“They’re fast,” Rep. Michelle Steel says of car racers who tear up the roads at dangerously high speeds. But “we’re furious,” she said of the lawmakers behind newly proposed federal legislation aimed at curtailing the activity.
From Steel and Democratic Rep. Brittany Pettersen of Colorado, the proposal would establish a task force under the FBI that studies the impacts of street racing, vehicle sideshows and street takeovers to develop best practices for a unified approach to combat organized street racing for law enforcement agencies at all levels.
The task force — as it is written in the legislation dubbed the “They’re Fast, We’re Furious Act of 2023” — would be made up of nine total members: two from the Department of Justice, two from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, two from state or local law enforcement agencies and three from the FBI.
“Through coordination between law enforcement agencies nationwide at every level, we can develop best practices to combat this problem,” said Steel, who represents the 45th congressional district that includes the cities of Westminster, Garden Grove and Buena Park.
A countywide anti-street racing task force formed in 2020, named Orange County Strategic Traffic Enforcement Against Racing and Reckless Driving, had as of April 2022 issued roughly 3,000 citations and made about 300 arrests, according to the California Highway Patrol.
While Steel’s bill is more or less about coordination and data-sharing among federal, state and local law enforcement rather than punishments, Orange County leaders believe a task force involving the federal government focused exclusively on combating the problem could put a dent in deadly street racing.
A number of Orange County cities in recent years have taken action to curb street racing, including Anaheim, one of the county’s most populous cities.
In 2021, the Anaheim Police Department proposed an ordinance prohibiting…
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