Can cops do this???

[peasea]

Very true, but my free legal advice comes with a money-back guarantee

Good point BUT!
Back in the day I had a big-time legal beagle represent me and a mate in Welly. It cost us but I walked on a DIC (right or wrong but the best is yet to come, I was only just over) and my mate walked on his third assault on an MOT officer. Reasons? 1) One lied in the box and got sprung and 2) Incorrect procedure. It's a damned long story but my mate and I dug our toes in after we saw the liars testimony. Without that lawyer we'd never have made it. The cost was worth every cent to see the faces on those scumbags after the hammer went down. Sometimes the lawyers are worth it.

[Lucy]

Good point BUT!
Back in the day I had a big-time legal beagle represent me and a mate in Welly. It cost us but I walked on a DIC (right or wrong but the best is yet to come, I was only just over) and my mate walked on his third assault on an MOT officer. Reasons? 1) One lied in the box and got sprung and 2) Incorrect procedure. It's a damned long story but my mate and I dug our toes in after we saw the liars testimony. Without that lawyer we'd never have made it. The cost was worth every cent to the faces on those scumbags after the hammer went down. Sometimes they're worth it.

Lied in the box and used incorrect procedure to try and convict a drunk driver? Shame on them....how dare they.

[Sanx]

Lawyers are worth the money - sometimes. However, if you're fighting a relatively trivial traffic ticket mainly 'cos of the principle, then it's probably not worth forking over hundreds of bucks in an attempt to save a lot less. That's where doing your own research, reading everything you can and gathering your evidence can pay dividends.

There was a good interview with a lawyer in the UK who has a 100% record in getting his client off traffic charges; and he's fought several hundred. Mainly he simply holds the Police's own procedures and rules against them, but he did recall one case where he simply couldn't find anything they'd done wrong. Then the officer got up onto the stand. A couple of minutes into his grilling, the lawyer stopped and asked him if he was chewing something. The officer said no. The lawyer carried on, and a couple of minutes later, asked him again. The officer sheepishly took a bit of chewing gum out of his mouth.

That was all the lawyer needed. He basically said that if the officer was willing to lie on the stand about something so trivial as chewing gum, then how could anyone trust anything he gave in evidence.

Case dismissed.

As for me, the two tickets I chose to fight in this country I had dismissed. The other two tickets I got were deserved. One of them I probably could have walked on if I'd tried, but the second the officer had me bang to rights on. Although it ruined my nice clean driving record, it wasn't worth putting the time and effort into.

In the UK though, my record was eight out of nine dismissed. The Police's procedures are public information, though they do make it damned difficult to get hold of. Quite often you'll find that tickets are given unlawfully or issued contrary to the Police's own rules. Most of the time, the Police rely on the public's ignorance of said rules to make the tickets stick. A simple example is the issuing of a speed camera ticket. Over there, such tickets count towards demerit points. Because the cameras almost all point towards the back of the car, the photo cannot be used to identify the driver. So, the cops send out a NIP - Notice of Intended Prosecution - to the registered keeper of the vehicle asking who was driving. If the vehicle's a family car, used by a number of people in a household, it's often difficult to remember who was driving it at the time - so to counter that, the NIP must sent out within 14 days of the offence. If it's dated more than 14 days after the offence, the NIP is unenforcable. However - the Police still send them out as their own figures show that over 90% of the population simply pay up.

Over here it's more difficult, but the cops have their own rules and procedures to follow. Quite often, they don't - but they rely on people's ignorance of law and procedure in order to enforce such tickets. But the information people need is all publically available - it just has to be searched for. If it's important to you - search for the relevant rules, compare the Police's actions, then use it against them.

[peasea]

Lied in the box and used incorrect procedure to try and convict a drunk driver? Shame on them....how dare they.

Exactly. To uphold the law, they must operate within the law. I'm not saying they had the wrong man, they just went about 'getting' him the wrong way. It was a minor deal, as I said, I was only JUST over the limit; 110 when the limit was 100, dumb to be in that state I admit but not really a big deal and I was still sober enough to recall things correctly. PLUS, I told the truth....and I'm just a scummy old biker, not a squeaky-clean policeman with a note pad and the justice system behind him.

[Lucy]

So they have to be within the law to uphold the law, and yet you don't have to be to defend yourself? You were only just over the limit, but you WERE over the limit. They were possibly just outside the proper procedure but that's enough to dismiss the case. Seems like double standards.

[Grub]

Quite scary that in a country with such a dubious police honesty record that a cops word is seen as gospel

Not factually true. Nz Police is one of the most highly regarded for it's honesty and integrity in the world. Plenty of evidence to support that too

[krazy_karl]

i dont no about getting a lawyer but want to try writing a letter as you say because of the principal of it if they dont let me off then i do think i might go to court to try and argue my way out of it.

