In any case in which a person is arrested for a violation of
any provision of this code and does not demand to be taken before
a magistrate, such person may, in lieu of being taken before a magistrate,
be issued a written notice to appear in court and may then be released,
all pursuant to and in accordance with the procedures prescribed by
California Penal Code Section 853.6 et seq.
(Prior code § 1031; Ord. 913 § 1, 1971)
(a) Officers
and employees of the city who have the discretionary duty to enforce
a statute or ordinance may, pursuant to Section 836.5 of the Penal
Code, as may be amended from time to time, and subject to the provisions
of this section of the code, arrest a person without warrant whenever
such officer or employee has reasonable cause to believe that the
person to be arrested has committed a misdemeanor in the officer's
or employee's presence which he or she has the discretionary
duty to enforce, and to issue a notice to appear, and to release such
person on his or her written promise to appear in court pursuant to
Section 853.6 of the Penal Code, as may be amended from time to time.
(b) No
officer or employee shall be allowed by his or her superior to exercise
the arrest and citation authority conferred in this section unless
such officer or employee is within a classification of city officers
and employees designated by the city manager to exercise such arrest
and citation authority as to specified misdemeanor violations.
(c) The
city manager shall establish and cause to be administered a special
enforcement training program designed to instruct each officer or
employee who will exercise such arrest and citation authority, regarding
the provisions of the statutes and ordinances to be enforced, the
evidentiary prerequisites to proper procedures for making arrests,
or otherwise prudently exercising such arrest and citation authority
or alternative enforcement authority provided in this code, and the
legal and practical ramifications and limitations attendant thereto.
Any such officers or employees shall be appropriately instructed to
deposit executed citations for criminal violations or notices related
thereto with the police department for the filing with the court,
after review for legal sufficiency.
(Ord. 1669 § 6, 2005; Ord. 1088 § 1, 1979)
Notwithstanding any other provision of this code, when any minor
under the age of eighteen years is charged with a violation of this
code, and a peace officer issues a notice to appear in superior court
to such minor, the charge shall be deemed an infraction unless the
minor requests that a petition be filed under a Welfare and Institutions
Code Sections 601 and 602, and shall be heard, pursuant to Welfare
and Institutions Code Section 256, by the traffic hearing officer
of the Riverside County juvenile court. If such minor has, for a period
of fifteen or more days, violated a written promise to appear or a
lawfully granted continuance of a promise to appear, the traffic hearing
officer shall give notice of such failure to appear to the Department
of Motor Vehicles, all as authorized by Vehicle Code Section 40509,
and shall take such further steps as are authorized by law to effect
a suspension of the minor's privilege to operate a motor vehicle.
(Ord. 1530 § 1, 1996)