I got pulled over by the Georgia State Patrol yesterday for speeding, but thankfully only got a warning. My assumption is that if I were to get pulled over again, it would be automatically a ticket once the officer sees I have been issued a warning once, no matter what his intent when he pulled me over, or how slight my infraction.
Anyone know how long that warning will be ‘active?’ Will it ever drop out of the system? Or has it been added to the dreaded…“permanent record.”
-rainy
The time I got a warning, a Wisconsin state trooper said something like, “this is between you and me.” I got a slip of paper but I assume it never went into the computer. I processed insurance policies for many years and I don’t recall seeing an MVR (motor vehicle record) with a warning for a moving violation. I haven’t worked in that area for 10 years though so I could be wrong.
Yeah, what I got looked like a note from a “while you were out” pad. I hope it doesn’t go into the computer, so that maybe my charming personality can get me out of another ticket if I get caught. 
-rainy
Uh, silly question, but why not just not speed? That way you don’t have to worry about getting caught.
Most police departments have an internal computer system. This is used to record contacts of people with that particular department. While in most places it is considered an open public record, the only way to see such info is to go inside the station and request to see it. This means that if you get stopped & warned and they put it on their computer, only officers from THAT particular department are going to be advised of the previous warning if you’re stopped again. Other departments won’t have such info because it wasn’t them that stopped & warned you. Info on warnings usually are not shared because it’s a petty contact.
Also, it won’t show up on your driving record as it wasn’t a conviction of anything. Just a warning.
I believe we keep contact information on our computer for 10 years, except traffic warnings which remain for 1 year. But only if it was a written warning. Verbal warnings are not entered.
How can both of these be true?
Yeah, well a few years ago that was my position. But I’ve been jaded by my horrible commute and my foot has grown significantly heavier. In fact I find it amusing to notice that I speed past all the license plates of counties I pass through to get home, and am in turn left in the dust by those with much longer commutes than I have. I’m thinking of coining it as “The Law of the Commute.”
-rainy
I don’t see any conflict. Or am I missing something?
The first statement refered to records kept internally by each Police Precinct.
The second statement refered to the driving record the State keeps for you. If the local police department doesn’t pass the information up to the state’s DMV (or DPS, or whatever they call it in your state) then it never goes onto your driving record. That said, if the department that your traffic cop was from keeps records of warnings for it’s own reference, you probably won’t be able to talk your way out of the next ticket.
Exactly.
FYI most PD’s keep a record of most contacts, whether it’s an arrest or even if your a complainant. Most of these are considered public information (depending on where you live) and you can walk into the station and ask to run a name, an address, or both, through the public information computer, and you’ll get to see everything that’s happened regarding that name or that address you run. It’s a great way to check up on somebody. Just remember, the info in that computer will only be contacts made by that particular department.
Would they keep a record of you coming in to look at someone’s records? And if that person checked to see if you checked on them, would it keep a record that they had done so? 
Nope. It’s me. I think I read “won’t” as “will.”
I have a question for Reguleader, what if I was pulled over in my dump truck and given a warning by a State Trooper seeing as that’s the state would he enter it into the states system? Seeing as he’s not a county or city officer.
Thanks in advance!
This conversation ended more than ten years ago. You might not get a reply.
Because then you’ll get rear-ended by other drivers who are ‘moving at the speed of the traffic’?
Because most of the speed limits on roads are now set by a political process, rather than the expertise of traffic engineers or road designers. We have many roads designed for an expected speed, with various design elements built-in to subtly encourage drivers to stay near that speed – but now the speed limit there is less than that design speed. So drivers routinely ignore these political speed limits, all over the country.
There has been some changes since this zombie was laid to rest.
Fist of all, contact information now can be seen by other agencies in the area that share mobile data terminal use. That means if a trooper or an officer for any department in Milwaukee/Waukesha/Ozaukee/Racine County pulled you over and made contact with you, even if it was just a warning, I’ll be able to see it on my data terminal if I pull you over later, for about 30 days. This capability previously did not exist. The warning does not go n your state driving record, so please don’t misread what I’m saying.
Secondly, what you’ll see if you go into a agency and look at their public information computer has changed drastically, and not for the better. Due to a misinterpretation of a court case (2013 IIRC), a lot of jurisdictions are redacting [blacking out] pertinent information on their reports available to the public. This makes the reports useless. So if you want to know why there was a police car at your neighbors house it may say what address they were at and why, but it will be blacked out who they spoke to and had contact with.
This is absolutely freaking ridiculous. If it’s a traffic accident eventually you can get the info on a state accident report, and if there is an arrest you can get the information by going to the court house and looking at the file. But for a lot of areas just simple contacts at the local PD are blacked out. This, like I said, is due to a misinterpretation of a court ruling. It’s not the decision of the law enforcement agencies doing this but the local city attorneys or county corporation counsels. And not all jurisdictions are doing this so YMMV.
Yeah, I mean, who knows if that guy is even still on here? 
As for what databases it would be put into, I dunno, not a cop.
I would play it safe for at least 30 days. The safest thing to do is go a little bit slower than most of the traffic around you. Out of any group of ten cars, don’t try to be the slowest one and don’t try to be the fastest one. Be the fourth slowest car. Three are slower than you and six are faster than you. The faster car is the one who is most likely to get pulled over. Don’t be that car. If two cars pass you for every one car you pass, then you’re doing it right.
FWIW, when I lived in TN twenty years ago, I twice got tickets where the judge gave me probation and said that the record would be expunged if I had no other moving violations for 30 days. I know that’s not the same thing as a warning, but it gives a data point for comparison.
Because people are childish and self-centered and think they know better about breaking the law.
Seriously, people should just put on a podcast, set the cruse control and drive safely. So many idiots out there with speeding it is sick. If someone needs so badly to arrive sooner, then leave earlier.:smack:
Replies to Q.E.D.'s post:
Q.E.D. died in 2009.