"Do you know why I stopped you, sir?" and other questions about police procedures

Factual Questions
1

So I’ve been watching the reality show Speeders, on TruTV, and a few questions came to mind.

[ol]
[li]Is it a good idea to tell the cop why you think he stopped you when he asks? A couple of the officers interviewed on the show said they tend to be more lenient with motorists who acknowledge their transgression, but I feel it could be a fishing expedition. As in, “Yes, I’m sorry officer, I know I hit that pedestrian and dragged him for 50 yards but I wasn’t paying attention because I was injecting heroin into my arm.” only to have the cop reply, “Actually…your tail light’s out.” I can see arguments for and against here, and perhaps it just depends on the individual officer, making it more of an IMHO thing.[/li][li]I’ve seen several of the police officers, as they approach a stopped suspect’s car, touch the rear light on the driver’s side, in an almost Monk-like OCD manner, as they approach the driver’s window. Is there some reason for this? They also often touch their holster, but that seems like a reasonable precaution in case things turn violent. (“Ah…those guys at the station, replacing my service revolver with a banana again! Wait till I see them!”)[/li][li]Many times, the cop “gives the driver a break” and only writes him up for a lower speed than he was actually clocked at. e.g. “I have you doing 60 in a 45, but I’ll write it up as 55 to save you some money.” In another episode, the cop specifically said he wasn’t allowed to do this otherwise “I wouldn’t be able to testify to that speed.” So, is this legal? I can’t imagine the police would be doing it so blatantly on camera if it weren’t (no LAPD/Oakland BART comments, please.)[/li][/ol]

2

Know Your Rights: What to Do If You’re Stopped by the Police from the ACLU.

Now, are you going to consider the legal advice from the ACLU, or the producers of a reality show out to garner ratings with their hype and innuendo?

3

Pssh, we all know who the *real *authority is on this subject.

Valete,
Vox Imperatoris

4

Touching the taillight leaves their fingerprint on the car, so that if the guy shoots the officer and tries to run, the car can be tied to the crime when it is recovered later.

Cops may instead push down on the trunk as they walk up, which used to serve the added purpose of making sure it is locked, so that no one can pop up out of it. Nowadays, trunks have internal releases, so this is a bit dated.

There’s a big difference between the police pulling you over for speeding, and arresting you. The advice on that page is certainly reasonable if you find yourself in handcuffs, but playing constitutional lawyer is just going to piss off a cop who may have been willing to let you off with a warning for making a prohibited left turn.

If you were doing 90 in a 65 and the cop asks you if you know why you were stopped, you’re just insulting his intelligence by saying “Duh, I dunno…” I have had good luck being honest, polite and respectful to police officers.

5

Absolutely fascinating. I’d never have thought of that…thanks for the explanation.

6

You never know. I have been pulled over after I ran [California stop] a stop sign. The cop asked and I said I don’t know. It ended up being a tail light that was out… I saved myself from getting a 300 dollar ticket by not telling him I just ran a stop sign. I didn’t even get a ticket for the taillight either. The cop was a dick though. I had no where to pull over because there was no shoulder and then I could tell he started to get mad and turned on his 2nd set of lights…followed by the siren, then the speaker… So I just basically stopped on a bridge. The cop asked “Did you not see me behind you?” Here I was trying to do the right thing by pulling into a parking lot so he wouldn’t have to stand next to traffic. I am surprised he didn’t say anything about me stopping on the bridge though.

7

So you got a ticket for neither offense, and he was still a “dick?” What should he have done, given you a nice rim job with jelly or syrup?

Joe

8

I’ve admitted that I was speeding when I got stopped before and the cop has more often than not, cut me some kind of break.

9

Far too few data points to mean anything definitive, but the last time I was pulled over for speeding (the second of two times in my life), the police were definitely set up specifically to catch speeders: 3 cars with radar guns waiting around the bend of a highway off-ramp. I came around too fast (as was frequently my habit at the time) and got waved at to pull over.

