Booting may be outlawed in Rexburg
The issue of booting your cars is a hot topic in Rexburg. The deputy prosecuting attorney made his case on why booting is illegal Wednesday night at the Rexburg city council meeting.
Booting happens often in the city and sometimes physical disputes come from those altercations. The prosecutor’s office said there were more than 80 police-involved incidents in the last four years dealing with booting. More than 20 of those conflicts were this year.
“We’ve had a lot of petit thefts, or injury to property with the boots. We were doing a review of it. In that review and in reviewing the Idaho code, we found a statute that we believe very plainly will make booting illegal,” Rob Wood, the Rexburg deputy prosecutor, said.
Idaho Code 49-229 states any person who willfully prevents the temporary or permanent operation of a vehicle is guilty of a misdemeanor. The prosecutor’s office says, this clearly states booting is illegal, but properties may think differently. An onsite manager at a boys BYU-student housing facility, said booting is necessary.
“It is important that they do boot because it protects the properties, it protects the owners parking which boys pay for every semester. So I feel like if they’re paying for it, I’m going to protect it so they have that parking,” Brittney Case, the on-site manager for Pinnacle Point, said.
The prosecutor’s officer is calling for a proposed amendment that will make booting illegal. It’s called Ordinance 911. Letters are being sent to towing companies and property owners about the proposal, but it may take a while to get those parties on board.
“Especially, with the big events like the Eclipse coming up, owners want their properties protected. So the booters are going to do what they need to do and it’s going to ruffle feathers,” Case said.
“As law enforcement, we have the duty to enforce the law, and the state law – like I said – we believe, makes booting illegal. And as such, we will have to enforce that,” Wood said.
The next step of proving if booting is illegal is to bring the public in and to hold a hearing.
