Hey, there! Log in / Register
Police try quieter approach to bust up increasingly popular Newmarket Square drag races
By adamg on Tue, 09/20/2016 - 11:19pm
Boston Police report taking a different tack to busting up weekend drag racing in Newmarket Square: Undercover officers who take down license-plate information with which to write out tickets, summonses and RMV requests to immediately revoke driver's licenses.
Police say that past efforts, which involved a wedge of uniformed officers descending on the area, mainly succeeded in scattering participants who were able to flee before police could stop them.
But the undercover operation this past Friday resulted in 75 citations, 35 applications for criminal charges and several requests to the Registry to immediately revoke people's licenses as threats to public safety.
Police say the weekend races have become so popular they're attracting people from across eastern Massachusetts - not to mention a hot-dog vendor.
Police say that in addition to Boston residents, the operation netted the names of people from Lowell, Everett, Lynn and various North Shore towns.
Neighborhoods:
Free tagging:
Ad:
Support Universal Hub
Help keep Universal Hub going. If you like what we're up to and want to help out, please consider a (completely non-deductible) contribution.
Comments
Asset forfeiture?
Could BPD show up at the garaging location of these miscreants and seize their vehicles? That'd probably learn them …
Maybe
The cops might be able to charge the vehicles with crimes, and seize them, but they should not. Civil asset forfeiture is an abomination, and ought to be declared unconstitutional.
Would you give a gun back to
Would you give a gun back to someone who was convicted in a shooting?
If only there was a middle ground
Like, for example, allowing the person to sell their asset to a third party and keep the money, rather than hand it over to the police department without a trial...
Typically your stuff goes to
Typically your stuff goes to a bonded warehouse where the state gets to steal your stuff through onerous storage fees.
It's a large for-profit theft scheme by several police departments colluding with such warehouses. The State Police just got bagged for doing it illegally off the books, but many departments have had the courts' blessing to do the same thing on the books.
Go read the MA firearms laws
Then go through the nearly year long process to get license and buy a firearm. You'll then see how ridiculous your posit is.
Relax
He didn't call for the the revocation of the 2nd Amendment, he was just making a reasonable analogy.
If it involves cars
You'll hear from that guy, and it won't always be reasonable.
Yes
If they had a valid license, yes.
After a shooting that involves a felony conviction
they'll be a convicted felon, and thus prohibited from possessing a gun under federal law (Gun Control Act of 1968). So the police *couldn't* give such a person their gun back, even if they wanted to.
(And, in a state like MA that requires license-to-own, your gun license is revoked immediately on conviction.)
Rich Man Poor Man
When rich white guys plan a car race through the seaport it is called the Grand prix. When poor minorities plan a car race a mile away it is called drag racing.
And surprise...Bostonians would nix *both*!
Plenty of true racial inequities to get bothered about - but this ain't one.
If you can differentiate
Between a controlled racing environment and an illegal race on a public street you may need to seek help.
Did you mean to say "cannot" ?
Because it is super easy to make a crystal clear distinction.
What makes you think a Grand Prix only involves white guys?
You know no mixed 'race', Asian, Hispanic, Native American, etc., etc. are not involved and/or not interested? And how do you know they're all:
1) 'Rich'?
2) Guys (males)?
3) 'Rich' POCs (people of color).Every POC is 'poor' or 'oppressed'?
And BTW:
Non 'rich' white guys engage in drag racing just the same as POCs (people of color).
Jean Girard is
white as is Jackie Stewart..
Nevermind the race issue, the
Nevermind the race issue, the Grand Prix was a permitted, city-sponsored event, with corresponding road closures, security, etc.
And professional drivers.
And emergency services on standby in case something unfortunate happened.
These illegal drag races have none of those things.
Shhhh. Your sense and logic
Shhhh. Your sense and logic are getting in the way of this blind argument.
Indy was never fully
Indy was never fully permitted.
Also
It never happened, and so there were no driver casualties, the public was never at risk, etc.
Yes, but if it actually
Yes, but if it actually happened, it would have been.
This is why there's an
This is why there's an analogy section on intelligence tests.
Live here
I don't live in the Seaport, but I imagine there were plenty of people who objected to the race, for a variety of reasons, and that was just for one weekend. This is every weekend. When you work nights and just want to get home, it can be scary and intimidating. Not to mention just plain dangerous.
So what happens when these
So what happens when these jerks start using stolen plates to hide their identity?
Because then you have a felony and can take action right there.
These drag racers aren't the type to do that anyway, they care too much about their cars and license plates.
