I was pulled over for speeding.

[SmallCityDave]

We were on vacation and I get pulled over the officer approaches the car VERY cautiously with his hand on his holster coming at us from the passenger side, he was nice enough and asked me if I knew why he pulled me over I said speeding(?) (because I was 5-6 miles over I had the cruise control on and the speed was verified by my gps that I was using) he said yes 16 miles over the speed limit.... I was rather dumbfounded because I didn't want to sound like every other guy but I had to do it... officer are you sure I had the CC on and I was watching my speed on the gps it showed I was going 5-6mph over.


The PO was nice enough and just gave me a warning, I knew I wasn't going as fast as he said and I'm not sure he believed what he said but if he wanted to push the issue there was very little I could do to fight it. I doubt I'll do this but has anyone used a dash cam the had a mph read out (if there is such a thing) to defend themselves in court when they got a ticket?

 

[Senator]

We were on vacation and I get pulled over the officer approaches the car VERY cautiously with his hand on his holster coming at us from the passenger side, he was nice enough and asked me if I knew why he pulled me over I said speeding(?) (because I was 5-6 miles over I had the cruise control on and the speed was verified by my gps that I was using) he said yes 16 miles over the speed limit.... I was rather dumbfounded because I didn't want to sound like every other guy but I had to do it... officer are you sure I had the CC on and I was watching my speed on the gps it showed I was going 5-6mph over.


The PO was nice enough and just gave me a warning, I knew I wasn't going as fast as he said and I'm not sure he believed what he said but if he wanted to push the issue there was very little I could do to fight it. I doubt I'll do this but has anyone used a dash cam the had a mph read out (if there is such a thing) to defend themselves in court when they got a ticket?

Police do these things to see if the person may have committed other crimes. Like DUI, drugs, no insurance, no DL, stolen merchandise, stolen vehicle, etc.

Most crimes are solved in this way.

 

[rk911]

in some, maybe many or most, states you can ask to see the speed detection device. the officer is supposed to lock the speed registered on the detection device. of course, i might save that approach until you know a citation will be issued.

 

[Sunset]

A couple of times I've seen a speed trap, and so I've walked over, or stopped my car and walked over to chat.
One time the officer was explaining the radar and he pointed it at the tree leaves, it registered a very fast speed.
The laser based one years later seemed more accurate as they aim it at you like a gun laser.

Now that I'm older, I realize that walking over to a cop might be an issue sometimes..

 

[braumeister]

Police do these things to see if the person may have committed other crimes. Like DUI, drugs, no insurance, no DL, stolen merchandise, stolen vehicle, etc.

In my experience it can also be simply because your license plate is from out of state.

 

[Dtail]

In my experience it can also be simply because your license plate is from out of state.

Yup
When I drove down in moving to FLA, once I was into a more rural type area in FLA, I had 2 different cops 10 minutes apart follow me in ever changing speed zones.

 

[Winemaker]

We have 3 vehicles, one is our "good" car that we take on long trips, or if one of the regular riders is in the shop. Well, I guess I forgot to renew the registration this time. DW was traveling on a busy road when she passed three police cars that had a car pulled over. DW thought that "he musta did something real bad to deserve 3 squad cars" with lights on and such. One half mile down the road, the three squad cars had her pulled over and blocked in. When one officer approached the vehicle, that's when DW found out I hadn't renewed the registration. There was no way those officers randomly stopped their stop on the first car and took off after my wife. I totally suspect that the license plate readers, posted high above traffic lights, triggered the traffic stop. A citation was issued, she will be going to court, because the description of the vehicle ticketed, was not the vehicle she was driving. I did renew the registration, immediately after her frantic phone call of my dereliction of my duties.

 

[dixonge]

I learned to stop trusting cops when I got pulled over by a cop that I actually had seen. He wasn't hidden from me. I knew he was there. Therefore, I carefully stopped at the light, then turned right on red. I drove past the cop, who then whipped around and pulled me over. He claimed I had ran the red light.

I made the mistake of saying 'see you in court.' This is a mistake because I'm sure it caused him to go to his car and immediately write out some notes to make sure he got his story straight.

In front of the municipal judge I asked him a question. I was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt if he claimed that I *almost* stopped, but not quite. Instead, he claimed that I never even slowed down and rolled right through the turn.

That's when I knew that I'd been had. I had become part of the revenue system of this city, a city I was a resident of. The judge and the cop had *no* incentive to dismiss one single ticket, no matter how egregious. I would imagine that even if I had video proof of me sitting at the light for an entire five seconds it wouldn't have mattered. Revenue had been booked, and collections was impatient.

As mad as this made me, it was nothing compared to what most people deal with every day. I have to think - if things like this can happen to me, your average white male, what must life be like for people who are not my particular demographic? At least I wasn't put in jail or shot...

 

[Senator]

As mad as this made me, it was nothing compared to what most people deal with every day. I have to think - if things like this can happen to me, your average white male, what must life be like for people who are not my particular demographic? At least I wasn't put in jail or shot...

