Well, that depends on what you got pulled over for.

Trust me, you can annoy a cop really bad well before you get to talk to him.

 

by the time the cop gets to my door, I have my DL, CCW, and insureance in hand and both hands on the steering wheel.
It seems that CCW and a little politeness goes along way.

 

Thanks for giving your input Ramrod2006. Do most officers have a set amount over the speed limit in mind that they will issue a ticket, or does it depend on the speed traffic is currently moving at? I am always respectful, but once I had an officer pull me over for a supposed unsafe lane change, and told me he was not going to issue a ticket but just run my information. After he found out I had been convicted of fellonies he came back with 2 tickets. One for speeding, one for unsafe lane change. I believe he had mistaken me for someone else because I had been driving very conservetively and obeying traffic laws. I wonder if some cops will purposely come down hard on people with past fellony convictions? Even to the point of lying in the courtroom?

I had wanted to be a cop in high school, but after I took on some fellonies for so-called friends for blowing up portable toilets, that opportunity was lost. Recently I won a series of traffic tickets in court for which I should not only have lost, but been thrown in the slammer for. I guess sometimes things just even out.

 

Ya' don't tug on Superman's cape,
Ya' don't spit into the wind,
Ya' don't pull the mask off the old Lone Ranger.......

Jim Croce

 

.

There is no magic number, each officer is different, officer discretion is what it is called. I work for a sheriff's office and tickets are votes, so were a little easier on floks than say a state trooper here in alabama. It is beat in their head, speeding is speedin, 1 over or 100 over, so they give NO leway at all.

Now in the case of your tickets, when an officer runs your info in the car basically all he is doing is checking the status of your license to make sure there not suspended and make sure you have no warrants. We dont have the availibility of running criminal histories over the radio, so we dont know one way or another if your a felon or not by checking your license. It just seems the officer changed his mind and wrote you the tickets.

As far as winning in court, that is good, that is why we have a judicial system in this country and what makes it great.
Did you do what you were charged with, probably, did the officer prove it well enough, probably not but the burden of proof was on him to prove it.

Just think of it like this when your getting a ticket for speeding and people around you are flying.....have you ever been fishing?........yes.....Did you catch every fish in the pond?......no......It was just your day.

As far as lying in court, I am sure some do, I DONT. If i cannot win the case in court I will not arrest you. Period. I have a 100% conviction rate on my cases from a simple speeding to drug trafficking. I am as honest as the day is long and I am as good to people as they let me be to them. I can go from 0 to Edited by Admin in .001 seconds flat, and beat your butt, or i can be your best friend, it just depends on you.

 

I didn't know felony information does not come up in a license check. I figured it would considering they know when you are on probation, and sometimes even tell you to call your PO even after you are off probation. Woudn't knowing that a person is a felon help the officer take better precautions against potentially dangerous people?

I realize that what I am sharing below could have landed me in jail, but I love a good chase. Because I cannot be on the law side of a chase anymore, I decided to be on the unlawful side this time.

The case I lost in court I was completely innocent of all charges. I then paid out of pocket to dispute the ruling and again lost despite physical evidence and witnesses that said I could not have possibly done what the officer alleged.

Now the tickets I beat last week I was definatly guilty of. I was doing about 50 in a 55 on my crotch rocket so I sped up. This was on a sparsly traveled country 2 lane hwy. A cop passed in the other direction and I noticed I had accidentally got up to 70. I watched him slow down so I decided to get on the gas and get away before he had a chance to light me up. As I'm leaving him behind, I realize a few things working against me. 1. I don't have much gas left for a high-speed chase. 2. I don't know the area. 3. I'm approaching a small town with a reduced speed which could potentially put people in danger if I speed through.

Because of these considerations, I decide to let the officer catch up and pull me over. I was polite and cooperative, but didn't admitt any of my intentions or fault. He said he was cruising at 120mph to catch up to me and not gaining. I said nothing. He debated weather to lock me up, or write up a bunch of tickets. I still said nothing.

I recieved a bunch of tickets and took them all to court. I just asked the officer the right questions this time to convince the judge that he did not have solid evidence. No method of determining my speed. No specific instance where I could have caused an accident or put people at risk. He was so far behind me that he simply couldn't determine these things. As for why I never pulled over when his lights came on way behind me... I was never asked. Go figure.

 

RamRod said it very well...

