Cop Question

[Roy1928]

i got a ticket for "running a stop sign" when i had stopped at a stop sign in my neighborhood for only 1 second and then continued driving. once i continued driving i noticed the cop in someones driveway facing out with his lights off and his engine running. ive heard that the cops are not allowed to do this. is this true? and if so how would i go about reporting this so my ticket gets cancelled? thanks a lot

btw i live in orange county in california

[decypher]

i got a ticket for "running a stop sign" when i had stopped at a stop sign in my neighborhood for only 1 second and then continued driving. once i continued driving i noticed the cop in someones driveway facing out with his lights off and his engine running. ive heard that the cops are not allowed to do this. is this true? and if so how would i go about reporting this so my ticket gets cancelled? thanks a lot

btw i live in orange county in california

I am sorry to hear about your run in with the law. Thankfully it ended with you going home safely with only a ticket. I really dislike cops. I've been pulled over multiple times for not having a front license plate because I drive a Lexus and I am young. I have been harassed recently and I finally got my front plate on.

In the future I would be more careful at night time driving. Never forget (9/11 mother *BLEEP*er) that California is in a huge economic crisis ( as well as the *BLEEP*ing country ) and cops are doing anything to raise money for the State, as evidence by my recent harassment for not having a front plate.

To answer your question: I live in California and I have heard that it is illegal for a cop to not have his lights on when he is parked actively looking for violators. I believe the officer must have at LEAST his parking lights on, some indicator that a person is inside the car and it's not just an abandoned piece of *BLEEP*(hyundai).

I'd say you have a pretty solid case if you fought it. Basically you want to show up and contest the ticket in court because chances are the officer wont even show up.

[Brendon Bosy]

Its a bit overstated about cops not showing up for court hearings. Alot of websites say 50-60% of the time, but more realistically its 20-25% of the time. I'd say what's more important is that if you did come to a complete stop, that would definately be grounds to fight in court. All a stop sign requires is that you come to a stop and ensure it is safe to proceed. There is no set length of time you have to wait. If the intersection is very visable, you can argue to the judge that just prior to coming to your complete stop, you had already conducted a search to ensure there was no traffic/dangers. You then came to your stop, performed another quick look, then proceeded. Try taking pictures of the intersection and prove to the judge. Also, if you can find witnesses or if you had passengers to verify that you came to a complete stop, that will definately beef up your case.

I'm not entirely sure about arguing about the cop's choice of location/lights. Depending on your state's laws, they don't neccessarily have to have their lights on. I know here in Massachusetts they don't. To park on a private driveway, they do need the owner's consent. You could try asking the owner if he consented to the cop parking on his driveway. That could be grounds for dismissal.

In any event, don't just plead guilty and take the ticket. At least call a lawyer, explain your situation, and get some professional advice as to how to proceed. Even if the case is weak, a lawyer may be able to plead a case down so you don't get any points against your license, especially if this is your first offense.

Don't blame all cops. I know some cops come off as jerks, but the majority of them are just doing their job and they usually don't enjoy it. Many of them get penalized by their department chiefs and can face restrictions on promotions if they don't meet their quota. A lot of times, these quotas force officers to write rediculous tickets. I read a recent article about police in Pennsylvania suing their department for forcing them to write state parking tickets, not city ones, in order to generate greater revenue. The real problem comes because of the government and its inability to balance a budget.

[Maximaboy1]

Hi guys,

My uncle told me about a time when he stopped and came to a complete stop and was pulled over by an officer. The officer showed up to the hearing and my uncle lost instantly. How can you PROVE that you came to a complete stop? It's your word against an "law enforcer's word" and you're appealing to a judge who is also supposed to uphold the "law". Whether or not you actually came to a complete stop or not (and cops can be pricks because they just don't like young Lexus drivers "because we have money"), it will be hard to argue the case in your favor if the officer shows up and the judge isn't having a good day.

I live in OC too....and it would really suck if you were in Irvine at the time (Irvine cops are the worst).

