You, my friend, are delusional and apparently stuck in the "Pre-Cell Phone Camera" way of policing. If you think departments could still have quotas and it not get out to the media and public you are delusional. Look at League City PD, their FORMER chief tried to implement a Quota last year and he was fired in lue of Federal Charges within a month! It just isn't the way of the game anymore man. Yes, we do enforce the traffic law, but MOST officers are not the traffic nazi money hungary lunatics that you claim. Let me break this "Job Security" thing down to you. We write a ticket, it goes to court, you pay 100-300 dollars. The PD NEVER sees any of that money. Municipal Courts are a component of the city government and are bonded by the City Council to deem where funds go. Most of the time it is to the parks and roads commission. You think it is job security? Are you familiar with the current state of affairs in Texas when it comes to policing? HPD fired over 1000 last year. Harris County was on a hiring freeze for nearly 2 years, Galveston was laying off employees that had been with the city for 18 years, it is extremely difficult to get and KEEP a job as most departments are hiring off of federal grants these days. My ticket book has 25 tickets, i have been using it for nearly a year and have not run out yet. Excuse me if you claim I am a lazy cop that would rather e at te donut shop rather than writing tickets but I find it a lot more fun and rewarding to spend my times in the slums looking for dope cases and REAL crime. Why write a speeding ticket when I myself am gooing to get off work and speed down I-45 to get home and see my family. Just be careful of your unwarranted bias without merrit. This isn't the old school policing your daddy put you on his knee and told you about, those days are LONG gone.
Got pulled over for 6 mph over in a school zone earlier this year, but the kids were already out of the school. It ended up getting dismissed when I showed up for court. In the past, I've also been pulled over for 3 mph...no ticket, but damn if that wasn't the biggest waste of 12 minutes in my life.
I got pulled over the other day driving my oldest son's car, a 1999 Z-28 Camaro. The Officer said I had a tail light out (turned out to be one of those tiny parking light bulbs on the side of the car near the back). I think the Cop saw my youngest son who is 15 in the passenger seat, saw the type of car and figured because it was a Saturday night that he had some kids who were probably quilty of something bigger than a blown bulb. Cop walked up to my window and saw I wasn't a teenager, was sober, was driving legally and then started asking questions like where are you going. I stopped him to warn him that before we go any further that my son was autistic and might make sudden movements or be unresponsive. I think the Cop realized then he was being a dick for hassling innocent people. He just said.... You can go now. If I'm speeding, weaving, driving crazy, got expired stickers, got a head light or brake light out, I get it.
Like my post above, I think they pulled you over for that hoping you had bigger things they could get you for. For instance, sometimes they may find out that the driver of other people in the car have warrants for their arrest or they see drug paraphanelia in the car.
If you got your ticket in Harris County, call Paul Kubosh - (713) 222-0990. It will be the best $60 you've ever spent.
Lawyer up. They'll probably recommend deferred adjudication or whatever, but I feel more comfortable in that situation with a representative on my side.
It's called Probable Cause. The Texas Traffic Code is full of PC to initiate a traffic stop. Some cops pull people over for those minuscule violations with the intent to write tickets, others use it as a way to make a field contact and attempt to further an investigation during a stop (whether it be for narcotics violations, DWI, Warrants). As far as the roadside questioning, I wouldn't worry about it. We follow a template taught in the academy as the 7 Step Violator Contact and those questions come in a specific order so there is a sense of consistency. I recommend anyone, law enforcement or not, to look up this online in order to familiarize yourself with it so you know what to expect during a traffic stop. Look at it this way, if I stop a dirty vehicle and arrest the driver for a felony cocaine charge I will definately be in court and on the stand in front of defense attorneys. They are not only going to review the audio/video of that stop, but also look at a many other traffic stops as they want as it is all public record. It will not look good for me or that case if I see a nice vehicle with an clean cut person inside and I don't ask them the exact same interview questions during the course of the traffic stop. That defense attorney is going to grill me on why I acted differently with one person and not the other, which will bring my ethics and integrity into question. All that being said, some cops are just lazy and feel like ruining the days of hard working people with citations that do nothing but cause financial discomfort. Some cases are unavoidable and the person needs a citation, but being a glorified meter maid with a patrol car is just lazy and gives motivated hard working officers such a myself a bad name. Again, I reinstate, look up the "7 Step Violator Contact" on google and you will feel alot more comfortable the next time you encounter the police on a traffic stop. Cheers
And that is your opinion and I completely respect that. And your thoughts are completely correct, I do see it as a problem. I have seen some of the most egregious and violent acts human beings can commit against one another due to narcotics. You might say that Narcotics is a victimless crime but you have to consider the acts a user can commit when they are desperate for a fix. I cannot tell you the number of times I have been on a shooting, stabbing, robbery that was committed because a user was desperate for money or a fix. Not to mention the injured or dead children I have had to see because mommy and daddy were doped up and forgot about them. I don't expect you to understand BC I myself didn't understand until I was forced to witness these things, it is just my opinion. If I can lock up a dope head I just might have saved an innocent persons life, at least for that day.
Normally. I'd agree with you but if you had seen the look on his face after he glanced over at my son you'd agree with me.
I just repped you The law. We need more good cops like you. BTW- Never had any problem with the police. It is an extremely difficult job to do.
Awesome. How many similar times have you watched an officer beat the crap out of someone to get "their fix" on? Be honest.
The 1% of the bad officers ate magnified and give a bad name for the rest. I have seen people that I thought were good cops do bad things, most of them are either in prison or no longer cops. There is BAD IN EVERY PROFESSION, however we work in the public eye and will always be looked upon harder, and we should, it keeps us level. I will never cover for a dirty cop, I am not going to be dragged down by that. I have a wife and 3 year old son I love dearly and no dirty filth is worth MY freedom.
Do the trial by judge if the cop actually shows up then take the defered. I did this on my last ticket and the cop didn't show and the judge dismissed the ticket.
Was the citation received at night or in the daytime? If it was at night the officer will most likely skip court BC it's during the daytime when us night watch officers typically sleep. If it was giving by a daytime officer he will usually show up since he is already at work anyways.