I had a magistrate tell my flat out that a police officer can do pretty much whatever they want on the roads. So technically, they are NOT above the law as the law provides them leeway in these cases. Officers don't always speed to a scene with lights blazing. Sometimes they need to get to a scene w/o lights to catch an offender.

But if the same officer hit someone while violating a traffic law, then I think the officer could be liable for his actions(or potentially could be liable)

 

If we were all mindless zombies, I would thoroughly agree with you. However, I like to think that police officers have brains and I think they should use them on occasion. Seriously.

 

Police are not in control of their own destiny. They do not get to determine the law, how to enforce it, what to do when they catch you breaking it...they are blind executors of a law which they had as much control over as you or I did. Call your congressperson and make your case

I'd much rather have a police officer who blindly executes the law than one who makes it his or her own business to decide how it gets executed. The last time a police officer did that, it was L.A. and a 16-year old kid got decked in the face by an officer twice his size because he decided to do this his way instead of the way the law dictates.

 

See previous post.

The balance between mindless zombies and police officers with minds of their own is a tenuous and tedious one. Be careful what you wish for.

 

The law states if you are going XX over the speed limit a certain dollar amount is assessed as a fine. On NUMEROUS occasions, I've had officers be "nice" and take 10mph off of my ticket. In this thread someone said that they note on the ticket that it was an "adjusted" speed but in fact, at least in all of my cases, which is probably at least 5 within the past 2 years, there is no evidence that the officer had taken off 10mph from my ticket. The ticket wholly appears as though I was driving 10mph slower than I actually had. If this is blind execution... there is something drastically wrong here. Somewhere, a law is being broken. It is apparent to me that these police officer's are using their brains... I'm only saying that they should use a little bit more of them.

 

Before all you name calling cop haters go any further, perhaps you should consider what might have really happened: In California the fine is higher in proportion to the exceeded speed. Often a CHP officer, in a effort to be reasonable to a driver who has a good attitude, will put a speed on the ticket that is significantly less than what he actually clocked. It could have been what happened here.

 

I know what you're saying, but I disagree. I think some laws out there have "shades of gray" and some laws out there are "black and white." Everytime we encounter a law which can be executed blindly in black and white, we should grab it an hang on to it. We're not talking about the self-defense defense, we're not talking about marital rape, we're not talking about affirmative action...it is a darn speed limit...if you go over it, you broke the law. Why would anybody wish complication into just about the simplest of situations in a justice system that is about the biggest mess it could be already.

I know exactly what you're saying, I just think there is a lot more to the debate that merely stating that police officers should use their brain and be reasonable.

If an officer lets you off on a 4mph over charge or reduces your ticket on a 20mph over charge, then great...good for you. But I repeat that trashing cops who do their job is just non-sensical in this situation

 

Magellan, you must not be speaking to me... I've never been accused of having a good attitude. I'm suprised no cops ever tried to put an extra 10mph on my speeding tickets in the past. Haha, wait, no I'm not suprised... they probably know I'll see them in court anyway. I happened to watch a part of a movie on TV today. Have you ever seen Meet the Parents? It came out a couple years ago. Ben Stiller and Robert DeNiro are in it... it's a romantic comedy. To get to the point, near the end, there is a scene that I believe is very relevant.

In this scene, Ben Stiller's character is attempting to board an airplane on a late night flight. Most of the time, late night flights are empty and rarely are there the long lines that we're all used to. Well, he is seated on row 9, and the lady at the gate called rows 1-8. Stiller's character proceeds to give the lady his ticket and she tells him to please step back because she had called rows 1-8 and he was seated on row 9. The camera pans the airport and the audience now see's that the airport is practically empty, and Stiller's character is forced to wait... wait for no one... to board the plane until HIS row is called. This whole scene had me cracking up. The stupified look on his face was hillarious. Yes, it's exactly the kind of face I would be wearing if a police officer had the nerve to give me a ticket for going 4mph over the speed limit!