Tickets are for the most part at the discretion of the officer.. It is Against the law to transmit a rap sheet over electronic means.. only hard line so it can only be done in the Station.. your previous criminal record is very confidential and every time it is run it is stamped with that officers name and the date and time it was run.

In addition to drivers license info and warrants we can also see if you are on active probation or parole and if you have any restraining orders against you.

I work a car in South Central Los Angeles.. My experience is that if someone is cussing me they are trying to distract me and there must be something in the car they don't want me to know about.. so being the curious sort of fella I am.... I will try my best to find out what you don't want me to find...

And lets face it.. if someone comes to your door cussing you and asks for a cup of sugar or help on their truck are you going to help them??? Don't think so ... so Why if you cuss a cop would you expect them to give you a break and a warning.. The Vehicle code is a very large book with lots of obscure laws in it..

So I say Cuss away.. because I go home at the end of the night and forget about the shift... you get a while to look at the ticket and the check you write..

 

Redpoint, I don't know where you live but I hope you're not anywhere near NC.

 

I used to give 10mph over... under that it cost more to process the ticket than the fine( tho that has now changed).

But you would be amazed at how many times I pulled over a vehicle, fully intending to give a verbal warning, and had someone talk me into writing them for everything I could find to write them for ( there are almost 900 citable traffic laws in KS..if I wanted to write someone, I just about always could find something...)No DL on person, misdemeanor, you can go to jail... Failure to change address on DL within 10 days? misdemeanor, go to jail... windshield tinted below ASI line or have graphics? impound vehicle and go to jail.... theres always something
In KS, you can say what ever ya want to a cop anytime ya want... but remember that most cops will be "mirrors" of the folks they are dealing with... give me a hard time, I'll return it. Be polite and respectfull, I'll be the same.
Oh.. and my giving you " a hard time" will cost ya $$$, yours just costs me a few minutes that I am being paid for by your tax dollars anyway.......

 

A trooper pulled a woman over for speeding
Trooper: Do you know why I pulled you over?
Woman: I bet you're just trying to sell me a ticket to the Virginia State Trooper's Ball
Trooer: Virginia State Troopers don't have *****

He let her go. Not that us guys could use this one, I just thought it was witty

 

As far as speeders go, I think it depends on the situation.

If someone comes by me 13 or 14 miles over on their way to work in a low traffic commercial area, as long as they are valid and insured... Come by 13 or 14 over in a school zone when the kids are out, though...

People's attitude toward police doing speed enforcement seems to vary depending on if they are talking about the cop they wish would spend more time in their neighborhood, or the cop that just pulled them over driving too fast in someone else's.

A lot of other traffic violations are unintentional, and as long as no one was endangered and the person is valid, sober and insured, I issue a lot of warnings.

As far as people who cuss at cops, here it is free speech, and I try to treat everyone the same regardless of their attitude toward me.

Also, in many places the only info the officer will get back while on the traffic stop is the person's driving status, and warrants check, which would include corrections status and sex offender status.

 

I have been a Boarding Officer with the USCG and I have done federal law enforcement in Mi, and Fl and I know my deamenor is nice until someone gives me a reason not to be. We run a persons information and we can find out if they have wants and warrants down to the local law enforcement agencies all of the way up to federal warrants and felony convictions will be reported to us on the spot.

If someone is being rude and cussing at me I will tell them to calm down, then I will tell them to calm down or I'll take action, and if they don't stop, I take the appropriate action. (lowest level of force appropriate for the situation)

Just my $0.02

 

I give 15 over everywhere but school zones which have the BIG flashing lights in VA, ya get 10 or 11 mph over from me. I can write 15mph over all day long in our county anything less we call chicken edit and leave that up to the town police and state troopers to write since they seem to get worked up when someone goes 4 or 5mph over..... But what the others said is correct, a little respect goes a long way!!! And yes I had my share of tickets when I was younger... almost lost my permit twice so I know what it's like to get a summons or few but I guess I grew up a little since then....

 

i wis i could meet some cops with hooked up rigs. i havent been pulled over yet

 

Since we seem to have several LEOs on this board. Can one of you tell me why out of town or out of state cops like to follow RIGHT on my bumper on the county road I use in my commute. The speedlimit is 55. I usually do between 55 and 60. I have had out of town officers almost run over me. If traffic is heavy enough that they cant pass, I usually slow down to about 45 just to annoy them.