When a traffic Officer..........

When a traffic Officer..........

Author
Discussion

tezzer

Original Poster:

983 posts

186 months

Friday 23rd September 2016
quotequote all
does you a favour by reducing your actual speed (registered) to lets say for arguments sake 42 in a 30 so you have a chance of a speed awareness course, is he potentially perverting the course of Justice ?

I appreciate that he is playing the game, and for that I am recently very grateful, but are Officers doing this leaving themselves open to criticism and or a bad time if a transgressor takes it to court ?

For arguments sake, my current pending NIP was rounded down (significantly ) to 42 in a 30, but if I plead not guilty and perhaps foolishly argue that the evidence is in fact incorrect, where would this go ?

One I was mulling over under the duvet this morning.

Ekona

1,653 posts

202 months

Friday 23rd September 2016
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So you'd go to court and swear under oath that you were doing a higher speed? I suspect that probably wouldn't go in your favour wink

Devil2575

13,400 posts

188 months

Friday 23rd September 2016
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I suspect that for even thinking about it the courts would order you to wear a dunce's cap and sit in the corner to think about your own stupidity. biggrin

Butter Face

30,298 posts

160 months

Friday 23rd September 2016
quotequote all
tezzer said:
where would this go ?
Probably a very bad direction for you.

Go on, give it a go hehe

Monkeylegend

26,385 posts

231 months

Friday 23rd September 2016
quotequote all
tezzer said:
One I was mulling over under the duvet this morning.
I can think of better things to do under a duvet to be honest.

zarjaz1991

3,480 posts

123 months

Friday 23rd September 2016
quotequote all
Suspect he isn't 'doing you a favour', more that he KNOWS you were going faster but the figure he's doing you for is the highest one he can prove.

By all means take it to court and tell them that actually you were going even faster. Magistrates have to sit through some long and boring cases so it'll give them a bit of a chuckle.

Bigyoke

152 posts

132 months

Friday 23rd September 2016
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I'd expect you'd be standing next to him in the dock for conspiring. The time to object is the time the 'modified' nip is given to you & hand it back to him.

Durzel

12,264 posts

168 months

Friday 23rd September 2016
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Hypothetically I got pulled recently on a single carriageway with 3 lanes by an unmarked cop. I knew I was doing circa 110 by my speedo, he said he "knew I was doing over a ton", but wrote me up as "not less than 85mph" (exact wording on NIP). All of this was said before he read me my rights.

He was single crewed so I suppose I could've pushed for it to go to court, but it's a hell of a gamble when you know you were doing a hell of a lot more. Plus it was a fair cop.

kwk

562 posts

178 months

Friday 23rd September 2016
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You get reported for exceeding the marked speed limit not for travelling at a specific speed. The speed only assists in the punishment given.

tezzer

Original Poster:

983 posts

186 months

Friday 23rd September 2016
quotequote all
Oh, I don't intend to, I was in the wrong, we had a civilized discussion about it and parted friends, albeit I was £100 poorer, it's more from a legal standpoint that an Officer knowingly submits a false report.

Carlson W6

857 posts

124 months

Friday 23rd September 2016
quotequote all
OP-

Let's take this one step further.

If the cop had given you a warning should you report him for perverting the course of justice and
ask to be prosecuted?

trixyD

215 posts

139 months

Friday 23rd September 2016
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Sounds to me as if he could only prove the 42mph and/or was doing you a favour. Not all coppers are out to get you. smile

I got stopped doing 45 in a 30 when I was young and stupid, I got let off with a warning. Should I have insisted on a fine and the points?

Cat

3,020 posts

269 months

Friday 23rd September 2016
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If you were travelling at 50mph, for example, you must have travelled at 42mph at least twice, once on the way to 50mph and once on the way back to a standstill.

Cat

bigmadjohn

210 posts

207 months

Friday 23rd September 2016
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You wouldve been doing 42 at some point though, even if it was when you slowed down to stop for him. Ive recieved this treatment a few times, once when stopped for a 90 average, I said I dont disbelieve you but I didnt think it was quite that quick, his colleague said deadpan as you could ever be 'listen son, we were doing 120 and you were pulling away'. That shut me up straight away!

Think you got a decent copper and passed the all important attitude test, just because you were doing a higher headline speed doesnt mean they have to do you for that speed. In court they like to show average speed over a distance, especially if a following check, also reduces the chance of a erroneous speed being given aswell.

drf765

187 posts

95 months

Friday 23rd September 2016
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Start a Gov Online Petition to remove all police discretion. See how many signatures you get.

Mk3Spitfire

2,921 posts

128 months

Friday 23rd September 2016
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I cannot believe that no one has suggested the obvious....that he only reduced the speed so that you could take a SAC. As we all know, Police actually get money from SAC's where's they don't from court fines. We also all know that the money the Police get from SAC's goes straight to the end of year party, or "shagfest" as it was recently referred to on here.

Also suggest lawyering up, and going no comment. Also something about #donutlivesmatter

Bristol spark

4,382 posts

183 months

Friday 23rd September 2016
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When i got booked a few years ago for significantly exceeding a 50 limit, the officer just wrote on the ticket "exceeding 50 limit" and gave me a FPN.

Was no fudging required, just didn't write a speed.

Riley Blue

20,953 posts

226 months

Friday 23rd September 2016
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tezzer said:
Oh, I don't intend to, I was in the wrong, we had a civilized discussion about it and parted friends, albeit I was £100 poorer, it's more from a legal standpoint that an Officer knowingly submits a false report.
zarjaz1991's post seems most likely to me thus not a 'false report'.

Derek Smith

45,655 posts

248 months

Friday 23rd September 2016
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If a known false statement is made and it is material to a prosecution and is given in evidence then it is probable that an offence has been committed. This applies if the evidence is given by way of statement under what was in my day Section 9, CJA 1967. This might have changed Act and Section but there is still the provision.

The question is whether dropping the speed in a report is material to the prosecution. It might not be as the only evidence required is that the speed limit but, on the other hand, the speed goes some way to determining the punishment.

In the second incident quoted, 'I know you were going over the ton', then knowing and being able to enter in evidence are two different things.

To move it away from speeding: the requirement for the number of common points in comparing fingerprints is set so high that no logical challenge can be made. However, there is what is known as a 'partial' where there were sufficient common points to show that except for a statistical anomaly that would confound logic, it is the same person. In that case, the officer can say, with some justification that he knows that this person touched the door. However, it is not evidence.

I remember reading a case where the partials were given in evidence but the jury were excluded. I have no recollection as to specifics but it was something to do with challenging the actions of the police, a sure sign that the evidence was sufficient for a conviction.


Ken Figenus

5,706 posts

117 months

Friday 23rd September 2016
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I think it really unfair that he didn't ask you if you thought you were bl00dy Roger Clark?!

A deal and a ticking off from a copper v resentment of any auto invoice via post? No contest - don't look a gift horse in the mouth!