DUI Attorney in Palos Verdes Estates

Reviewed by Ron Chini, Esq. · CA State Bar No. 263308 · DUI defense attorney in Irvine, CA since 2009.
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How DUIs are policed in Palos Verdes Estates

Palos Verdes Estates is unusual among the four Palos Verdes Peninsula cities: it is the only one that runs its own full-service police department rather than contracting with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. The Palos Verdes Estates Police Department has fielded its own officers since 1929 and currently runs about twenty-five sworn officers plus roughly ten non-sworn staff out of its station at 340 Palos Verdes Drive West — meaning a DUI stop anywhere inside city limits, including along Palos Verdes Drive West and Palos Verdes Drive North, is almost always made by a PVE officer rather than a county deputy or the California Highway Patrol.

CHP's South Los Angeles office, based in Torrance, patrols the South Bay's freeways and several neighboring cities (Torrance, Carson, Gardena, Redondo Beach, Rancho Palos Verdes, Compton, Lakewood, and Long Beach), but Palos Verdes Estates itself is small, residential, and has no freeway running through it — so CHP is rarely the arresting agency for a DUI stopped on a city street inside Palos Verdes Estates.

• City streets and local roads (Palos Verdes Drive West/North, Via Corta, the streets around Malaga Cove) — Palos Verdes Estates Police Department
• Nearby freeways and state highways outside city limits — California Highway Patrol, South Los Angeles office
• The other three Palos Verdes Peninsula cities (Rancho Palos Verdes, Rolling Hills, Rolling Hills Estates) contract with the L.A. County Sheriff instead of running their own department

Where a Palos Verdes Estates DUI case is heard

Whether the arrest was made by a PVE officer or, less commonly, another agency, a Palos Verdes Estates DUI case is filed at the Torrance Courthouse, the Los Angeles Superior Court's Southwest District facility. Misdemeanor DUI charges arising in Palos Verdes Estates are typically handled by a contracted city prosecutor rather than the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office — consistent with how several small Palos Verdes Peninsula cities with their own police departments staff misdemeanor prosecution; felony DUI charges (for example, a DUI causing injury, or a fourth DUI within ten years) are prosecuted by the County DA. Your DMV hearing, which protects your driving privilege, is a separate process run by DMV Driver Safety and must be requested within 10 days of arrest.

Booking and getting a car back after a Palos Verdes Estates arrest

Because Palos Verdes Estates runs its own police department rather than contracting with the Sheriff, booking after a DUI arrest is handled directly by the Palos Verdes Estates Police Department rather than through a separate county booking station — the department's main line, (310) 378-4211, is the place to start for booking status or an impounded vehicle. If the car was impounded specifically because the driver was unlicensed or driving on a suspended license under Vehicle Code 14602.6, expect that hold to run longer than an ordinary DUI-related tow, regardless of how the criminal case itself turns out.

Malaga Cove Plaza and the original Palos Verdes village

Palos Verdes Estates was incorporated on December 20, 1939, making it the oldest of the four Palos Verdes Peninsula cities — Rancho Palos Verdes didn't incorporate until 1973, and Rolling Hills and Rolling Hills Estates both incorporated in 1957. At its center is Malaga Cove Plaza, a Spanish Renaissance-style shopping plaza built in 1925 and designed by Pasadena architect Myron Hunt (who also designed the adjoining Palos Verdes Library); the plaza's bronze Neptune fountain is a faithful replica of the 1563 Fontana del Nettuno in Bologna, Italy, and the plaza has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1995. New construction and remodels in Palos Verdes Estates are still subject to Art Jury design review under deed restrictions tracing back to the Palos Verdes Homeowners Association's original 1920s development plan — a layer of local architectural control the city's three peninsula neighbors don't share in the same form.

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Ron Chini, Esq.

DUI Defense Attorney · CA State Bar No. 263308

Ron defends DUI cases across Southern California from his Irvine office, in English and Farsi — and works directly with you, not a call center.

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