I was on a lonely backroad and had a sheriff trail me for 30 miles.
Now, no one is perfect and the longer he trailed me the more likely I would be to mess up.
What if he trailed me for 50 miles and he caught me doing 5 over?
Could he issue me a citation after 50 miles? 100? What if he followed me clear across the state?
Is it possible it was the only route where he was going?
Are you breaking a law? Then the answer’s yes.
I’m sure that at some point a continual harassment campaign against an individual might trigger a judge. But I don’t think one trip qualifies. What’s a judge going to say? It’s OK to break the law because there’s a timer? After 2 hours 22 minutes and 22 seconds you earn a “get out of jail free” card? That’s like arguing that a ticket doesn’t count if the courtroom flag has fringe.
If you were followed for half an hour or more with no stop initiated there’s a pretty good chance the officer was simply going the same way you were, or maybe was bored and decided to see if you were just maybe dumb enough to be tailed that long and then casually pull over and dump the body in your trunk right in front of him.
Are you sure you’re not a person of interest? Seriously, I live on a long, curvy and lonely road and I get followed by the a county deputy occasionally. I just happen by when he is going on his long patrol run. We know the deputy and I asked him that question. Or similar, What would he do if after a while of following me if I started texting and weaving or chunking beer bottles out the window? His answer was he would stop me and probably arrest me. Speeding? Unless I was being severely unsafe he might let me slide, up until he thought I was trying to outrun him. He has actually passed me a few times for some reason or another. I tell him I am gonna put him under a citizens arrest because there’s really no safe place to pass on this particular road. He said “catch me if you can”.
It was, and correct me if I’m wrong, but I never said the cop didn’t have a right/reason to be there.
Let’s make it real clear…can a police officer lock onto a car and trail it until the car make a traffic violation?
Well, what makes you think he couldn’t?
Obviously at some point he might decide he had better things to do or your own journey would end when you reached your destination but, up to that point, I’m not seeing the problem.
A cop I used to know once told me that if he wants to pull someone over, he can almost always find a reason. I don’t know why there would be any kind of limit on how long a cop can follow you and make you nervous, if that’s what they’re trying to do. Or if you feel guilty.
His theory was that sooner or later, usually sooner, almost any driver will do something worthy of being pulled over. For example: a great many people have something dangling from their rear-view mirror. They can pull you over to tell you that’s obstructing your vision.
So yes. A cop can trail you until you make a traffic violation. And if he really wants to stop you, you actually have no idea whether your taillights are working, at this exact minute while you’re driving along, do you?
My uncle was once trailed over 30 miles. He was speeding and he saw the police car going the other way make a U-turn and then followed him till he arrived at his destination. The cop could not time him while he was going the other way and followed him looking for a violation he could cite. Honest cop, obviously.
There’s always “pull into first convenience store you see and buy a can of Coke.” (And then, of course, finish drinking it before you start going again, or get stopped because you only have one hand on the wheel). If he trails you for 30 minutes then either he’s a very honest cop, or he’s bored, but he doesn’t really want to stop you… or he’s just messin’ with you for fun. Unless it’s the main highway, I would be surprised that a police car would coincidentally be on the same route for more than half an hour, especially after several turns. Alternatively, he recognized an out-of-town car and wanted to see why you were only the backroads. OTOH, if he really wanted to pull you over, he would have found a reason within 5 minutes. Half an hour just sounds like “I have nothing better to do”. In any but the largest departments, I would imagine police don’t have that much free time.
One of my coworkers, decades ago when DUI was not quite as big a deal, recounts being followed by the police after the bar closed one Saturday night. SO he turned into a nearby driveway, parked, and walked away through the backyards. Only downside, he couldn’t remember where he left his car the next morning; fortunately it was a small town, so by Tuesday some acquaintance calls him and says “When the hell are you going to get your car out of my driveway!?”
The simplest thing to do is put your turn signal on and pull into the first convenient drive so the officer can pass. I do this for anyone who is riding too close. No law that I can’t be the caboose in a 2 car caravan.
