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A report on the ``Kansas City Gun Experiment'' found that a 65 percent increase in guns seized by police produced the 49 percent drop in gun crime in 1992. The report compared gun and crime data from the 6 1/2 months of concentrated police patrols begun on July 7, 1992, to the 6 1/2-month period before the program started.
The experiment put four officers on duty for six hours of overtime each night for 176 nights and had two officers working an additional 24 nights.
Traffic stops were the most productive method of finding guns, with an average of one gun found in every 28 traffic stops, according to the study released Tuesday.
Other findings:
--Neither the number of gun crimes nor the number of guns seized changed significantly in a high-gun-crime comparison area several miles away where there were no enhanced police patrols.
--Gun crimes did not increase in any of the seven patrol beats surrounding the target area, suggesting there was a real drop in crime rather than merely a displacement of it to a nearby area.
The experiment was conducted in an 80-block area of the Missouri city where the homicide rate in 1991 was 177 per 100,000 people or about 20 times higher than the national average that year. The investment of 4,512 additional police-officer-hours produced 29 more gun seizures and 83 fewer gun crimes compared to the previous period, the study said.
The experiment and evaluation were sponsored by the National Institute of Justice, research arm of the Justice Department, and conducted by a team of researchers led by University of Maryland Professor Lawrence Sherman.
Sherman is duplicating the program for the Indianapolis. Ind., police department.
Nov 24, 1994
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Studies suggesting crime could be reduced by gun seizures, particularly by vehicle searches
A CA bill to: authorize the establishment of checkpoints for firearms
A CA bill: any person who drives consents to vehicle search for firearms
Gun Check Points at National Forests
Just Say No To Vehicle Searches
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Assemblyman Louis Caldera (D-Los Angeles) introduced legislation on Friday that would authorize the establishment of checkpoints (AKA sobriety checkpoints) for firearms. The idea is to allow police to set up road blocks in which they would stop cars and search for illegal firearms.
I called his Sacramento office and verified that this story was true and that the legislation is AB 3789. I haven't seen a copy of the legislation.
Here is how you can contact him if you want to:
Dist. 46==>
Louis Caldera
304 S. Broadway, Suite 580
Los Angeles, CA 90013
(213) 680-4646 (local ph. #)
(213) 680-1851 (local fax. #)
State Capitol, Room #2176
Sacramento, CA 95814
(916) 445-4843 (Sacramento Ph. #)
***********
From cheshire.oxy.edu!shell.portal.com!ca-firearms-request
From: jwalker@ISI.EDU (John Walker)
To: ca-firearms@shell.portal.com
Date: Mon, 07 Mar 1994 08:54:48 PST
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Studies suggesting crime could be reduced by gun seizures, particularly by vehicle searches
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Gun Check Points at National Forests
Just Say No To Vehicle Searches
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From: cjoksch@aol.com
To: ca-firearms@shell.portal.com
Date: Tue, 08 Mar 94 17:07:26 EST
pax version 1.2
BILL NUMBER: AB 3789 INTRODUCED 02/25/94
BILL TEXT
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Members Caldera, Eastin, Isenberg, Karnette, and Richter (Coauthors: Senators Peace, Presley, Torres, and Watson)
FEBRUARY 25, 1994
An act to add and repeal Article 2 (commencing with Section 2830) of Chapter 4 of Division 2 of the Vehicle Code, relating to firearms.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 3789, as introduced, Caldera. Firearms: vehicle searches and theft.
Existing law does not require drivers to consent to vehicle searches for unlawful firearms as a condition of obtaining a driver's license.
This bill would provide that any person who drives a motor vehicle shall be deemed to have given his or her consent to submit to a vehicle search for contraband firearms when requested by a peace officer, as specified. Moreover, the bill would require all driver's licenses and handbooks issued by the Department of Motor Vehicles on or after January 1, 1995, to include a notice of these implied consent provisions. The bill would authorize a county, city, or city and county, by ordinance adopted by a 2/3 vote of the members of the governing body, after being petitioned by a law enforcement agency, as specified, to declare an emergency and authorize nighttime vehicle searches for contraband firearms in vehicles of persons consenting or deemed to have consented to those searches under the bill. The bill would require the ordinance to be specific as to location and duration. The bill would specify that contraband firearms seized pursuant to the bill could be used as evidence, as specified. The bill would provide for the destruction of prohibited weapons.
