Leonidas
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
That wasn't the law way back when (Ronnie Reagan was in his first term when I last wrote a citation). Back then it was mostly our discretion and responsibility to make the right decision on who to book and who to release. Occasionally we ran across someone who gave all indications that they were going to do the responsible thing, but they refused to sign the ticket because they believed it was an indication they were guilty. Go figure, it says in big bold letters, "THIS IS NOT AN ADMISSION OF GUILT". If their identification was valid, they appeared to be the kind of person who had the dough to pay the ticket, and if we felt good about it, we had the ability to write "REFUSED TO SIGN" and release them. But that decision, when made responsibly, was rare. I doubt that I ever did more than one or two a year like that. 99.999% of the people who refused to sign bought themselves a ticket to jail.
Some of my lazy brethren would not do the right thing and book someone that they should have and instead did the "refused to sign" thing. And that meant somebody had to go find them later if they didn't show up to court. The powers that be got smart and started routing the warrants directly to the offending officer's supervisor with directions for the officer to go make the arrest. The number of bogus "refused to sign" citations dropped significantly, as did the number of "failure to appear" warrants.
When my kids learned how to drive I gave both of them the same advice about how to deal with the police if they are ever stopped. The side of the road is never the place to argue legal matters. Cops are part of the criminal justice system, but they don't administer justice. They're gatekeepers who evaluate if you need to be introduced into the system and how to accomplish that as smoothly and as expeditiously as possible. They make mistakes just like anybody else, but arguing with them only leads them to reevaluate how to introduce you to the system. Better to get a ticket than have to make bond from jail and pay to have your car towed. No matter how sure you are that you don't deserve a ticket and you're being treated unfairly, just accept the ticket and get past the stop. Your shot at justice comes after you leave the scene of the traffic stop.
It's common for people to "talk their way into jail", and to run into people that you can't "talk out of going to jail." About the last thing I wanted to do most nights was make the drive all the way to downtown to book somebody for a minor offense that most people got a citation for. There I would be, practically pleading, "Just sign the ticket and you don't have to go to jail, I don't have to tow you car and cost you all that money....Please!" But, nooooo. They were too damn smart, they knew their rights and they weren't going to let some dumb cop screw them over. Most of them snapped once the handcuffs were on and said "I'm sorry, I'll sign the ticket." Then I would have to explain that there is no such thing as "un-arresting" someone. Once I put my hands on you, it's the irreversible first step toward jail.
