License and registration, please The truth behind traffic tickets

Anybody who drives a car locally doesn’t need to be told there’a law enforcement presence in thcommunity—they can feel it.

PULLED OVER—A driver is stopped by the Highway Patrol in Agoura Hills, and a ticket is written. BILL SPARKES/Acorn Newspapers Whether on their way to homeschool or office, local drivers are as familiar with the sight of blackand-white Sheriff’s Department cruisers as they are with brake lights on the 101 Freeway.

“You always know they’re around,” says Denis Weber, the mayor of Agoura Hills and a longtime resident in the community.

While some of the deputies are investigating crimes or performing other duties, the majority are focused on traffic enforcement, especially in highly traveled areas such as Kanan Road, Parkway Calabasas and Thousand Oaks Boulevard.

To be fair, it’s doubtful any resident would say they’re opposed to the work done by the Sheriff’s Department, but some argue as to whether or not the Lost Hills Station might be “over-enforcing” traffic at the expense of those who are mostly law-abiding motorists.

Others have asked why deputies choose to write tickets as a deterrent when a simple warning would suffice. And deputies have been accused by more than one disgruntled driver of writing tickets “just to meet their quota.”

“It’s gotten to the point where you can’t drive anywhere without seeing (a cruiser) and without seeing someone pulled over,” said Georgette King, an Oak Park resident who commutes everyday through Agoura Hills. “It leads me to believe there is something going on other than just protecting our community. It seems more like punishment than protection.”

Write tickets, prevent crime With more police resources but less crime than in other areas, the Lost Hills Sheriff’s Station in Calabasas is able to enforce traffic laws in its five contract cities—Agoura Hills, Calabasas, Westlake Village, Malibu and Hidden Hills—with a fervor not possible in other areas of the county.

For deputies, less time spent tracking down gang members and car thieves means more time to focus on the issues that do trouble the citizens in the contract cities, such as traffic.

“Our station is very aggressive when it comes to traffic enforcement in our area, and the reason for that is we are fortunate that the amount of crime we have does not compare with a lot of other station areas in the (L.A. County) Sheriff’s Department,” said Lt. Steve Smith of the Lost Hills station.

“If you go to a homeowner’s association meeting here, the majority of the concern stated by the residents is speeding cars, illegal parking, traffic enforcement issues, a lot of juvenile-type concerns, things like kids racing up and down the street,” he continued.

Taking the position that policing traffic goes hand-in-hand with policing more serious crimes, the Sheriff’s Department makes no apologies for aggressively enforcing the rules of the road.

“The majority of the arrests we make in the field are from observation, and generally, traffic is the cause for the initial stop. Then it leads to narcotics, guns, burglaries, that type of thing,” Smith said.

The lieutenant, who’s been with the Sheriff’s Department for 30 years, said there’s a reason, for instance, why a driver traveling the three miles from Oak Park along Kanan Road through Agoura to the 101 Freeway might see three or four patrol cars along the way, although that reason may not be clear to all residents.

“High visibility is an advantage for us and for the community because a lot of crimes are opportunity-type crimes,” Smith said. “A criminal exits the freeway, takes a right, and hits the first house he finds. Well, if that criminal exits the freeway and sees a black and white, chances are he’s going to go down five miles to the next exit.” Biggest culprit is speeding

In January, the Lost Hills Sheriff’s Station issued 1,627 traffic citations—about 52 a day—to both residents and non-residents in Agoura Hills, Westlake and Calabasas.

The drivers in Agoura Hills received 756 citations, followed by Calabasas with 687 and Westlake Village with 184.

Of those tickets, 41 percent were given for excessive speeding, while the other 59 percent were issued for a variety of violations, such as not observing signs and signals, unsafe turning and failure to yield.

Although the Sheriff’s Department does not keep a detailed record of warnings versus citations, it’s safe to say that the majority of drivers pulled over for what are considered hazardous offenses— speeding, illegal lane changes, following too closely, seat belts unbuckled—are getting a ticket.

Smith, a former traffic deputy, said the general criteria officers use when deciding whether or not to cite is the gravity of the offense and the likelihood that the behavior could cause harm to the person driving the car or somebody else on the street.

But in the end, the final decision on whether to give a ticket or a warning falls into one person’s hands—the deputy who made the stop.

“Now do we give people warning at times? Sure. We don’t direct a deputy not to give warnings,” Smith said. “We don’t say ‘Hey, if you stop him you have to cite him or if you stop someone you have to warn them.’ We leave that up to the deputies.

“And are there deputies that warn people? Sure. Are there deputies that don’t warn people? Sure.”

On target

If the Sheriff’s Department is targeting a specific location because they’ve seen a rise in collisions or a particular violation, there’s little chance the person who’s pulled over there will leave without a ticket, whether it’s their first time in the area or not. “We’re trying to make an impact there,” Smith said, “to make a difference in driving habits.”

The general thinking at the Sheriff’s station is that a traffic ticket—and all the painstaking responsibilities that come with it— will make a stronger impact than a simple “try being a little safer next time and have a nice day.”

“The goal of stopping somebody is to somehow impact their driving,” Smith said. “If the deputy determines he can impact the operator by giving them a warning, then that’s up to the deputy.

“But if that deputy has sense that by giving people citations it impacts them more . . . then he’s probably going to give a citation.”

Either way, Smith said, the Sheriff’s Department expects all its deputies to act with just prudence.

“We always strive to be reasonable in what we’re doing,” Smith said.

Next week: As tickets are written, residents speak out and the police respond.