Officials Take Advantage of a Loophole in Privacy Protection Act to Avoid Traffic Tickets
An Orange County Register investigation has found that there are 996,716 vehicles registered to motorists who are affiliated with 1,800 state and local agencies. Being a motorist working for a state and local agency, their addresses are sheltered under the Confidential Records Program. This program was created 30 years ago “to protect police from criminals, but has been expanded to cover hundreds of thousands of public employees – from police dispatchers to museum guards – who face little threat from the public. Their spouses and children can get the plates, too.”
Seems fair enough right? The problem lies in the fact that so many California roadways now have toll roads and red light cameras. When the courts try to send traffic tickets to these state and local officials, their address is shielded and therefore the officials do not receive, nor pay restitution on these traffic tickets. This goes for their spouses and children who get the plates and the traffic tickets as well.
To make this news even more disturbing, these safeguards are no longer needed because updated laws have made all DMV information confidential to the public.
The Register reported that the confidential plate program protects these motorists in the following ways:
- Vehicles with protected license plates can run through dozens of intersections controlled by red light cameras and breeze along the 91 toll lanes with impunity.
- Parking citations issued to vehicles with protected plates are often dismissed because the process necessary to pierce the shield is too cumbersome.
- Some patrol officers let drivers with protected plates off with a warning because the plates signal that the drivers are "one of their own" or related to someone who is.
For more information on this state and local exposure, check out the entire OC Register Story
If you are unlucky enough to be a citizen that is not a state or local official and find yourself with traffic tickets, contact us at Fighttrafficticketsonline.com, a service provided by Ticket Busters (TicketBust.com) or 800.850.8038
