10 LAPD traffic cops sue department

[1moreroad]

18 tickets a day

Wonder what would happen if every other ticket was contested in a trial, think the DA/courts would have fun then

Contest every ticket!!

It has been pointed out several times on this forum that speeding is one of most difficult tickets to challenge because it is based on quantifiable evidence.  When radar is used, there is a calibrated instrument.  Police officers must pass a test to show that they can accurately estimate speed.  "Reckless" is much more difficult to argue since it's based on judgment.

There are two reasons that I think the LE community comes down hard on speeding.  The thinking is that if someone is speeding, they're probably doing something else wrong, too.  LE is trying to improve highway safety, but the tool they are using has a limited correlation to the problems they're actually trying to stop.  If they try to use another tool, the cost to the municipality could go up because it is easier to challenge a citation for reckless driving than a citation for 55 in a 35.

Also, when an accident at a higher rate of speed will have more energy and thus can have much worse consequences.  Regulating speeds means crashes will occur at slower rates of speed with less energy and hopefully better outcomes.  Again, a weakly correlated tool being used to improve safety.

[Andrew]

It has been pointed out several times on this forum that speeding is one of most difficult tickets to challenge because it is based on quantifiable evidence.  When radar is used, there is a calibrated instrument.  Police officers must pass a test to show that they can accurately estimate speed.  "Reckless" is much more difficult to argue since it's based on judgment.

There are two reasons that I think the LE community comes down hard on speeding.  The thinking is that if someone is speeding, they're probably doing something else wrong, too.  LE is trying to improve highway safety, but the tool they are using has a limited correlation to the problems they're actually trying to stop.  If they try to use another tool, the cost to the municipality could go up because it is easier to challenge a citation for reckless driving than a citation for 55 in a 35.

Also, when an accident at a higher rate of speed will have more energy and thus can have much worse consequences.  Regulating speeds means crashes will occur at slower rates of speed with less energy and hopefully better outcomes.  Again, a weakly correlated tool being used to improve safety.

Well thats all nice, think the courts would be backed up to the point that they could not prosecute all of the traffic tickets within the "speedy trial" time frame IF everyone fought the ticket?
The DA might have to drop a lot of the cases.

 Just because it is biased in the LEOs favor does not mean you should just give up.
Cops are people too and as such they make mistakes, IF you can find that mistake You Win

[Bounce]

WOW! The thread I started on the Cop forum netted this gem:

After being bailiff in traffic court for a total of 18 months over a couple tours in court security, and being intimately familiar with just about every street, road and intersection in this county, the vast majority of tickets being written are not about safety. Running red lights (real tickets written by real officers, not mailed by a for-profit corporation in another state), tailgating, speeding in school zones when kids are all over the place, cutting people off when making lane changes - those are legitimate cites. Doing 76 in a 65 on a six lane freeway with a couple miles of clear visibility and light traffic in the daytime is not hazardous, but certain officers truly believe that they are preventing widespread death and destruction and certain anarchy if they go after those dangerous, defiant people who have no respect for America's very foundation and demonstrate it by speeding. There are way too many officers out there who have worked for 10 or 20 years and written thousands of tickets but you could count on one hand the years in state prison that all of their arrestees combined have served.

[Rogue]

It's all about safety.

Right.  

The writing has been on the wall for decades and yet, so many swallow it right up, hook, line, and sinker!

It's an industry to generate revenue people!  If it was all about safety, then we should be seeing a drastic reduction in accidents resulting from speeding.  But it isn't.  It is far easier to issue thousands and thousands of citations by using radar to shoot fish in a barrel.  Municipalities and states spend tons of $$ purchasing and training their officers to bust speeders.  The CHP has it down to a science.  This is because the return on investment is so high and everyone is in on it, and that includes the courts, insurance companies, etc.

[atadaskew]

  This is because the return on investment is so high and everyone is in on it, and that includes the courts, insurance companies, etc.

That's outrageous!  Next thing you'll claim insurance companies pay for the radar guns cops use.

[Yakiman]

It's all about safety.

Right.  

The writing has been on the wall for decades and yet, so many swallow it right up, hook, line, and sinker!

It's an industry to generate revenue people!  If it was all about safety, then we should be seeing a drastic reduction in accidents resulting from speeding.  But it isn't.  It is far easier to issue thousands and thousands of citations by using radar to shoot fish in a barrel.  Municipalities and states spend tons of $$ purchasing and training their officers to bust speeders.  The CHP has it down to a science.  This is because the return on investment is so high and everyone is in on it, and that includes the courts, insurance companies, etc.

Well Said.

"Safety" and “Protection” are the twin red-headed whores government always trot out to keep the masses distracted while they’re picking the pockets of the citizens[1] they so distain.

And, we all know who funds the “industry”, from the top (taxes) and the bottom (fines)….

[1] In certain fraternal circles the “C-Word” expresses very much the same kind of bigotry and hatred as the N-Word.