Sheriff to Get Low-Profile Cars for More Ticketing : Law enforcement: Roache considers expanding traffic enforcement in areas now covered by the Highway Patrol.

Pushing for more aggressive traffic enforcement, Sheriff Jim Roache has ordered new patrol cars that are more difficult to identify and is studying whether deputies should begin writing tickets on a wider scale for traffic infractions in unincorporated San Diego County.

Roache makes no apology for requesting the 30 new “slick-top” cars that do not have light bars on top and will be used exclusively for traffic enforcement. Motorists are less likely to notice that the cars belong to the Sheriff’s Department, he said.

“I want our traffic units to be less discernible for people who are not obeying traffic laws,” he said. “That’s their function. The easy way to avoid the problem is not to break traffic laws.”

Under Roache’s plan, the Sheriff’s Department may also take up traffic enforcement--writing citations and investigating accidents--for the county’s 3,627 unincorporated square miles. Deputies already provide basic patrol service, which includes investigation of burglaries, robberies, homicides and other crimes.

Roache has requested a study to determine how much money the department could receive by enforcing traffic laws and whether it would pay for new deputies and patrol cars.

Roache also wants to review the accident rate in the unincorporated areas to see where he needs extra traffic patrols.

If new deputies and equipment are needed, the sheriff needs approval from the County Board of Supervisors, which controls his budget.

Most important, he must get authorization from the California Highway Patrol, entrusted by law with enforcing traffic laws in all unincorporated areas of the state. The CHP’s first job is to enforce traffic safety on freeways.

Sheriff’s deputies are not precluded from writing traffic tickets in unincorporated areas, but they do so infrequently. Roache said he believes the highway patrol would welcome the opportunity for the Sheriff’s Department to ease some of the load.

“I’m not an expert, but I would be very surprised if the CHP would have any objections,” he said. “They have primary but not exclusive jurisdiction.”

A CHP spokesman said he was surprised by Roache’s newfound interest in the unincorporated county and is not sure the Sheriff’s Department would be permitted to write tickets there.

“They are not the enforcers of traffic or the investigators of accidents,” said CHP spokesman Jim Anderson. “We would no more investigate a burglary or homicide out there than they would investigate an accident. They don’t have enough manpower to do what they are doing now.”

Having both the Sheriff’s Department and the California Highway Patrol vie for traffic tickets throughout the county would probably generate more money for the county. Last year, the El Cajon office of the Highway Patrol, which covers most of the unincorporated area, wrote 13,842 speeding tickets alone, many on freeways.

The office has 92 traffic officers, nine sergeants, two lieutenants and a captain.

The county gets 100% of the fine for every ticket that is written in the unincorporated area, no matter who writes the ticket. Most of a penalty surcharge that is added by the courts goes into a state fund.

The Sheriff’s Department would have to get two-thirds to 100% of what it costs to operate units in the unincorporated areas in order to move forward with the proposal, Roache said.

“If I can go to the Board of Supervisors and say I want to adopt a vigorous, proactive traffic enforcement policy that reduces fatalities and accident rates, and enhances public safety, it strengthens my argument to get money if I can handle most of the operations costs,” he said.

The department provides both patrol and traffic services by contract with the cities of Del Mar, Encinitas, Vista, San Marcos, Solana Beach, Poway, Santee, Lemon Grove and Imperial Beach.

While Roache is contemplating adding deputies, his budget is in turmoil. County supervisors had to front the department $7.4 million more than budgeted this fiscal year just to keep up with overtime and medical expenses for jail inmates.

Next fiscal year, which begins July 1, Roache requested $151 million. County administrators have recommended $131 million. The difference represents $20 million worth of new equipment, supplies, computers and other items for which the county has no money.

Roache said he doesn’t keep the budget foremost in mind when he is making policy decisions, such as the possibility of new traffic enforcement in the unincorporated county.

“The thing you have to understand is my obligation is to be innovative and creative,” he said. “You decide from a public safety standpoint what you want to do and whether an action is justified. Then you decide whether we can afford to do it.”