Accused of Rolling Through a Stop Sign

My question involves a traffic ticket from the state of: Wisconsin

The other night on a street that I drive on practically daily, I was pulled over immediately after stopping at a stop sign. I have a feeling some kind of entrapment is going on here.

I would like to state my case.
The stop sign is placed in an odd spot and has been there for years. It is on a main road through a subdivision, no businesses, and very few houses facing it. One side of the street at the stop sign is a driveway entry to a condo community and the other side is a street that goes into the subdivision. There are no stop signs on any of the side streets that enter out on to this main street. There are no crosswalk lines or stop lines anywhere, there are no trees or bushes along that street to block any views, and it is a wide street with a clear view of any other moving traffic. On this street there is only two overhead streetlights and the one on that corner usually does not work so it is often dark. This road rarely sees a lot of traffic at least none to warrant a police officer to be posted at that corner. They only sit there during the night, I have seen them before.

On that evening the street light was out so it was dark. As I approach the sign I did see a car parked with no lights on in the driveway of the condo community. I wondered if it was a police car. I stopped and looked both ways, my speedometer showed no speed and my RPMs dropped and I proceed to go. I was not even through the intersection before the police lights from the undercover squad came on. I very startled and pulled over barely past the corner. I was surprised when he told me I did a rolling stop. The charge is failure to stop at a stop sign, it carries a fine and 3 points. Another thing is he asked for proof of insurance, I have insurance I just did not have the proof with me. He let me go on that, I think that when I showed proof of insurance at a later point it all would have been a waste of time for him. He did not know if I actually had insurance or not. If I did not it would have meant a fine. Wisconsin is a state that you have to show proof of insurance when you are pulled over.

This is where the question is about entrapment comes in. Just 2 weeks before my mother was pulled over in the same spot. She also drives on this street on a regular basis. I have friend whose parents live on the next corner and they mentioned that they were beginning to get bothered by the flashing lights and headlights shining at their house. It came up because there was some one was pulled over when I was visiting at their house, they did not know about my ticket.

Is there something unsavory going on here? If there have been complaints of people truly running the stop sign then stop them not law-abiding citizens that have stopped at the sign even if it was only for a second and they have accessed that there was no danger in proceeding through the intersection.

I am a young woman who was frightened, I have never been pulled over before. I do not think that I was being targeted, I think that the corner is being used to entrap people because it is hard to prove when there is no other witness.

Does one count one 1,000 two 1,000 three, 1000 at stop sign? There is no law about 3 seconds either. The 3-second rule is something taught to new drivers to give them some idea what stopping means and give them time to access the situation. For a seasoned driver they are accessing the situation when approaching the stop sign, as I did, and the stop was completed when my speedometer went to zero. How long is driver expected to wait at a stop sign if there is no traffic coming? Was the police officer counting for me? If so, is there a set amount of time for him to count to for me? If I waited too long then it would it have been suspicious? So a police officer waiting in the dark at a stop sign would have to be have to be suspect of every person approaching the stop sign for one reason or another. No one could do it right. It is not the same a waiting for someone who may speed and there is a radar clocking the movement.

I do not know how well anyone could see the tires of a car to see if they have completely stopped moving especially if the only light was my headlights. No lights were shinning on my tires. I do know my speedometer showed no speed and my RPMs dropped.
No one was coming from either direction, what would I be waiting for?
All of this happen in about 10 seconds from the time I saw a car parked on a dark side street, I stopped and I was pulled over.

That is my case, I am looking an opinion on entrapment and what can be done to stop it, also any answers on how to fight this ticket.

I have read where a lot cities offer a jacked up fine and wave the points, because it is all about the money and not about the safety. I don’t know if that is the case here. I don’t even know how many tickets have been written to prove anything, but traffic court has to be pretty busy since I don’t have a court date until March. How would I get such records on the activities at this corner? It has been suggested to call the alderman about it, would that do any good? How does one stop this kind of thing?

You have an odd definition of stop. Your speedometer hitting zero is not the definition of stop. Your tachometer hitting zero is not the definition of a stop for sure. Stop is a complete cessation of movement. That doesn't mean getting the speedo to zero, it doesn't mean locking up the wheels briefly, it means a complete cessation of movement (including the rocking of the body). There's no three second rule, but you must make a complete cessation of movement.

You also don't understand entrapment. Entrapment means the police using coercion or other means to make a person commit a crime he would not be predisposed to commit. Cops lying in the shadows waiting for people to commit crimes is NOT entrapment. It's what we call "good police work." An example of entrapment would be if the cop was waiving you through the intersection and then busted you for passing the stop. Or the cop telling you if you don't get the hell out of hear he'd arrest you, you might argue coercion. But sitting there waiting for people to roll a stop is not entrapment.

They don't need to see your tires.

Your argument (even if it were true) that they are getting revenue means squat in court. There's an enacted law. You broke it. That's all they need in court. Arguing that there was no safety concern is irrelevant as well. The statute doesn't say "You must stop unless you think it is safe to roll it."

