This could be one of the dumbest ideas I have ever heard, what happens if they pull you over for being a good driver and you're drunk? Can they legally arrest you?? http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/03/8noticket.html If you see blue police lights in your rearview mirror this week, there may be no need for a churning stomach or sweaty palms. Instead of a speeding ticket, you may get two free passes to a Round Rock Express baseball game as a reward for good driving. Travis County Sheriff Greg Hamilton and Round Rock Express CEO Reid Ryan announced the giveaway Tuesday. "We want to recognize people who are driving legally and driving in the right manner," Hamilton said Sheriff's officials said the Express has given the department about 200 tickets, which will be distributed by 20 deputies. Hamilton said deputies will pull motorists over, just as they would during a routine traffic stop. He said he is sure some drivers will initially have "a few choice words" for deputies before they explain the stop and award the tickets. "There's a lot of opportunity for people to get tickets in their cars, but not baseball tickets," Ryan said. "It is in the best interest of all of us to promote safe driving."
"WTF, OCIFFER? I am late to my poker game at the strip joint! OK, OK... so I won the ticket... hand it over..."
this has to be the stupidest idea ever. what if someone is running late for an appointment/work/date...?
Im waiting for the first instance of "Man gets pulled over for good driving to recieve tickets, but instead officers notice 10lbs of Marjiuana and arrest him."
Imagine people who have warrents or whatever and they think they've been caught and then try to get away. There's is going to be some jailarious moments with this program.
HPD used to do that in the 80s. I think that it was cash, not tickets though. I probably am remembering this totally wrong, but I remember something like that.
An officer, who reasonably believes a motorist has committed a traffic offense, may lawfully stop and detain that motorist. See Garcia v. State, 43 S.W.3d at 530. To justify an investigative stop, an officer must have specific, articulable facts that, when combined with rational inferences from those facts, would lead him to reasonably conclude the detained person is connected to a criminal activity. See Balentine, 71 S.W.3d at 768. To justify a continued detention once officers achieve the purpose of the initial detention, additional articulable facts or rational inferences must support the conclusion that the detained person is involved in further criminal activity. See Davis v. State, 947 S.W.2d 240, 245 (Tex. Crim. App. 1997). Reasonable suspicion requires that something out of the ordinary is occurring and some indication that the unusual activity is related to a crime. See id. at 244. I don't think a "reward stop" would qualify as a lawful stop. It could certainly be argued that anything that comes to light as a result of a "reward stop" could be suppressed.
There are plenty of ways in the system now for a police officer to justify a stop without resorting to a "reward stop" to do so. Although, I suspect that giving out free tickets by pulling people over will annoy alot of people.
Yeah, especially the 98% of the population that don't give two farts about baseball. Now, if these cops are giving out free tickets to Longhorn football games, I don't think there would be a single traffic ticket or accident in Austin ever again...
