In California, is it illegal to own old road signs?

As the sign shop director for a large county in the South, for many years ... I can tell you that owning signs is not illegal. You ( or anyone else ) can buy them ... here below

http://www.hallsigns.com/regulatory.htm

As many as you want and can pay for.

Now if yours has property markings on them ... you better take them down and hide them. My county and the state I live in ... has bar code markings on all the newer signs ( since 2004 ). We could never prove the signs were stolen ... until then.



eBay has plenty Traffic signs for sale ... most used and likely stolen



Most any decent sign shop can make a street sign to say most anything. I like the one I made

 

The signs sound like a real hassel,but I'd just take em down for a bit. The car thing is what has me bugged here! I mean are your cars an eyesore for your neighbors, Do you have 4' high walls like me? I have 18 cars and enough parts to build 3 more at this residence alone. I always wave Hi to my neighbors and try to help them as they do me when each other needs it.
I lay low when I need to but make a helluva lot of noise when I am doming the 24 studs. I have an understanding with them and they are welcome here any time.

Sherrifs have cruised by many times as I reside near an elementary school, Heck I've even had the Purple 34 parked out front with a 41 prop plate, not realizing it and a cop just stopped and looked it over from his car and never said a word negatively about it.

Try to lay low, if the city gives you a hard time, that means a neighbor has called, Do what you can to smoothe things over, I try to alternate what I have in the driveway and every now & then I pull em out just to show em that they run. I wish that I could keep everything in an enclosed wharehouse, but that would be cost prohibitive.

I feel for you and hope that the car situation get resolved

 

This is 100% wrong. Innocent until proven guilty. Ever heard of it? The burden of proof is given to the prosecution. It is called the 4th amendment. Know your fucking rights.

edited: weasel, beat me to it.

 

such bs cant even own a home and do what you want .had a buddy tell me his friend up near you was getting the same bs get rid of your cars.

 

You have the right to remain silent... good thing innocent people never go to jail.

 

good luck man...get reciepts....if the cops up there are anything like the ones in ventura county...sheesh watch out

 

I used to work for L.A. street maintenance
all street signs must meet federal standards.
when the feds change designs all municipalities must post new signs.
you might get into trouble if you have the newer aluminum signs with the cool reflective vinyl letters but, when a sign is knocked down it MUST be replaced with a new pole AND new sign. even if the old sign was not damaged it must be replaced.
cities throw away tons of signs every year.
they get sold to scrap dealers.
what the scrap dealer does is up to them...hint.
all new signs have numbers printed at the bottom, I am sure you can run the number on the net and see if its a current design.
tell the cops the sign is obsolete by fed standards and was scraped, you got it as scrap.

 

I'm born and raised in the Socialist Republic of California and I'm very willing to move out of state, maybe even out of country before too long. They're not allowed in your home/garage without a search warrant. they can say they have the right to come in but if you ask them to leave or not come in and they do anyway without a warrant, BIG trouble for them (eventually...).

I have no idea how they're trying to say the signs are illegal or how they're going to legally arrest you...may be worth a nice civil suit for you, be able to move out of state and get a nice house with a big shop in a non-police state. seriously, we're hiring 300 additional highway patrol officers every month for a 12 month campaign right now, they get a lucrative salary and the CHP seems to mostly accept power-happy, dishonest pricks.

honestly, I'd do some research and get a few lawyers you'd want to call, leave the signs up and let them put themselves in over their head in shit. just remember, when they want to come inside or want to search your vehicle on a stop without a warrant YOU DO NOT HAVE TO LET THEM! they damn well know it, too; but because they've been given the leeway to lean their 'authority' on people, they overly take advantage.

KNOW YOUR RIGHTS. if you can't look through the California Civil Codes and figure out what you need to know, that's where lawyers come in.

 

Check out oilstick.com for signs and other neet stuff. This is also the home of The Dry Lakes Hall of Fame.

 

Of course it's illegal, it's California, the land of stupid laws and the assholes that enforce them. They can arrest you and hold you for 72 hours WITHOUT a good reason. It always amazes me that some badge happy asshole pushes his weight around and threatens innocent citizens and then is surprised that folkes don't like them. If you want a new state, try Nevada, we all carry guns...legally.

 

As far as the signs go, the only date is on 2 stop signs. If its a date...it is 63.

The other ones with the little reflectors in the numbers may be alot earlier, and are not in use today in my area.

As far as the cars go, I can move them out. But if I do, I want to have every guy within a reasonable range show up with a running and driving classic on "inspection day" in my back yard. it will hold 100+ cars.

That would be cool.

What it would accomplish..not much, but it might open a few county guys' eyes.

maybe they will pee their pants a little and bring more cops next time.