Now if you have some indication that you did have a complete cessation of movement (like the cop saying yeah you stopped, but you didn't wait 3 seconds) you MIGHT have a case.

Witnesses? You're thinking the cop sits there rather than at a busy intersection to make sure there are no witnesses? That's a concept I've never heard of.

As Flyingron explained, there is no Entrapment here. The correct term to describe this situation is Cherry Patch, which refers to a location with a traffic control device that is often ignored, making it possible to see many traffic violations and write a lot of tickets in a short time.

Here's what usually happens. You hit the brakes and feel the car lurch forward. This makes you mistakenly believe you have stopped when all you have done is significantly slow down. Only when you feel the car rock backwards after lurching forward do you know that you've come to a complete stop.

I live on a 25 MPH street that everyone bombs along at 45 MPH. About a block away is a stop sign that lots of people blow through. We have kids in the neighborhood and many parents worry that someone is going to nail one of their children either through speed, blowing the stop sign or a combination of both. Because the stop sign is a cherry patch, every so often the local motor cops sit out there for an afternoon and probably write 10 to 15 tickets within a couple of hours. It reminds the neighborhood to slow down and stop for a month or two. When their driving habits start to get bad again, the bike cops come back and work the cherry patch once more.

I suspect your cherry patch is being worked for similar reasons.

The cop was probably counting to three (literally).

It doesn't sound like you were thundering through there at 45 either.

The cop did however, probably see enough to respond, albeit a momentary stop which was probably still safe.
I have witnessed cops blow stop signs and stop bar lines with regularity. Good examples aren't they.

This is a "your word against the officers" deal. The court will favor the officer. Cops are allowed to observe locations
if they believe violations are taking place. When an officer is out fishing for lawbreakers they will usually snag a few that are borderline. Officers needs to bring something back to the office.

Entrapment..? Not likely. But, if you travel this was all the time and are making complete stops but still getting cited than harassment could be perused, lots of work though.
Drive careful, Good luck

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Quoting Mlynnc

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But, if you travel this was all the time and are making complete stops but still getting cited than harassment could be perused, lots of work though.

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No, driving down a road tens, hundreds or thousands of times does not make it "harassment" when you get a ticket for rolling through a stop sign.

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Quoting Mr. Knowitall

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No, driving down a road tens, hundreds or thousands of times does not make it "harassment" when you get a ticket for rolling through a stop sign.

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You did see the part where my statement said "and are making complete stops" didn't you?
If a person doesn't stop including rolling stops they should get stopped and ticketed if it warrants.

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Quoting Mlynnc

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You did see the part where my statement said "and are making complete stops" didn't you?
If a person doesn't stop including rolling stops they should get stopped and ticketed if it warrants.

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That still doesn't make it harassment. I suggest that you invest in a dictionary.

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Quoting Mr. Knowitall

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That still doesn't make it harassment. I suggest that you invest in a dictionary.

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You have heard of police misconduct haven't you?? If a police officer is making unwarranted stops to the same person when they are doing nothing unlawful this can be a form of police harassment. I guess you must live in a world where law enforcement operates perfectly and has never harassed anyone.

The original poster was trying to suggest entrapment, my reply was "not likely". I gave an example (also unlikely) of a situation where if
a pattern of unlawful stops with her started taking place, she could appeal to a higher authority. What word would you use when filing this type of complaint? Maybe you should open a dictionary.

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Quoting Mlynnc

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You have heard of police misconduct haven't you?? If a police officer is making unwarranted stops to the same person when they are doing nothing unlawful this can be a form of police harassment. I guess you must live in a world where law enforcement operates perfectly and has never harassed anyone.

The original poster was trying to suggest entrapment, my reply was "not likely". I gave an example (also unlikely) of a situation where if
a pattern of unlawful stops with her started taking place, she could appeal to a higher authority. What word would you use when filing this type of complaint? Maybe you should open a dictionary.

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The "not likely" part is a problem here too. Entrapment is not only not likely but it's virtually impossible. The OP did not mention any hint of entrapment in their post. Entrapment would be if the officer had motioned you to keep your car moving at the intersection and then cited you for not stopping. The concepts of entrapment and harassment have nothing to do with each other.

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Quoting Mlynnc

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You have heard of police misconduct haven't you?? If a police officer is making unwarranted stops to the same person when they are doing nothing unlawful this can be a form of police harassment.

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Where do you see any of that stated anywhere in this thread?

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Quoting Mlynnc

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The original poster was trying to suggest entrapment, my reply was "not likely". I gave an example (also unlikely) of a situation where if
a pattern of unlawful stops with her started taking place, she could appeal to a higher authority. What word would you use when filing this type of complaint? Maybe you should open a dictionary.

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Not entrapment.

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Quoting donzoh1

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The OP did not mention any hint of entrapment in their post. .

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Might want to check again.... I am not the one that started the entrapment talk.