Full Notification

Recently the El Cerrito Police Department conducted a disabled placard/license plate operation in and around the Del Norte BART station. The purpose of this operation was to contact persons parking in disabled parking spaces or time restricted zones while misusing a placard or plate. California law prohibits persons from using a disabled parking placard or license plate if it is not issued to that person.

Law enforcement officers have the legal authority to contact subjects who have parked and are displaying a disabled placard or license plate. Officers can request the identifying registration for that disabled placard or license plate to confirm that it is not being misused.

Violators are subject to a fine of not less than $250 and not more than$1,000. The license plates and/or placard are seized by the officer and returned to DMV with a notification advising that they were used fraudulently. In addition, the parked vehicle receives a $275 parking citation.

During this three hour operation officers contacted 21 persons, issued four parking citations for stopping in disabled stalls, and issued three citations for misusing a disabled placard that belonged to someone else. Many of the people we contacted who were legitimately using a disabled placard were appreciative of our efforts to keep the disabled parking spots available for those that need them.

Officers will continue to look for these violations during our normal patrol operations. Possible violations can be called in to our non emergency dispatch center at 210-233-1214.