... why are you all assuming that it's only imports they are targetting?

I talked to a friend on the Millbrea PD and he said "it's not just Honda's we're looking at. We're looking at the domestics, too. It's just that the imports are so much easier to see."

SO kwicherbichen. If you don't like it, don't drive there.

<soapbox>

It's not like I LIKE having moronic wannabe racers/ricers/"performance drivers" driving down my street at all hours of the night with loud exhausts.... it's bad enough with the Hardley Ablesons. But to ***** about cops doing their job when YOU modify your car with "questionably" legal mods ... that's just stupid. You want to mod your car? You want that freeflow cat/catless exhaust/loud pipe? Change the law, don't ***** at the cops for doing what they think the REST OF THE RESIDENTS OF SAN MATEO COUNTY want. Christ Almighty, what has become of BAIC...

Do I have mods? Of course. Do they scream "LOOK AT ME!!! I DRIVE A FAST CAR!" No. They improve my performance, without stooping to the attention-grabbing. I'm way beyond the age where I try to impress people with what I drive or what I ride (WRX and CBR600RR, for those that care)... Guess some of you aren't.

If your car looks like it belongs in a ricer car mag, look at yourself in the mirror and ask if that is the type of image you want to portray. Seriously. You get a lot more of the right kind of attention for "classy" looks on a car than for "in your face" mods/graphics/body kits/loud exhausts, etc. And it's not just limited to drivers... some of my motorcycle buddies do the same stuff.. loud exhausts, etc... attention.. the wrong kind of attention from the wrong kind of people...


It seems to me that the people really *****ing about this are the ones that "fit the profile".

<soapbox>

Are there better ways for the cops to spend my tax dollars? Sure. But as I said, at least they are doing something, unlike the useless donut-grubbing poor excuse for cops I see in SFPD (and I also have friends in SFPD, as well as SJPD, Fremont, etc... the advantages of being in the Army Reserves and knowing MPs.), where the motto is "don't just do something, STAND THERE!"

You want to suggest a BETTER, more effective solution that addresses the problem completely? Please do. I'm willing to listen/read.

 

My car is bone stock from the factory. But my car fits the profile of a "street racer" because I have a stock wing, stock rims, stock low profile tires, stock air scoop, should I keep going?

And how is this any different that racial profiling. Consider the Japanese cars a race. If there is a group of friends that decide to just go for a drive one day all having imports. Is that consider a street racing syndicate? If there are 4 black males walking down the street, would they get stopped for being a "gang"? Most likely. Profiling is profiling is profiling. No matter what way you look at it you are targeting a specific group for what might happen not what has happened. And that why it is complete utter b u l l s h i t!!!


sniff...sniff...sniff.....I smell bacon.

 

Nope, not a cop... I already mentioned that I had PD friends because of my Army Reserve affiliation... guess your reading comprehension skills lack

And I guess you missed the point.. .the domestic modders tend to be more on the stealthy side... whereas import modders seem to want to advertise every little thing they've done to their car as some sort of status symbol...

I'll be at Eggettes this Wednesday if you wanna "discuss" anything

 

Instead of hassleing people on the streets go to the source. Start knocking on the doors of manufacturing companies. You can bust drug dealers all day long, but its not gonna do ish until you get the drug lord suppling it. Go knock on the door of HKS, Helix, Perrin, Cobb... they are the ones that are providing...is it illegal to buy these products? Then why is it illegal to put them on your car?

 

Did you even read the article? There IS no problem where they are pulling people over. They already HAVE addressed the issue properly; they claim to have shut down the only street races they found in the county as soon as they started. So if they already know that there's no racing in their county....then the citizens of the county can't be complaining about racing...and this is just a bunch of cops who think they're cleaver because one of them saw a movie and had a 'brilliant' idea for revenue. That or they had a meeting with Rosette from the other side of the bay...


The biggest flaw, as I and others have pointed out, is that they don't even know what they're targeting. They call them sideshows...but they're looking for (non-existant) drag races. And they're gonna end up targeting car-club meets and friendly weekend drives. It shows they really have no idea what's going on.

 

suprised they arent targeting "aggressive tread" tires haha. and cars with spoilers.

 

... because of the LAW...

read up on it.

You are again missing the point... you can go and harrass the manufacturers, but you exist in one market. They aren't going to cave in to the state of california, where it's illegal to buy some of the stuff they sell, because they have the REST OF THE WORLD to sell to... See, it's not illegal to buy this stuff in Texas, or Arizona, or any of the other states in the Union.. just.. SOME parts in California, SOME parts in Washington. Harrassign the manufacturers is useless, it's empty, it's a gesture that won't get anything.

And it's not illegal to buy these products... FOR OFFROAD USE. Look at EVERY SINGLE PERFORMANCE PART that modifies the exhaust in California... they all say "for offroad use."

It's not illegal to put them on your car... just illegal to use them on the STREET.... Off-road use, track use, show-car use, perfectly legal... PERFECTLY 100% legal to have them on a car you NEVER drive on the public streets and highways...

 

I see you and quite a few others have failed to look beyond the article. The byline makes great print.. but what they print and what they are really trying to do are two different things... sure the reasons they give are prefectly legitimate ... to a casual observer, it's enough. On the other hand, think about what they are TRYING to do... and he says it in VERY LAST sentence... they are trying to DISCOURAGE ... increased police presence discourages illegal activities... it's called increasing the pressure... the result: less riced out "racer" cars driving through the city... It's the same thing as announcing increased DUI checkpoints before major holidays... it's supposed to deter crime... if the "racers" can't stage or organize in San Mateo, it's one less hassle to deal with.

