Ask the Sergeant:

I was riding down PCH near the L.A. county line with a couple of buddies recently. We were going at a good pace that was somewhat above the speed limit when we passed a couple of motor cops parked on private property and shooting radar. I can't fight the speed, since I know I was speeding, but do the cops have the right to park on private property and conduct enforcement?
 
 Glen Hartley, Malibu
 
 I have heard a version of this question many times over many years. Most of the questions have to do with whether it is legal for a cop to sit on the center divider of a roadway, whether a cop can sit in the driveway of someone's house to work an area, or whether cops can disguise themselves or hide, and, if they do, whether the situation constitutes a speed trap or is entrapment.
 I am sure that many of you have seen the news stories about the sheriff in Florida who, each St. Patrick’s Day, dresses up as a Leprechaun, and every Christmas is Santa Claus. You can guess what happens on the rest of the holidays.
 California has its own unique set of laws that allow and also prevent certain types of behavior by Traffic Officers when they are enforcing the vehicle code and other laws.
 First, California Vehicle Code (CVC) section 40800 requires that every officer assigned for the primary purpose of enforcing the vehicle code shall be in a full and distinctive uniform, and, if they use a vehicle to conduct enforcement, that the vehicle must also be distinctly painted and marked as a law enforcement vehicle. This means that, much as I would love to wear a Leprechaun outfit (especially at 6'4") and ride around in a green Morris Minor, I am prohibited from doing both while working traffic in California.
 Next, CVC 40801 makes it illegal for a police officer to assist or participate in a speed trap. I am sure that my predecessor, Lieutenant Mike Brewer, had many letters about speed traps and has described them in detail in the past, so I will keep this brief. A speed trap is basically using time and distance calculations for speed enforcement, working a highway with Lidar or Radar when the speed limit is not supported by an engineering survey or established law for school zones, residential zones, or other maximum speed laws, or where the officer does not have sufficient training to use the equipment provided.
 Between these two laws you will notice that something is missing. Nowhere does the law discuss where an officer can be located in order to enforce the vehicle code. It is required that the officer be able to witness the violation (with the exception of enforcement that results from traffic collisions), so the courts and legislature are often generous in allowing officers to hide or make themselves less visible than normal in order to enforce the law. Most people won't drive like they normally do when a cop is known to be in the area and it can be argued that, if people know that cops hide and could be hiding anywhere, people will drive like they are always being watched because they never know what's over the next rise in the road.
 In my career, I have parked nearly every place I could fit a car or motorcycle. I have hidden behind trees, used private driveways, been atop hills looking down on the highway, and used the sun to hide my position in the shade. I have sat on buses waiting for jay-walkers to cross the street and run into the bus, have waited around corners where signs prohibit turns so the driver turns right to me, and have stood behind cars for concealment and looked through their windshields to watch traffic around schools. It is kind of like a grown-up version of “hide and go seek,” but I get to both hide and seek! Sometimes I have even had the violators tell me what a great hiding spot I had because they never saw me at all.
 The only issues that officers must contend with when using private property to work enforcement are department policy, public opinion, and the property owner's viewpoint because it is perfectly legal for an officer to use whatever tactic he wants to gain visibility or advantage while enforcing the laws of the vehicle code as long as the other requirements of the laws mentioned above are maintained. I am, for instance, still in full uniform while standing in a hedgerow working Lidar.
 Decisions about these issues are up to the officer or the department to contend with and they do not exonerate you when your case for speeding is heard. The Judge or Commissioner is not likely to even be concerned with where the officer was located, as long as the violation was clearly visible.
 As part of our testimony in court we typically start off by stating that we were in full uniform and in or on a marked enforcement vehicle, and then say where we were when we saw what happened. These statements tell the Judge we were not violating CVC 40800.
 In most instances when enforcement is needed, we receive complaints from the citizens of our community, and those complaints tell us where a problem or issue is. The complainant usually follows up their conversation with us by saying, "you can sit in my driveway if you want and I guarantee you will make your quota today!" If sitting on private property were illegal, we would not be allowed to accept offers like that.
 As a practice, most officers tend to use off-highway parking areas as places to park while conducting enforcement. These are usually privately owned parking lots for commercial properties that are open to the public, without fee, for the purpose of parking while conducting business. These locations are great because they front the major streets where most of the accidents are likely to occur and they allow us to blend in with all of the signage so we are less noticeable. We also get a high volume of traffic in places like this and we are very visible once we do make a traffic stop.
 Occasionally we do get someone who is adamant that we not use his or her property for enforcement activities, but that is the real exception. When these instances occur, it is very easy to solve. We simply move down the street to the next house or business that is happy to see us. These tactics make the roads safer for you, our families and me.
 
 Ride safe, keep smiling, and take care of yourselves and each other out there.

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