Chapter 10.72
ENFORCEMENT
Sections:
10.72.010 Procedure of police officers.
10.72.020 Citation – Disposition, records.
10.72.030 Citation – Illegal cancellation.
10.72.040 Citation – Record, report audit.
10.72.070 Illegal parking – Presumption of responsible person.
10.72.080 Arrest warrant issuance.
10.72.090 Fines and forfeitures – Disposition.
10.72.100 Fines and forfeitures – Official misconduct.
10.72.110 Vehicle impoundment.
10.72.120 Driver’s license availability for display.
10.72.010 Procedure of police officers.
(1) Whenever any person is arrested for any violation of this title, except those mentioned in subsection (2) hereof, the arresting officer may serve upon him a traffic citation and notice to appear in court. Such citation and notice shall conform to the requirements and be handled and disposed of in accordance with the Traffic Rules for Courts of Limited Jurisdiction, and RCW 46.64.010. The arrested person may secure release, if permitted by the arresting officer, by posting bail in an amount not less than that prescribed for the offense for which the arrest was made, by a bail schedule which shall be established by the appropriate judicial authority for all bailable offenses. Upon the arrested person’s failing or refusing to post such bail, he may be taken into custody of such arresting officer and so remain or be placed in confinement.
(2) The provisions of subsection (1) shall not apply to any person arrested and charged with an offense causing or contributing to an accident resulting in injury or death to any person or to any person charged with reckless driving, or to any person charged with driving while under the influence of intoxicating liquor or narcotic or other drugs, or to any person whom the arresting officer shall have good cause to believe has committed any felony, and the arresting officer shall take such person to the police station to be booked. (Ord. 282 § 95, 1968).
10.72.020 Citation – Disposition, records.
(1) Every police officer upon issuing a traffic complaint and citation to an alleged violator of any provision of the motor vehicle laws of this state or of any city traffic ordinance shall deposit the complaint and the abstract of court record copy of such traffic complaint and citation with his immediate superior officer, who shall cause the original to be delivered to the city traffic court or to the traffic violations bureau. The police record copy of the traffic complaint and citation shall be retained in the traffic citation book and shall be delivered by such superior officer to the clerk-treasurer, together with such book when all traffic complaint and citations therein have been used.
(2) Upon the filing of such original citation in the city traffic court as aforesaid, the citation may be disposed of only by trial in the traffic court or by other official action by a judge of the traffic court, including forfeiture or by payment of a fine to the traffic violations bureau of the traffic court.
(3) The chief of police shall require the return to him of each traffic complaint and citation and all copies thereof, except that copy required to be retained in the book as provided herein, which has been spoiled or upon which any entry has been made and has not been issued to an alleged violator.
(4) The chief of police shall also maintain or cause to be maintained in connection with every traffic complaint and citation issued by a member of the police department a record of the disposition of the charge by the city traffic court or its traffic violations bureau.
(5) The chief of police shall also maintain or cause to be maintained a record of all warrants issued by the city traffic court, or by any other court on the traffic violation charges and which are delivered to the police department for service, and of the final disposition of all such warrants.
(6) It is unlawful and official misconduct for any member of the police department or other officer or public employee to dispose of, alter, or deface a traffic citation or any copy thereof, or the record of the issuance or disposition of any traffic citation, complaint, or warrant, in a manner other than as required in this section. (Ord. 282 § 96, 1968).
10.72.030 Citation – Illegal cancellation.
It is unlawful for any person to cancel or solicit the cancellation of any traffic citation in any manner other than as provided by this chapter. (Ord. 282 § 97, 1968).
10.72.040 Citation – Record, report audit.
(1) Every record of traffic citations, complaints thereon, and warrants issued therefor required in this chapter shall be audited at least monthly by the clerk-treasurer, who shall submit a report of such audit together with a summary thereof to the mayor and city council. Such reports shall be public records.
(2) For the purpose of this chapter, the clerk-treasurer or his duly authorized representative shall have access at all times to all necessary records, files, and papers of the city traffic court, its traffic violations bureau, and the police department. (Ord. 282 § 98, 1968).
10.72.070 Illegal parking – Presumption of responsible person.
(1) In any prosecution charging a violation of any law or regulation governing the standing or parking of a vehicle, proof that the particular vehicle described in the complaint was parked in violation of any such law or regulation, together with proof that the defendant named in the complaint was at the time of such parking the registered owner of such vehicle, shall constitute prima facie evidence that the registered owner of such vehicle was the person who parked or placed such vehicle at the point where, and for the time during which, such violation occurred.
