Senate Approves Bill Allowing Random Car Searches for Weapons

Anti-gang legislation permitting law enforcement officers to stop motorists at random and search their vehicles for illegal firearms during a local emergency was overwhelmingly passed by the Senate on Thursday.

The bill by Sen. Ed Davis (R-Valencia), a former Los Angeles police chief, was sent to the Assembly on a lopsided 29-4 vote despite some reservations that the measure might run afoul of constitutional protections against unreasonable search and seizure.

But Davis insisted that the bill, aimed at the perpetrators of gang-related drive-by shootings, provided for “reasonable search and seizure.” He noted that “even some of our nicest suburbs are getting gang shootings and gang violence.”

Sen. Bill Lockyer (D-Hayward), chairman of the Judiciary Committee, told the Senate that the far-reaching bill probably is unconstitutional and likely will be killed in the Assembly. Nevertheless, Lockyer had voted in favor of the measure in his committee and decided to sit out the vote on the Senate floor rather than publicly side against it during the current anti-crime climate that prevails among citizens.

“When you start in a free society searching people’s cars without cause--just doing it because you know there is a general safety problem--we should all as free Americans worry about that,” Lockyer cautioned his colleagues.

Skeptics noted that under the bill, police would not have to demonstrate the usually required probable cause or reasonable suspicion before stopping and searching a vehicle and seizing weapons.

One such skeptic, Sen. Gary K. Hart (D-Santa Barbara), voiced concern that police and sheriff’s deputies could single out minority drivers for “discrimination.” But Hart wound up voting for the measure.

But Davis said such conduct would be both improper and illegal. “I think police agencies are very sensitive to that,” he said.

The bill is intended to give cities and counties an additional tool to combat street gang shootings, particularly in some Los Angeles neighborhoods where gun fights between rival groups seem part of the life style.

The bill would allow a city council or county board of supervisors to declare that public safety is so “gravely imperiled” by illegal use of firearms that law enforcement officers should conduct emergency searches of vehicles at random.

The searches would be conducted only at night because, a Davis aide said, most drive-by shooting occur under cover of darkness. He also said daylight searches would unnecessarily disrupt people’s lives

The bill, in addition, would allow officers on a non-emergency basis to stop motorists at roadside checkpoints, similar to stops aimed at catching drunk drivers. At these stops, officers could not search the vehicle except to visually inspect the driver and passenger compartment for stolen, smuggled or other illegal weapons.