AzMotorNews

Scottsdale, perhaps the only city in America where adequate police protection is an optional extra, is mulling an ordinance to ban motorized scooters and other kiddie carts.

It's not a bad idea, even though the city already imposes severe restrictions on such vehicles. The annoying machines snarl loud enough to split eardrums, and adolescents who ride the mini-rigs at 20 mph or even faster put themselves in peril, all accomplishing nothing except maybe to take a young mind off that bad complexion.

While a scooter ban is easy to enact, what's involved in enforcing the law?

That's a question that lawmaking bodies seldom ask. They deal in policy, and enforcement is an operational detail left up to bureaucrats, so the reasoning goes at City Hall. Of course, that operational detail finally falls to the police officer who comes across an offending kid.

What happens then entirely depends on circumstances. In a worst-case scenario, a police officer might spend a good part of his shift with the youngster in custody while tracking down parents, writing a citation and otherwise finishing the paperwork to close the case.

Whatever time a scooter case takes, it's time that a police officer is unavailable for more important duties - responding to an armed robbery, keeping an eye on a suspected child molester, arresting a drunken driver, and on down a dreary list.

If the anti-scooter law passes, it will add to other distractions for police. For example, officers recently were dispatched to issue tickets for cars illegally parked on residential streets near an access point to the McDowell Sonoran Preserve. While dealing with those parking violations, officers doubtless missed something else - perhaps a motorist running a stop sign in a residential area.

Public safety ought to be the primary function of government, but law enforcement isn't included in the sticker price of citizenship in Scottsdale.

The people voted for a special sales tax, one-tenth of 1 percent, to provide funding for improvements in police services. Maybe the special tax frees up money for things more important than law enforcement - advertising subsidies to car dealerships, for example.

If the ban passes, will it put an end to motorized scooters in Scottsdale?

With all of the crimes, large and small, that the Scottsdale Police Department must handle, the offenses no doubt will be tucked in low on the department's prioritized list, somewhere around the anti-litter law.

Through no fault of the police, however, law not enforced breeds disrespect for all law. The kid who gets away with running an illegal motorized scooter might be inclined to break other laws, eventually breaking one that earns a prison sentence.

Let's hope that Mayor Mary Manross and the City Council at least try to weigh the cost in law enforcement resources before moving to ban motorized scooters - and, from now on, do thorough assessments of police requirements before enacting new laws.

If more enforcement resources are needed, the council should provide for them before just putting new laws into effect.

* Jay Brashear was a reporter, editorial writer and editor of the editorial page for The Phoenix Gazette for 39 years. He can be reached at scottsdalebuzz@yahoo.com. The views expressed are those of the author.

** Link to the original article at;

http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/northeastvalleyopinions/articles/0208sr-brashear08.html

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