 

Never let it be said that I speak for you.

 

I know the scene and I know the look, but my opinion stays the same. I've often said that if everybody were as smart as me then the world would be a better place, but since everybody is not as smart as me...I prefer some ground rules about how everybody else has to operate and I am more than happy to follow the same ground rules to keep stupid people from doing stupid things.

To try to bring this to an end, since the debate belongs on the politicalmonkey (Anthony where have you gone)...if a cop gave me a ticket for going 4mph over, I'd smack myself for driving so slow and then go to court and win.

 

How would you win? Does Wa. State have that "warning" law also? I asked a magistrate a similar question. He said "well were you over the limit?" If yes, then it warrents a ticket. I think I've seen the RCW where 1-5mph over the limit costs $xxx.

 

I guess I should have said, "try to beat the ticket." Haven't been in trouble with the law in WA, so I suppose I might lose and pay the dollars if I get caught going 4mph over...I won't like the ticket, but I won't blame the cop.

 

first of what does CHP stand for???

Also I once got a ticket for speeding while test driving a pontiac GTP & he wanted to also give me a ticket for tints??? the dealer guy was in the car & said go head let it rip no cops on this street & it was open road on an instrusial street....I had to fight w/ the cop that its not my car its the dealer & I shouldn't get the ticket for the tints--- told him speeding ticket is fine b/c I was behind the wheel...but I want to court & advised the judge the situation that it was open road & I speed to get a feel of the car & make sure I was driving a good car that wont break down--- he was cool & dropped the ticket & said be more careful next time???? I dont get why cops & judges dont agreed sometimes on tickets & sometimes they do. Or maybe the judge was having a good day???? And the cop wasnt????

 

 

California Highway Patrol
and probably because the judges get to sit back play golf and smoke cuban cigars.
While the police never get a break aside from jacking off in the squad car while checking speeds....anyone see Super Troopers?

 

If the guy pays the ticket, then the taxpayers will have earned more than they spent on the cop who wrote it.

Something else to consider: maybe they had received complaints of speeders in the area, so his sergeant told him to write tickets to every speeder. A hell of a lot of law enforcement work is politically motivated.

 

10 minutes ago I went to see my neibour, he is a 53 years old police officier, and I asked him if on a radar operation, ( by radar operation I mean 2 officers in a 1 or 2 cars and a laser gun) they would give someone a ticket for exeeding the speed limit by 5-10km/hr, he said that most officier wont give a speeding ticket because there is always a faster drivers to catch. By catching the slowest driver they often mist the fast driver. People can claim that it is difficult to keep the exact same speed while keeping your eye & attention on the road, in the city you cant use the cruise control. Most judge here would drop the charge, I mean how much it cost to monopolise, a judge, 2 attorneys, a policeman and a dangerous driver who exeeded the speed limit by 5 km/hr to charge him or her wih a 70$ fine, easy to see that there is an equation problem. Most speedometer are inacurate by 5 or 6% every judge know that, it is easy to claim that, or to have your car veridied and proven to be inacurate, but if you get caught at 140km in a 100km zone your fried. I live in Canada, I know for a fact that some state trooper in the usa have some kind of reputation of being rude and racist and treating people like criminals for stupid infractions, it happend to me in Florida and PA.

Cheers

AA

 

1. How fast were you really going?
2. Sense your car is modified how much racing do you do?
3. Maybe this is payback from knowing you race but you haven't been caught yet. Other than that it looks like they were picking on you.

 

Wow, quite a thread. I hate to say it, but I'm going to sidewith the so-called cop 'haters'. Yes, the cop is just doing his job, and following the law. But my point is this: his job is not necessary. Traffic cops is one of the most useless professions in this country. How often do they 'help' the public or keep us 'safe'? There is no need for speeding laws, and cops do nothing to keep the roads safe, but only to earn money for them and their city...