Make it an official sanctioned track...
Seems like an opportunity for the city to make some money, alleviate burden on the cops and court system.
...but like the poster mentioned above, it's not white people and hack cops and court workers need "customers".
Sweet baby Jebus
this comment right here...is beyond dumb, even for you Sobo....
It makes your other comments look like the theory of relativity. You need to step out of your half million dollar 500 sq ft condo, and out of your neighborhood (not just for work) and see the rest of the city sometime. Do you even know the area in question? It's a section of Mass Ave FYI.
I am quantitatively dumber for having even responded to you.
Cripes....
Just a note to all on the cops/court system burden. There will be plenty of resources to go around once we legalize pot in November. Vote early, and vote often! LOL
Calm down
...don't insult me. my penthouse is more than 500 sq ft.
I know exactly where the are is. If the city can give the sox a sweet heart deal to shutdown a street 81 times a year, I am pretty sure they can figure something out here. It's not like these streets are heavily used at night...they can't be, they are having drag races on them now!
Of course you won't agree because the drag racing is being done by non-whites and those attending the sox games are.
Go Orioles! Go Jays! Go anyone but the Sux....
Sheesh
You are pathetic and your schtick is getting really really stale.
I live nearby, the tire screeching makes sleeping impossible
It impacts people. People who work nights, people who want dinner at the diner after their shift, people who have a right to quiet enjoyment, not to mention safe passage from Southampton Street to Mass Ave. Just because it doesn't impact YOU doesn't mean it doesn't impact everyone. Shirley Street, across from the Victoria -- loud and clear.
Such places exist
Southern New Hampshire is apparently too far to drive.
http://www.racingin.com/track/new-hampshire.aspx
"several requests to the
"several requests to the Registry to immediately revoke people's licenses as threats to public safety"
And will that work? Will the RMV revoke their licenses? Will they stop driving with a revoked license?
Kind of silly that all that can be done is the equivalent of wagging a finger.
The RMV cares about revenue,
The RMV cares about revenue, not peoples safety, so they can't be relied on. And these POS criminal drivers obviously don't care about the law or peoples safety, so a fine or license suspension isn't going to keep them from putting peoples lives in danger. That leaves us with putting them in jail, which I am fine with, since that is where dangers to society belong.
Hopefully they will do the
Hopefully they will do the same to motorcyclists thugs that illegally retrofit their exhaust system to be (ear piercingly) loud. Harley drivers seem to be the worst, but their are a lot of them that drive around the city screaming for attention.
dude
Loud pipes save lives! Never mind all the lost sleep by residents due to pipe noise and car alarms set off by their loud exhausts, but their life as a selfish rider is okay!
Well, it doesn't save lives due to the doppler effect, but still...
Hang On
I always was under the impression that you needed to be pulled over to be given a ticket.
If cops can write down license plate numbers and send out tickets later, might I suggest they walk down the streets I walk down between work and the train station at evening rush hour? They could nail about 1/3 of all the drivers they pass for texting. The city's sitting on an untapped gold mine!
Sure, they can cite you via
Sure, they can cite you via mail. They just don't do it very often. Adam even mentioned it here:
http://www.universalhub.com/2015/newton-professor-says-he-was-cited-driv...
https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2015/09/08/emerson-college-professor-w...
Here's the reasoning
A cop sitting there can write down a rough ID of a driver and later testify that Racer X was the driver and not his 78 year old aunt or 17 year old brother. That is enough to "face your accuser".
However, the tickets may be dismissed if they can't say who was driving. It isn't enough to just tag the car - in a household where multiple people have car access, and the owner is not often the driver, this gets sketchy. For example, if they say "a young male was driving" and there are three young males with access to the vehicle, that might be a problem. So these tickets are very much worth fighting.
Traffic cameras capturing license plates are illegal because a camera doesn't have the ability to testify as to who is driving. In Europe, people are asked to assign the insurance points to "the likely driver", with according messes with bad driver parents distributing their points amongst their youngsters who are living away, etc.
Here's a classic example of the downside of ticketing by mail: the owner of the car could show that he was in his office and on the T at the alleged time of the ticket. http://newton.wickedlocal.com/article/20150715/NEWS/150717831
https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2015/09/08/emerson-college-professor-w...
This should be illegal.
This should be illegal.
The purpose of asking for ID during a traffic stop is to, well, determine someone's identity. It's not the same thing to watch someone drive by, and decide later that they sorta look like the registered owner of the car.
You guys are missing one big thing here.
And it is written right in the drag racing statute:
MGL Ch. 90 s.17B