In my younger days, I got pulled over many times. I had my car insurance cancelled, and had a judge tell me "You are on the raged edge of losing your driver's license". I would have cops tell me that I could not hunt on property that I knew was legal to hunt on.

Once I found that when I showed them a bit of respect, they were actually decent people, it made a big difference.

You perceived experience is exactly why red-light cams, and speeding cams are now the preferred way to give tickets. No bias in the ticket.

I suspect that when cops run into people with an attitude many times over, when they find the next person with that same attitude, the past experiences play a role in their current decision.

With rare exception, most of the people that get shot by the cops are doing something that they should not have have been doing. Regardless of what their race is. Statistics on police shootings prove this out.

 

[MichaelB]

Please, let’s not get into a discussion on police shootings.

 

[ShokWaveRider]

Look at it from their point of view. How would you like to go to work every day just to be a moving target for 12 hours? Enough to make anyone jittery on every encounter.

 

[Masquernom]

My wife worked in Ukraine. The company provided a car and driver for her. The drivers license there was like a small book, sort of like a passport book. She said every morning when the driver picked her up, he'd hand her his license. She'd put cash inside the license and hand it back. Because they were in a newer car, the police would periodically pull them over during the day. The driver would hand the officer his license. The officer would find cash inside, and wave them on their way. Otherwise, they'd be held up for some reason or another. After the stop, she'd put more cash inside his license and they move on. That's how you did things there.

One of her young relatives, a teenage girl, was caught by the police with some other teenagers doing something illegal. I think it was trying to steal some copper wire. The officers brought the girl home to her grandmother. They hand the grandmother a note with a cash amount written on it. You can pay the officers then, and the girl stays home. If not, the girl goes to jail. It's how the world works there.

 

[dixonge]

Once I found that when I showed them a bit of respect, they were actually decent people, it made a big difference.

You perceived experience is exactly why red-light cams, and speeding cams are now the preferred way to give tickets. No bias in the ticket.

First, your implication is that I was not respectful. This is incorrect. I was a bit incredulous, but not disrespectful. I've had pleasant interactions with police, even when receiving a ticket. This was not that.

With rare exception, most of the people that get shot by the cops are doing something that they should not have have been doing. Regardless of what their race is. Statistics on police shootings prove this out.

This couldn't be more wrong

What the Data Really Says About Police and Racial Bias

 

[rk911]

..With rare exception, most of the people that get shot by the cops are doing something that they should not have have been doing. Regardless of what their race is. Statistics on police shootings prove this out.

my view is that many-to-most were certainly not following valid instructions regardless of whether or not the purpose of the interaction was justified or not.

 

[RetiredAt55.5]

Police do these things to see if the person may have committed other crimes. Like DUI, drugs, no insurance, no DL, stolen merchandise, stolen vehicle, etc.

Most crimes are solved in this way.

Yea, recently, I got pulled over by a New Jersey state trooper at night. We live in Pennsylvania (PA plates) but have a summer place in NJ. I had made a turn into our gated development, and he came out of nowhere and in a big rush with his lights all lit up. I wasn't speeding or anything and was sure I had used my signals for the turn. He pulled behind me and I noticed he boxed me in. Gosh, did I rob a bank or something? I haven't been pulled over in about 20 years so I'm "rusty" with this sort of thing. My only thought was keep my hands on the steering wheel and no sudden moves.

He came over and told me I had a headlight out, and asked for my license and registration. A couple minutes later he came back and said I was ok to go. But just then, he said "what's that plastic bag on the floor"? I reached down for the bag and said this is my bag of quarters for the parking meters (we live near Ocean City so we always need meter money). He then is about to leave and I notice he never mentioned the headlights again so I get out of the car and check them. Sure enough, they're both on and I mention that to him. He says that's funny.

On reflection, the fact that he never checked the headlights after the stop, nor told me to get them fixed, meant the stop had nothing to do with that. Maybe it was the out of state plates, but there's LOTS of cars down the Jersey shore with PA plates. It was Saturday night but only about 10 so a little early for nabbing drunk drivers. I dunno, maybe he was hoping to get lucky with a random stop.

 

[golfnut]

I remember back in the early 80s when I lived on the north side of Chicago leaving a clothing store, walking to my car (a beat up 1973 Grand Prix) and I noticed a sedan parked close behind. When I was unlocking my car, these 2 men got out of the car and told me to raise my hands as they identified themselves as narcs. They escorted me to the front of my car, frisked me and checked out the inside of my car.



They found nothing and when I asked them what the hell was going on, they said my car matched some drug dealer's car. This all happened on a weekday, early afternoon.


Couple of weeks later, I saw the same 2 narcs driving past my apartment and the one in the passenger seat looked at me with a wicked smile on his face.


Kind of a scary experience for a young insurance professional. Got rid of that car shortly thereafter.

 

[rodi]

Thanks for the interesting discussion.