How to Sue the Police for Running a Speed Trap
I just won my case with a police department on a speeding ticket i received. prior to the ticket the police were on the side every morning and after noon. i stated in my trial by declaration that the area was an illegal speed trap citing a law i found. each high way used for radar has to be surveyed within 5 years and if not its considered an illegal speed trap, as such the tickets must be thrown out.
after my win, there are no more cops in the area hiding or looking for tickets.
although i won my case, i am furious that they have in the past wrote tickets and expected people to just pay the fine. i feel these cops abused their powers to gain revenue for the department and city.
how do i sue them and teach them a lesson?
Re: Illegal Ticket Writing of a Police Department
You can't sue them. You have no damages. You can't sue based on the fact other people may have been harmed.
Your presumption was that they knew that the study was absent when the wrote the tickets.
You're also mistaken that all highways in California need the traffic study.
Re: How to Sue the Police for Running a Speed Trap
Quote:
Quoting
spacefrogg5
although i won my case, i am furious that they have in the past wrote tickets and expected people to just pay the fine. i feel these cops abused their powers to gain revenue for the department and city.
how do i sue them and teach them a lesson?
First, the city likely makes less than a sawbuck from every moving citation, so they are not doing it for the money. And if even 5% of those cited challenges the cite in court, then they will have to issue 20 more cites to break even. If they wanted money, they'd have all the officers writing parking tickets not movers.
Second, if you think you have grounds for a winning suit, articulate your damages and consult legal counsel. If an attorney is willing to take it on a contingency basis, you may be on solid ground. If he wants money up front or tells you that you have no suit worth pursuing, then you know your case is not all that good.
If all you want is to embarrass the city, you can always talk to the media or the city council and present them with your findings and hope that the law is on your side so that you are not made to appear the fool.
Re: How to Sue the Police for Running a Speed Trap
Actually i when i did my trial by declaration. i originally found this section of law in the calfornia veh. code 40803 section a, b, and c. its pretty long so i wont copy and paste it. I dont have any issues with the police and have 2 friends who are cops, but i dont believe in cops who overstep boundries. in my case, i was given a ticket for traveling 8 miles over the speed limit, but was not shown his radar reading, and on the ticket it was stated 11 miles over and on the traffic i was the only car on the road for over a mile. how did i know this? i was on top of a hill coming down and i can see over clearly in the distance that i was the only car. as such the basic speed law was not broken.
in fact attend court appearances during 2 days off from work since my fishing trip had been canceled due to so cal's storms. anyways, i found that in the cases that i went to, the 2 police officers who showed up for other people's cases did not have their radars calibrated. it also upsets me when hearsay comes into play the officer gets the full weight as in 3 cases. i believe that most of the cops do give legitimate tickets. however, i also feel its a lot of the process to defend oneself is pure bs. here's how it goes - A. cop accuses me of something and makes me sign on the ticket, B. i take time off to go to court to say i'm innocent or pay the fine. C. when court date comes around, i have to take time off work in which normal people are not paid or have to use their leave/sick days to make it, the police however, is paid even for his time in court. he may not be paid extra, but he's getting his normal pay so for him its a normal days work.
here's the bigger catch in so cal (orange county, california specifically Irvine court house), if you go to court, and if you lose your case, the court may tack on an additional fee to you. How do i know this? the bailiff state so at the beginning of the court day. this statement also intimidates the public from showing up. if you dont believe me then attend the morning court session.
a cop or lawyer may say if they're innocent they will fight to the death in court, but normal people have anxieties, nervousness, and not educated in a courtroom setting. now to throw in a statement that if they lose they will be fined more.
and as for suing the police. i read the persons statement above and the newspapers were in fact interested, and that the speed trap vehicle code did in fact apply my case and this city's roads.
what are your thoughts?
Re: How to Sue the Police for Running a Speed Trap
My thoughts are that the fees and assessments are prescribed by law. The offer you receive in your courtesy notice may be somewhat smaller than the one that may be applied after trial. If you would prefer, think of it as a plea offer to encourage you to plead and pay less. Most of the time, however, the amounts are the same or near to it.
If the papers want to run the story that the locals are running what may be an unlawful speed trap, go for it.
Your problem with the process in the courts is one for the courts and the state legislature, not the city or the police department. I would tend to agree that if the stretch of road is not properly surveyed and posted pursuant to such a survey that it should not be subject to radar enforcement. But, about all you can do as a citizen might be to bring this to the attention of the police department and the city council. I do not see that you have a strong case at all, though I suppose you can try to make a small claims action out of any documented losses you suffered as a result of going to court. Provided, of course, you can show that the police are knowingly operating a speed trap in violation of the section.
Additionally, the surveys can be extended beyond the 5 year mark, so if that is all the evidence you have, then it's weak. And if the police are no longer running radar in the area, then it seems that they are paying attention now.
Re: How to Sue the Police for Running a Speed Trap
So you won your TBD, you've watched 2 other cases where the Radar wasn't calibrated (or possibly the officer failed to present the calibration certificate, who knows)... For your case in particular, have you had a chance to read the officer's declaration? And if so, what specifically, did the officer fail to provide/prove that resulted in you being found not guilty?
At any rate, your "theory" has been tried, tested and it failed... You can read People v. Sullivan, 234 Cal. App. 3d 56, and I quote:
While section 40801, setting forth the general prohibition against speed traps, may be viewed as a substantive rule of law, section 40803, subdivision (a), can only be characterized as a rule of evidence. The Legislature could have selected other remedies or penalties for violation of section 40801, but it clearly opted for the exclusion of evidence.
If in fact, your case was dismissed based on the officer having maintained a speed trap, then, and as prescribed in VC 40800-40808, the evidence he presented was excluded and your case was subsequently dismissed as prescribed by law. As such, you have no case!