Are the rumours true?

[jcpaddon]

Okay you guys, from a non-LEO answer a couple questions for me.
If you pull someone over for running a stop sign, speeding a bit, etc. are you likely to let them off if they're nice?
What kind of info do you guys get when you check someone's licence? Do you know if they have outstanding parking tickets, fines, suspended licence etc.?
Why do you drive by so many people with a headlight out? Are you just busy looking at other things?
When you're parked behind a car, at a red light or something, do you ever run their plates 'just to see'?
If someone doesn't have their licence,registration or proof of insurance on them can you let it go, do they a certain time limit given (ie.24 hrs) to produce it?
NO, I'M NOT some raging criminal trying to figure out how to get away with everything
Come on, I want to know if it's all true!!!
oh ya, and you guys don't reallly have quotas do you?

[Zamboni]

If you pull someone over for running a stop sign, speeding a bit, etc. are you likely to let them off if they're nice?

- I usually have already decided if I'm going to write a ticket before I even talk to you. You can talk your way into a ticket but rarely talk your way out of one.

What kind of info do you guys get when you check someone's licence? Do you know if they have outstanding parking tickets, fines, suspended licence etc.?

- Just driving offenses including suspensions and if you have warrants

Why do you drive by so many people with a headlight out? Are you just busy looking at other things?

- Its a matter of prioritizing. I could spend all night doing this if I wanted but I would rather do more productive things. Sometimes if I'm really bored and can't find anything better I'll stop them though.

When you're parked behind a car, at a red light or something, do you ever run their plates 'just to see'?

- Sure

If someone doesn't have their licence,registration or proof of insurance on them can you let it go, do they a certain time limit given (ie.24 hrs) to produce it?

- License - we can just run you by name and DOB and find out if your. Registration - just run the plates. Insurance, in my state if we give you a no insurance ticket you have until the date on the ticket to show the court you in fact had insurance on the day of the stop but just didn't have it in your car. Show it and the ticket is dropped.

[Mike Tx]

I heard running the plates 'just to see' was not permited. Should be if it's not.

[Glock]

Why? Anyone who's on the road shouldn't have anything to hide and won't be double looked at, unless the laptop alarm starts going off, which would be the original reason for running random plates. If a serial murderer was found this way, wouldn't you want an officer to have the ability to be able to run random plates?

Originally posted by MikeTx:
I heard running the plates 'just to see' was not permited. Should be if it's not.

[Mitzi]

Read it again....He said that if it wasn't allowed, it should be. Which means he supports the random of running license plates.

[Delta_V]

Originally posted by MikeTx:
I heard running the plates 'just to see' was not permited. Should be if it's not.

When I rode with Vegas Metro, we found out a car was stolen by doing just that. Ended up as a nice arrest for both the vehicle theft and some drugs. The officer I rode with probably ran somewhere between 10 and 15 plates during the whole shift 'just to see.' Something like that wouldn't happen here since there aren't MDTs in the cars. The way I understood it, as long as you're running the plate/person in the course of official business, you can do it.

[WHC166]

I run tags like that all the time...get some pretty interesting stops out of them.

[jellybean40]

I do remember in another thread one time someone saying they weren't supposed to run plates for no reason. i forget the topic tho! i was thinking like an ex-husband running every plate that was parked in front of his ex-wife's house? Or maybe it was that they weren't supposed to look up someone's license just for an address, but i know i remember it from the forum.

i also know two dispatchers working for a certain CA agency that ran someone for no reason and got reprimanded for it. (girl checking up on guy)

[Niteshift]

Speaking just for myself:

"If you pull someone over for running a stop sign, speeding a bit, etc. are you likely to let them off if they're nice?"

Attitude plays a part. But the infraction is a bigger part. If it's very, very minor, then being nice helps. But if you're doing 40 mph over the limit in a school zone........ you can be the king of nice and you're still signing a ticket before you leave.

"What kind of info do you guys get when you check someone's licence? Do you know if they have outstanding parking tickets, fines, suspended licence etc.?"

We get back the info that is on the license, plus if it's valid and any warrants. However, at least in this state, we don't get back your entire drivers history, like most people seem to think we do.

"Why do you drive by so many people with a headlight out? Are you just busy looking at other things?"

Because there are so many with headlights out. That's why. If I stopped every car with a headlight out, that's all I'd do all night. There are neighborhoods I've worked where you don't even consider stopping a car until you see at least 2 equipment violations, because so many cars had them.

"When you're parked behind a car, at a red light or something, do you ever run their plates 'just to see'?"

It's usually because I have a little feeling about it, not just idle curiousity, but I've gotten good arrests over listening to that little voice.

"If someone doesn't have their licence,registration or proof of insurance on them can you let it go, do they a certain time limit given (ie.24 hrs) to produce it?"

In my area, they have 10 days to produce it for the Clerk of Courts, then the ticket is dropped and they pay about $9 in processing charges.

"you guys don't reallly have quotas do you?"

