Violations

[Guest]

Does the police dept wait (like the city) for a citizen to complain about a violation, such as parking boats, rv's, etc...on the street before issuing a citation?

[ACPD Brownlee]

We usually dont wait for a complaint to issues citations for parking violations we observe. Expired registration, fire lanes, handicapped zones usually get an immediate cite when we observe the infraction... However we may not see every violation while we are driving around and may not notice that certain vehicle on your street hasn't moved for the past week or so. If you have an issue that you feel should be address, call us, we will respond.....

As for vehicles off the streets, parked in driverways, side of the house and such....that is under the relm of the City's Code Enforcement Officer, we deal with the vehicles on the streets only.....

[Guest]

I would like to know if boats parked on the street fall into the city or police codes. They are on trailers that display license plates so I'm unsure which codes they violate if left for long periods on the street.

[ACPD Brownlee]

Boat trailers are a vehicle.... They have the same registration requirements and time limit - 72 hours.

[Guest]

So basically a boat can stay on the street as long as the owner keeps moving it a couple of feet every 72 hours? Does the police dept ever report to the city code enforcement habitual offenders?

[ACPD Brownlee]

The code enforcement officer does not enforce the vehicle code on public streets... The police have that responsibility....

If you have a vehicle that you feel is being stored on a public street, report it --648-0171---.

If it is being stored on private property, such as a driveway or beside a house then you need to consult with the city's code enforcement officer...

[guest]

Officer Brownlee, You mention that if a boat or other vehicle is being stored in a driving way this is code enforcement. Could you please elaborate, because many people have vehicles, boats, campers stored in their driveways. What is the code in American Canyon?

[ACPD Brownlee]

Vehicles are allowed by law to be parked on the private driveway of a residence. If the vehicle / boat / camper is hooked up to power and it appears if it is being used as a second residence, then this may be a violation of the code and the City's Code Enforcement Officer has control of these matters.

I do not know all the city's codes relating to the storage of vehicles on private property, this is an area Law Enforcement does not specifically deal with. I would refer you to the City's Code Enforcement Officer for additional details on this subject.