[Ted7]

I live in OC too, and yesterday was the first time of my life that I get controlled.

I saw the police car on the other side of the road, then he makes a u-turn and followed me for 2 miles before he turns the red light on, so I had to pull over. Got a paper verification (though I didn't do nothing wrong at all), the thing is that the personalized plates I just putted on my car were still registered under my previous car. As I was just getting out of the DMV 30 minutes before, the computers weren't updated yet. So far they did their job well cause this is a legitimate thing, what I don't understand is under what impulsion he thought it was useful to check "this car" and not another one (making a u-turn especially for me?).

I'm 42 (maybe I still look young, I don't know :D ), causasian, the car is pearl white, ultra clean and full stock, so why me ?

[Demented Sc400]

There is a set time limit... You have to be at a complete stop for 3 seconds...sounds rediculous but thats coming from pigs themselves... and your better of paying the ticket an taking your loses...going to court an taking the chance of him not showin up is worse then jsut payin the ticket, an takin a D.I.C. if you take it to court and try and fight it an the cop is there, judges 99 percent of the time will believe an officer over you, so then your faced with automatically getting points on your license, insurance increased, and having to pay the ticket and court costs...and possibly more sometimes including suspendid license

[UCF3]

I think you're out of luck with this. The cop is allowed to park anywhere to give you a ticket. not a lawyer but from what I've learned from the 3 law classes i took he is the right to be on the driveway since it is considered public. Your closed garage and your house is consider private.

Now I'm paying for a service known as Legal Resource through work, and I believe it's offered to the public at a yearly cost to you. they supposedly provide you with advise and services from a licensed attorney. I'd probably invest in such as service just in case you're like me-don't consider speeding aggressive driving.

[UCF3]

I live in OC too, and yesterday was the first time of my life that I get controlled.

I saw the police car on the other side of the road, then he makes a u-turn and followed me for 2 miles before he turns the red light on, so I had to pull over. Got a paper verification (though I didn't do nothing wrong at all), the thing is that the personalized plates I just putted on my car were still registered under my previous car. As I was just getting out of the DMV 30 minutes before, the computers weren't updated yet. So far they did their job well cause this is a legitimate thing, what I don't understand is under what impulsion he thought it was useful to check "this car" and not another one (making a u-turn especially for me?).

I'm 42 (maybe I still look young, I don't know :D ), causasian, the car is pearl white, ultra clean and full stock, so why me ?

Ted:

I believe they can do whatever they want. I was once pulled over for not having a front tag on. the guy ran my entire tag history to discover how many times I was pulled over for not having a front tag. felt like saying :chairshot: but just took the ticket and went with it. Now I'm not 42 or caucasian, or with a white SC, but i figured they're doing something instead of "returning to the safety of their donut shops"(Movie-"Eraser")

[Step Hen]

Um, a driveway at someone's house is PRIVATE property. I would ask for a refund for those classes you took!

And you need to come to a complete stop. Meaning you have to fall back into your seat after forward momentum ends, or else it's a rolling stop and not a complete stop. No set time minimum.

And yes, it's up to the judge to believe who's telling the truth in this situation if the cop shows up.

Good luck.

[jcrome04]

Why do you hate cops when you KNOW you aren't obeying the law and the cops are DOING THEIR JOB. If you live where a front plate is required....DO NOT COMPLAIN IF YOU GET A TICKET FOR NOT HAVING ONE. You KNOW for a HARD and TRUE FACT that you need one! Especially if you have been warned MULTIPLE times!

When you stop at a stop sign you have to physically stop for a bit. These laws are enforced for a reason. For your safety and the safety of others. Maybe there could have been a pedestrian you could have seen stopping for 3 seconds, but may miss by stopping only for 1 second.

The only people against law enforcement are the people who have reasons to fear them. If you obey the law, and have nothing to hide, then there is no reason to "hate" cops and call them pigs. Could you imagine a world with NO law enforcement?

