Speeding Ticket Issued by Human Services
My question involves a traffic ticket from the state of: California
I was driving with my friend (my car, he was driving) and he was going 100+, after we got on the off ramp, a Chevy cruze, with red and blue lights where the rear view mirror is, pulled us over and a Human Services employee came out. It wasn't a patrol car, but it had lights, and he wasn't CHP, can he issue tickets on the Freeway? It was also a 22350 with clear and sunny conditions and the ticket says 85, and he didn't radar or lidar us either. We were on highway fifty and Prairie City exit, just inside Folsom City limits.
Re: Speeding Ticket Issued by Human Services
LOL. 85 is probably all his speedo would register.
Re: Speeding Ticket Issued by Human Services
it should not be hard to surpress any evidence; the HS employee has no training to measure the speed
Re: Speeding Ticket Issued by Human Services
I sense a trial by written declaration in your future.
Re: Speeding Ticket Issued by Human Services
Re: Speeding Ticket Issued by Human Services
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Quoting
Seanavan
It wasn't a patrol car, but it had lights, and he wasn't CHP, can he issue tickets on the Freeway?
I don't even know which "Human Services" that is supposed to be referring to, but my guess is if he had a citation book with him, its for a good reason... And if he can issue traffic citations, I'm not sure where you get the idea that he can't issue them on the freeway! But those are only side issues. Not anybody can drive around with Red and Blue flashing lights. Only a "peace officer in an authorized emergency vehicle" can... Which, to me, would suggest that I shouldn't really assume that he doesn't have the required training or that he's unqualified to measure my speed when it would be easy to determine that 100mph is way over the maximum speed limit on a freeway!
Quote:
Quoting
Seanavan
It was also a 22350 with clear and sunny conditions and the ticket says 85
I wish people would get off the idea that "clear and sunny" means you can drive at ANY speed you want!
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Quoting
davidmcbeth3
it should not be hard to surpress any evidence; the HS employee has no training to measure the speed
It should not be hard to make assumptions; what is going to be harder though, is having those assumptions end up being true!
Re: Speeding Ticket Issued by Human Services
Please scan/photograph and post an image of your citation (redact personal info please!). That will have the dept. issuing it, and the employee's ID number at the bottom. We can then try to figure out if there is the slim chance that somehow the employee was not authorized to issue the ticket.
Re: Speeding Ticket Issued by Human Services
I have a hard time believing that this will end up being prosecuted. To my knowledge, the California Human Services department is not a police agency, state or otherwise.
I was able to find no refrernces to the Human Services department having ever written a traffic citation in California.
Questions to pose to the "officer" in court:
1. Sir, are you a commissioned police officer? If so, what city do you work for?
2. Sir, are you a commissioned California Highway Patrol officer?
3. Sir, do your regular job duties include patrolling traffic on a regular basis for the purpose of issuing citations?
4. Sir, have you been authorized by the state of California to pull over vehicles for the purpose of writing traffic citations?
5. Sir, have you been trained by a qualified state agency to estimate the speed of vechicles?
6. Sir, have you been trained by a qualified state agency to pace vehicles?
7. Sir, have you been trained by a qualified state agency to drive at or near the alleged speeds on this citation?
8. Sir, does the vehicle which you used to initiate the stop on my vehicle include a RADAR or other Speed Measuring Device device of any kind?
9. Sir, do you know the last time the speedometer in the vehicle you were driving was certified for accuracy by a state approved agency?
10. Sir, did you call any police agency or the California Highway Patrol to report the alleged speeding?
Re: Speeding Ticket Issued by Human Services
As a note, the CA Dept. of health and Human Services does have law enforcement officers. Their primary duty is not traffic enforcement, but they are lawfully able to act on public offenses committed in their presence as any other officer. They are trained identically to local law enforcement and possess peace officer status throughout the state of CA. Most HHS investigators are prior police officers or sheriff's deputies so they tend to have experience in traffic matters as well.
Assuming that the officer that cited you was with the CA DHHS and was a sworn investigator for that agency, then his authority is not in question. His training and experience in the estimation of speed might be an issue, but his authority should not be.
Re: Speeding Ticket Issued by Human Services
File a trial by declaration. Odds are the officer won't even respond.