By Phillip Matier and Andrew Ross
The San Francisco Chronicle
SAN FRANCISCO — Call it sanctuary on wheels: San Francisco is about to give a big break to people, many of them illegal immigrants, who are caught driving without a license.
Beginning Sunday, cops will no longer impound cars the first time drivers are pulled over without a license.
The reason: Many such drivers are in the United States illegally - and thus unable to get a license - and the officials pushing the change think that impounding their cars is an unfair hardship.
Instead, unlicensed drivers will be given 20 minutes to phone a relative or other acquaintance with a valid license and insurance to pick up the car. If the driver doesn’t have a cell phone, police will help him contact someone.
If no one shows up, then the cop is to call a supervisor to approve the tow.
A second offense within six months means an automatic tow. But, for those who stay clean for half a year, the clock starts over.
The change means San Francisco will be far more accommodating to unlicensed drivers than police in Oakland, San Jose and even lefty Berkeley. Cops in all those cities impound the cars of people driving illegally.
Recently installed Police Chief George Gascón said San Francisco is “trying to be sensitive to all of the communities we serve.”
“We recognize that this is a problem within the Hispanic community, where people working here can’t get a driver’s license because of their immigration status,” Gascón said.
The 30-day car impounds have long been a sore point with the city’s Latino politicos and activists, who feel the practice is unfair.
Some police officers we spoke with, however, said people without licenses are often lousy drivers - and that the change means more dangerous streets for everyone else.
“These are the same people who are sailing through stop signs and injuring people,” said one traffic cop who asked not to be named for fear of retribution.
Gascón emphasized that unlicensed drivers “will still be cited. If they don’t learn their lesson and repeat offend, the car will be impounded.”
The chief said the change was already in the works when he came to town at the end of July. He said it had sprung from conversations between Mayor Gavin Newsom, Supervisor David Campos - who arrived here illegally from Guatemala at age 14 - and former Police Chief Heather Fong.
Newsom spokesman Nathan Ballard - whose boss is refusing to implement Campos-backed legislation barring the city from turning over illegal immigrant youths to the feds if they haven’t been convicted of a felony - confirmed that when it comes to giving unlicensed drivers a break, the mayor and the supe agree.
“On this one, we’re all on the same page,” Ballard said.
Don’t do it: We know one group dead set against extending San Francisco’s parking meter hours into the night - the people who hand out parking tickets.
“It wouldn’t be safe,” said Dominic Garrett, the steward for the union representing the city’s 283 parking control officers.
“We already feeling the anger over $55 tickets, and now they would have us out until midnight?” Garrett asked. “With no backup?”
Copyright 2009 San Francisco Chronicle