Also, If you KNOW and are AWARE you are breaking a law, ie: speeding, no front plate where required, blowing or "california stopping" a STOP sign..... please just have some humillity, be ready to accept ANY consequences, and responsibillity of your actions.

And yes I have had many tickets in my day. And even had my lisence suspended for about 6 months. I do NOT hate cops, they were just doing their jobs, and I WAS breaking the law. I also too have had a couple misjudged tickets. (Pulling over ME instead of the other car that was actually speeding). But there is no sense in arguing with an officer. He is doing his job, as he sees through his eyes. Maybe he did pull over the wrong car, but I'm not going to sit there and yell at the cop and call him a PIG and hate cops for the rest of my life. I could have taken it to court and clogged up the judicial system even more but I CHOSE not to, I paid the $101 ticket and moved on with my life.

Bottom line is, please don't whine if you get a ticket after being warned multiple times (even once) about a front plate, or not coming to a complete stop. I'm not singling out any specific people here, just using these as examples for ANYONE this has ever happened to. I have many friends and family in the law enforcement field, and they are not paid or respected nearly as much as they should be, these guys put their lives on the line in order to protect the population as a WHOLE. Just accept their momentary ruling, and if you think it's wrong, you have every right to contest their decision.

Drive Safe everone! :)

[nc211]

The law.... must be proven beyond any reason of doubt, period. If you truely were stopped, then simply request the footage from the dash camera of the cop under the discovery statue as evidence of your stop. If the video can't be produced, then you have reasonable doubt. No true evidence other than his opinion. And judging by where he was sitting, ie-infront of you or behind you, his depth perception can be called into question. How can you truely know, beyond any reason of doubt, from any vantage point other than 90 degrees to the stop sign, if the car really was stopped, or slowing rolling?

This is a long shot, but nonetheless, beyond any reasonable doubt... Don't believe me? Ask OJ... If da' glove don't fit, chu' ain't got sh*t.

[Brendon Bosy]

"The only people against law enforcement are the people who have reasons to fear them. If you obey the law, and have nothing to hide"

"I also too have had a couple misjudged tickets. (Pulling over ME instead of the other car that was actually speeding). But there is no sense in arguing with an officer. He is doing his job, as he sees through his eyes. Maybe he did pull over the wrong car, but I'm not going to sit there and yell at the cop and call him a PIG and hate cops for the rest of my life. I could have taken it to court and clogged up the judicial system even more but I CHOSE not to, I paid the $101 ticket and moved on with my life"

Are you a fascist or something??? No one who believes in democracy would ever make these statements. There's a reason why the 4th and 5th amendment exist. You start taking steps, even small steps, to ignore and re-write exactly what unreasonable seache and due process mean, then you are moving away from the principles our country was founded on. John Locke said that in a representative democracy, when a government no longer represents what the people want, its not just the right, but the duty of those people to stand up and overthrow that government. Thomas Jefferson said that there should be a revolution every generation.

Ever since Ronald Reagan, this country has become more and more submissive to authority. Even if people dont believe that authority is doing whats in their interest. Its a known fact that police write silly tickets simply to generate revenue, not because they represent any real protection on the road. For instance, there's a stop sign in the middle of Kansas for an intersection, and you can see for miles and miles in all directions. There isn't a car or pedestrian anywhere in sight, why should you have to even stop? Why didn't the city/state install yield signs so that drivers dont have to stop if it wasn't neccessary? Look it up online and you'll find articles like that and people being slapped with tickets for no reason. Often those signs were put up for no reason other than to generate revenue off tickets. Its the same thing when speed limits randomly change on highways. Often its to set up a senario so that police can wait on the border line, then when it suddenly drops from 65 to 55 or 45, they can pull you over and give you a nice hefty ticket. The same thing with having license plates on the front or when police pull you over for having a burned out tail light. My friend (by the way, he's black) got pulled over once for having a taillight out. He didn't know about it. If the officer really cared about the safety on the road, he would have just informed my friend and let him go. No, instead my friend got slapped with a $50 fine. Was that fair or just or even neccessary?