When the officer came over we had the following exchange:
Me: Hi, was I speeding?
Officer: You were doing 51 in a 35 zone.
Me: Aw, crap. Sorry about that.

Let off with a warning, much to my amazement.

10

A tie between these two. Packed full of good advice (though Chris Rock was funnier!)

11

All I can say is, don’t, whatever you do, if you are stoned off your gourd, have a quarter ounce of hash in the glove box, and your brother is sitting in the passenger seat with a quarter ounce of hash hidden in his mouth, tap the malfunctioning taillight they stopped you for, and, when it comes back on again, gesticulate with your hands to the lady cop and say “Magic fingers!!!”

12

In Michigan, my experience is that the officer still writes the recorded RADAR speed onto the ticket (say, 60), but will write the violation at the “break” speed (say, 55), which could save someone money.
On another note, the last time I was pulled over was a few years ago. I had executed an aggressive (but not dangerous) passing maneuver, and I honestly had know idea how fast I was going (and I don’t believe the officer’s words, forthcoming). Upon being stopped, he asked me if I always drove at 90 mph, and I was so dumbfounded by that possibility that I was legitimately confused. After checking my docs out in his car, he let me go completely. I’m guessing that he simply didn’t have me on his RADAR, as he was in traffic too, and so only wanted to stop to see if I was drunk (never mind the real drunk guy that I needed to get around).

13

My experience (not data) is that honesty is the best policy for minor offenses. A policeman will usually give you a few opportunities to lie to him, if you don’t take them, you’re more likely to get a warning IMHO. This was confirmed to me by several of Tulsa’s finest with whom I occasionally worked.

For anything worse than speeding, I’d go with the ACLU. My judge buddy agreed. Always plead the 5th.

14

I am good friends with a retired county cop who told me never to answer questions like this, particularly questions like “Do you know how fast you were going?” Anything you say is an admission that can be used in court. A judge might conceivably buy an arguement that your speedometer was not calibrated, or a radar gun was a little off, but a direct admission from you that you knew you were breaking traffic laws will pretty much guarantee that you will get the maximum for what the admission allows.

15

I’ve been stopped a dozen times for minor driving offences - speeding, going through a red light, etc. - and gotten three tickets. I’m 100% certain the reason I got out of the others was admitting fault and saying “Boy, do I feel stupid, officer. I was wrong, I deserve the ticket.”

I appreciate that you should be very careful in dealing with police officers - I would never, ever allow a search of my car without cause or warrant - but if it’s some petty moving violation, your most economic choice in the long run is to play the apologetic usually-good-citizen. Your average cost per stop in dollar and demerits will be minimized this way. I appreciate the fact that it amounts to admitting to the offense, and if you want to fight it in court it’ll kill your chances, but on the whole you’ll avoid a lot more charges this way. And frankly, if you’re being pulled over so often that you need to fight these things in court, maybe you do need your license revoked.

For anything else, be polite but clam up and don’t allow an unwarranted search.

16

I’ve been told if an officer tells you he clocked you with a device (RADAR or LASER or something) you should ask to see his day’s calibration sheet for the device. If he doesn’t have it, then you can get the ticket taken off because he used uncalibrated machinery.

I’ve never tried it.

Although one time I did tell a judge in a tiny little courtroom that the doppler effect would affect the RADAR device a cop used on my car. This was in 1988 and I said I was accelerating towards him, which would make it seem like my car was actually going faster. The officer who issued the ticket was there and said it sounded reasonable to him, so the judge dismissed it.

That was the second time I got a moving violation dismissed in court.

17

Way to fight ignorance, especially considering that radar guns use the Doppler effect to take their measurements.

It’s a bit like saying, “I coudln’t have been speeding because the inside of my engine was on fire, and therefore my car must have been immobile.” Having the inside of your engine combusting is sort of the point.

Taking advantage of ignorance isn’t as noble as fighting it. So I’m not sure what to think of your ruse. I guess it depends on what you thought to be the truth when you pulled that.

18

I can be considered an expert on the subject, since I have at least three dozen ‘pull overs’ against me and just five moving violations and one expired license that wasn’t expired in 25 years of driving an average of 20k miles per year or more.

