LA Police makes driver’s licenses optional, will ignore state impound law

In February, I wrote about LA Police Chief Charlie Beck wanting illegal aliens to be offered driver’s licenses. Beck suggested illegals were being disproportionately hurt by state mandated impound laws. Since he did not get what he wants, he’s just going to stop enforcing the law.

From Fox News.

The Los Angeles Police Department will soon start ignoring California state law, which requires police to impound the vehicles of unlicensed drivers for 30 days.

The majority of unlicensed motorists in Los Angeles are immigrants who are in the country illegally and have low-income jobs. The LAPD says the state’s impound law is unfair because it limits their ability to get to their jobs and imposes a steep fine to get their car back.

As long as drivers can produce some form of I.D., proof of insurance and vehicle registration, they’ll be allowed to keep their car. Police Chief Charlie Beck insists that it’s simply leveling the playing field.

So now it seems if you don’t have a driver’s license at all in Los Angeles, you’ll be free to drive on as long as you can show “some form” of ID, registration and insurance. Got that? The police commission just made state driver’s licenses an optional thing in Los Angeles.

Gee chief, doesn’t making illegal aliens with low-paying jobs buy insurance and paying registration fees unfairly burden them? Why should that be required? That’s the next logical step is it not?

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Steve McGough

Steve's a part-time conservative blogger. Steve grew up in Connecticut and has lived in Washington, D.C. and the Bahamas. He resides in Connecticut, where he’s comfortable six months of the year.

16 Comments

  1. Dimsdale on March 23, 2012 at 8:12 am

    (To the music of “California here I come!”):? Mexifornia here I come!
    ?
    Or is it Calexico?



  2. Dr Underhill on March 23, 2012 at 8:55 am

    Societies in decline will always enforce the laws that are easiest to enforce, and create a blizzard of new laws that benefit only the ruling class.? This becomes easier to rationalize and justify with the proliferation of false choices and alibis in every sector.? The stupid and the anti-social become normal.? Blue states are pretty far along in this decline, and it’s the decline that made? a man like Malloy possible and not the other way around.



  3. Tim-in-Alabama on March 23, 2012 at 11:40 am

    This would never happen if Malloy and Reed were still on patrol.



    • Dimsdale on March 23, 2012 at 6:47 pm

      Or Friday and Gannon!



    • dairyair on March 23, 2012 at 8:32 pm

      Tim, would that be Dannel P. Malloy and Harry Reed??



    • Tim-in-Alabama on March 23, 2012 at 11:05 pm

      Good ‘un, dairy.



  4. PatRiot on March 23, 2012 at 9:53 pm

    Driver’s license’s?? We don’t need no stinkin’ driver’s licenses.



  5. ricbee on March 23, 2012 at 11:17 pm

    Beck is a real loose cannon & should be kicked the heck out.



  6. winnie on March 24, 2012 at 4:59 am

    I would think that if someone immigrated to our country legally the first thing they would want to have would be a valid ID or driver’s license from the state they’re a resident of.? Something about pride.? Of course, if someone immigrated here ILlegally, I suppose they’d want to stay under the radar and hope for an idiot like Charlie Beck to come along and give them a free pass to make things “fair”.? Yep…let’s make sure that they don’t have their cars impounded because they have a job to get to.?
    See?? Unemployment HAS gone down.



  7. JBS on March 24, 2012 at 9:57 am

    All police chiefs are political appointees and in L.A. that means a Democrat appointee. I would be giving Beck too much credit if did this on his own. These marching orders had to come from higher up, i.e. the WH/DOJ and/or the DNC.
    “Stop picking on our base!”



    • Dimsdale on March 24, 2012 at 12:53 pm

      Just the foot in the door for other Cali cities, in other words.? A trial (pun intended) balloon.



  8. Dimsdale on March 24, 2012 at 1:01 pm

    I am getting the feeling that the LA police are becoming “optional” too: no laws, then what are they supposed to be doing?



  9. Lynn on March 26, 2012 at 8:00 am

    “LAPD will soon start ignoring CA state law” What the…..who needs to read any farther?? I finally found? a definition of police by Answers.com – police – “…now chiefly the department established to maintain order, ENFORCE the LAW, and prevent and detect crime” Have we finally descended into a Lawless state? We are going to let physically strong, highly trained in physical restraint, trained to follow orders of chain of command, armed with tasers and guns IGNORE state law? We are doomed!



    • Open4FreeDebate on March 27, 2012 at 7:52 am

      Can you not exagerate your point greater than this lame attempt!



    • Lynn on March 27, 2012 at 8:08 am

      HA, HA, I can NOT exaggerate all day long.? Also, I walk just fine, thank you!



  10. Truthseeker on March 26, 2012 at 2:16 pm

    Back in early 2001, after Chicago elected the felon Blagojevich as governor, the first thing Blago did was introduce a bill to allow Illegal immigrants to get a driver’s license.? Even though I live in this dang Blue State, this caused such an outrage it went nowhere.??Now?the interesting part is Illinois is such a pro-union State, that Unions led the charge against this bill and were successful.? In fact, the Unions play a huge part in closing any business found to employ illegal aliens.? I live downstate, and have seen this happen to several Mexican and Oriental restaurants.?? But when I visit relatives in Georiga, they tell me businesses hiring illegals (carpet mills, construction companies, etc.)?are never closed down.? Georgia is a “right to work state” and Illinois is not.? I suppose whomever gives the pols the most money also controls local immigration enforcement?
    .
    Crazy world sometimes.



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