A representative democracy doesnt mean that the government representing us is always right. It is up to us as individuals to ensure that. Only 3% of people challenge tickets in court. The rest simply plead guilty and pay the consequences. That's an absolute insult to our democracy. Not even contacting a lawyer for advise in an insult to our democracy. If you were charged with a crime, would you really just declare yourself guilty and accept the sentence without even calling a lawyer for advise? Oh but I forgot, in jcrome's world, its "guilty until proven innocent".

[jcrome04]

Wow dude are you kidding me? Maybe I thought $101 was better than paying a lawyer, and lose more money by taking off work, then gambling on whether the ticket would be dropped or not.

My time is money, and by living in America I made the CHOICE to pay it and move on with my life. I would have lost more money by going to court and consulting a lawyer.

Seriously man you need to relax, going this nuts about politics over the desicion I made to best serve my life???????

Wow..... that's all I can say....... wow I'm gone for good from this thread

[nc211]

Hahaha....Gezz La Wezz, did this one go down in flames.... Somehow we went from advice on a traffic ticket, to a debate meant for David Duke and Hugo Chavez, with Ronald Reagan "RIP" being the moderator.

Pay the ticket, call a lawyer, or put the peddle to the metal and run for the hills. Those are your options. And, for experimental purposes, the next time you get pulled over and the officer walks up to your window, simply ask him "what in the do you want, you racist commie pig *BLEEP*?" Please post up those results. I'm sure they've got internet in the prison library somewhere.

[scottmcc]

Brendon.. Arent you the guy in the other thread who got a speeding ticket and now you are thinking about pleading guilty on it..? Now you are lecturing us about getting lawyers and standing up for your rights? What happened ?

I like Cops and respect what they stand for.. I am sure there are some bad ones but I don't lump all cops into one category as bad cops and pigs.. and I wish people would not slam them so much. JCROME was right!!!! I had a crazy girlfriend once. I don't think all women are crazy. I think I will stay in JCROMES world..

By the way your stop sign in Kansas analogy is ridiculous. You should just blow through those stop signs especially at night.. Great Advice.. NOT..

[jcrome04]

( Had to come back for scottmcc ;) )

DON'T EVEN get me started on psycho ex girlfriends :)

I could PROBABLY write a book on that LOL

[Brendon Bosy]

I started the topic to weigh my options and get peer advise as to how to procede (I never got a ticket before). I've been reading a lot of articles online to understand what I should do and what's my best option. I'm still going to contact a lawyer for pro advise. Its rediculous that there are people out there who would actually consider paying their tickets right away without even getting advise or reading about their rights. The fact that Jcrome make the statement that police are always right is an insult to what our democracy stands (or should stand) for. If I knew for a fact that I was pulled over even if I was 100% innocent, you bet I would argue before a judge. Then if that judge ruled against me, I'd argue before an appeals court. Then if all else exhausted, I'd start protesting in front of the courts and police departments until the violation of my rights are heard by someone. civil rights are the most precious rights we have. I have many friends who have been targeted for nothing more than their race or age and its an insult to what police are suppose to stand for. I have a friend (he's Puerto Rican) who got pulled over for doing nothing wrong. The officers right away ordered him to put his hands on the steering wheel, then proceded to search his car without consent. After an embarassing 45 minutes, they let him go after they found nothing on him. He didn't do a damn thing. He didn't file a complaint or a lawsuit for discrimination and it just appauls me. Would the police have done the same thing to a suburban white kid?

"oh well, I'm a teenager so I deserve it" or "Oh well, I'm black so I deserve it. I'm just grateful the cop let me go without harassing my rights as a human being further"

It disgusts me when I hear about such instances. It disgusts me even more when people tell me they didn't do a thing about it. And you wonder why its taking our country so much effort to even consider someone like Barack Obama as actually having a chance to become President. When no one stands up for their rights, we might as well go back to the "good ol' days" with slavery, women not being allowed to vote, and gangs murdering Irish.

