Hey, i was driving down a small suburban street a few weeks ago, doing about 35 in a 30 when a cop comes flying down the street and pulls me over. He claimed that he was pacing me from 1/3 of a mile away (it was 9:30 at night, and pitch black) and that he paced me at 47 mph. I was EXTREMELY surprised when he said that and blurted out "what!?" on instinct. Then i politely asked him where i was doing 47 and his response was "Im a cop, i dont have to explain myself" then he walked away. Anyone have any suggestions on what i could do? Thanks a lot.

 

well then go to court

 

Go to court and fight it. Worst thing that could happen is you get 5 over and not 17 over. you can try to get "no points", but depending on the judge and your record, you might or not get that.

Must be trying to get the monthly quota.

 

ya know ...all these tickets and everything. anyone thought about putting one of those little tape recorders in your car for such an event? show the judge how nuts the cop was. or would that be illegal too?

as for the ticket, i wouldnt think 'pacing your car' would hold up that good. just fight it like usual. hes a suburb cop ...its his job to be an ***hole. good luck.

 

fight it man,you would have noticed it right away if he was tailing you.gives him the hassle of showing to court anyways.

 

Thanks a lot guys, my court date is Feb 8th. I guess im just gonna have to wait and see what happens.

 

Hey if they can tape you on camera and audio from there car, you can do it from yours.

The law is "usually" only one of the parties being taped has to be aware of it.

 

Haha, wow what a tool. To pace someone you have to be Side by Side per my cop friend. As in he has to be next to you look at his speed reading and match it to yours. Also haha what was he using a calibrated eye at 1/3miles back to guess how fast you where going. Sheesh go have some fun in court and own this guy. Court is actually pretty fun(traffic court for petty stuff like this) its just a game and when you look back it in a few months you are going to laugh. If you want some help on how to beat this I recommend going to http://www.speedtrap.org/index.html and get there Legal Defense Kit. Basically it will turn you into a profesionally traffic lawyer in like 8 hours. You'll be calling objection everytime the cop opens his mouth, just trust me pay the few bux and get the kit and have some fun

Staton

 

hahah i'm sorry to hear that.. best thing i can say is fight the ticket...keep us updated

 

First thing you should do is call the court and get a continuance...say you're gonna be out of town on business or something...every court I've seen allows you one continuance no questions asked...you can just do it over the phone. This will increase the chances that the cop will either not show up for the new court date, or will not have his notes for that ticket, and it will likely be dismissed. Have all your evidence ready to go in case the cop does show up. Blow him outta the water, dude!

 

Just so you know a cop is not allowed to read from there notes, they are supposed to have memorized the events that took place. As soon as they read from there notes yell objection and explain this. You might get overruled but if the judge is liking your friskyness they will allow your objection, and just start watching the cop do the worm in the chair its great to see in person.

Staton

 

i got a bs "pacing" ticket a few years ago on a busy freeway, and the cop was at least 1 mile back. i fought it and won. as far as recording, i bought a new cell phone recently that has a voice recorder built in. you had better believe that it will be on next time i get stopped. fight the ticket, you can win this easy. i am sure the judge might not be happy with the cop doing 47 in a suburb at night either. especially when you hadnt broken any laws, and he wasnt in pursuit.

 

If he continues to argue the point and it looks like you are going to lose, then pull out this ace in the hole:

Ask for the date of the last spedometer calibration on his car. Any speed measuring device has to be calibrates at a regular interval to keep up acuracy. I know in KY it was once every 6 months. Hopefully he doesn't have these. Most of the time they don't.

I'd say good luck, but I don't think you are going to need it. This one should be a no-brainer for the judge. You'll win.

 

Small town cops are definately the worst. My mom was telling me once she got pulled for driving in the middle turn lane to work her way into traffic. The cop charged her a $200 ticket for "traveling".

I find it funny though that cops claim over and over that they don't have quotas. My command had a safety standdown which involved a Chula Vista cop come in and talk to us. Perhaps they don't have individual quotas, but a precint quota. All I know is it seems more than coincidence you see and hear about more people getting pulled over on usually stupid reasons than any other time of the month.

 

Traffic court isn't by jury, the judge directs and controls the proceedings then decides the case. If it is your word againt the officers you lose unless you have a way to cast a doubt strong enough to impune his statement. It will be in your favor if he/she doesn't show up but the officers recorded observation of you breaking the law is ordinarily strong enough proof to win the peoples' case against you. You need to convince the judge that the officer was in error, playing lawer will not do this. Good luck