Let’s say I am driving through your state. I am a white male in my late 20s, clean cut, wearing business casual attire. I am driving a late-model Ford F150, clean and in good condition, registered to me, with license plates from a state halfway across the country. My driving record is clean except for one ticket 5 years ago in some other state.
I am driving on a lightly-trafficked state highway in a rural area, not an interstate, and get pulled over by some local cop. Say I am doing 70 in a 55.
The cop pulls me over, asks me if I know why I was stopped, etc. I am polite and answer his questions, and admit to speeding, saying my attention wandered for a minute.
I then tell him I’m in town for business, I have a lot of meetings to get to, I’ve been very busy with work and I have a lot of paperwork to keep track of, and I’ve heard in some jurisdictions one can just pay the speeding ticket right on the side of the road and not have to deal with mailing the fine, waiting for the paperwork to show up, etc. This would be a big help for me, it’ll be one less thing to keep track of, and I’d sure appreciate the convenience since I have enough on my plate already. Is this one of those jurisdictions? As I am saying this I open up my wallet, exposing a wad of bills, and begin to extract a fair number of them. With my fingers still running through my wallet, but without removing any bills, I stop talking and wait for the officer’s response.
What does he say?
Note that this is all hypothetical. I don’t own an F-150.
This question would have been more interesting about 15 years ago. Now concealable cameras cost pennies and the officer knows he’s likely to find himself on youtube the next day. The conversation will not go well for you.
They’d probably ask if you’d like to be charged with attempted bribery, and really throw off your busy schedule. If they were feeling generous and felt like providing you with the option of claiming ignorance and backing out of it, that is.
Oh. Maine/not in law enforcement/WAG/never tried it.
“Sir, officers don’t deal with the financial aspects of the citation. The address is on the back, as is a web-address if you just want to send it in without contesting.”
Meaner cop/ Cop on a bad day:
Sees wad, assumes either bribery or drug money.
“Sir, please step out of the vehicle, and put your hands on the hood. I’ll be back with you momentarily.”
Calls backup. Calls for sniffer dogs. Goes for coffee while you’re pinned to your truck (just to make you sweat a little). Goes through your truck (and you) with a toothbrush and a dentist pick to find ANYTHING to nail you with. If you’re clean, you get dragged into the pokey anyway (conveniently just after 5 pm so the Judge is already out for the day and you have to stay the night) for attempted bribery.
Corrupt cop in a poor rural county with no pinhole cameras or good vehicle voice pickups (rare even in broke-ass South Carolina):
“In that case, there’s a service charge of $500 on top of the ticket. Now get moving and don’t let me see you driving through here again.”
In these parts you would be confusing the cop. In the end you’ll get the ticket, he might take the money too, and it will all take you longer than if you had just taken the ticket to start with.
Around here, you’re going to jail. It may not be the same for some of the more rural areas of Virginia, but around here the cops are well paid, monitored, and bored. Thus, I think you’re quite unlikely to run into a corrupt cop, or at least one who would be willing to accept on tape. It is possible you’ll run into one who wouldn’t arrest you, but you’d have to do a decent acting job. Otherwise, if you get an honest one who doesn’t believe you or a hardass, you’re taking a ride in his backseat.
In my case the answer would be “sorry, we are only allowed to accept cash for fines up to 35 euros. In your case [exceeding the speed limit by 15 mph = 24.14 km/h outside town limits] it’ll be 70 euros plus one point on your license. You will get further information by mail.”
Back when Montana had a scheme to defy the federal highway speed limits I believe you could pay a roadside fine for wasting resources rather than speeding.
Town where I live pays cops just above minimum wage, and schedules them part time to avoid any extra cost to the town. The police chief was just fired, as he is under investigation for selling confiscated guns. It’d be worth a try to flash some cash.
I have a vague recollection of paying a ticket in the Midwest somewhere (Ohio or maybe Michigan) about 35 years ago with a credit card at the side of the road. Never seen such a thing since.
I got pulled over in Ohio a few years ago, and the trooper asked for a credit card along with my license and registration. Evidently they wish to secure payment before you leave the state (I don’t live in Ohio). In my case, I was very well-behaved during the stop and ended up with a warning instead of a fine.
As for the OP’s scenario, I’d say letting the officer know you have a lot of cash on you puts that cash at risk of forfeiture. Google “asset forfeiture” and you’ll find a litany of cases in which drivers had cash confiscated from them. The officer merely needs to suspect that the cash was involved in illegal drug activity, and he can take it; you then have to go to great lengths to prove that it wasn’t before you’ll get it back.
If OP is asking whether the fondling of cash might be officially construed as an offer of a bribe, I doubt it. You have explicitly offered to pay the fine, and cash is your proposed medium of exchange. In places like Ohio where they apparently do accept roadside payment, I suspect the officer will not be able to accept cash.
I remember back around 10-15 years ago getting a ticket in Chicago suburbia and my options were to go to court, pay via mail or I could just pay the $75 fine on the spot. Had to be cash, exact change. I didn’t have $75 cash and wanted court supervision to keep it off my record so I didn’t pursue that avenue.
I wasn’t talking about enough cash in the wallet to arouse the officer’s suspicion. Several hundreds and a bunch of twenties and fifties, maybe $750 in all. Obviously enough to pay the fine in cash perhaps twice over, was my point.
I should add this is not something I’d do in real life. But I know someone who recommended this as the appropriate way to deal with the county sheriff where he lives. I don’t think he was kidding.