And i'm sorry if I offend some cops, my father was a beat cop for 7 years, a detective for 13, and a lieutenant desk cop for another 10. just retired last year. we've had some interesting discussions.

No all cops are not bad, many of them have bad stereotypes towards some people. no all cops are not worthless, just traffic cops who patrol looking for traffic violations...

Flame away!

 

HUH????? WTF are you talking about, where has your head been, and how old are you???

No need for speeding laws? I'm just as bad as anyone else on this org as far as speeding goes, but to think that speeding is not a major (read: not only) contributor to accidents in this country is downright retarded.

Cops don't do anything to keep the roads safe? You've got to be kidding, right?

I wasn't going to post again to this thread b/c I didn't think I had anything nice to say, but you were the straw that broke the camel's back.

If the original poster was only doing 5 over the limit and got a ticket I can see why he was upset...I would be too. But I would only be upset b/c I know that "most" cops don't write tickets for such a small speed over the limit. Who knows why he got a ticket? There could be hundreds of reasons we can't even imagine since we weren't the cop that wrote the ticket. My firm belief was that he was doing more than 5 over and the cop decided to go easy.

Yes, in WA it is against the law to speed 1 mph over the speed limit. The more you go over the limit, the more it will cost your pocketbook.

We have a lot of cool people on the org and I love you all, but when we talk about cops, speeding, etc, a lot of you really show your ignorance. If you don't know what you're talking about, then close your mouth.

Tony

 

Hey michaelAE...I've read three of your posts...and quite frankly I find them all a little CONSERVATIVE.

Would you care to list the other things that people do EVERY DAY that are illegal? Should I do it for you???

Should everything be BY THE BOOK???

Should cops WASTE THEIR TIME with people driving 5mph over the limit? How many times have you been guilty of that?

Most judges will LAUGH at a cop who tries to pull that crap...unless it's a small town that NEEDS EXTRA $$$$$

Bottom line: There are bigger fish to fry. Any cop who wastes their time ticketing people who are BARELY over the limit (christ, a strong gust of wind could push you over!) is not a REAL cop, but simply a traffic maid with a gun. Obviously they have either
a: a chip on their shoulder
b: a boss who is telling them to meet their quota.
c: ON A POWER TRIP (sorry, but I don't agree with "sticklers")

BTW- I have had ONE ticket in the 10 years I've been driving, so no, I'm not bitter.

 

I'll tell you the problem:

THERE'S TOO MUCH DAMN CRIME TO BE WORRIED ABOUT 4MPH!

My f***ing tax dollars should not be going to hit my fellow drivers who are LAW ABIDING CITIZENS, but SHOULD INSTEAD be used to stop those bastards who are doing the real CRIMES. Wake up. I wish we lived in a magical land where all we had to worry about was people BARELY speeding.
Give me a break.
I see more bulls**t on my way to work everyday that should be taken care of (people REALLY SPEEDING (+20 mph), cutting people off, cars that shouldn't be on the road, cars on the side of the road in need of help, graffiti, vandalizism, etc etc) than to bust on people who are going 5mph over the limit. If it wasn't for cruise control, I'd always be speeding cause my damn max is too damn quiet!

 

Sorry to continue, but this I haven't seen something so naive in awhile.

If a cop is spending time pulling someone over for going 5mph over the limit...is he doing his job to the fullest potential?

Last time I watched the news there was some other stuff going on that was a little worse...perhaps if officer speedtrap wasn't so busy writing petty tickets, some REAL crimes could be stopped.

Did you go to Va Tech?

 

I am agreeing with MichaelAE on this subject; it doesn't matter if you were going .05 over the speed limit, your still speeding. A police can pull you over for 1mph, and you still broke the law. He's just saying it is unsensible to bash on a police officer for doing his job, and I agree with that.

 

Better look up the laws in your town or city...you might be surprised at what is LEGAL and what isn't. You then can thank god that every cop doesn't enforce every law to the T. Trust me, it's better that way.
There are more hidious crimes to be solved.