[spudchucka]

i dont no about getting a lawyer but want to try writing a letter as you say because of the principal of it if they dont let me off then i do think i might go to court to try and argue my way out of it.

Sorry but you'll be wasting your time on both counts and if you go to court it will just end up costing you more.

[Toaster]

Well i got a ticket in the weekend in my car for going 71km/h in a 50 (i know stupid and highly reckless)... the thing was when i asked to see the readout on there radar unit in the cop car it showed my speed as being locked at 67. i asked the cop why he was doing me for 71 when it showed 67 as my locked speed. His reply was well we saw it go up to 71 so thats what im writing the ticket for!!!! can they do this?? it another 15 more demerit points for a 71km/h ticket than it is for 67km/h so thats why i want to know if i can complain about this or has anyone else has been in a similar situation and manged to get it waived?

Yes they certainly can. And they will win it in court too. However it is not what I would consider reasonable in the circumstances and a ticket for 67 would have been more appropriate.

[Toaster]

I agree. I'm sure you will also agree there are knobs in the job who don't really do us a favour with their black and white hard line attitude with the public. This often causes problems when we are conducting enquires or when were appealing for help in serious investigations etc

Mate I completely agree. It was all about being reasonable.

[Toaster]

Why dont you try come be a front line cop....i very much doubt you would continue with rubbish like that.

Your silly to belive everything you see and read in the media like a blind sheep. You have no idea how good a Police Force we have and compared to countries like Australia and the UK our traffic enforcement is mediocre.

Funny how these people think cops are overpaid... I left because of a better pay and lifestyle offer from my previous employer. Auckland is just too expensive for cops to put up with all the crap they get from public and the bosses as well as (as many now do) have to hold down two jobs to pay the mortgage.

[scumdog]

Funny how these people think cops are overpaid... I left because of a better pay and lifestyle offer from my previous employer. Auckland is just too expensive for cops to put up with all the crap they get from public and the bosses as well as (as many now do) have to hold down two jobs to pay the mortgage.

Hence why I live in the deep south, same salary (almost as much as I was getting at the freezing works) but it goes waaaay much further than the salary of some poor clod working in Auckland getting the same money..
Just ask tebang, blairo pritch 600 and others from the North Island.

The deep south is one of New Zealands best kept secrets...

and the rest of you can 'enjoy' it up there...

[Toaster]

Hence why I live in the dep south, same salary (almost as much as I was getting at the freezing works) but it goes waaaay much further.
Just ask tebang, blairo pritch 600 and others from the North Island.

The deep south is one of New Zealands best kept secrets...

and the rest of you can 'enjoy' it up there...

I spent a year in Southland and two at Otago... great times, great people. Didn't burn too many couches!! I live rural nowdays, but man when you hit the city, anyone would think they just got off the plane in Hong Kong.

[SwanTiger]

Ah it may have been xxxxxx, our freindly Rodney policeman. Yes you are right, I have only been stopped once by him, that was the one time I deserved it. I have never said anything "hurtful" unless he is soft and cant take a few jibes, I am sure he gets worse on the side of the road.
The reason I believe he is disliked by some here so much is not the fact that he stops bikers for speeding etc, some of them where also probably deserved, perhaps some were not. The fact is, he is a motorcyclist too, has several bikes including a GSXR 1100, and races buckets, but has no leniancy at all towards other bikers, who have offended in the lower brackets. I have not heard a story once where he has let someone off with a warning.

If I became a highway patrol officer, and still rode motorcycles, and had a quota to meet, I'd certainly pick on motorcyclist, probably Harley Davidson riders or people of similar tastes.

And my fucken lordy lord would I nail queer metro sexual aucklander scooter riders.

There would be no scooters on the road by the time I retired.

I wonder what those commodores run like on avgas... Scummy, find out and report back.

The deep south is one of New Zealands best kept secrets...

Little do you know, you'll have me as your neighbour soon

[scumdog]

If I became a highway patrol officer, and still rode motorcycles, and had a quota to meet, I'd certainly pick on motorcyclist, probably Harley Davidson riders or people of similar tastes.

And my fucken lordy lord would I nail queer metro sexual aucklander scooter riders.

There would be no scooters on the road by the time I retired.

I wonder what those commodores run like on avgas... Scummy, find out and report back.

PS: If you need to target HD riders your life expectency would be that of an Al Queada practice bomber with St Vitus disease - on a good day.

Little do you know, you'll have me as your neighbour soon

Farkoff, there's a certain minimum requirement to meet --- and I thunk you have exceded it boy...
But should you slump to our level be sure to give me a PM.

And as for avgas? IF I need to exceed 250kph I'll let you know..