Quote:
Originally Posted by Gridlock
I know on revscene you get a lot of "you did it, so pay the ticket" but I for one support fighting it.
And I'm not talking, "well, if the cop doesn't show I win" but actually a person taking on justice.
It's these types of cases that come up when there is a big news story, "100's of laser guns not calibrated before use in BC" and shit changes. Yeah, you were probably doing 80 in a 50. The next guy might be doing 54,,in which case the calibration comes into effect.
It's your right to go to court. Right. Not the way we use the term 'rights' in conversation about bullshit, but actual right.
Use it, or you lose it.
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I'd normally be right on the "man up, you do the crime, you pay the fine" bandwagon, but in this case, I have to agree to a point.
Cops have procedures that they have to follow to prevent them from just sitting at the side of the road pulling people over randomly and handing them any ticket they feel like... or for that matter, from just busting down anyone's door and cuffing them without some burden of evidence.
The dispute process exists to help ensure the cops follow their rules too.
If the cops are getting slack in their procedures, it's absolutely your right to work within the system to keep them accountable, just as their job is to keep you accountable for your actions.
Now given the level of training and experience cops have in estimating speed and that the instruments are normally used for *confirmation* of that estimate; and given that if you were actually doing 80 in a 50 zone, even a noob would know you were speeding, even if they couldn't state the exact speed... I doubt you'll get off on this one. However, it's still a good thing to hold the cop's feet to the fire to "encourage" him to follow proper procedures in the future.