Generally speaking, I'd always take the court option. In most cases, even if found guilty, you'll get reduced points. I've made my way out of two tickets just by showing up. With no lawyer.If you go to traffic court and expect to have a chance, YOU BETTER have a lawyer, at any cost....
Cops, and Why I sometimes hate them.
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noel
- Super Poster!
- Posts: 10003
- Joined: August 22, 2002, 1:34 am
- Gender: Male
- Location: Calabasas, CA
I spent 4 years of my life working with the LA City fire deparment's Operations Control/Dispatch division. While the firefighters were great/awesome people, I also had to interact quite a bit with the LAPD. It's not just their officers that are powertripping idiots, it's also their leadership and IT division.Millie wrote:You dealt with their Robbery division, which I'm sure runs quite a bit differently from Traffic. Either way, I'd say you got lucky. Most cops in LA are neither professional nor hot.kyoukan type-R wrote:I got robbed in LA and my experience with the LAPD was that they were very professional and helpful. I don't blame for being uptight and cranky with all the fucking BS they have to deal with in that city.
Also the dude I talked to was fucking hot. That probably didn't hurt their case with me. Those dark blue and shiny LAPD uniforms are irresistable.
On a side note, driving in California (esp. in LA) is a pain in the ass. Insurance jacks you here, cops jack you here, and accidents will fuck up your record for years. Hell, insurance companies here consider a traffic ticket to be the equivalent of an accident on your record. So if you get as many as two tickets, you will have 2 "accidents" on your record, which won't be erased for 3 years each. It gets damned expensive over time, especially considering the rate at which traffic cops pull you over for no good reason.
Millie is spot on.
Oh, my God; I care so little, I almost passed out.
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Millie
As has been mentioned earlier, the only defence you'd really have is claiming that the cop's tailgating behavior was Careless Driving, if not Reckless Endangerment.
Still, you would be found guilty of speeding -- even if your reasons were legitimate. Technically, the only way to get out of a dirty cop's tailgating trap is to slow down gradually enough and refuse to drive faster. If he follows you for a considerable length, you've got to accept the unwanted hassle of getting off the freeway and parking for a length of time, or else trying to take a different freeway.
What really sucks about cops like that is that they have ALL the power in any given situation. There is really no one willing enough or competant enough to police the Police. And as Joe Q. Public, you can't do a damned thing about it. If a cop pulls you over and hands you a ticket, no matter how illegitimate his reasoning may be, you're not getting out of it without a considerable strain on your time or finances.
Your only hope is to get pulled over by an older cop. Again, as someone mentioned before, older cops definitely are wiser. They're less inclined to power trip, and more likely to let you off with a fatherly lecture.
Still, you would be found guilty of speeding -- even if your reasons were legitimate. Technically, the only way to get out of a dirty cop's tailgating trap is to slow down gradually enough and refuse to drive faster. If he follows you for a considerable length, you've got to accept the unwanted hassle of getting off the freeway and parking for a length of time, or else trying to take a different freeway.
What really sucks about cops like that is that they have ALL the power in any given situation. There is really no one willing enough or competant enough to police the Police. And as Joe Q. Public, you can't do a damned thing about it. If a cop pulls you over and hands you a ticket, no matter how illegitimate his reasoning may be, you're not getting out of it without a considerable strain on your time or finances.
Your only hope is to get pulled over by an older cop. Again, as someone mentioned before, older cops definitely are wiser. They're less inclined to power trip, and more likely to let you off with a fatherly lecture.
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Pilsburry
- Way too much time!
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1. Age 17, get off work at 11pm, go to fair with 2 co-workers (females) come back to get my car later that night (3am?). We are still in the parking lot I got my car from..haven't hit a real road yet...
They pull up and stop at a stop sign, I pull up stop and the proceed through. I know the parking lot, worked there a year now..it's habit, besides the girls in front of me stopped already. Or else I might have missed the sign, but in this case I most defiantely did not.
So the girls pull up in front of a grocery store wondering wtf is going on...and park.
The cop asks me if I know what I was doing, at which point I inform him "no". He tells me I was speeding. Which I was not, couldn't have been in fact because I was behind the girls who did not get pulled over. Plus I had gotten pulled over for 91 in 45 a couple months previously and had just gotten my liscence back after almost 3 months...so I was most defiantely not in the mood for speeding.
