When you receive an automated enforcement ticket in the mail from Big Brother (the corporate spies at Lockheed Martin, eroding your liberties one blinding flash at a time) you’ll see a grainy black-and-white picture of the driver at the time of the alleged violation.
When the automated enforcement bill was wending its crooked way through our crooked legislature, there was great concern that drivers might be getting citations many weeks or months after the event due to delays in processing these citations back at KGB headquarters (Lockheed Martin IMS). Clearly this would be unfair. How can you defend yourself against a random event photographed many weeks or months ago? It’s pretty damn hard to defend yourself against an event you cannot recall. The automated enforcement bill did not have the votes to pass unless certain “safeguards” were put in place.
To appease the handful of legislators literate enough to have read 1984, the supporters of automated enforcement agreed to compromise. A 15 day notification deadline was written into the law. An automated enforcement ticket would only be considered a valid complaint if it was mailed to the defendant within 15 days of the alleged violation. With this compromise, the bill was passed and Lockheed Martin’s evil robots were able to multiply and spread across California like an unchecked disease.
CVC 40518 states:Whenever a written notice to appear has been issued by a peace officer or by a qualified employee of a law enforcement agency on a form approved by the Judicial Council for an alleged violation of… Section 21453… recorded by an automated enforcement system pursuant to Section 21455.5 or 22451, and delivered by mail within 15 days of the alleged violation…[this] shall constitute a complaint to which the defendant may enter a plea.”
The actual administration of automated enforcement programs by California cities has ignored the law as written. Many citizens are receiving these complaints 60-90 days after the date of the alleged violation. Most of these people, unable to even remember passing through an intersection, are unable to defend themselves. Intimidated by the threats of license suspension and jail in their “courtesy” notices, they give up in despair and pay a $346 fine.
Bottom Line: If you do not receive your citation within 15 days of the alleged violation, the late notice you received constitutes a valid complaint due to undue prosecutorial delay.
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STATEMENT OF FACTS
Defendant’s Name: Thomas Paine
Case No.: S780824
I received this citation in the mail 64 days after the date I allegedly ran a red light. I always drive safely and have no recollection of running a red light over two months ago.
It is totally unreasonable to expect any person to recall crossing an intersection sixty-four days after the fact. The statute legalizing automated red light enforcement requires the photographed motorists to be informed of the citation within 15 days of the date of the alleged violation.
CVC 40518 states:Whenever a written notice to appear has been issued by a peace officer or by a qualified employee of a law enforcement agency on a form approved by the Judicial Council for an alleged violation of… Section 21453… recorded by an automated enforcement system… and delivered by mail within 15 days of the alleged violation…[this] shall constitute a complaint to which the defendant may enter a plea.
When the law permitting automated red light enforcement was passed by the state legislature, the specific intent of this 15 day notice was to avoid the impossible situation I find myself in: attempting to defend myself against the charge of running a red light so long ago that I cannot even recall the specific event. I have passed through hundreds of intersections before and after the date of the citation, without incident
I believe that this absurdly late notice of citation is illegal under 40518. This citation violates both the letter and the spirit of 40518 and, as such, does not constitute a valid criminal complaint. Please dismiss my case in the interest of justice.
I declare under penalty of perjury under the laws of the State of California that the foregoing is true and correct.
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