Chapter 10.12
ENFORCEMENT – ARREST PROCEDURE
Sections:
10.12.010 Enforcement authority.
10.12.020 Title obedience required.
10.12.030 Obedience to police and fire department officials.
10.12.040 Procedure of police officers.
10.12.050 Illegal cancellation of traffic citations.
10.12.060 Audit of records and reports.
10.12.070 Notice of illegally parked vehicle.
10.12.080 Failure to comply with notice attached to parked vehicle.
10.12.090 Presumption in reference to illegal parking.
10.12.100 When warrant to be issued.
10.12.110 Disposition of fines and forfeitures.
10.12.120 Official misconduct.
10.12.130 Authority to impound vehicles.
10.12.010 Enforcement authority.
(1) It shall be the duty of the officers of the police department or such officers as are assigned by the chief of police to enforce this title.
(2) Officers of the police department or such officers as are assigned by the chief of police are hereby authorized to direct all traffic by voice, hand, or signal in conformance with traffic laws, provided that, in the event of a fire or other emergency or to expedite traffic or to safeguard pedestrians, officers of the police department may direct traffic as conditions may require notwithstanding the provisions of the traffic laws.
(3) Officers of the fire department, when at the scene of a fire, may direct or assist the police in directing traffic thereat or in the immediate vicinity. (Ord. 1522 § 8, 1968).
10.12.020 Title obedience required.
It is unlawful for any person to do any act forbidden or fail to perform any act required in this title. (Ord. 1522 § 9, 1968).
10.12.030 Obedience to police and fire department officials.
No person shall willfully fail or refuse to comply with any lawful order or direction of a police officer or fire department official. (Ord. 1522 § 10, 1968).
10.12.040 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 of Courts of Limited Jurisdiction and RCW 46.64.010. The arrested person may secure release, if permitted by the arresting officer, by giving his written promise to appear in court as required by the citation and notice by signing in the appropriate place the written citation and notice served by the arresting officer. Upon the arrested person’s failing or refusing to sign such written promise, he may be taken into custody of such arresting officer and so remain or be placed in confinement. Any person who cancels or solicits the cancellation of any traffic citation otherwise than as provided in this section shall be guilty of a violation of this title.
(2) The provisions of subsection (1) of this section 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 has good cause to believe has committed any felony, and the arresting officer shall take such person to the police station to be booked.
(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 an 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 traffic court of this city.
(5) The chief of police shall also maintain or cause to be maintained a record of all warrants issued by the traffic court of this city or by other court on said 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. 1522 § 95, 1968).
10.12.050 Illegal cancellation of traffic citations.
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. 1522 § 97, 1968).
10.12.060 Audit of records and reports.
(1) Every record of traffic citations, complaints thereon, and warrants issued therefor required in this chapter shall be audited at least monthly by the city clerk 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 city clerk or his duly authorized representative shall have access at all times to all necessary records, files, and papers of the traffic court of this city, and the police department. (Ord. 1522 § 98, 1968).
10.12.070 Notice of illegally parked vehicle.
Whenever any motor vehicle without driver is found parked, angle parked, or stopped in violation of any of the restrictions imposed by ordinance of this city, the officer finding such vehicle shall take its registration number and may take any other information displayed on the vehicle which may identify its user, and shall conspicuously affix to such vehicle a notice in writing, on a form provided by the city, for the driver to answer to the charge against him within 24 hours at a place specified in the notice. The officer shall deposit the complaint and the abstract of court record copy of such traffic complaint and citation with the police judge or municipal traffic judge, as the case may be, of the city or town having jurisdiction over the offense. (Ord. 1522 § 99, 1968).
10.12.080 Failure to comply with notice attached to parked vehicle.
If a violator of the restrictions on stopping, standing, or parking under the traffic laws or ordinances does not appear in response to a notice affixed to such motor vehicle within a period of 24 hours, the clerk of the traffic court shall send to the owner of the motor vehicle to which the notice was affixed a letter informing him of the violations and warning him that in the event such letter is disregarded for a period of five days, a warrant of arrest will be issued. (Ord. 1522 § 100, 1968).
10.12.090 Presumption in reference to illegal parking.
(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 PMC 10.12.070 and 10.12.080 has been followed. (Ord. 1522 § 101, 1968).
10.12.100 When warrant to be issued.
(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 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 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. 1522 § 102, 1968).
10.12.110 Disposition of fines and forfeitures.
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 general fund of the city. (Ord. 1522 § 103, 1968).
10.12.120 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 said city general fund, to comply with the provisions of PMC 10.12.110 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. 1522 § 104, 1968).
10.12.130 Authority to impound vehicles.
(1) Members of the police department are hereby 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 a 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 herein before 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 the 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 same shall be a lien upon such vehicle. (Ord. 1522 § 105, 1968).
10.12.140 Traffic school.1
Inasmuch as the state of Washington, by Chapter 46.83 RCW, has enacted enabling legislation permitting counties and cities within said counties to establish and operate a traffic school in the furtherance of traffic safety, it is deemed to be to the best interest of the city of Puyallup and Pierce County that such a traffic school be organized and operated. (Ord. 1465 § 1, 1965).
Code reviser’s note: For information as to the agreement providing for the Traffic School and the budget measures, see the full text of Ordinance 1465.