there. They don't bother us because we are all 30's, 40's and up, home owners and don't fit the "young punk" profile. We don't have flames and lighting bolts all over our cars and are more low key. Hot rodding has been around for a long time and this is just dumb. There is alot of crime in that area and the Police time could have been better spent on real crimes. Did the lot owner call the cops?

— brmq (View Profile)

Posted on 4/4/2008 8:16:53 PM | reply to this comment | Votes: 5   

One easy way to not get picked on is to do the gathering without getting picked on is the same way that everybody else in this country does . Get the community involved and donate a share of the proceeds to some local charitible orginization . This is the way a local church picnic with a handfull of carswould do it all the way to the Barrett Jackson Auto Auction .Both of these and all the ones in between make the first step by checking in with the Town Chairman or Mayor and state when they would like to have the eventand where . Another option would be to have it at a local outdoor arena where there would be some to degree of supervision rather than have eveyone set the rules themselves

— toolatetorace (View Profile)

Posted on 4/4/2008 10:47:44 PM | reply to this comment | Votes: 3   

So if one of the attendees tried to exit, but was blocked from leaving by police with no cause to detain him, this is legal? Wow. As a native Southern Californian, I have seen first hand how rude, thuggish and obnoxious all the many gangsters and wannabe gangsters can be. I have also seen how rude, thuggish and obnoxious the cops here can be. I have seen first hand how they lie in police reports in order to rack up charges so they can pressure the "criminal" into an expedient plea bargain. In my neighborhood in Orange County, no one consistently breaks more traffic laws than police officers. And I'm not talking about when they're actually chasing someone. The police action in this article is an absolute abuse of tax payer money and should be investigated.

— fuelfool (View Profile)

Posted on 4/5/2008 2:45:00 AM | reply to this comment | Votes: 9   

What a waste of taxpayers' money!
I like to know in the amount time and resources wasted on something like this, how many acts of true criminal activity happened elsewhere -- more important places for 100 cops or squad cars should be.

— Bored (View Profile)

Posted on 4/5/2008 4:45:02 AM | reply to this comment | Votes: 2   

This has to be illegal. There is definitely profiling going on. How can you give me a ticket for a parked car?
T

— TauronB2G (View Profile)

Posted on 4/5/2008 12:23:43 PM | reply to this comment | Votes: 3   

I see many people say "waste of taxpayers' money", but did anyone think that this whole story is a BS, or not exactly true?

After reading about $503K spent on this raid, which cannot be possible even remotely true, I would not be surprised if whole story is bogus. Anyone has links to more reputable, news agency perhaps, course. At least 50 police cruisers blocking exits - this gathering would surely attract attention of some news crews.

— vladyxa (View Profile)

Posted on 4/5/2008 12:32:13 PM | reply to this comment | Votes: 1   

SoCal Cop asks-'Why would you need more power to the car?" By this yardstick, anybody driving a 911 Turbo, Nissan GTR, Bugatti, Ferrari, Lambo, Aston, M5, AMG or any one of 50 dozen HIgh BHP cars should be pulled over without any cause what soever. 'Sir- may I ask why you feel the need to drive a 516Bhp Mercedes E63AMG?"
The SoCal cops may actually be WORSE than the gang bangers.

— Lyall (View Profile)

Posted on 4/5/2008 6:53:44 PM | reply to this comment | Votes: 1   

Note to modified car owners in California: If you plan to attend a gathering like this one, don't forget to glue some razor blades to your hood release latch in case one of those mongoloids decides to unlawfully enter your car to do an engine inspection.

— sold2early (View Profile)

Posted on 4/5/2008 6:56:53 PM | reply to this comment | Votes: 0   

Are they even given the right to petition this?

— adamsaf723 (View Profile)

Posted on 4/5/2008 9:58:52 PM | reply to this comment | Votes: 1   

Im kinda conflicted; while I hate police, I hate ricers MUCH more. I think this is funny as hell and hope cops across the country follow suit. Maybe eventually we'll have peace and quiet thanks to no fart cans, and less eyesores caused by stickers and rice kits.

— tattedtwice (View Profile)

Posted on 4/6/2008 5:40:37 AM | reply to this comment | Votes: -2   

those " VIN DIESEL'S " should visit jail for couple of days and do some community service afterwards.

— fatboi (View Profile)

Posted on 4/6/2008 2:28:30 PM | reply to this comment | Votes: -1   

What do you expect from California out on the left coast?

— 993Turbo (View Profile)

Posted on 4/7/2008 7:43:42 AM | reply to this comment | Votes: 1   

Unless these guys were causing problems I don't see how this was warranted. So nine agencies decided finding real criminals that terrorize our communities was too hard, so they decided to take the "shooting a fish in the barrel" route.

I really hope some good lawyers get involved, and I love the quote from the one douchebag. "If you're not into street racing, why would you need that?". Lets just generalize every automotive enthusiast who likes modifying their vehicle from anything as simple as a set of wheels to an FI kit as a "street racer".

It is unfortunate that the police and a lot of naive politicians are focusing their efforts to taking away our civil liberties.

— SS21CA (View Profile)

Posted on 4/7/2008 2:43:15 PM | reply to this comment | Votes: 1   

I think that i have been - 1 Boost by VIN DIESEL himself!

those people are gathering after midnight and start making dountas and revving thier v4 engines and disturb drugs to innocent teenagers and and shout about crazy things like FIGHT THE SYSTEM and stuff like that.
its a good thing that police is aware of thier illegal activities.

— fatboi (View Profile)

Posted on 4/7/2008 5:35:48 PM | reply to this comment | Votes: 1   

This is big brother cracking down. We have the same thing in New York State with DWI.
Treat yourself to a nice dinner on a Friday evening and have a glass of wine with your meal, and your whole world might likely be flipped upside down. In this state they block the roads and interrogate drivers like the KGB. They shine a light in your face and scare your kids in the backseat. They have a zero tolerance policy. So if you made the terrible mistake of relaxing with a beverage after a long day of work, you may lose it all now, especially if you drive your car for sales work. No car=no job=bankruptcy.
They have a racquet going on for DWI. 1st you need to get someone to drive you downtown, since your license is suspended, then they put you on an ongoing schedule of expensive appearances. You need to pay the clerk, the parole officer, the lawyers, the shrink you are required to see on a regular basis (Cash only as health insurance doesn’t cover it) Then comes the wallop to the car insurance already at record levels compared to other states. Add this to the $3,000 in Sales tax for the car, the gasoline tax, road tolls, Costly Registration, Inspection, another state Racquet.
I would prefer to walk down to the train station and take the train to the restaurant to avoid all this. There is only one problem; there is NO TRAIN, and no train station. General Motors fixed that with their iron-fist decision to remove trains from cities and have people drive cars instead. Of course if you take a train through this city you might get mugged or shot, because the cops are busy in the suburbs setting up more road blocks.

— mercuryguy (View Profile)

Posted on 4/10/2008 4:21:00 PM | reply to this comment | Votes: 1