 

There is too much crime...agreed. May I remind you who it was that issued the speeding ticket? CHP. Yes, that's right. The HP stands for Highway Patrol. They, unfortunately, specialize in accidents, speeding, traffic flow, equipment laws, etc. And we still have not ruled out that the original poster was merely CITED for doing 5 mph over, not pulled over for doing 5 over. I really really wish he was cited for the original speed he was doing and not given a break by the officer, that way all you "OMG 5 mph!!" people wouldn't have something to complain about.

And I really hate to break this to you, but thwarting crime is only one of many jobs that cops have. If it wasn't the cops giving speeding tickets it would be someone else. It's a necessary evil.

Tony

 

Kinda off topic I guess.. kinda long too.. but anyway a couple weekends ago I was sitting at home working on the computer.. 2 of my roommates were gone and the other was on the phone. Next thing I know there's 3 cop cars in my driveway and they're walking up to my front door. I open the door and they say there was a complaint called in on us 20 mins prior about us being very noisy. Seeing as how there was absoultely no noise coming from our house.. the TV wasn't even on... needless to say we were surprised..

Anyway, they asked to come in.. and having nothing to hide I said ok. They come in and the head guy asks a few questions then says "I smell marijuana.. I need to search your house." Well, we didn't and never had any pot in our house.. nor anything that even remotely smells like it.. so, again.. surprised. Somehow it seemed very convienient. I gave one of the other cops a deep stare to see if he'd say anything.. but it became clear that they just wanted to search the house.

So, I said ok sure fine whatever.. since I knew we didn't have anything. Then he says 'I need to pat you down first'... so, I got my first pat-down by a cop.. oh, and it was everything I thought it could be. They then did a incredibly ****ty search on our house and left.

Lessons learned I guess.. I should've never let them in the house.. I guess. I also learned how much cops can be bastards.. invading my home like that because they're bored or something... I gatta say I show no sympathy to most cops now, especially in this town, because of this crap..

fight the ticket, you'll get out of it. The point of ticketing people for speeding is SUPPOSED to be for safety.. and going 5 over is basically as safe as going the speed limit. that cop is a bastard, make a fool out of him in court.

 

Okay....how about this one?

There are too many people going 20 mph+ over the speed limit to be worried about those doing 5 mph over.

And yes, I understand the fact that this guy was given a break with a reduced ticket. We are simply responding to MichaelAEs comments.

 

I just went to traffic school for a ticket, 7mph over. The teacher said, it is LEGAL to site you for 1-5mph over, but you can fight it in court if you want. Depending on what the situation was, you might win or lose.

 

 

My views are neither conservative or naive.

You guys are arguing with me about the wrong point. I'm not saying that I agree that the police should be ticketing you for going 4mph over...

I'm saying that it is ridiculous to complain about the police officer if you do get ticketed for going 4mph. Because, after all, it is ILLEGAL to drive 4mph over the limit. Complain about the system all you want, but the police officer is doing exactly what they have been told to do. The law is black & white, you cannot have both police officers who enforce the letter of the law and police officers who take it upon themselves to interpret it. Their current charge is to enforce the letter of the speed limit.

I know some officers take it upon themselves to interpret the law and provide some leeway and may we all be so lucky to find those officers when we get caught breaking the law...but that still doesn't have anything to do with bashing an officer who actually does his job by the book.

Yes, there are bigger fish to fry.
Yes, ticketing you for a 4mph violation is a waste of taxpayers' money and officers' time.

So, take it up with your congressperson, but don't bash the cop for doing their job. Their job is not to make a judgement call on a law's intent. That would be the job of a J-U-D-G-E, hence the similarity in the words 'Judge' and 'Judgement'.

 

No, why?

 

I agree with Michael, why the comment about VA tech?? It is a great school and has one of the best engineering schools on the east coast!!!