SBPD Exhaust Enforcement

The Seal Beach Police Department partnered with several coastal Orange County law enforcement agencies to conduct an operation specifically targeting loud/modified exhausts and street racing violations.

During the last several months, the Seal Beach Police Department has received numerous complaints about loud/modified exhausts and street racing along city roadways. To address these issues, the Seal Beach Police Department has pursued education such as issuing press releases, visiting car shows, as well as placing several electronic signboards with messaging in high traffic areas to educate the public on vehicle exhaust and street racing laws in California.

Seal Beach Police Officers also attended a California POSTapproved training that involved both classroom and hands-on, in-field vehicle inspections under the instruction of referees from the California Bureau of Automotive Repair (BAR). This training ensures police officers can more readily identify loud/modified vehicle exhausts and other illegal modifications to vehicles to increase their effectiveness in enforcement efforts.

On May 23, a joint enforcement operation utilizing over 50 motorcycle officers and other police officers from the Seal Beach Police Department, Newport Beach Police Department, Huntington Beach Police Department, Laguna Beach Police Department, Irvine Police Department, Santa Ana Police Department, Orange County Sheriff ’s Department, the cities of Dana Point and San Clemente, California Highway Patrol, Santa Ana and Westminster Offices, as well as four investigators from the California Department of Motor Vehicles and four referees from the California Bureau of Automotive Repair participated in enforcement efforts along the entire length of coastal Orange County as well as freeway and arterial access points to the coast.

The Seal Beach Police Department would like to thank the allied law enforcement and state agency partners for their assistance with this enforcement operation, and it looks forward to further joint operations in the coming months.

As a result of this successful joint operation:

• 445 vehicles were stopped for violations

• 348 vehicles were cited for vehicle code violations (including loud/modified exhausts)

• 44 vehicles were inspected on-site for modified exhaust violations by a BAR referee

• 16 vehicles were referred to on-site DMV investigators for possible registration violations

• four vehicles were cited for exceeding 100 mph

• four vehicles were stopped and the drivers/passengers were arrested for possession/sales of narcotics, unlicensed driver and DUI offenses.

For more information about how the Seal Beach Police Department works to keep city roadways safe, follow it on social media @ sealbeachpolice.