The mayor of San Francisco and police officers from both sides of the Bay said Friday they're working together on ways to disrupt and ultimately prevent sideshows.
The announcement comes after a weekend of complaints involving a group of more than 100 dirt bikers who took over streets and intersections in San Francisco and Oakland.
"We will use every tool that we have and every law that we have in order to stop and disrupt the sideshows that are happening in our city," San Francisco Mayor London Breed said.
Breed also introduced new local laws to allow police to criminally charge people who organize, participate and even block streets to give drivers space to do their stunts. Leaders are also looking to charge those who interfere with officers trying to disrupt the illegal stunt shows.
The proposed new laws would also extend the time the city can impound a vehicle beyond the current 30-day limit and allow the city to keep the vehicle if someone is convicted of charges.
San Francisco police Chief Bill Scott said his officers are often outnumbered when they first respond to these incidents. Police plan on using new tools and strategies to deter sideshows from happening in the first place and then safely disrupt them as quick as possible.
"We want to chase them away and flush them out of the city," Scott said. "We catch who we can catch. We arrest who we arrest. But usually when we get there, everybody just goes in all directions."
Police are also tracking down and impounding stunt cars. So far, the city has impounded 67 vehicles, and officials said most belong to people who don't live in San Francisco.
Officials have also sent out about 300 warning letters to the registered owners of cars that were spotted at recent shows.
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All the officers at Friday's event agreed dealing with large dirtbike groups is more difficult because they often don't have license plates, so they can't be tracked by plate-reading cameras, and they can speed away quickly when police arrive on scene.
Agencies like the California Highway Patrol are tracking the events on social media to try to mobilize a response.
"They'll schedule them on a specific day, but we don't necessarily know the time," CHP Golden Gate Division Chief Don Goodbrand said. "We're constantly monitoring those to try to get the updates as to where they're gonna end up."
Goodbrand said more than 40 officers in his division will be on patrol to be able to respond to any incident this Labor Day weekend.