Again, it seems that the people most vocally against this are the ones that "fit the profile". I have no problem with it... if it's an inconvenience, I don't drive there.

 

Haha...yeah, I 'fit the profile' with my stock 05 wagon...you got me...



So you know what the cops are really trying to do? You really think they're doing this to discourage racing? If they are, which I highly doubt, then they're going about it wrong. You know how you stop racing? You give $100,000 fines for being caught IN A RACE. Then, just catch people racing (like they said they have before...in case you still haven't read it, they said there is no racing in the county because of their previous efforts of actually catching people racing...). Simple.


Can cops stop someone walking down the street with a picture of Towely on their shirt and fine them because they MIGHT smoke pot? No. Can a cop stop someone for wearing a shirt that says "I would never hit a women...never...but I'll shake the s*** out of one!" because they MIGHT shake a women. No. So why do you think it's ok to pull people over because they MIGHT race or have mods on their cars?

 

I'm only gonna throw my 2¢ in here because I am NOT a street racer, but I AM an enthusiast, and I can see where this is getting out of hand. I'm not arguing the fact that modifying your emissions equipment is illegal and is grounds to be pulled over and ticketed.....but here's where I DO have a major problem. This "profiling" has gone way beyond the "legitimately illegal mods." Here's my point.....explain to me how a lowered car, or a car with aftermarket wheels/tires (low profile in this case), wings (whether they are factory or not), or even down to plain old stickers, makes you a "street racer," or "fit the profile?" None of the above mentioned mods affect a vehicles emissions, in any way. Yet these mods alone have become probable cause to pull someone over under nothing more than a suspicion of being a street racer, because their car LOOKS fast. I have all of the above "mods" on my car, and I dont street race, but I like the way they make my car look......yet, because of that, now I "fit the profile," and run the risk of getting hassled and ticketed for no reason other than the fact that I have low profile tires, or a sticker on my window. and THAT folks.....IS BS in every way.

-Ted

 

... because visible mods imply nonvisible mods, which can be illegal for street use. That's the profile they are using. As has been proven many times in court cases, profiling is NOT illegal, if it's done with no regards to race, color, creed, or religion.

See... it must be the intel analyst in me.. I have no problems with cops using KNOWN INDICATORS to identify possible illegal activities.

I read the article. I understood it, apparently more than MVWRX. They aren't out to discourage racing now because there isn't an issue of RACING.. (as MVWRX has pointed out twice, while the article only felt in necessary to point it out once.. and FYI, they stopped racing there because the cops started really patrolling the area and busting cars in the Safeway parking lot... ). The the issue now is cars congregating, allegedly for illicit activity later on. That's what they are trying to stop. Did everyone miss that?

What is it with this gut reaction that the cops doing their job is a BAD THING. Last time I checked, people WERE annoyed at riced out wanna-be racer modified cars with loud exhausts driving through their neighborhoods... Last time I checked, tax-paying property owners WANTED their property values to increase, and a really good way to do that is to improve the profile of people visiting the area... just look at Hercules versus Walmart . Let's see... tax payers (the guys who pay the cop salaries) want unwanted behavior in their area to stop (cars congregating regardless of intent later on)... and the cops are giving them that ... I'm sorry, where is the problem here? The cops are doing what the residents want them to do... hell, they live there, it's their right. If you disagree with it, fine.. DON'T DRIVE THERE. Plain and simple. You pay to play, remember?

 

not sure if this was a profiling case but i just got a speeding ticket getting on the 580 from the bay bridge towards oakland (and there were TONS of other cars driving the same speed as me). i drive that every day for 4 years and have never been pulled over before. oh well.

 

Thats exactly my point.....they do nothing but IMPLY.....that doesnt mean there really is anything illegal, yet you'll still get busted because of an implication with nothing to back it up. If you got pulled over for one of these "Non-illegal" mods, like a factory STI wing, or low profile tires, and the cop actually found that you had a full non-compliant motor swap, or modified emissions, then yea, you get a ticket and deserve it. But if you get pulled over because the cop sees a car with a wing, and low profile tires, yet he doesnt find anything else "Illegal" with the car (if he even looks that is), chances are he will STILL give you a ticket for SOMETHING, in this case, street racing....just because you "fit a profile." I know plenty of people that this has happened to (with stock STi's in this case).


Here's a great example....back in the days of Christopher Columbus people thought the world was flat.....why? because when they looked out at the horizon it looked flat. Does that mean the world really was flat? No, its a sphere (obviously). Here's the point, it was implied or assumed that the world was flat, because people could clearly see the flat horizon.

SO, just because a cop can clearly see my aftermarket rims, and factory wing, he's implying/assuming I am a street racer based on what he sees from afar, without doing any further investigation or research, and is going to ticket you reguardless. In otherwords, he's falsly accusing you of doing something you never did based on how your car looks.

-Ted

 

is shadowpussicat a lawyer? he sure acts like it doesnt he?

 

Oh...you mean assembling peacfully? Like the constitution says we all have the right to do? Yeah...I guess the cops should look out for that...


Look, I know you go to meets from time to time. So can't you see that innocent and fun meets fit this rediculous profiling scheme?