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Home My WebLink About(0005) IR 21-10543 - Street Racing Issues in Fort WorthINFORMAL REPORT TO CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS No. 21-10543 To the Mayor and Members of the City Council February 16, 2021 Page 1 of 3 6A�� SUBJECT: STREET RACING ISSUES IN FORT WORTH re�a The purpose of this Informal Report is to explain the scope of street racing issues in Fort Worth and what the Fort Worth Police Department is doing to address those issues. Specific Offenses Currently Used to Address Street Racing/Hot-Rodding Complaints There are currently three main offenses under which racing or hot-rodding may be prosecuted: Reckless Driving and Racing on Highway per the Texas Transportation Code, and the City's Unreasonable Noise Ordinance. Sec. 545.401. RECKLESS DRIVING (Transportation Code) (a) A person commits an offense if the person drives a vehicle in a willful or wanton disregard for the safety of persons or property. (b) An offense under this section is a misdemeanor punishable by: (1) A fine not to exceed $200; (2) Confinement in county jail for not more than 30 days; or (3) Both the fine and the confinement. Sec. 545.420. RACING ON HIGHWAY (Transportation Code) (a) A person may not participate in any manner in: (1) A race; (2) A vehicle speed competition of contest; (3) A drag race or acceleration contest; (4) A test of physical endurance of the operator of a vehicle; or (5) In connection with a drag race, an exhibition of vehicle speed or acceleration or to make a vehicle speed record. (d) Except as provided by (e) — (h), and offense under Subsection (a) is a Class B misdemeanor. "Racing on Highway" calls may be aggravated to a Class A misdemeanor if the person was previously convicted once, operating the vehicle while intoxicated, or had an open container in the vehicle. It can further be aggravated to a state jail felony if the person had previously been convicted twice. As well, it can be aggravated to a felony of the third degree if a person suffered bodily injury and a felony of the second degree if a person suffered serious bodily injury or death. Ordinance No. 20191-2012 —Section 1 (d) Noise Prohibited (1) In addition to the other noise restrictions in this Section, no person shall make, cause, suffer, allow or permit unreasonable noise in such a manner, or with such volume, intensity or duration, so as to disturb a reasonable person of ordinary sensibilities. A decibel level shall not be required for the enforcement of this subsection. ISSUED BY THE CITY MANAGER FORT WORTH, TEXAS INFORMAL REPORT TO CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS No. 21-10543 To the Mayor and Members of the City Council February 16, 2021 Page 2 of 3 6A�� SUBJECT: STREET RACING ISSUES IN FORT WORTH re�a Ordinance No. 20191-2012 —Section 1 (2) This subsection is intended to apply to, but is not limited to, unreasonable noises in the form of: g. Operation of motor vehicles. The revving of any engine, the playing of any music with such volume or bass, or the operation of any vehicle so out of repair, so loaded or in such manner as to create loud or unnecessary grating, grinding, jarring, rattling, or squealing noise or vibrations. Scope of the Issue Most calls made by the citizens as "racing" are better described as "hot rodding" (loud engines, squealing of tires, heavy acceleration, etc.) rather than "racing" (contests of speed). Since October 2020, the Fort Worth Police Department has received over 1,000 hot rodding calls all over the city; hence; the issue is city-wide. For policing purposes, the City of Fort Worth is divided into six patrol divisions. These are the approximate number of hot-rodding/racing calls per division. 1. South Division — 219 calls 2. Northwest Division — 190 calls 3. East Division — 189 calls 4. North Division — 172 calls 5. Central Division — 150 calls 6. West Division — 100 calls Although hot rodding calls are received every day of the week, the heaviest days are on weekends and the most active times are during the evening hours. Enforcement Action by the Fort Worth Police Department Hot rodding calls are often difficult to enforce, since many offenses include burning rubber, revving engines, or excessive speed and perpetrators are usually gone when officers arrive. There were only 10 reports made since October 1, 2020 in association with these 1,000 plus "hot rodding" calls for service. In these 10 reports, only 3 arrests were made for "Racing on Highway," 3 arrest were made for "Reckless Driving," and 1 arrest was made for "Evading Arrest in vehicle." The Fort Worth Police Department utilizes a variety of techniques to address the racing concerns across the city. We have placed cameras at known hot spot areas and monitor those cameras for illegal racing activities. Once racing or reckless driving is observed on camera, officers can be quickly dispatched to the area. Our Intelligence Exchange Section (Intex) monitors and receives information about different groups of racers who often post on Facebook about their plans and locations of events. Because of information given by Intex, on -duty patrol and traffic officers often preempt the racers' arrival and prevent them from racing in Fort Worth. However, one of our many challenges is that many of these group events occur with very short notice. Although we can monitor some social media sites, many of the hot-rodders/racers and organizers have thought of creative ways to garner support to get large crowds to gather quickly. ISSUED BY THE CITY MANAGER FORT WORTH, TEXAS INFORMAL REPORT TO CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS No. 21-10543 To the Mayor and Members of the City Council February 16, 2021 Page 3 of 3 6A�� SUBJECT: STREET RACING ISSUES IN FORT WORTH re�a Additionally, we have deployed our skywatch to hot spot areas, conducted radar details, utilized under cover cars, and NPOs and traffic officers have adjusted their hours to catch racers in the act. We have conducted many Special Operations Fund (SOF) details across the city to combat this issue. Commanders do a good job using their resources to address the racing problem. Even though we have and will continue to try innovative ways to address these type of calls, patrol officers do a good job responding to the area to address any violations they observe. However, for known or habitual problem areas identified by the community, we rely on our Neighborhood Patrol Officers to keep their commanders aware so resources can be diverted to the area to focus on the problem when the violations are occurring. Upcoming Ordinance to Address Broader Racing Related Concerns In addition to the existing statutory and ordinance authority available to law enforcement to directly address speed racing and hot-rodding, the city is preparing to enact an ordinance designed to address some of the broader issues and concerns connected to these violations. Through social media and other means, spectators routinely attend these illegal street racing events. Not only does this encourage the illegal activity, it places the spectators in the path of foreseeable danger and personal harm. Additionally, the ordinance would place accountability on the owners of premises who knowingly aid and allow these illegal street racing events to occur on their property. The goal is to have an ordinance for your consideration within the coming month. Potential Legislative Proposal for Future Enforcement Tools More recently, the Fort Worth Police Department has been included into a regional law enforcement North Texas racing working group. Started by Dallas Police Department, there are agencies across the North Texas Region as well as Austin, San Antonio, and Houston sharing information and intelligence on racing groups. Part of those discussions include the different techniques and strategies used to address this problem. The goal of this group is to keep everyone informed and address this problem from a regional perspective instead of localized enforcement. Additionally, the regional working group has developed language for a state legislative bill to address this issue and is vetting that through the member agencies. Once the language is finalized, the group will work to identify a sponsor for that proposal. If you have any questions please contact Jay Chapa, Deputy City Manager at 817-392-5804 or j esus.chapa(a�fortworthtexas.gov. David Cooke City Manager ISSUED BY THE CITY MANAGER FORT WORTH, TEXAS