Local News in Brief : Police Buy Truck Scale
The Torrance Police Department has purchased two pieces of equipment that it hopes will aid in separate crackdowns on overweight trucks and on parking scofflaws.
The department spent $13,000 for a mobile truck scale, which will allow traffic officers to check the weight of trucks that are stopped in western Torrance.
Torrance police have been weighing trucks at permanent scales along the San Diego Freeway and on the Palos Verdes Peninsula. But state law prohibits police from diverting truckers for more than five miles for weighing, and much of western Torrance is too far away from the permanent scales, said Lt. Dennis Frandsen.
Police said the new scale will be taken to where police expect to find overweight trucks, which can damage roads and contribute to traffic accidents.
The department also spent $2,760 for eight Denver Boots that will be used on vehicles with more than five unpaid parking tickets. The steel locks have become popular with police as a method of coercing violators to pay overdue tickets. Car tires will be locked in the steel devices for three days, unless owners pay their fines, according to Sgt. Ron Traber. After three days, cars will be towed.
Traber estimated that the devices will generate an additional $50,000 a year, helping to reduce a backlog of $500,000 in delinquent parking fines.
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