[Noisebridge-discuss] On Removal of a car boot

[Sai Emrys]

On Sat, Nov 21, 2009 at 5:11 PM, Mark Cohen <markc at binaryfaith.com> wrote:
> The problem though is that the tickets are still in the system with the vehicle registration number and plate numbers.. So if the auto is moved but the tickets aren't paid they will likely put a warrant out.

That depends who issued them.

Only police have the authority to issue warrants / arrests, and actual
tickets are technically "bail" for a criminal act. (Read a real
ticket; that's how it's phrased in the fine print.)

For a private party booting (e.g. the POA thread above), it's an
entirely civil matter. The only enforcement powers they have are if
you fuck up and damage / steal their boot (in which case it's plain
theft and they complain to the cops). If you take off their boot
without damaging it, and leave it there for them to collect, I don't
think they can do anything about it unless you have a contract with
them saying otherwise.

For cop booting, that's another matter entirely. I don't think that
the act of (non-destructively) removing the boots itself is illegal
(someone correct me?), but you do have to deal with the ticket, or
just like any other cop ticket it will eventually get either taken off
your DMV fees, levy your state taxes, or (if you have a lot of
tickets) result in an arrest warrant.

If you care, I'd suggest going here to ask:
http://www.bayarearidersforum.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=78 - it's
a cop subforum of the main SF Bay Area motorcyclists' forum, and the
cops there are very helpful about explaining anything related to auto
law.

- Sai