desperately need legal help/law enforcement input

The officer is no longer an issue. Those tickets happened back in 2001.
And it does happen around here more than you think. My friend used to own a 86 Lincoln MKVI back in high school. He bought it dirt cheap and fixed it up. But everytime the cops saw an 18 year old driving a "nice" car, they BS'd their way into stopping him (got reports of a car matching your description doing...whatever) and used that opportunity to seach his car for anything illegal. They once tore his entire car apart in the local gas station lot.
They pulled him over once for loud muffler, then wrote him a ticket. A few miles down the road, another trooper pulls him over. Loud exhaust, writes him a ticket. another 10 miles down the road, same thing. They just wanted to mess with him.
I was followed once late at night 8-9pm, there was a car right on my tail and it wouldnt pass, for probably 10 miles. I ended up pulling off the road into a turnaround, and he pulled right in behind me. Im like wtf? So I get out of my car to turn around and look to see what the problem is and an officer gets out of an umarked car and draws his gun on me. Goes through my whole car, I had just bought some iced tea and he also thought that was beer or something. Only explaination he came up with was (there was a report of a car matching your description blah blah blah) BS.
You have to realize, up here, town populations are in the single digit thousands. My high school class graduated 40 students. If an officer decides he doesnt like you, or wants to pick on you, they do. My friend keeps selling his cars and getting a different one just so they dont follow him around. Thats what its like around here. But Im not gonna just pick up an move because someone decides they dont like me. Thats part of the reason I bought the Escort I have. Theres 3 more in the same color just on my street! They leave you alone if you drive a non-descript car like that. But if you actually own something nice, like my friends black SRT4, you get targeted. Even the officer that wrote me a ticket while I was in my PT said, you drive a nice car, you can afford a ticket like this.
Im not saying everyone is like this. There are a lot of nice officers around. When I wrecked my electra, the guy was real nice, helped out a lot. Judges too, the judge in my original speeding case was very helpful. Theres a female officer in town here that used to come into my old store a lot, she stopped my buddy while we were in his SRT4 with his daughter, we were going a little bit too fast (because she had to use the bathroom) but the officer was real nice and understanding. So, like I said, its a matter of who knows who in these small towns. There arent enough people to blend in.
 
Few things agrevate me as much as a dishonest or a**hole police officer. It only takes one of them to ruin the reputation of police officers nation wide. I know that some officers walk a fine line while others blatantly cross the line. What you are discribing is horrible.

I know from experience that your version of the story is one sided, then there is the other side, and somewhere in the middle is the truth. I would like to know how those officers got to search yours and your friends vehicles. Search and Seizure laws are the same all over America. Officers need Probable Cause to search someones vehicle. The laws on traffic stops are much more lax. Officers only need Reasonable Suspicion to stop a vehicle. Unless you and your friend gave the officers permission to search you cars, they would need Probable Cause that you violated a crime.

It seems strange to me that officers would pick on kids based solely on the cars they drive. Did you or you buddy get in trouble a lot? I'm not pointing fingers, just trying to get some background information. What did your parents and your friends parents do about the situation? If you were my son and I truly felt you were being harrassed, I would be on the phone with the police chief. If he wasn't listening to what I had to say, I would talk to the County Board (or Mayor....whatever you have). Squeeky wheels get the grease and it is no different with vocal citizens. If you still live in the town, are the officers still doing the same things? Why don't you and others with this information band together to fix the problem?
 
"He who hessitates is lost"

I'd have to agree with dgreen1069. Make your self known as someone who will not take the BS. Go to the board meetings. Make some public comments at these meetings. Ask some of the tough questions. Get some friends at the local news paper.

I'm not saying to be beligerant. Be very calm and firm about what you have to say. You are a tax payer. You pay these peoples salary. They are your employees. We all know what happens when employees are not supervised properly. The job does not get done properly. Ask to ride along with these officers. Bring a legal pad and a pen and take notes. In your free time start following these 'officers' around and document what it is that they are doing that you feel is unacceptable. Documentation is the key here. Even if they aren't doing things wrong they may not be documenting their activities properly thereby falsifying documents.

As an example of what we have done in the past. My child was having dificulties at school. My wife and I decided that it was a good idea that she should spend some time down there taking notes. After a formal complaint to the school board that teacher was dismissed. It was not nearly as easy as that but that is the short version.

I tend to attend the school board meetings and the board members know me by name. In fact I have a better attendance record than most of the members and have been encouraged to run. I discussed it but decided it was a conflict of intrest as we were contracting with the district as well as many of the districts around and didn't feel it would be correct to be a board member.

Be a doer not a complainer. You can complain all day and accomplish nothing but if you do something about it and do your best you can be proud of your accomplishments. You'd be surprised how much support will come out of the woodwork if it as bad as you say.

Rich
 
I think TexasT has given you some very good ideas. With that said, I would strongly suggest you avoid following officers around while they are on duty. That type of activity would look very suspicious and could easily get someone arrested for obstuction of justice. Basically obstuction means you are interfering with a law enforement officer in the performance of their duties. Good luck.
 
I ****heard****(I havent looked for proof), atleast here, if you make 4 left turns and someone follows you it is stalking and even officers cant do it without probable cause.
I think it has turned into $150 or something for almost all speeding tickets here.
 
Kind of funny this post came up today.

While working my beat car today a guy in his mid 20s was driving just in front of me in his Acura ricer blasting the radio. As we stopped at the next light, I pulled right next to him and gave him "The Look", because in Chicago we have a sound impoundment ordinance that when all said and done will cost this guy about $1,000.00. He looks at me but doesnt turn down the radio to a normal level. At this point I yelled out to get his attention and he lowers the radio and I quickly say "You know for a car with so many things wrong with it, I find it amazing that U would blast the radio and attract so much attention to urself". Knucklehead responds back not with "Oh Im sorry, I will keep it down" but with " Whats wrong with my car" in a smart-a$$ tone. At that point hes about to get hammered. I took another breath and responded, "Ur plate is expired by 2 months, Ur windshield is cracked (easily seen from my perspective), and ur exhaust is too loud..should I keep going? Now he realizes that hes about to get jammed real hard and then says Im sorry. At this point Im just aggravated with his nonsense so I just drove off, and he turned into a parking lot. The point behind this story is, all though u think u know whats goin on in ur town, u really dont and just because u think ur car is completely free of violations, it most likely isnt and remember this because this is most important, Driving a car is not your right, it is a priviledge given to u by the state and can be taken away by the state. Stop Police bashing nobodys perfect, U wont win that battle. Good luck in the future. By the way Chicago is having a hard time getting qualified applicants, come on over here --u might like it. We know how to take care of our own.
 
madhat said:
I ****heard****(I havent looked for proof), atleast here, if you make 4 left turns and someone follows you it is stalking and even officers cant do it without probable cause.
I think it has turned into $150 or something for almost all speeding tickets here.

Stalking involves not only the following part, but also putting a reasonable person in fear of bodily injury against them or their family members. Stalking in most states usually involves at least two incidents where a victim is put in that reasonable fear. As to the second point, the police can follow you forever without probable cause....they would probably get bored, but they can do it :)
 
Wow, sorry for the troubles...but IMO should have not been speding to get the Tix in the first place and shoulda just cleared them right then...id love to feel truly bad for you but I really can't...its not like anyone made you speed to get the Tix except you....hope it works out for you though.
 
When I grow up I want to be like Vic Mackey of the Shield,,beat everone arse,that deserves it,all you really need is a good judge of character,then let the arse whipping begin :cool: :rolleyes: :rolleyes:
 
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