Upper Moreland chief proposes fines for unlocked cars

By Peter Mucha

Inquirer Staff Writer

Police Chief Thomas Nestel has a radical - and riling - idea for car owners in Upper Moreland Township:

Lock it, or get hit in the pocket.

The aim of a proposed $25 fine, Nestel said, is to reduce thefts of items from cars and, in so doing, help rid the eastern Montgomery County municipality of thieving drug abusers.

The proposal, aired Monday night at a township commissioners' meeting, raised the eyebrows of one local law professor, and angered some who see it as another cash-collecting government intrusion that tramples people's rights.

"We have a constitutional right to keep our doors unlocked any time we want, you fascist scum," one person said in a voice-mail message for Nestel. The caller threatened to sue if the commissioners enacted the measure.

The proposal might be a first, at least in these parts. Neither Nestel nor Drexel University law professor Donald F. Tibbs said they knew of such fines elsewhere. News reports say unlocked-car fines have been instituted in parts of Australia.

Making money for the municipality is not the goal, Nestel said. "I wouldn't care if it was a $5 fine, as long as it got people to lock their doors."

"What I'm trying to address is the criminal element coming into our community."

Under the proposal, he explained at the commissioners' meeting, no fine would be levied the first time an unlocked car is found parked on a residential street.

The police officer, or a civilian member of the department, would leave an informational flier on the driver's seat and lock the vehicle.

Each subsequent offense within a year could bring a $25 fine. No court costs would be added, no cars towed, and no citations written for unlocked cars in owners' driveways, Nestel said.

Generally, he said, a police officer or community-service representative would go to areas with high reports of thefts from autos, and check all parked cars on a street.

"If we open the door and a kilo of cocaine was in the door pocket, I think we should probably take action," he said, calling such a circumstance highly unlikely.

The fine and its enforcement could raise legal issues, said Tibbs, an associate professor at Drexel's Earle Mack School of Law, who this week was teaching students about constitutional rights relating to autos.

Courts generally give police more leeway to stop cars that are being driven and search them, Tibbs said. Erratic driving or slurred speech can justify a search of a car, in part because the evidence could drive away.

But in constitutional terms, a parked car is more like a house, Tibbs said. If an officer opens the door and goes inside, he said, that seems like trespassing.

He said an officer's claim of entering in "good faith" because of an unlocked door, then happening to notice drugs in "plain view," might not hold up in court.

Checking car locks in some neighborhoods but not others "also sets off questions of policing in different ways in different communities," Tibbs said.

Nestel called such concerns unwarranted. "I'm amused at the constitutional law references," he said, noting that he co-taught a criminology course at the University of Pennsylvania that covered constitutional procedure. Nestel, who was a Philadelphia police officer for 22 years and boasts three master's degrees, said he was a candidate for a doctorate in criminology.

The goal of the proposal, he said, "is to reduce our theft from autos and to push drug abusers out of our community. . . . The criminal profile for this particular offense is a teenager with a drug-abuse problem."

In 81 reports of thefts from autos this year in Upper Moreland, he said, 61 owners said they had left cars unlocked, and a dozen were unsure if their cars had been locked.

Nestel told the commissioners that he doubted such an ordinance would trigger more breaking of car windows by would-be thieves.

But the proposal has triggered strong feelings. One man e-mailed Nestel to say he would leave his car unlocked, the better to "get into a constitutional battle with the town at the taxpayers' expense."

The township's health and safety committee is to meet Nov. 8 to decide whether to forward the proposal to the full Board of Commissioners.

Upper Moreland has no plans to try what a British town attempted last year. Police removed valuables from unlocked cars - then left notes advising that the items could be retrieved at Twickenham police station.

Upper Moreland car lock fine dropped over backlash

By Peter Mucha

Inquirer Staff Writer
After getting copies of the Constitution, sarcastic suggestions, and "some phone calls that were just purely profanity-screaming," Upper Moreland's police chief has dropped the idea of fining people who fail to lock their cars.

Chief Thomas Nestel hoped to cut crime, but as the unusual idea captured national attention, complaints streamed in that his enforcement plan would open the door - literally - to rights-infringing searches.

He declined requests from CNN and Fox News to appear to discuss the proposal, reportedly tried so far only in parts of Australia.

As outlined at a township meeting Monday, the plan was that a first offense would draw a warning in the form of a flier left on the driver's seat. The doors would then be locked.

Subsequent violations within one year would earn a $25 ticket. The ordinance would be enforced by police or civilian department members checking the doors of autos parked on neighborhood streets - not in residential driveways.

Because thefts from cars are often committed by young drug abusers, such a plan might help drive them out of town, he stated.

But assorted citizens from near and far got riled about their rights. They called or e-mailed the chief.

" 'Fascist pig' was very popular. I've become very comfortable with being called that now," he said.

The attitude perplexes Nestel, since there's wide acceptance of all sorts of minor rules - like how high lawns can grow.

"There are definitely people who have missed the point on this, and they're focusing on the government making law instead of on solving a legitimate problem," he said.

One e-mailer wondered if Upper Moreland was going to fine children for forgetting to wear gloves in winter.

Another wrote that he hoped to get fined so he could sue to try to have the courts toss out such an ordinance.

In a poll on Philly.com, "No fines - and stay out of my car!" was favored by 80 percent of respondents.

Nestel, a 25-year veteran of policing who's working toward his doctorate in criminology at the University of Pennsylvania, argued that the system - including seizing contraband discovered while locking cars or leaving fliers - would be constitutional. The town solicitor didn't disagree, he added.

The public has spoken, which is how democracy is meant to work, Nestel said.

"This isn't a loss for anybody," he said. "I got the word out about the problem and the easy solution."

No Plan B is in the works.

Upper Moreland won't tweet unlocked-car locations to drive the message home. Or leave big signs on unlocked sedans announcing "Laptop Here," he said.

the plan was that a first offense would draw a warning in the form of a flier left on the driver's seat. The doors would then be locked.