Cops say there is a reason black-and-whites keep running when they are taking a break or a report

Q. On my daily walks I have seen parked patrol cars in Dana Point and San Clemente with their engines running for a long time. The officers are elsewhere. I have asked why and the explanation is, “We need to keep our electronics on.” Well, I have a laptop and a cell phone and a tablet and I charge them at home and use them wherever. I think the position of the police is very disrespectful to those of us who cherish the environment. What do you think?

– Connie Torres, San Juan Capistrano

A. We should all try our best, Connie, that’s for sure.

In the old-school Ford Crown Victoria patrol cars, officers do leave the engines running when inside a restaurant to grab a bite to eat or a home or business to take a report. Otherwise, their computers can run out of juice. And those computers – which officers use to receive calls, map out locations and run background checks on people and vehicles – can take minutes to fully reboot.

And, if Honk is being held up by a robber foolish enough to think he has a wad of cash in his pocket, he wants the officers there pronto with mapping and communications software in full roar.

In recent years, many agencies, including the Orange County Sheriff’s Department, have gone to LED emergency red-and-blue lights, which don’t strain the car battery as much and so online computers can suck some of that power when the car isn’t running. Those lights are much brighter, too.

Most of the sheriff’s 275 patrol cars have LEDs on their Ford Explorer black-and-whites, although there are some Crown Vics still in used, said Lindsey Casey, the fleet manager for the Orange County Sheriff’s Department, which patrols many communities, including Dana Point and San Clemente.

Casey said if the Ford Explorer and its computer system are new, the computer can be left on for an extended period without the engine on. But as the car and its computer system age, she said, they can’t handle leaving the computer on for a long time without the engine trotting along.

Deputies may choose when to leave the locked patrol cars’ engines running when stepping away from them.

Casey wanted to pass along that the Sheriff’s Department tries to reduce its carbon footprint, noting that the newer patrol cars have six cylinders instead of the Crown Vic’s eight, that detectives and administrators deploy four-cylinder cars and that the agency’s 1,000-strong fleet includes hybrids.

Q. California is finally going to state-issued temporary license plates in 2019. Will the remaining license-plate scofflaws be given citations, have their vehicles impounded, or both? What about criminal penalties for forged temporary plates?

– Paul Marsden, Garden Grove

A. Bye-bye to those paper dealership ads where license plates are to go.

Dealers won’t be able to let vehicles off of their lots without printing out special temporary licenses with unique numbers, which are difficult to fake, and person-to-person sales will require the new owner, if needed, to get plates from the Department of Motor Vehicles before hitting the streets, said Jaime Garza, a DMV spokesman. Bad guys can’t drive around with the dealer-ad paper plates, commit crimes and not get nabbed by surveillance cameras.

Toll roads, cities with red-light cameras and officers who can run the plates to see if the vehicle is wanted before approaching a motorist will benefit, Garza pointed out.

Producing a counterfeit temporary plate could win the loser a felony, according to the new bill, authored by Assemblyman Kevin Mullin, D-South San Francisco.

Getting pulled over when you should have legitimate plates hasn’t generally been painful.

“I’d say 95 percent of the time it’s going to be a fix-it ticket,” said Rafael Reynoso, a California Highway Patrol officer and spokesman based in San Juan Capistrano.

That requires the driver put plates on the car, get an officer to sign off on them, and pay at least a $25 court processing fee. Motorists could get a full-blown citation, but that often comes after blowing off a fix-it ticket or two in the past.

Frankly, Honk and his sources couldn’t figure out if the penalty for not having license plates increases next year. He will report back to Honkland on that one after he lassos an answer.

To ask Honk questions, reach him at honk@ocregister.com. He only answers those that are published. To see Honk online: ocregister.com/tag/honk.