[jcrome04]

Please show me the quote where I say "Police are always right". Please don't twist my words around just to pick a fight.

And maybe your buddy made the choice NOT to file a lawsuit or anything. He also could have chosen TO do so. He also could have chosen to file a complaint. Which he CHOSE not to do. If he's your friend why not support him and his decisions? Rather than ridiculing and criticizing him?

If you want to pick fights and argue over how you see the world please take it somewhere away from a car forum. And Please stop singling me out in your rants.

LOC is a friendly community for helpful advice and opinions on people's questions. Not a place for singling people out and trying to pick fights, just because someone doesn't have the same opinion as you.

And you have every right to choose to contest your ticket, go to appeals court, and protest on the streets if that's what you want to do. I may not agree with it. But I sure as hell am not going to sit here and single you out and tell you that you disgust me and are an embarrassment to society.

Please keep your posting friendly!

[VincyRay]

WOW!!!!!

wtf - this is the last place i thought I'd ever get into political/racial debates...

Well I can tell you from experience that cops get it wrong some times. I live in NC, and my brother is in NY. When he visited one time a few years ago, I took him on a tour of some of NC's 'hoods' in my coupe (with rims, tinted windows and a loud stereo). We didn't do anything suspicious other then being black (actually mixed, though we both look black) and in our twenties late at night and in a fancy car. We didn't stop and talk to the prostitutes or dope dealers that were standing on the corners. The cops turned behind us and ran my plates (which I don't necessarily fault them for). My father helped me to buy the car and it happened to be registered in his name, a 60+ year old Italian man. They pulled us over and when I asked why, said that I didn't look 60 years old and white and they wanted to "make sure everything was OK". They asked, and I allowed, them to search the car (my mistake), and found a half-empty liquor bottle and ended up taking me to jail. When I went to court, they had to dismiss everything because that was not a legitimate reason for them to stop me. But that was only after I paid $1,500 bail and $1,000 to a lawyer...

I had another incident in Philadelphia, where I was pulled over for having one of my license plate lights out, and my car was impounded. It cost me almost $1,000 in legal fee's, travel (since I was living in DC and had to leave it there and come back when the courts opened after the holidays), impound and tow fee's.

And that's not all... My car has gotten me singled out by the police more then a few times. I've considered getting rid of it just because of the extra attention it brings me. But even with all that, I can't hold it against ALL cops. There are some that are just *BLEEP*s - that's a granted. There are some that are racist - that's a granted also. And I'm the type of person that believes that they should drop about half of the laws that they have on the books. But I can't hold it against cops all cops as individuals, or even the police force as a whole. After all that I've been through with the legal system, I have to believe that most are good and are just doing their job... The problem with law enforcement lies not with those that enforce the law, but with the ones who make them.

Having said all that - I have no idea about the laws in California. I know that here, they do not have to have their lights on when they set up speed traps and things like that. I can't imagine that they do in Cali either, but I can't speak on that. I know that here the law only states that you have to come to a complete stop and ensure that you can safely pass and don't have to yield right of way, but again I have no idea about California laws. The only advice I can offer is that you do talk to someone who does. Lawyers aren't cheap, but there's a reason that they make the money they do...

As far as psycho ex girlfriends, I've had enough of them to come to the conclusion that all women are crazy!

[jcrome04]

Sorry to hear about your run-ins. I'm glad you don't hold all law enforcement accountable for one officers actions. (Like you do with women ;) lol!)

I do also 100% agree there are bad cops commanded by even more corrupt officials.. but the majority of cops are hard working good people, maybe you just need to move over here to the west coast where we take it easy, hahahah. ;)

Oh and speaking of women...This girl at a local bank just recently got an IS300 with dark wheels and clear corners.. need to find out if she's a cutie or not ;) heheh

[VincyRay]

sounds like my type of lady ;-)