When I tell him that he tells me I ran through the stop sign and accelerated rapidly squeling my tires. My car had 150 horses and was an atomatic, if I ran through the stop sign how the fuck did I squeel my tires? I was going stright..there was no turning, that's like impossible.
Anyway when I told him that he said he had witnesses, I said "who?" and he pointed to a bush. So I look up at the sign cause I'm bored while he is writting me the ticket, I realize a brach has grown in front of it, AND SOMEONE TWISTED IT SIDEWAYS so it was just a strip of metal and it was dark outside, easy to iss, so I figured maybe I'd plead guilty but come back with a picture the next day. I come back 10am the next morning, branch cut, sign straightened.
OK, that's when I gave up, I was fucked, I can't beat a cop in traffic court with my previous history at age 17. Grats me bogus ticket.
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2. Age 25 the cops break into my fathers house, pretend it's a burglary so they can get in without a warrant to investigate the crime. (nothing was stolen btw). --Illegal, it's called breaking and entering if you don't have a warrant folks.
They find my fathers marijuana he had growing in the basement (for home use, not for selling, and no I don't smoke) --Yeah that's illegal too....that's my fathers only crime in this deal.
So they question all the minors in the neighborhood without adults present --Illegal.
They tell the people my dad was involved in child porn and credit card fraud via the internet none of that was remotely true nor was there any reason to suspect hi of that--It's called "Defamation of Character", you can sue for it.
And then they take his house because they allowed him to contest the seizure but they didn't call him or mail him a notice, they printed it in a paper he didn't subscribe to and so he didn't show up to court to contest it. --This is suprisingly legal, but I consider it theft...because it was so fucking shady.
So my father growing pot to smoke in his own basement solo style got his home taken away.
The police who lied, lied again in court under oath, preformed defamation of character, breaking and entering, questioned minors w/o adults....what did they get? They got my dad's $250,000 home. Which was probably a gold star next to thier name in the promotion list.
I think that's fucked up.
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3. Age 28 I'm playing EQ, take a 10 min AFK to go get some bacon turkey sub from subway. The light across the way gets out so I slow down to maybe 20 MPH instead of 15 MPH when I turn in rather then wait 5 mins for traffic.
I get pulled over. Officer tells me I've been drinking...he has been following me for about 3-5 miles. I've supossedly been swerving all over the road during that time.
I inform the officer I started my trip 1/4 mile ago from my home, I was not drinking, and I saw him pulling out of the gas station next door as I was turning in.
He starts stuttering and denying what I just said. I repeat myself to him, he gets all up in my face about reckless driving and not to push him. I repeat myself again and step closer. I tell him he can say whatever he wants but I know the truth and so does everyone in the parking lot.
He backs down. I exend my arm, we shake hands and I walk away. But the point is, most people would have been given a ticket due to his lies.
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Do yo know how many people I know that were actually drunk with open containers that didn't get tickets whent hey were pulled over?
I know one night this summer I was at a party and we went to go someplace else, 3 people got pulled over, all 3 were drunk, none got tickets. One was going 16 MPH over the speed limit, one was caught driving through the grass median, and one ran a stop sign....all had open containers. (I wasn't driving or in thier cars , Zergs was sober, he drove me, we were the only car didn't get pulled over.)
So yes, I too hate traffic cops. I'm fine with tickets when I am actually busted for breaking a law, no matter how retarded that law might be...like speeding. But when they make up shit and lie...well cops are supossed to inforce truth and laws and all that shit...not dishonest peices of shit who lie cheat and steal more then any other group of people I know except drug addicts.
A friend of mine is a police officer now. A good friend, I was in his wedding. I lived with him for 3 years in college. I can't help but wonder what he is like when he pulls people over.
I mean does he let drunk drivers go and then pick on people for doing shit that they make up? What is that all about anyway? Is it a quota deal? Why wouldn't you bust the drunks if you need tickets? Seems like it would be quicker to do that.
They pull up and stop at a stop sign, I pull up stop and the proceed through. I know the parking lot, worked there a year now..it's habit, besides the girls in front of me stopped already. Or else I might have missed the sign, but in this case I most defiantely did not.
So the girls pull up in front of a grocery store wondering wtf is going on...and park.