I am currently educating myself more on the current laws and will be knocking holes in their arguments one by one.

I've done it before, and won. I have all the paperwork that said I was compliant for alot more stuff than I have now.

My neighbors are not complaining, its a new task force that does a fly over and takes pics.

 

post some pic's of said "contraband signs" showing front and rear maybe one of the "sign collectors" may be able to help if they see what you got. i would call the county road sign office and ask them and be sure and write down name of person you spoke with,day..... good luck.

 

Well unfortunetly...and I and Desert has seen this time after time.

The city gets a complaint, then they are after you. I know a guy with a bunch of cars and they will literally give you a certain amount of time. After that they will take your stuff and then send you a bill for moving it. Im not agreeing with it. But i have seen tons of people hit with this and all i have seen have lost there stuff. Many were literally giving cars away so they didnt get taken and get charged.

Think only legal way now days is to own a junk yard.

Good luck Dude

 

Give him this one and he can have the rest when it really happens....

 

In Soviet Russia, sign stops you.


Oh wait, California, you probably already knew that.

 

I just love all the stupid comments like "Fuck em, tell em that can't come on your property". First of all that doesn't answer the mans question nor does it work in the real world.
OK, off that little rant.

I can tell you unequivocally that it can be illegal to own certain street signs in Ca. How do I know? I went to jail and the appropriate legal proceedings for it, that's how!
City of Newport Beach's finest sees my collection on the garage wall and comes back, cuffs me, throws me in the patrol car and rips the "evidence" off the wall. I go to jail. Goes as far as the DA and the only reason that i get released was a small mistake they made. I was 17, never admitted they were mine, so since I was a minor they should have arrested my dad - it was his house.
The argument that they made concerning "Stolen property" was the fact that they had various city stamps on them and some of those cities don't sell them, they only destroy them, so there went your presumption of innocence, that was proof enough. They decided to drop it when they realized they were going to have to arrest my dad and since they figured I stole them not him (I didn't, a neighbor who worked for the city bagged them). I did have to take them to court to have the arrest removed from my record as it was a felony.
So there you go, real life scenario, not just an opinion

 

Does a flyover and take pictures???

Man, you really do need to find a new state.

Sadly, they will probably all be like that sooner or later.

Mike

 

What the law states is any police officer, with or without a warrant, may arrest for any felony committed in his presence or has reasonable cause to believe that a felony may have been committed. Receiving stolen property is a felony. It gives the officer the right to detain you for up to 72 hours before you are arraigned. This means 72 hours to investigate the allegation. If they cannot prove the property was stolen, charges are not filed.

 

OK so you had stolen property hanging on the wall...apples and oranges if you actually read the post....his signs are not marked with the city's current markings and are old signs...not something someone just bagged from the city while working there. Nice you didn't turn in your neighbor that actually committed the first felony and that you got off on actually recieving what you knew as stolen property!!

 

Sooo...does the person who gets detained for 72 hours get to file a harrassment lawsuit or lost wages or some other type of lawsuit against the idiot that illegally detained him when they find nothing illegal?

 

Sure, if you can prove that what the officer did was unreasonable to a jury. However, you say illegal, which if you read the above, it is legal. It is perfectly legal to detain someone for an investigation, you can always bond or bail out pending an arraignment. It would only be illegal if the officer and court, knowingly filed false charges which you would have to prove they knew was false. Harassment, you would have to prove a pattern of conduct over a period of time.

 

I grew up in Fort Wayne Indiana...when we were teenagers, some of us, maybe not me, would make off with I-69 signs and the Harry Baals Drive signs (he was the mayor back in the 30's)...the old ones never got sold because they were constantly getting ripped off so they were always new

 

ok so remove ANY markings and of course you bought them at 1-swapmeet,craigslist,on a trip outa state.end of story........and hotroddon props for not being a snitch

 

Actually, that wasn't the case. The signs in question had flaws, broken corners that sort of thing. They were supposed to be destroyed but he thought they'd be cool in the garage. When he moved he gave them to me. No stolen property involved, no felony committed, just bad judgment on his part, and me being 17 didn't know any better - and I did have him corroborate that story with the DA, that's the reason they agreed to remove the arrest from my record along with the fact that I wasn't the property owner in the first place. They gave my neighbor a reprimand at work and that was the end of it.

My original reply was to let him know that it can be illegal to posses these signs and he should be aware of that. I didn't think it was necessary to spell out the entire story regarding how they came into my possession or the details of the outcome. I guess it was .....

