sodbuster95 wrote:I will offer at the outset that I am likewise a prolific recipient of traffic citations. I am also someone who will rant endlessly against many traffic enforcement procedures on the basis that they have nothing to do with safety and everything to do with revenue.
Having said that...I am not at all sure that I agree with this outcome. I'll have to ponder it. In a nutshell, I do not think I agree with the Court's application of the Katz standard. Specifically, I fail to see how anyone can have a subjective expectation of privacy in the position of their tires when parked on a public street. And I would differentiate this intrusion (a chalk mark) from the far more intrusive act of placing a GPS tracker on a vehicle. I just don't see those two events as being categorically similar.
I think you have to look at a few different items. In this case I think the distinguishing factor that made them bring up trespass is that they had to TOUCH the vehicle to mark the tires. I think you they took a picture of the vehicle, and then 24 hours later took a second picture to prove the vehicle was not moved, the city would have won the case. Instead, they act of trespass was accomplished when they touched the chalk to the tires of the vehicle.
In the GPS tracker you bring up, search warrants are required for those. This case is no different. They can get a search warrant that can authorize them to chalk the tires. The issue though is, what officer is going to ask a judge to sign a search warrant on chalking tires?
I am on the fence on parking violations and traffic enforcement. The city I work for started about two years ago going after junk vehicles on private property. Basically, if the vehicle is not actively being worked on and has no registration or appears to be undrivable, it would be a junk vehicle. We only started enforcing it after people complaining on their neighbors how some of their yards were getting trashy with cars. I think depending on the location, some of these parking enforcement matters are revenue generators, but also many are responses for the public in demanding decent looking streets.