I was frequently (and still am) pulled over for DWI.

DWI where I come from is “Driving While Italian”.

In Philly and New Jersey, one won’t be pulled over for DWI, but if one happens to have reasons to visit Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia and the Pennsy suburbs, then one should be prepared for DWI pullovers, especially in sports cars, but it’s not a requirement – although looking Italian is a requirement.

The most ridiculous pull over was for going too slow. I slowed after a bad bump to hear a noise from my car and got pulled over for this before I could find the shoulder.

From my experiences, the best approach is to roll the windows down, put on interior lights if dark, place hands high on steering wheel or on the door opening (visible of course) and speak well, with respect and manners.

Do not reach for anything until you’ve asked permission. Be nice, clear, concise and follow his lead. Some officers clearly enjoy some bantor. 6’ 6" aviator glasses-wearing-angry sounding MD State Police DO NOT.

Blatant transgressions should be met with immediate apology and the goal is to resign yourself to a ticket, but get the ticket softened one level on the spot and one level later. What’s this mean? 90 in a 50 zone? ADMIT IT, plea it down by being apologetic and mature. Officer might drop it to 69. Then go to court and plea it down to 5 over the limit, or better yet, plea it down to a no-point offense.

The only time I wasn’t nice and I said more than a handful of words was when I was pulled over and the officer was smashing his hand into my car hood and cursing me. He clearly had mistaken me for someone else, and his partner stood next to my car. I sat in my car with my hands on the wheel and WENT OFF. I begged him for a ticket. I was cooked anyway at this point, so I went with reverse psychology and I actually WANTED the damn ticket. He cursed me out yelling, " I am responding to fire calls and don’t even have a ticket book today!"

19

Rights are different in Spain, but the only time I’ve been asked “do you know why I’m stopping you?”, I said “nnooo…” Cop said “think.” I thought, looked around me, checked doors and then “:smack: ¡ay rediez!” at which the Russian friend (on vacation in Spain with his family, but spending that day with me) who was on the copilot seat asked in English “what?” “your seatbelt, duuuuude :o” “OH SHIT! :smack::o” The cop asked where was he from, I explained, he explained with assistance from one of her partners who had better English than she did that belts weren’t required in Russia so he wasn’t used to one, we explained he’d been wearing his but I’d forgotten to remind him to belt up after getting gas, we showed her IDs as requested, she let us go with a warning and a double promise to belt up. They’d been stopping cars as part of the yearly summer “belt up” campaign: they only fined you if you got stupid.

The other few times I’ve been stopped in Spain it has been, once to let us know we had a low tire (National Police in an unmarked car) and several times because they were looking for terrorists (Guardia Civil, Forales, Ertzaina). Getting uppity with the nice guy in green who’s politely asking you for ID and registration while his partners point the UZIs to the ground is not a Good Idea. All of these started by asking for ID and registration and continued by explaining why they were stopping me, the nacional started by showing me her shield (clearly enough that I could have gotten the number off).

20

I was driving in Wixom, MI (right in front of the closed Ford plant…the town needs the revenue) in a construction zone. I had just gotten off the highway in a rental car and wasn’t aware of my speed. The only other car around was a cop coming toward me. I glanced at the speedometer and noticed I was like 35 over in a construction zone (it was Sunday, no workers). I looked in my mirror and saw him turning around, so I thought “busted” and just pulled over and waited for him before he turned his lights on. At first he was a bit aggressive, but I noticed when he came back from his car he wasn’t carrying a ticket. His mood lightened and said the fact that I didn’t play any games and pulled over was the reason he didn’t write me up.
Years ago, I was driving with someone in downtown Ann Arbor who was looking for parking spots. They accidentally blew through a red light that had been red for quite a while. The first car on the other side was an Ann Arbor cop…his jaw dropped at what we just did in front of him. While he struggled to make a u-turn in traffic, my friend pulled over and just waited (again, before any flashing lights)…same deal, no ticket.