They're illegal in my state. Besides, setting a minimum has a negative effect on productivity for officers that usually produce higher than average.

[Don]

Originally posted by jcpaddon:
Okay you guys, from a non-LEO answer a couple questions for me.
oh ya, and you guys don't reallly have quotas do you?

Of course not, we can write as many as we want!

Seriously, I worked four different agencies in my career. The only one that kept track of "ticket stats" was the first on, a PD over on the coast.

[PeteBroccolo]

Originally posted by jcpaddon:
Okay you guys, from a non-LEO answer a couple questions for me.
If you pull someone over for running a stop sign, speeding a bit, etc. are you likely to let them off if they're nice?
What kind of info do you guys get when you check someone's licence? Do you know if they have outstanding parking tickets, fines, suspended licence etc.?
Why do you drive by so many people with a headlight out? Are you just busy looking at other things?
When you're parked behind a car, at a red light or something, do you ever run their plates 'just to see'?
If someone doesn't have their licence,registration or proof of insurance on them can you let it go, do they a certain time limit given (ie.24 hrs) to produce it?
NO, I'M NOT some raging criminal trying to figure out how to get away with everything
Come on, I want to know if it's all true!!!
oh ya, and you guys don't reallly have quotas do you?

1/ maybe, depends on situation, but given my current duties I will probably just note "polite, co-operative and friendly" on back of the ticket;
2/ all of that, plus criminal record (fingerprint information), and I can access the computerized records and see how many times you have been dealt with by the Police (at least the RCMP Canada-wide);
3/ I might, sometimes, when I was on General Duty uniform investigations and en route to a call, but now its one of the basic things I am looking to stop people about;
4/ as some of the others have said, most definitely, and yes, I have cleared warrants, or picked up wanted people, stolen vehicles and prohibited drivers that way;
5/ In Saskatchewan, if you are a Saskatchewan resident, you have 48 hours to produce your valid licence and registration, but if you are a resident of any other Province of Canada, or of the USA or another country you MUST be in possession of valid documents and produce them forthwith upon the demand of a Peace Officer;
6/ I always say, it's like Stacey Keach said in "The New Centurions", "They passed a new law - I can write as many tickets as I want now!" Given my current duties, my boss would be wondering what I'm up to if I don't come back with SOME tickets each and every shift. But I also document almost every contact with the public, being it a charge, warning, clearing a warrant or aid/assistance to the general public.

[Press Hard]

Quotas:
I don't have one, but I personally try to write 10 a day. Not very hard being in traffic and not investigating accidents.

[MPD3P59]

I'd have to answer the same as the rest of the previous posts. In response to running plates "just to see," that's one of the best tools of the trade. When I'm in a mood to dig something up, I'll run every visible plate at a red light. I'll sit in a high crime area and run plates as they pass by me... as fast as I can type. I've found countless stolen vehicles, improper plates, etc. My problem is that I will not turn off the MDT until I get home (take home car) and so I've found 6 or 7 stolen vehicles just going home from work. At 3am, there's not much more than cops, stolens, or veh burglars on the city streets.I should learn to put on the blinders and just go home.

[shooter1201]

ATIITUDE, ATTITUDE, ATIITUDE. Did I mention ATTITUDE has a LOT to do with whether someone gets a ticket or not?

I stopped a lady last spring, for running a stop sign. I had every intention of giving her a warning ticket, UNTIL...she said 'WHAT damn stop sign?' Her 'warning ticket' went up to a $70 'REAL' ticket.

Related: Last night, I stopped a truck for running a stop sign on a back street. Turns out, it was our Post Master. He had his 12 year old son with him at the time. Ignoring the driver(Post Master), I looked across to his son(I had him in class last year), and said 'Bart...what do you want for Christmas this year....since your dad has an extra $70 to spend?'

What kind of info do I get when I run a tag/license? In TN, it ranges from 'Not on file' to 'The computers are down at this time.'

If I stopped EVERY vehicle with ONE headlight or ONE taillight in my town, that's ALL I'd be doing.

Do I run EVERY plate I come up behind? Nope..UNLESS it is 'Out of state' or the vehicle matches the description of a vehicle connected with a crime, etc, OR....I just get 'that feeling'....

As for driving w/o license, IT DEPENDS. USUALLY, I'll verify their license via Social Security number. IF it comes back valid and IF I'm in a good mood, I'll let them off with a verbal warning, coupled with advice to 'Turn around, go home, get your DL.'

On an aside: This afternoon, as I was patrolling the local WalMart parking lot, I spied a vehicle parked in the 'Fire Lane'. Imagine my surprise when the driver that rolled down the window was a local judge AND alderman....

Did I write him? Are you NUTS?!?!



[ 12-16-2001: Message edited by: shooter1201 ]

[Glock]

He isn't helpless and could have related this to me easily.

Originally posted by Mitzi:
Read it again....He said that if it wasn't allowed, it should be. Which means he supports the random of running license plates.