Poll: Your Thoughts on This Law

[Amused]

What do you think of this law?

VEHICLE CODE
Compartments

Public Act 91-0359

SE1042 Enrolled

AN ACT to amend the Illinois Vehicle Code by adding Section 12-61.2.

Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly:

Section 5. The Illinois Vehicle code is amended by adding Section 12-612 as follows:

(525 ILCS 5/12-612 new)

Sec. 12-612. False or Secret Compartment in a motor vehicle.

(a) Offenses. It is unlawful for any person to own or operate any motor vehicle he or she knows to contain a false or secret compartment. It is unlawful for any person to knowingly install, create, build, or fabricate in any motor vehicle a false or secret compartment.

(b) Definitions. For purposes of this section, a "false or secret compartment means any enclosure that is intended and designed to be used to conceal, hide, and prevent discovery by law enforcement officers of the false or secret compartment or its contents, and which is integrated into a vehicle. For purpose of this Section, a person's intention to use a false or secret compartment to conceal the contents of the compartment from a law enforcement officer may be inferred from factors including, but not limited to, the discovery of a person, firearm, controlled substance, or other contraband within the false or secret compartment, or from the discovery of evidence of the previous placement of a person, firearm, controlled substance, or other contraband within the false or secret compartment.

(c) Forfeiture. Any motor vehicle containing a false or secret compartment, as well as any items within that compartment, shall be subject to seizure by the Department of state Police or by any municipals or other local law enforcement agency within whose Jurisdiction that property is found as provided in Sections 36-1 and 36-2 of the Criminal Code of 1961 (720 ILCS 5/36-1 and 5/36-2).

(d) Sentence. A violation of this Section is a Class C misdemeanor

 

[gopunk]

well i'm not sure about the constitutional validity of it....

but i don't see how it could hurt the innocent, if they were somehow able to keep the definitions they gave (ie, the compartments must have been made to deceive law enforcement). beats me how they can prove if somthing was made for that purpose though...

 

[minendo]

If they want to find it, they will.

 

[conjur]

Sounds like something cooked up to help ensure more convictions where drugs or illegal arms are found in the car.

 

[gopunk]

<< Sounds like something cooked up to help ensure more convictions where drugs or illegal arms are found in the car. >>



yea that's exactly what i thought.

 

[Amused]

<< well i'm not sure about the constitutional validity of it....

but i don't see how it could hurt the innocent, if they were somehow able to keep the definitions they gave (ie, the compartments must have been made to deceive law enforcement). beats me how they can prove if somthing was made for that purpose though... >>



Not only this, but it seems so after-the-fact. If a person HAS a hiding place, chances are there's something already in it that's going to get him sent to jail.

Additionally, this law applies to ALL vehicles, not just ones driven on city streets. Next we wont be able to have hiding places in our homes to keep thieves from finding our stuff.

BTW, I ask this because there's a campaign commercial in IL right now where a cop who was shot by a gun pulled from a "secret compartment" praises a law maker for writing this bill.

As if telling a criminal it's illegal to have a secret compartment is going to keep him from hiding a gun there. Yeah, right. The guy is willing to shoot a cop, but a law against secret compartments will stop him from hiding his gun???

 

[gopunk]

Additionally, this law applies to ALL vehicles, not just ones driven on city streets. Next we wont be able to have hiding places in our homes to keep thieves from finding our stuff.

well, i think this law's definitions are fairly clear... unless you're hiding dead bodies from thieves btw, i take it there are no concealed gun permits in illinois?

As if telling a criminal it's illegal to have a secret compartment is going to keep him from hiding a gun there. Yeah, right. The guy is willing to shoot a cop, but a law against secret compartments will stop him from hiding his gun???

yea, i totally agree, it's definitely not going to stop anybody. all it'll end up doing is tacking on more punishment for drug dealers and people who have that gun in the door rig.

 

[MeanMeosh]

<< beats me how they can prove if somthing was made for that purpose though... >>



if it were welded to the floor of the car or the trunk, so that the only way you could access it were if you had to first remove all the carpets, or the trunk liner.

 

[gopunk]

<<

<< beats me how they can prove if somthing was made for that purpose though... >>



if it were welded to the floor of the car or the trunk, so that the only way you could access it were if you had to first remove all the carpets, or the trunk liner. >>



yea, but how can they prove it was for teh purpose of deceiving law enforcement? the way they can do that, according to this law, is if they find stuff there that was illegal to begin with. but aside from that, it's pretty difficult, so it does look like it was one of those "tack on" laws.

 

[atom]

Oh well, they'll just have to put it under the seat like most criminals do now.

"Yes, I did shoot that cop, but I did NOT hide it in a secret compartment!!"

 

[Brutuskend]

Just be carefull if you buy cars at police auctions!

(You better hope they go over those seized cars and trucks REAL well!!)

 

[b0mbrman]

Hmmm...that's a tough one...

 

[glen]

I'd have never been able to evade the Empire if I hadn't installed these scanner-proof smuggling compartments.

 

[vi edit]

I'd like to know just what justifies "an intentional concealed compartment".

Is that accidental tear in my seatback that could just happen house a firearm be a concealed compartment? Could the under the dash hideaway FACTORY INSTALLED concealed glovebox(as it is listed on the window sticker) considered a concealed compartment by the law? Or, how about some very hard to find compartments that are once again, factory installed, that are located under the seats in the new vehicle that I'm looking at, that are only accessable when the seats are folded down?

I'm sure that these are abused by many would be drug smugglers and the like, but more importantly, they help those of us law abiding citizens out there conceal valuables such as wallets, watches, CD's, expensive gifts, ect that we may have to keep in our car unattended at some point or another.

 

[b0mbrman]

<< Sounds like something cooked up to help ensure more convictions where drugs or illegal arms are found in the car. >>


Ah...I see...so that when they find drugs in the car, they get more than the punishment for possession--they also get charged for breakin the no-secret-compartment law...

 

[Moonbeam]

Laws and fear seem to multply together.

 

[Amused]

<< Laws and fear seem to multply together. >>



Wow, Moonie actually said something reasonable

 

[Moonbeam]

WOW! Amused actually agreed with something reasonable.

 

[Dragnov]

It should do more good than trouble.

 

[OutHouse]

I think it is dumb. Just another feel good law to clutter the books.

I too wonder what constitutes a secret compartment? how about those little magnetic that you can put a spare key in and hide someplace under your car? 30 years hard labor?

I would like to hear why the 15 people who said its a good law pipe in and tell us why.

 

[Maetryx]

That's a terrible law. It presumes guilt, or rather makes a mundane victimless situation into a crime. Hell, I've read books ADVOCATING welding or bolting a metal lockbox into the trunk of your car, because that way it would require a warrant to open it up. If a police officer had to open the trunk, and break a lock to open it, he could not then argue that it was within reach of the driver. Thus anything incriminating therein could not be used against the driver.

But what do you expect from Illinois? It, along with California, Massachusetts, and D.C. are places on my list called "Places I Will Never Willing Reside".

 

[glen]

SOme of you are all too eager to make new laws.
i hope you don't vote.

 

[Moonbeam]

Maybe we could have just one law:

In your dealings with others, on penalty of death, treat them well. This law will be interpreted on a case by case basis, so err on the side of caution.

 

[jjones]

<< Ah...I see...so that when they find drugs in the car, they get more than the punishment for possession--they also get charged for breakin the no-secret-compartment law... >>


lol, yeah, by reading the law that's kind of what i gathered. what's next? no secret de-coder rings?

 

[cipher00]

I am sooo freakin glad I left Illinois....