Letters: ‘Impounded’ means ‘stolen’
Re “Scandal rocks police force in Salinas Valley,” Feb. 26
The arrests of officers in King City accused of scheming to steal impounded cars from mostly Latino immigrants aren’t completely surprising.
For the last seven years, volunteer attorneys at the National Lawyers Guild, where I am an attorney, have been assisting poor, undocumented and unlicensed drivers whose cars have been seized.
We detailed the problem of racial profiling during traffic stops and aggressive law enforcement tactics that resulted in the confiscation of thousands of vehicles driven by unlicensed drivers who could not afford to pay the impound fees and fines. In effect, their vehicles were stolen and sold at rock-bottom prices at tow yard sales.
By 2015, undocumented immigrants will be able to apply for a California driver’s license. It is time to change the onerous 30-day impound law for driving without a license.
Cynthia Anderson-Barker
Los Angeles
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