Overzealous Canadian police break-up Auto-x

[sykikchimp]

copied from another forum.. I know there are some canadian auto-xer's here that should be interested in this:

http://www.nmanley.012webpages.com/
http://www.armsinc.ca/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?t=589

There is a link to pictures and a thread discussing the incident locally. This was an insured event, sanctioned by the local FIA-affiliated club. It was the first time I've ever heard of this happening, and was very dissapointed by the reactions of the police. Many members of the club had never seen the police act in this manner before.

I encourage anyone here who is interested to read what happened, and if possible, write an old-fashioned letter of concern to the politicians involved. Demonstrating that this is a international, sanctioned, safe and controlled form of motorsport will help our case greatly.

Thanks.

[Bbandit]

thats messed up
i havent read the stuff that much..
altho i really want to know the real reason they busted those guys

[Rennen]

The cops know whats up, they go straight for the trouble makers, 240s


But seriously, thats messed up. The cops come watch our STL events all the time, I'm not sure how calm and collected I would be if someone shut down one of our events after I got up at 6 to drive 2 hours to get there.

Why use anti-street racing laws against street racers when you can bust a sanctioned autocross event

-Matt

[AceInHole]

I read most of that the other day. It seems it's a combination of a noise complaint, and a motor vehicle act about driving on a "public highway or accessible road". The argument for them is that the course is blocked off from the public, making it a private area where they can do what they want. So, they were hit with both a by-law and a motor vehicle act, at least from my understanding of it.


It should turn out ok, unless the town really doesn't want them there. The argument that the lot is blocked off should clear things up, and I'm sure they'll take extra precaution to follow the laws so they can shout back at the cops on the spot.

[HaLo]

Actually, this is a big set-up. The complaints were filed by the police chief... Basically, all the Canadian Auto-X clubs are backing the people that organized this event. Everything was done correctly according to law. The Police station and the mayor are getting letters from all over the country as we speak.

[sykikchimp]

Truro was the same town the Agent "K" from MIB II was the Post Master of. lol

wait.. that was Truro, Mass. I guess that would be a different Truro in Canada...

[THX1138]

Don't mean to hijack here, but a similar situation is brewing in my neck of the woods.

The Clemson Sports Car Club , a recognized student group and University-funded club sports organization has recently met with the wrath of another campus group with which we've always had good relations: the Clemson University Police Department. All our on-campus autocrosses are scheduled through and approved by CUPD and Parking Services. Our first event of the semester was scheduled for this Sunday, Sept. 21.

On Tuesday, the CSCC president received a phone call from someone at Parking Services, informing him that authorization for all our fall events had been revoked by the police. Gregory Harris is the new chief of the CUPD, and he apparently isn't much of a racing fan. He observed one of our summer events (one that I managed to miss) and apparently saw something he didn't like. According to an e-mail from the club secretary, Chief Harris was upset at our "lack of safety" and said that if we wanted to race we should go to Greer Dragway (1/8 mile, ~1 hour away) or Greenville-Pickens Speedway (3/8 mile paved oval ~20 miles away).

The club officers have a meeting with Captain Eric Hendricks on Tuesday; it is hoped that they can educate him as to just what it is that we do (literally across the street from the police station), and find out exactly what safety issues the chief wants to see addressed. Since we are currently unauthorized and the meeting isn't until Sept. 23, our first race has had to be cancelled, but if all goes well, we'll be able to run our next scheduled event on Sept. 28.

Sometimes I think Crown Vics have the same device randomly installed in some Hondas, that sucks the driver's brain out through his butt

[nocomedown]

both of those situations suck
i absolutely hate it when people in positions of power make judgements that affect others when they arent even informed.

[HaLo]

ollowing are the minutes of the meeting held this morning between yourself; Bill Anwyll, President, Atlantic Sports Car Club; Mike Benjamin, Solo Director, Atlantic Sports Car Club; Dave Hull,Regional Solo Director, Atlantic Regional Motor Sport, ASN/FIA.

Representatives ofthe Atlantic Sports Car Club presented information to Deputy Chief Rogers outlining the rules, procedures and insurance requirements of ASN/FIA sanctioned Solo II events. In addition, a brief description of the events of Sunday, September 14 were reviewed. It was stated that the Atlantic Sports Car Club had been organizing such events since 1955 without incident. The frustration of the competitors and members of the Atlantic Sports Car Club as well as motorsport enthusiasts across North America was expressed to Deputy Chief Rogers.

Deputy Chief Rogers expressed the Town of Truro's concern that this situation was affecting the reputation of the Truro Police Service and the Town of Truro in the eyes of the public. Deputy Chief Rogers noted that the threat to lay charges for tire squealing was precipitated by the Chief of Police, Ken MacLean's, interpretation of the Motor Vehicle Act, particularly Section 188. The first police officer was sent by Chief MacLean to investigate any safety issues. When the safety issues were addressed, a second group of officers were sent by Chief MacLean to stop the event by issueing tickets for "squealing of tires".

It wqas pointed out to Deputy Chief Rogers that the interpretation of the Motor Vehicle Act's definition of a public road was, in the opinion of legal counsel, Halifax Regional Police and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, flawed, as the area in question was a private parking lot and was made inaccessible to the public by pylons, warning tape and security marshalls. As such, the Motor Vehicle Act does not apply to the area used for the event.

Deputy Chief Rogers agreed that the intent of the meeting was not to allocate blame but to seek a resolution to prevent the situation from happening again. In that view, Deputy Chief Rogers has met with the Mayor, Aldermen and the Police Commission to discuss how events such as this could be accommodated in the future.

[sykikchimp]

Pretty cool! so basically they get to continue auto-xing and hopefully without being bothered anymore.