There are some jurisdiction limits that may apply. If a city cop follows you, his authority may end once you get outside of the city limits. County sheriffs are generally limited to the boundaries of the counties in which they serve. State police will probably only follow you as far as to the border of their state.
That said, these aren’t always hard limits. Cities, states, and counties can set up agreements between jurisdictions, where a city police officer can follow you into the county and stop you there, for example. Many of these agreements have limits, like one state may allow an officer from a neighboring state to pursue and stop a suspect across state lines, but only if the suspect has committed a felony.
So, if, for example, you are being followed by a county sheriff, you might be ok once you cross county lines, or you might not, depending on what agreements are in place. It may be that as long as he started to follow you within the jurisdiction of his county that he can continue to follow you all the way across the state if he so chooses. Or that state may allow county sheriffs to make stops anywhere within the state.
How far the officer may be able to follow you therefore might vary quite a bit depending on exactly where you are.
A cop friend of mine used to sometimes tail me just to see how long it would take for me to notice and take (fake) evasive action, whereupon he would flash his lights and stop me; it was part of the game. We were good friends, and played in bands together. He wasn’t arresting me, he was just saying, “Hi!”. :rolleyes:
A sheriff is the chief law enforcement officer for a county. There are very few places where a sheriff could follow you for 100 miles and still be within his county.
He could probably still stop you, and get you in some trouble.
If you’re still in the same state, then via reciprocity, he could probably issue you a citation (though he might only have forms for his own county). Or he might have local authorities arrest you, or it might be technically a ‘citizens arrest’ witnessed by them.
Might also depend on where the violation occurred.
Many times, an officer will simply stay behind someone as a blocking car to run radar for oncoming cars. That way, oncoming cars see the car ahead and not the police car first.
But, to answer you question…yes, if he/she happens to be going your way for 10,20,30 miles and you commit an infraction, he/she can pull you over
I live fairly close to a couple of state lines. It never works to try to get to the stateline with a state trooper chasing you, he will just alert the next state.
I have trouble imagining a police officer or sheriff being so in-busy that they can spend 30 minutes or more tailing someone who is obviously not doing something wrong. (Unless the driver were particularly black.)
The only thing I can think of is you happened to be travelling for an extended distance on the same road he was assigned to do traffic patrol.
How would such a restriction work in practice? Say that the people get together and persuade the legislature to pass a law saying “After following you for 30 miles and not seeing an infraction, a police officer may not stop a driver.”
So, at mile 30.5 are you free to take off your seatbelt, pull out a bottle of Jack Daniels, fire a shot at the officer and speed away?
How long of a break should he have to take before he can follow you again? Is it only the one officer, or is a second officer prohibited from following you? What if they are from different departments?
I understand the frustration, but that’s why I would do the convenience store pulloff.
There was one time (when I was a 20ish jerk), I was driving my mom’s Mercury Cougar that had some fiendishly big engine and I was gunning it. I was approaching the county line and I saw a county police car (from my county) sitting at the line (a known turnaround point). I floored it and flew over the line (definitely speeding). I was convinced that he couldn’t follow me into the next county (plus I’d have a helluva lead since he was stationary). He didn’t. But when I told my friend the story, his Dad who was a cop in another jurisdiction told me that I was being a jerk and that he could have followed me as the two counties had an agreement in place. I was lucky as he could have hit me for reckless endangerment due to my very excessive speed.
Reminds me of this joke: a policeman sat in his car, waiting just outside the parking lot of a bar at closing time. Just before the bar closed, a man stumbled out, weaved his way to his car, fell over twice, dropped his keys three times unlocking the door, and finally made it in, started it up, and drove off.
The cop followed closely as the man drove away, pulling him over quickly. He gave the man several roadside sobriety tests, and the man passed each one with flying colors. Finally the cop had him blow into a portable breath tester, and got a result of 0.00. “You’re stone sober! Why were you so unsteady coming out of the bar?”
The man replied, “I’m tonight’s designated decoy.”