The cop asks me if I know what I was doing, at which point I inform him "no". He tells me I was speeding. Which I was not, couldn't have been in fact because I was behind the girls who did not get pulled over. Plus I had gotten pulled over for 91 in 45 a couple months previously and had just gotten my liscence back after almost 3 months...so I was most defiantely not in the mood for speeding.
When I tell him that he tells me I ran through the stop sign and accelerated rapidly squeling my tires. My car had 150 horses and was an atomatic, if I ran through the stop sign how the fuck did I squeel my tires? I was going stright..there was no turning, that's like impossible.
Anyway when I told him that he said he had witnesses, I said "who?" and he pointed to a bush. So I look up at the sign cause I'm bored while he is writting me the ticket, I realize a brach has grown in front of it, AND SOMEONE TWISTED IT SIDEWAYS so it was just a strip of metal and it was dark outside, easy to iss, so I figured maybe I'd plead guilty but come back with a picture the next day. I come back 10am the next morning, branch cut, sign straightened.
OK, that's when I gave up, I was fucked, I can't beat a cop in traffic court with my previous history at age 17. Grats me bogus ticket.
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2. Age 25 the cops break into my fathers house, pretend it's a burglary so they can get in without a warrant to investigate the crime. (nothing was stolen btw). --Illegal, it's called breaking and entering if you don't have a warrant folks.
They find my fathers marijuana he had growing in the basement (for home use, not for selling, and no I don't smoke) --Yeah that's illegal too....that's my fathers only crime in this deal.
So they question all the minors in the neighborhood without adults present --Illegal.
They tell the people my dad was involved in child porn and credit card fraud via the internet none of that was remotely true nor was there any reason to suspect hi of that--It's called "Defamation of Character", you can sue for it.
And then they take his house because they allowed him to contest the seizure but they didn't call him or mail him a notice, they printed it in a paper he didn't subscribe to and so he didn't show up to court to contest it. --This is suprisingly legal, but I consider it theft...because it was so fucking shady.
So my father growing pot to smoke in his own basement solo style got his home taken away.
The police who lied, lied again in court under oath, preformed defamation of character, breaking and entering, questioned minors w/o adults....what did they get? They got my dad's $250,000 home. Which was probably a gold star next to thier name in the promotion list.
I think that's fucked up.
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3. Age 28 I'm playing EQ, take a 10 min AFK to go get some bacon turkey sub from subway. The light across the way gets out so I slow down to maybe 20 MPH instead of 15 MPH when I turn in rather then wait 5 mins for traffic.
I get pulled over. Officer tells me I've been drinking...he has been following me for about 3-5 miles. I've supossedly been swerving all over the road during that time.
I inform the officer I started my trip 1/4 mile ago from my home, I was not drinking, and I saw him pulling out of the gas station next door as I was turning in.
He starts stuttering and denying what I just said. I repeat myself to him, he gets all up in my face about reckless driving and not to push him. I repeat myself again and step closer. I tell him he can say whatever he wants but I know the truth and so does everyone in the parking lot.
He backs down. I exend my arm, we shake hands and I walk away. But the point is, most people would have been given a ticket due to his lies.
------------------------------
Do yo know how many people I know that were actually drunk with open containers that didn't get tickets whent hey were pulled over?
I know one night this summer I was at a party and we went to go someplace else, 3 people got pulled over, all 3 were drunk, none got tickets. One was going 16 MPH over the speed limit, one was caught driving through the grass median, and one ran a stop sign....all had open containers. (I wasn't driving or in thier cars , Zergs was sober, he drove me, we were the only car didn't get pulled over.)
So yes, I too hate traffic cops. I'm fine with tickets when I am actually busted for breaking a law, no matter how retarded that law might be...like speeding. But when they make up shit and lie...well cops are supossed to inforce truth and laws and all that shit...not dishonest peices of shit who lie cheat and steal more then any other group of people I know except drug addicts.
A friend of mine is a police officer now. A good friend, I was in his wedding. I lived with him for 3 years in college. I can't help but wonder what he is like when he pulls people over.
I mean does he let drunk drivers go and then pick on people for doing shit that they make up? What is that all about anyway? Is it a quota deal? Why wouldn't you bust the drunks if you need tickets? Seems like it would be quicker to do that.
-retired-