Traffic ticket question

[RacerAV]

Up to your sister obviously, but fight it if she wants to, thats why everyone gets their day in court! Money isn't the issue for her, it's the principle. I can appreciate that. Good luck to her! Sorry about your parents.

[Warbonnet]

Had a Glendale cop pull me over claiming I was using a cell phone. I said I wasn't, but he was dead set on writing me a ticket for what he said he "saw". So, when I asked him to describe the so called cell phone, and he didn't take the bait, but then I reached into my pocket to pull out my FLIP PHONE and asked him if it was what he saw. He changed his tune a bit. The only possible thing I could have had in my hand that was in my truck was a paper coffee cup in my cup holder, which was as I showed him was empty anyway.

He walked away after saying he was fine with just giving me a "warning" LOL!

Not sure if it was a pretext stop which didn't pan out, or is that today with so many people actually texting and driving, that a LEO may think pulling over everyone with the same claim of "saw you using a phone" actually ends up being a reality, even if they saw nothing?

OP, tell your sister to fight the ticket no matter the cost. If she knew she wasn't breaking the law, then stand up.

[flyer898]

Fight the ticket! You might win, and even if you don't, by the time they pay the officer overtime to appear in court, it will cost the state more to convict your sister than the fine including penalty assessments. Since tickets are usually issued for the revenue, making collection of the fine as costly as possible makes a certain kind of sense.
Even if you don't beat the ticket having the cost of collecting the fine exceed the fine amount is a win.

[SMarquez]

Originally Posted by TrailerparkTrash

Not exactly. The issuing officer signs, but there is a space for the ?arresting? (or witnessing) officer to have his name written on the cite as well. It?s done frequently. For instance when a detective asks a uniformed officer to stop a vehicle and issue a cite. That detective is now the ?arresting? officer (yes I know, even though the driver is not arrested, it?s just a play on words), while the uniformed officer is the ?issuing? agent of the actual citation.

Or when an air support officer requests a marked patrol car to conduct a stop and issue a cite to a vehicle that was witnessed from the air to have run ran a red light or stop sign. The ?issuing? officer will conduct the stop and write in the name and ID of the air crew who is requesting that a motorist be issued a citation. Again, that stuff is done all the time and it does NOT require a personal signature of both officers on the cite. It only requires that the issuing officer personally write in the name and ID of the arresting (witnessing) officer. In both cases, the witnessing officer will be the one that gets subpoenaed to testify as to why he had the motorist cited in the first place. Hope that makes sense.

What I find difficult in the OP?s case however, is that if that was a CHP ?detective? as someone else suggested, I find it very troubling to know that he never exited the patrol car, while the uniformed officer did. That pretty much is NEVER going to happen. An armed plain cloths detective isn?t going to merely sit idle inside a patrol car, while his uniformed partner exits and makes contact with the car they just pulled over. It just doesn?t happen like that with any agency and for officer safety issues. Both exit the patrol car. How they make an approach on the vehicle afterward varies by individual and department policies.

My guess, it was a civilian ride-a-long. A non-sworn occupant of some sort that was told to stay in the patrol car. Easy to beat in court.

By trying to get the "partner" in court as a witness?
That's what I would try.