The provisions of this act would remain in effect only until January 1, 1997, as specified.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no. State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. The Legislature finds and declares that the proliferation of gang violence and drive-by shootings has created a terrible and growing risk to the public safety. This risk is all the more appalling because of the increasing use of easily purchased or stolen weapons which are illegally possessed or transported, including high capacity semiautomatic weapons. Responsible and legitimate government concern requires aggressive and meaningful measures to stem this tide of violence.
With a profound understanding of the local nature of this threat and a deep, abiding interest in both the safety and privacy of the individual, the Legislature does hereby enact the 1994 Neighborhood Safety Act.
SEC. 2. Article 2 (commencing with Section 2830) is added to Chapter 4 of Division 2 of the Vehicle Code, to read:
Article 2. Searches for Contraband Firearms
2830. For purposes of this article "contraband firearm" includes any firearm unlawfully owned, possessed, concealed, loaded, or transported in violation of Title 2 (commencing with Section 12000) of Part 4 of the Penal Code.
2831. (a) Any person who drives a motor vehicle shall be deemed to have impliedly consented to a search of that vehicle for contraband firearms when requested by a peace officer acting pursuant to this article.
(b) All driver's licenses issued by the department on or after January 1, 1995, shall include a notice of the implied consent provisions described in subdivision (a).
(c) The synopsis or summary of laws regulating the operating of vehicles and the use of the highways, as provided in subdivision (b) of Section 1656, shall include a description of this section.
2832. A law enforcement agency having the primary jurisdiction to arrest for the commission of crimes within a city, county, or city and county, or any individual living within a city or county, may petition the governing body of any city, county, or city and county to declare a firearms emergency condition within that city, county, or city and county. The petition shall include a clear definition of the emergency area, substantial evidence of risk to the public safety, and proof of the concurrence of the county sheriff in the event that the sheriff maintains concurrent jurisdiction over the area and is not the petitioning agency.
After notice and public hearing, the local governing body may act upon the petition. Upon finding that the unlawful use of firearms has created a condition of extreme public peril, the governing body of any city, county, or city and county may, by ordinance enacted by two-thirds vote of its members, declare an emergency condition and temporarily authorize peace officers to conduct nighttime vehicle searches for contraband firearms within a clearly defined area which has been posted as a firearms emergency area with signs reasonably designed to give notice to motorists entering the area. Any authorization to search granted under this section shall be specific as to duration and in no instance shall be for more than 90 days.
Upon subsequent petition to the city council or the board of supervisors, and a new vote of the governing body, the state of emergency may be renewed for a subsequent 90-day period. In no case, may the state of emergency remain in effect consecutively for more than one year.
All administrative vehicle searches for contraband firearms shall be subject to constitutional constraints and shall be permissible only insofar as the gravity of the governmental interest or public concern served by regulating the transport of contraband firearms outweighs the unavoidable intrusion and interference to the individual.
2833. This article shall in no way limit authority for administrative searches for contraband firearms which are conducted as part of a combined regulatory scheme, such as airport, border, or fish and game searches, or searches supported by a valid warrant or probable cause.
2834. This article shall not be construed to grant authorization to conduct any search of a vehicle which qualifies as "inhabited" within the meaning of Section 459 of the Penal Code.
2835. Any firearm seized in conformity with this article may be used as evidence of the violation of any provision of the law in the same manner as a contraband firearm seized incident to enforcement of a lawfully issued warrant. However, this article shall not authorize, unless otherwise permitted by law, the seizure or admissibility of any evidence other than contraband firearms. The searches authorized by this article may be conducted only during the nighttime. For purposes of this article, "nighttime" means the period commencing one-half hour after dusk and ending one-half hour before dawn.
2836. (a) Any firearm seized in conformity with this article shall be surrendered to the sheriff of a county or the chief of police or other head of a municipal police department of any city, county, or city and county or the Commissioner of the California Highway Patrol.
(b) If any legal firearm has been stolen and thereafter recovered from the thief or his or her transferee, it shall be restored to the lawful owner, as soon as its use as evidence has been served, upon his or her identification of the firearm and proof of ownership.
(c) If a firearm is of the type prohibited pursuant to Chapter 2.3 (commencing with Section 12275 et seq.) of Title 2 of Part 4 of the Penal Code or of any other type that may not be lawfully possessed by the public, or stolen but unable to be restored to the lawful owner pursuant to subdivision (a), the firearm, in the month of July next succeeding, or sooner, if necessary to conserve local resources including space and utilization of personnel who maintain files and security of those weapons, shall be destroyed so that it can no longer be used as a weapon except upon the certificate of a judge of a court of record, or of the district attorney of the county, that the retention of it is necessary or proper to the ends of justice.