(2) The foregoing stated presumption shall apply only when the procedure as prescribed in SMC 10.72.050 and 10.72.060 has been followed. (Ord. 282 § 101, 1968).
10.72.080 Arrest warrant issuance.
(1) Residents. The court shall issue a warrant for the arrest of any defendant who is a resident of this state and who has failed to appear before the court or the traffic violations bureau either in person or by counsel in answer to a traffic complaint and citation upon which he has given his written promise to appear. If the warrant is not executed within 30 days after issue, the court shall make an entry of the notification on the docket, and may add a charge against the defendant for failure to appear after a written promise to do so and mark the case closed, subject to being reopened when the appearance of the defendant is thereafter obtained.
(2) Nonresidents. If a nonresident defendant fails to appear before the court or the traffic violations bureau either in person or by counsel in answer to a traffic complaint and citation upon which he has given his written promise to appear, the court shall mail a notice to the defendant at the address stated in the complaint and citation requesting him to abide by his promise and appear in person or by counsel on a day certain, and notifying him that his failure to appear after a written promise to do so is a misdemeanor for which he may also be charged. If the nonresident defendant fails to respond within 30 days after the date set in the notice, the court shall issue a warrant for his arrest and shall make an entry of the notification on the docket, and may add a charge against the defendant for failure to appear after a written promise to do so, and mark the case closed, subject to being reopened when the appearance of the defendant is thereafter obtained. (Ord. 282 § 102, 1968).
10.72.090 Fines and forfeitures – Disposition.
All fines or forfeitures collected upon conviction or upon the forfeiture of bail of any person charged with a violation of any of the provisions of this title shall be paid into the city general fund. (Ord. 282 § 103, 1968).
10.72.100 Fines and forfeitures – Official misconduct.
Failure, refusal, or neglect on the part of any judicial or other officer or employee receiving or having custody of any such fine or forfeiture of bail, either before or after a deposit in the city general fund, to comply with the provisions of SMC 10.72.090 shall constitute misconduct in office and shall be grounds for removal therefrom, provided appropriate removal action is taken pursuant to state law relating to removal of public officials. (Ord. 282 § 104, 1968).
10.72.110 Vehicle impoundment.
(1) Members of the police department are authorized to remove a vehicle from a street or highway to the nearest garage or other place of safety or to a garage designated or maintained by the police department or otherwise maintained by this city, under the circumstances hereinafter enumerated:
(a) When any vehicle is left unattended upon any bridge, viaduct, or causeway, or in any tunnel where such vehicle constitutes an obstruction to traffic;
(b) When a vehicle upon a highway (or street, including tunnels, bridges or approaches) is so disabled as to constitute an obstruction to traffic, or when the person or persons in charge of the vehicle are by reason of physical injury incapacitated to such an extent as to be unable to provide for its custody or removal;
(c) When any vehicle is left unattended upon a street and is so parked illegally as to constitute a definite hazard or obstruction to the normal movement of traffic.
(2) Whenever an officer removes a vehicle from a street as authorized in this section he shall report the abandoned vehicle to the Chief of the Washington State Patrol, and if the officer knows or is able to ascertain from the registration records in the vehicle the name and address of the registered or legal owner thereof, such officer shall immediately give or cause personal notice to be given in writing to such owner, if any record exists of the registered or legal owner in the state of Washington, of the fact of such removal and the reasons therefor and of the place to which such vehicle has been removed. The abandoned vehicle shall be taken into the custody of the sheriff of the county where it has been abandoned, and stored. In the event any such vehicle is stored in a public garage, a copy of such notice shall be given to the proprietor of such garage.
(3) Whenever an officer removes a vehicle from a street under this section and does not know and is not able to ascertain the name of the owner, or for any other reason is unable to give the notice to the owner as hereinbefore provided, and in the event the vehicle is not returned to the owner within a period of three days, then and in that event, the officer shall immediately send or cause to be sent written report of such removal by mail to the state department whose duty it is to register motor vehicles, and shall file a copy of such notice with the proprietor of any public garage in which the vehicle may be stored. Such notice shall include a complete description of the vehicle, the date, time, and place from which removed, the reasons for such removal, and name of the garage or place where the vehicle is stored.
(4) Any cost incurred in the removal thereof shall be paid by the owner of the vehicle so removed, and the cost shall be a lien upon such vehicle. (Ord. 282 § 105, 1968).
10.72.120 Driver’s license availability for display.
Every motor vehicle licensee shall have his driver’s license in his immediate possession at all times when operating a motor vehicle, and shall display the license upon demand to any police officer or to any other person when and if required by law to do so. (Ord. 303 § 1, 1969; Ord. 282 § 106(a), 1968).