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BILL NUMBER:S2510A

TITLE OF BILL: An act to amend the penal law, in relation to vehicular compartments equipped with explosive devices

SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS: This bill would amend the penal law by adding two new sections, 270.25 and 270.26, defining the crimes of unlawfully installing or possessing a concealed vehicular compartment in the first and second degree. The penalty for the first degree offense would be a class E felony and the second degree offense would be a class A misdemeanor. It would also amend subdivision one of Section 39B-e of the vehicle and traffic law to permit the Commissioner of Motor Vehicles to suspend or revoke the registration of a motor vehicle repair shop where an owner or employee is found guilty of such crimes.

JUSTIFICATION: Law enforcement personnel nationwide was well as within New York State have witnessed a surge in the number of hidden compartments found in motor vehicles. With the advent of advanced electronics, these concealed compartments have become ever more difficult to find. They are often opened only by pressing various control buttons already in the vehicle in a sequence only known to the owner. The compartments ordinarily have no legitimate purpose and are utilized exclusively to evade detection by law enforcement officers investigating drug and gun trafficking among other crimes. Secret vehicle compartments are used to transport weapons and controlled substances, and even to smuggle human beings- there have even been instances of individuals being hidden in compartments built into dashboards, under floor boards and even inside car seats.

An even more disturbing phenomenon is the fact that these secret compartments are sometimes "booby-trapped" causing serious risk to law enforcement officers seeking to locate and access them by overriding the control sequence or otherwise breaking them open.

There is a substantial profit motive for creating such compartments; unscrupulous installers currently charge up to $10,000 for installation of a secret compartment in a vehicle, with full knowledge of the illegal purposes for which it will be used. For that reason, the proposed bill seeks to deter such conduct by subjecting the registration of a motor vehicle repair shop to suspension or revocation if it is found to have knowingly engaged in this practice.

The enactment of this legislation will increase public safety and protect law enforcement personnel investigating illegal trafficking by making both the persons who install these compartments with the knowledge of their proposed illegal use and the traffickers who use them accountable.

PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY: None.

 FISCAL IMPLICATIONS: To be determined.

EFFECTIVE DATE: This act shall take effect immediately.

Text

STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________

2510--A
Cal. No. 307

2011-2012 Regular Sessions

IN SENATE

January 24, 2011
___________

Introduced  by Sens. GIANARIS, AVELLA -- read twice and ordered printed,
  and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Codes -- reported
  favorably from said committee, ordered to  first  and  second  report,
  ordered  to  a third reading, amended and ordered reprinted, retaining
  its place in the order of third reading

AN ACT to amend the penal law, in  relation  to  vehicular  compartments
  equipped with explosive devices

  THE  PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  Section 1. Section 265.00 of the penal law is amended by adding a  new
subdivision 24 to read as follows:
  24. "VEHICULAR COMPARTMENT EQUIPPED WITH AN EXPLOSIVE DEVICE" MEANS AN
ENCLOSURE  OR  COMPARTMENT  INTEGRATED  INTO  A VEHICLE EQUIPPED WITH AN
EXPLOSIVE DEVICE OR  OTHERWISE  CREATES  OR  IS  DESIGNED  TO  CREATE  A
SUBSTANTIAL  RISK  OF PHYSICAL INJURY TO A PERSON WHO ATTEMPTS ACCESS OF
SUCH COMPARTMENT.
  S 2. Section 265.02 of the penal law is amended by adding a new subdi-
vision 4 to read as follows:
  (4) SUCH PERSON KNOWINGLY POSSESSES ANY VEHICULAR COMPARTMENT EQUIPPED
WITH AN EXPLOSIVE DEVICE AS SUCH TERM IS DEFINED IN SUBDIVISION  TWENTY-
FOUR OF SECTION 265.00 OF THIS ARTICLE; OR
  S 3. Section 265.10 of the penal law is amended by adding a new subdi-
vision 8 to read as follows:
  8.  ANY PERSON WHO INSTALLS OR CAUSES TO BE INSTALLED INTO A VEHICLE A
VEHICULAR COMPARTMENT EQUIPPED WITH AN EXPLOSIVE DEVICE AS SUCH TERM  IS
DEFINED  IN SUBDIVISION TWENTY-FOUR OF SECTION 265.00 OF THIS ARTICLE IS
GUILTY OF A CLASS D FELONY.
  S 4. The penal law is amended by adding a new section 265.18  to  read
as follows:
S 265.18 CRIMINAL  PURCHASE  OF A VEHICULAR COMPARTMENT EQUIPPED WITH AN
           EXPLOSIVE DEVICE.

 EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                      [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                           LBD05741-09-1
S. 2510--A                          2

  A PERSON IS GUILTY OF CRIMINAL PURCHASE  OF  A  VEHICULAR  COMPARTMENT
EQUIPPED WITH AN EXPLOSIVE DEVICE WHEN:
  1.  HE  OR  SHE  INSTALLS  OR  CAUSES TO BE INSTALLED INTO A VEHICLE A
VEHICULAR COMPARTMENT EQUIPPED WITH AN EXPLOSIVE DEVICE AS SUCH TERM  IS
DEFINED IN SUBDIVISION TWENTY-FOUR OF SECTION 265.00 OF THIS ARTICLE; OR
  2.  KNOWING  THAT  A  MOTOR  VEHICLE  CONTAINS A VEHICULAR COMPARTMENT
EQUIPPED WITH AN EXPLOSIVE DEVICE AS SUCH TERM IS DEFINED IN SUBDIVISION
TWENTY-FOUR OF SECTION 265.00 OF THIS ARTICLE, HE OR SHE PURCHASES  SUCH
A VEHICLE.
  CRIMINAL   PURCHASE  OF  A  VEHICULAR  COMPARTMENT  EQUIPPED  WITH  AN
EXPLOSIVE DEVICE IS A CLASS D FELONY.
  S 5. This act shall take effect on the ninetieth day  after  it  shall
have become a law.