by Angela Lau, Staff writer

San Diego UNION-TRIBUNE

December 27, 2009

The city of Escondido is reviewing its policy on driver's license checkpoints after the American Civil Liberties Union formally demanded that the city end the checkpoints, calling them violations of state law.

City Attorney Jeffrey Epp said this week that he is reviewing all the issues raised in a demand letter sent to the city by the ACLU of San Diego & Imperial Counties and El Grupo, a Latino advocacy group.

The letter states that driver's license checkpoints violate state Vehicle Code section 14607.6, which prohibits officers from stopping motorists solely to check for licenses.

According to the letter, the state Attorney General's Office has deemed it illegal to stop motorists to check licenses unless the police have a reasonable suspicion.

Although the opinion concerned the city of Maywood in southeastern Los Angeles County and was part of a wide-ranging investigation into police wrongdoing there, ACLU legal Director David Blair-Loy said in an interview that the ruling should apply to Escondido as well.

“It is not a formal opinion, but it is certainly persuasive and relevant,” he said.

The attorney general's spokeswoman, Christine Gasparac said the opinion applies only to Maywood and that the attorney general has not issued a formal opinion.

Epp said this week that the section of the vehicle code quoted by the ACLU is open to interpretation, but he is evaluating it nonetheless. In the meantime, police can continue driver's license checkpoints, he said. The next one is scheduled for Jan. 2.

So far this year, the police have conducted 11 driver's license checkpoints and 15 drunken-driving/driver's license checkpoints, according to police records.

Blair-Loy said Escondido police have been downplaying the frequency of driver's license checkpoints by masking some as DUI/driver's license checkpoints. He said that sobriety checkpoints — which he supports — should not be used as driver's license checkpoints.

Escondido police began driver's license checkpoints in 2004 to reduce hit-and-run accidents, Police Chief Jim Maher has said, emphasizing that no one opposed them at the time.

In 2006, when the City Council adopted a fine for landlords who rent to illegal immigrants, El Grupo and others began calling driver's license checkpoints deportation traps. That law was later rescinded when challenged in court.

The checkpoints, funded by a state grant, are held in high-traffic areas. All vehicles are stopped. Motorists who cannot produce proper identification are taken to the police station and checked for warrants and criminal history. If they have a criminal past and are thought to be in the country illegally, they are handed over to immigration authorities. So far, one person has been deported because of a standing court order, Maher has said.

The checkpoints were not ordered by the City Council, but Councilwoman Olga Diaz, who opposes them, wants the panel to consider ending them.