Is it Time (via Dennis Zine) to Reinstate an Enforcement Tool to Combat the Hit and Run Epidemic?

The recent "Hit and Run Murder" of Nun/Sister Raquel Diaz in a Boyle Heights Intersection is the motivation for a timely, salient missive by former CD 3 City Councilman (and LAPD Motor Cop) Dennis Zine, on the need of reinstating the enforcement tool of impounding vehicles of non-licensed drivers, to combat an epidemic of Hit and Run Accidents.  

Sister Raquel Diaz.

Former CD 3 City Councilman and LAPD Motor Officer Dennis Zine.

** For those who are familiar with the asphalt byways of Boyle Heights, the intersection of Evergreen Avenue and Winter Street (just south of the notable eateries of Tepeyac and Ciro's), is a mere pause, as one seeks to make haste to a chosen destination (especially when nearby, parallel Soto Street is gridlocked) . 

In the early evening (about 5:20 PM) of December 13, 2015, Sister Raquel Diaz stepped out into the cross walk of the aforementioned intersection .........., and became the latest fatality in a Hit and Run Epidemic, that has prompted a call for the reinstatement of an enforcement tool that has been mothballed due to Political Correctness within LAPD.

Before Dennis Zine became the noted (and now former) CD 3 City Councilman, his time via a 33 years career as a LAPD Motor Officer, saw him become familiar with the streets of Boyle Heights during assigned stints at the Hollenbeck Division ......., and is well-verse with the enforcement tools available to maintain traffic safety.

But in lieu of the death of Sister Diaz, Zine is calling upon civic leaders to reexamine LAPD's Special Order 7 which restricts the ability of LAPD Officers to impound vehicles of unlicensed drivers (both of legal and undocumented citizenship background). 

The genesis for the implementation of Special Order 7, was rooted in Politically Correct rhetoric of those who broached that LAPD's Impound Policies, unfairly impacted families of Illegal Immigrants, who could not obtain a California Driver License until the recent passage of AB 60.

As Zine notes, the passage of AB 60 has enable thousands to obtain the legal ability drive in California. 

This week, California Department of Motor Vehicles officials released Assembly Bill 60 statistics for the month of November, as well as totals since the program was implemented on January 2, 2015. The program has been very successful. In November alone, 26,000 AB 60 driver licenses were issued. And from January 2 to November 30, 574,000 AB 60 driver licenses have been issued. A license is not issued until the applicant proves identity and residency with qualifying documents or through secondary review, passes a written knowledge exam, and completes a behind-the-wheel drive exam.    

Thus, is now the time to remove Special Order 7 ........, or will Political Correctness, again, impede the ability to safeguard a Sister, merely attempting to cross a neighborhood street without becoming a Hit and Run statistic?

Your thoughts ..............

Scott Johnson in CD 14