ODD FILES BY CHUCK SHEPHERD
City set to remove red light cameras Promise Yee
Bionic Shoes Police in Japan’s Kyoto Prefecture raided a shoe manufacturer in July and commandeered a list of about 1,500 purchasers of the company’s signature “tosatsu shoes” — shoes with built-in cameras. Investigators have begun visiting the purchasers at home to ask that they hand in the shoes (but, out of fairness, said they would not cause trouble for customers who could produce a legitimate reason for needing to take photographs and video by pointing their shoe at something). The seller was charged with “aiding voyeurism” and fined the equivalent of about $4,500 under a nuisance-prevention law. The Entrepreneurial Spirit Doris Carvalho of Tampa, Florida, is raising venture capital to expand her hobby of crafting high-end handbags from groomed, recycled dog hair (two pounds’ worth for each bag). With investors, she could lower her costs and the $1,000 price tag, since it now takes 50 hours’ labor to make the yarn for her haute couture accessory. Among the suggestions of the Brisbane, Australia, company Pets Eternal for honoring a deceased pet (made to a reporter in September): keeping a whisker or tooth or lock of hair, or having the remains made into jewelry or mixed with ink to make a tattoo. Overlooked was a new project by the Houston space-flight company Celestis, known for blasting human ashes into orbit (most famously those of “Star Trek” creator Gene Roddenberry). Celestis, working with a California company, will soon offer to shoot pets’ remains into orbit ($995) or perhaps even to the moon ($12,000). American Scenes (1) Staci Anne Spence, 42, was hauled to jail for assault in Sandpoint, Idaho, in September, but when the squad car arrived at the station, officers learned that during the ride, she had completely gnawed through the back seat — foam padding and seat cover. (2) A 38-year-old man was taken, unconscious, to St. Mary’s Hospital in Rochester, Minnesota, in August. After allegedly choking his mother-in-law and refusing to cooperate with police, who used a stun gun and chemical spray on him to no effect, he dramatically KO’d himself with an empty beer bottle.
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T HE C OAST NEWS
OCT. 10, 2014
OCEANSIDE — City Council voted on Oct. 1 to remove its four red light cameras that have caused drivers stress and rear end collisions. “I slam on the brakes because I’m afraid a yellow light will turn red,” Oceanside resident Donna McGinty said. “I’m sure tourists who come here don’t appreciate them either.” The goal of the red light cameras was to decrease T-bone collisions that occur when drivers run through red lights and cause side impacts to oncoming cars. Residents at the meeting said the cameras ticket right hand turns, and cause rear end collisions due to drivers’ sudden yellow light stops. Police Chief Frank Mc-
Coy did not have data on the types of accidents that occurred at the camera-ed intersections, but said accidents have decreased along with a decrease in accidents citywide. He added red light camera tickets mean drivers are running red lights. Half a dozen residents spoke up against the cameras saying tickets are automatically given for minor infractions without the opportunity to speak with a police officer on the spot. Oceanside resident Erica Leary said she was ticketed with a $571 fine for being in a red light intersection for 1/100 of a second. “I’m a victim of the red light camera program,” Leary said. “I felt like it was
I slam on the brakes because I’m afraid a yellow light will turn red.”
Donna McGinty Oceanside resident
rigged to catch people.” This is not the first time residents have protested the cameras that were installed by Redflex Traffic Systems in 2004 and 2010. The City Council discussed removing the cameras in February for the same reasons that were heard that night.
The debate eight months ago and at that night’s meeting is whether it is worth the cost to terminate the contract with Redflex Traffic Systems early. In February the cost of ending the contract before March 2015 was $48,000. That night the City Council approved terminating the extended March 2016 contract at a cost of $19,200. Councilwoman Esther Sanchez has steadily opposed the cameras, but along with Mayor Jim Wood, did not vote to remove them that night. She said it would be better at this point to let the contract run out it’s remaining 18 months, and put the $19,200 towards city programs.
“The more responsible thing is to let it expire,” Sanchez said. “I don’t think a few months is going to change a lot.” Councilmen Gary Felien and Jerry Kern were outspoken about terminating the contract immediately at the lower buy out cost. Felien reasoned the present cost to the city was minimal compared to the impact on drivers’ budgets. Following the vote McCoy stressed camera ticketing will continue to be in effect until the cameras are removed. City Manager Steve Jepsen said it would take about two months to conclude business with Redflex Traffic Systems and end red light camera enforcement.
Del Mar lauds park ranger, suspends body camera use By Bianca Kaplanek
DEL MAR — In response to an incident in which Del Mar’s park ranger pulled over, unknown to him at the time, an off-duty reserve deputy for using a cell phone while driving, the city commended Adam Chase for his “professional and calm” behavior and has temporarily discontinued its body camera program. On March 10, while stopped at the intersection of Del Mar Heights Road and Camino del Mar, Chase observed a motorist talking on his cell phone. The violation and traffic stop were both recorded on Chase’s body camera, which is in an obvious location, attached to his shoulder, a city staff member said. When Chase pulled the driver over, he identified himself as reserve deputy with the Encinitas Sheriff’s Station. (Reserve deputies are retired officers who volunteer to work part time and retain all law enforcement authority.) Scott Masters, the reserve deputy, tells Chase numerous times in a 10-minute conversation laden with expletives that the park ranger has no authority to make traffic
stops. “That is bull---t,” Masters said. “Do you want me to bring it up at the station and make a big deal about it? You’re impersonating a police officer on a public roadway.” Masters admitted he was talking on his phone while driving but told Chase, “This is not a legal stop.” Chase disagreed, saying he has the right to make a traffic stop if he feels “someone is on the phone and is being distracted.” Chase issued Masters a warning. He then reported the incident to Del Mar City Manager Scott Huth, who in turn contacted the Sheriff’s Department, which a few months later issued a statement saying Masters was “no longer associated with the department.”
Late last month, Del Mar issued a statement commending Chase for “his service and professionalism in handling this” matter. The same day the city issued another release stating it was temporarily suspending the use of its body camera program, which was implemented in 2012 “to enhance transparency between the Park Ranger program and the community.” Huth wrote in an email the program was temporarily stopped “to review our procedures to ensure we are in compliance with all laws and City procedures.” “I would expect us to continue our use soon,” he added. Del Mar City Attorney Lesley Devaney stated in an email she has not “conducted any independent
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investigation or analysis of this stop” and has “no facts to suggest that the Ranger wasn’t following the law.” She said according to the penal code the “primary duty” of the park ranger is the “protection of park and other property of the agency and the preservation of the peace therein.” She added that the state attorney general “held in 2005 that a park ranger has authority to issue a citation for a violation of state law or local ordinance occurring outside the district, either for the purpose of performing the park ranger's primary duty, or when the offense presents an immediate danger to person or property, or of the escape of the perpetrator of that offense.” Del Mar employs a park ranger “to supplement public safety services
in Del Mar,” according to the press release. He is responsible for enforcing the city’s municipal code regulations and state laws at Del Mar parks and beaches, and “works cooperatively with the San Diego County Sheriff to protect and serve Del Mar residents, businesses and visitors,” the release states.