Maricopa police admit to towing for dollars, promise change

MARICOPA -- The chief of police in this hardscrabble town has had a change of heart -- and policy.

But the change didn't come easy. It was accompanied by sleepless nights and a rise in blood pressure for Maricopa Police Chief Derek Merritt.

No more, he says, will cops in this city of 1,200 in western Kern County pull over motorists for hanging a necklace from their rear-view mirror, having a crack in their windshield or driving with a burned-out license plate bulb.

In the past two years, Maricopa police have stopped hundreds of motorists for these and other "equipment violations."

The law is the law, Merritt says, and he's not about to apologize for his officers enforcing it.

But there's the law and then there's public sentiment, grand jury reports, media stories and political pressure.

"All of those factors came into play," the 41-year-old chief says without bitterness. "All I can say is, maybe we get it now."

But good police work is also important, he acknowledges, and frankly, while he's proud of his men, he's a little embarrassed by just how gung-ho some of his officers have been.

For example, pulling over motorists for driving 50 mph in a 55 mph zone.

"To be honest, that's chicken****," he says, not mincing words.

Other violations he wants to ease up on include license plates partially obstructed by trailer hitches and pulling over drivers who have clear plastic covers over their plates -- violations The Californian found in an examination of hundreds of tow records from the last 3 1/2 years.

Illegal? Yes. But Merritt says maybe it's time to reprioritize.

Earlier this year, a Kern County grand jury committee recommended disbanding the city's police department, saying the MPD lost track of 94 citations and formed an inappropriate relationship with Bakersfield-based Randy's Towing, a company that opened a tow lot in town and gave a piece of the action -- about 25 percent -- to the city.

Merritt says the jury never made it clear that the 94 missing citations were "unissued." He's not making excuses, he says, but the difference is significant between citations that have been issued to motorists and losing track of tickets that were blank.

When asked whether a huge increase in cars being towed -- beginning in 2010 -- was intended as a way to generate revenue for the city, Merritt didn't hesitate.

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