(d) No stolen weapon shall be destroyed pursuant to subdivision (c) unless reasonable notice is given to its lawful owner, if his or her identity and address can be reasonably ascertained.
2837. This article shall remain in effect only until January 1, 1997, and as of that date is repealed, unless a later enacted statute, which is enacted before January 1, 1997, deletes or extends that date.
SEC. 3. Section 1 of this act shall remain in effect only until January 1, 1997, and as of that date is repealed, unless a later enacted statute, which is enacted before January 1, 1997, deletes or extends that date.
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Studies suggesting crime could be reduced by gun seizures, particularly by vehicle searches
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Gun Check Points at National Forests
Just Say No To Vehicle Searches
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CALIFORNIA |
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This information is provided as a service of the National Rifle Association Institute for Legislative Action, Fairfax, VA. March 15, 1996
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Studies suggesting crime could be reduced by gun seizures, particularly by vehicle searches
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Reconsidering a Dayton case sent back by the U.S. Supreme Court, the justices voted 5-2 that evidence found from such searches must be thrown out in most cases even if a motorist consents to a search.
Columbus lawyer Harry R. Reinhart, president of the Ohio Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, said the court recognized that people are intimidated by police and often do not realize they can say "no."
For evidence from a search to be used in a criminal prosecution, there must be probable cause for police to believe a crime has been committed or the person involved must give voluntary consent, Reinhart said.
He said State Highway Patrol officers are taught under federal traffic safety grants how to use traffic stops as a pretext for drug searches and pass that procedure on to local law officers.
"This entire Traffic Drug Interdiction Program really is a federally run school to teach them how to violate the Fourth Amendment," Reinhart said.
The decision written by Justice Evelyn L. Stratton said the trial judge in the Montgomery County Common Pleas Court should have granted a defense motion to suppress evidence from the search because consent for the search was not truly voluntary.
The case stems from the April 3, 1992, arrest of Robert D. Robinette by Deputy Sheriff Roger Newsome of Montgomery County.
Newsome, who was on a drug interdiction patrol, stopped Robinette for driving 69 mph in a construction zone with a 45 mph speed limit.
The deputy gave Robinette an oral warning about speeding and returned his drivers license. Then, following drug interdiction protocol, Newsome asked Robinette whether he had any contraband, such as illegal weapons or drugs.
Robinette said he did not, but Newsome asked whether he could search the car, to which Robinette said yes. The search turned up a small amount of marijuana and one methamphetamine pill, which led Newsome to charge Robinette with possession of drugs.
Stratton said at no point did Newsome tell Robinette he was free to go or that he could decline to have his car searched.
"When these factors are combined with a police officer's superior position of authority, any reasonable person would have felt compelled to submit to the officer's questioning," Stratton said.
Joining her in the decision were Chief Justice Thomas J. Moyer and Justices Alice Robie Resnick, Paul E. Pfeifer and Deborah L. Cook.
Justices Francis E. Sweeney and Andrew Douglas dissented. Sweeney said he agreed with the majority's legal interpretation but felt in the Robinette case that there was no coercion and Robinette voluntarily consented to the search.
The justices originally ruled the evidence was inadmissible in a 4-3 vote in 1995. Pfeifer wrote that decision. It said, "Any attempt at consensual interrogation must be preceded by the phrase `At this time, you are legally free to go,' or by words of similar import."
The U.S. Supreme Court said having officers use "magic words" does not change the situation and each case must be decided based on "the totality of the circumstances."
Lt. John Born, spokesman for the patrol, said interdiction policies will not be changed until legal advisers have reviewed the decision.
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http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v97.n342.a03.html
US OH: Ruling May End Traffic Stop Searches
Newshawk: creator@mapinc.org
Source: Columbus Dispatch
Pubdate: Nov. 13, 1997
Contact: letters@cd.columbus.oh.us
Contact: pcoffman@dispatch.com
Author: James Bradshaw, Dispatch Statehouse Reporter
Website: http://www.dispatch.com/
| Home | Ordering | Articles | Flags: | US | state | historical | int'l | poles, etc |
Studies suggesting crime could be reduced by gun seizures, particularly by vehicle searches
A CA bill to: authorize the establishment of checkpoints for firearms
A CA bill: any person who drives consents to vehicle search for firearms
Gun Check Points at National Forests
Just Say No To Vehicle Searches