Fwd: Opps! Here's the open letter from Police Chief Page (N.Hampton)

[Bill]

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Opps! Here's the open letter from Police Chief Page (N.Hampton)
Date: Fri, 29 Apr 2011 13:55:40 -0400
From: Candy Alexander

Sorry about that… hit send before I attached! This is in it's entirety
and unedited by anyone but him. I have also attached the 'Opinion
letter" he refers to for you to read.

To: Candy Alexander
From: Chief Brian Page
Date: April 13, 2011
Re: Conversation on 4/13/11

Once again Candy, thank you for your patience in waiting for me to get
back to you. I am usually much more efficient, but as you and I talked
about there is a great deal of other “stuff” getting thrown at both of
us while we are at our busiest times.

Based on our talk this morning, I am glad to offer a follow-up status to
members, on the “EPA Label Ordinance” that was voted in by the North
Hampton Legislative Body in May of last year. My position has not
changed relative to the enforceability of this ordinance, and I have
once again told our officers here in North Hampton that we will continue
our /non-enforcement /of that ordinance. Although the courts move
slowly, we have _not _received any legal opinion here in North Hampton
that goes against my opinion that the ordinance is not enforceable. The
most recent opinion we received on this was one that we asked for from
the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in Region 1 (Boston). To
summarize that opinion, it was made very clear that the Federal Law the
ordinance refers to does not give municipalities any authority
whatsoever. This opinion was added to the other four that I have, which
state the ordinance pre-empts rights afforded to riders by State
Statute, and this is just another reason of many that the ordinance is
unenforceable. Interestingly enough, members of NH-CALM who are Rye NH
residents presented a petition for a similar (but not exact) ordinance
in their town that also refers to the EPA standard, and at their
deliberative session in Rye they added a line to it that its enforcement
by the police department will be subject to the results of the suit here
in North Hampton. In a nutshell, the Rye Chief has told me it will not
be enforced by them until such time the court(s) determine it is
enforceable.

As you know from our discussions, we will continue to have Motor Vehicle
Enforcement Checkpoints around the seacoast this summer, and one of the
missions of those checkpoints will be to maintain the decibel levels
from all motorcycles subject to _State Statutes (106 Db.)._ You will
notice that here on the seacoast it is not considered a /Motorcycle
Enforcement Checkpoint/, and when we do checkpoints it will not just be
motorcycles that are waived over for voluntary or mandatory compliance
checks, but will be for any motor vehicle that appears to not be in
compliance with any law under the Motor Vehicle Code.

One aspect of our Motor Vehicle Checkpoints that has been very
successful and we hope that it continues is the very cooperative nature
of the motorcyclists to have their bikes tested with the decibel meter.
This has enabled us to maintain important data that challenges the
feelings of some members of the public that “all motorcycles are too
loud”, or that “those Harley Riders are the loudest ones on the road”.
The voluntary and mandatory compliance data we have collected has
revealed that overall about ten percent of the bikes are over the
statutory limits, and all others are falling at or well under the
statutory requirement of 106 decibels. It also reveals that all makes
and models i.e. Kawasaki, Suzuki, Triumph, and not only Harley Davidson
Models are running pipes that are over the statutory limitations.

It is the approach of Law Enforcement in the Seacoast to work in
conjunction with Owner’s Groups, Associations like yours, and all the
different dealerships in the area to try to maintain the motorcycles to
statutory requirements through education and cooperation, as opposed to
resorting to enforcement, which includes writing tickets and defective
equipment tags, and in habitual cases towing motorcycles that are
continuously out of compliance when they are tested.

To simplify the procedure how our department runs the Motor Vehicle
Checkpoints, I offer the following; as vehicles come down any roadway if
they sound too loud, or have obvious equipment violations, are speeding,
etc., we will wave them over into a secure area in order to approach
operators. In the case where a motorcycle is involved we will ask for a
voluntary test, even if it is obvious to us that it is not over the 106
decibel limit. As mentioned earlier, this is for statistical purposes
only. Here in North Hampton, the operator under these circumstances the
driver will not be asked to provide a license or registration based on
their being no “Reasonable Suspicion” or “Probable Cause” that a
violation or a crime is being committed. I will add that we have had
riders who have refused testing as well. Under those circumstances if
there is evidence or Reasonable Suspicion of a violation or a crime,
i.e. uninspected vehicle, defective equipment, DUI, or of course that
the bike exceeds the statutory decibel levels, we will proceed with
Constitutional approaches to alleviate our belief, or confirm our belief
that there is a violation of statute. This may very well include the
non-mandatory approach to testing the vehicles decibel levels to make
sure it does fall into acceptable levels. Here in North Hampton only
after we find a violation of some type will we request licenses of
registrations in order to verify their legality and status.

Although I am sure there are some out there that would look at our
procedures above and feel that it is still unreasonable and/or
unconstitutional, but with my 25 years of experience in this field, I am
convinced that the above manner is the only way I can represent the
public who are complaining about the exhaust noise levels, and also to
recognize the rights of the operators of vehicles simultaneously. In
closing, over the years another issue that comes up whether a vehicle
has four wheels, three wheels, or two wheels, is the noise created by
vehicles being “excessively revved up” with the clutch disengaged, or an
operator of a vehicle misusing power, such as spinning the tires, or
simply “racing” away at a traffic light. Any operator I talk to who has
been stopped for this type of offense, I have a very simple but polite
response to them. That response is, “if you ask for attention you are
going to get attention.” Of course this includes attention from any
police officer who may be on patrol and witnesses this type of operation.

I believe this is the best I can do without having a question and answer
session, but of course as I have said in our conversations in the past,
I am willing to do that as well. The more information I can get to the
drivers, and the residents who complain about them, the more we can deal
with the division between the two without having to issue tickets and
resort to enforcement.

Candy Alexander
Vice President
*N*ew *H*ampshire *M*otorcyclists' *R*ights *O*rganization
http://www.nhmro.org
Phone: 603.320.3654