 

I too have a bunch of "street/business" type signs. NONE of them have any kind of ownership markings/decals/tags, and NONE of them are/were stolen. I use them to decorate my neighbors broken down fence that faces my property. If ANY cop pulled that with me, I'd be in the Chiefs/Sheriffs office filing a complaint about the police officers' CONDUCT and THREATS. How can he "prove", or even "know" they're "stolen"? My opinions of police officers comes from 36 years in healthcare, and seeing first hand how they treat people, their comradery with their own (which I compare to gum chewing, immature, gigling, junior high school aged girls. It's the truth!), and their overinflated egos. They're bullies, unstable, and should'nt be trusted, let alone put in a position of trust. I can't begin to say how many battered police officers wives/children I have had to perform X-Ray examinations on. YES, there are some good and decent police officers; but they are far outnumbered by those that are'nt. Most of them put in their 20 years, and take an early out "medical" retirement and pension, then procede on to a SECOND career while they're "disabled" by their former department.

 

Dang talk about lumping all the over generalizations in one place.

Actually, as a police officer I would say that your idea is exactly the opposite of what you have written...I know some bad cops, I know some bad cop supervisors...I do not associate, hang out with, or even acknoledge their existance....and yes I've carried paper for "conducting" myself that way...would I again, You betcha.

I've known some cops that have beaten their wifes and children...(they were hung high and for all to see...) But then again I've know some doctors that beat their kids, teachers that sleep with their students, etc etc...My point, there is bad eggs in every profession, hell I even heard about a firefighter that was running around setting fires so he could go put em out...but that couldnt happen with a firefighter? Could it? I mean everyone LOVES firefighters, he couldnt have done something like that....(That was Albuquerque NM 1994)...Oh and lets not forget about that nice animal control guy....he only killed a bunch of people over 30 years...

As far a the sense of humor goes, yeah I agree, we gotta off sense of humor...BUT nothing that deviates from the kind of thing I see on this site or any HAMB related car event I've been too...Heck you being in health care have your own brand of off color humor and overinflated ego's. You can draw your own conclusion there.

Even if some do? AND? I'm working on my second career as a disabled Vet (yeah a disabled police officer...I'll still run after ya though) Somethin about 2 broken legs, a broken collar bone and a bad back from crashin and fighting fights that I signed up for more times than I care to remember. What you dont realize is (in my case) I didnt want the disability, I could give a rats behind about the money, I didnt want it.

BUT for the military to take care of me and the problems I'll have for the rest of my life due to my service, I had too...

The majority of the guys I know are trying to stay around as long as they can cause they dont want to start a second career after they retire...cause jee, police officers retirements are SO huge you know...

Back on topic,
Kriky sounds like you got some dick cops over there...they must not have anything better to do...crud I see something like that and I'm gonna go shoot the shit with him....other than that I got bigger problems with folks trying to kill one another to concern myself with that horse pukey.

 

I whole heartedly agree, there are bad apples in every barrel. I have stories of Drs., nurses, and other "healthcare professionals", that would be hard for most people to believe. One day I'm going to write a book. I realize police officers have a tough and stress filled job, and it can be physically disabling; but, when one is "disabled" and goes on to another career, that's not disability. I think going on to a second career discounts ones disability. It's not my "personal" experience that my opinions have been drawn from, it's my experience as a "neutral" observer. I am also well aware that we all see things through different filters. The old "walk a mile in my shoes" kind of thing comes to mind. Now Salty, your sign off trailer, is that just humor, or how you truly feel? And maybe you're right, maybe the police here locally are'nt truly representable of police officers everywhere. I do think police officers should be held to a higher standard however, as should Drs., teachers, politicians; generally, anyone looked upon as a role model. Firefighters also seem to have the same 20 years in, get out disabled, and go on to another career, all the while collecting a disability pension. Me, I've had 7 spinal surgeries, I'm medically retired, but what I would'nt give to be able to work productively, at almost anything, and gladly forfeit my state pension to do so. Some people complain about the auto parts counter person, or their Dr. does'nt spend enough time with them, or their lawyers' fee is bankrupting them. But, EVERYONE complains about the police, and not every one of us is wrong. And to all the good and decent police officers out there, THANKS for being there when you're needed! Now, if the signs had I.D. tags/ownership markings on them, a good and decent police officer would have done the right thing on the spot, confiscated them, arrested the "perp", and basically done his job; but, he threw his weight around and threatened someone; he does'nt have the right to threaten anyone, anymore than anyone else has the right to threaten anyone else. Don't threaten to do your job so to speak, do your job from the start, and do it in a professional manner. And that's all I have to say about that.

 

PM sent, did they have a search warrant? you should have told them to pound sand and come back with a warrant! They like to threten you with arresting you if you don't comply, but they have to obey the law also. Call the station and file a complaint against them. another thing you can go down to GM safety and buy most of the signs right out of the store!