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This is a rant about several different work things that definitely get into fratching territory. Given the recent current events, I want to give the disclaimer that none of this is me defending police who step out of line or people's reactions to that. This is not even about either of those specific things.
I found out today that if you get a ticket for not having a child in a car seat, it's ok. All you have to do is take in a car seat and show it to the judge, and the ticket gets dropped. Doesn't matter if it's your car seat, if you ever plan on using it, or that it doesn't change the fact that your 3 year old was loose in the back of your car while you were driving.
I found out because we gave someone a ticket for that at work and it got completely dropped which seems crazy. We know he'll do it again and it's been reported that he's been seen doing it plenty of times. We looked it up in the law book and sure enough, it says all you have to do is show the judge a car seat. You don't even have to claim it was in the car at the time of the stop. It doesn't specify that this is only for the first time it happens or anything like that. Any time you get pulled over for this, no problem. Sure it's a pain to go to court but it's not like you'll get hit with child endangerment charges or anything.
This is on top of the irritation that tickets are constantly getting dropped for no reason as it is. The car seat guy had 5 of them and they flat out all got dropped. Some of them were fairly cut and dry ones like how he didn't have a front plate. There's no shades of that one like with speeding (was your radar up to date and calibrated, how far over were they going, etc) it's mostly a yes or no, either you had the plate or you didn't and he didn't.
The whole stop with that guy was fun. He made everything way more of a thing than it needed to be. During the traffic stop, both of his parents called me at dispatch to bitch me out. His mother called several times to scream and rant at me. I should mention that he's in his 30s and they aren't even local. The officer was well within his rights to pull him over for at least 3 different visible reasons including the small child. And while I understand and am not debating that there are racist cops out there, including ones who use unnecessary force, we are a small department with a very good chief who somehow despite a lifetime of being a cop still has faith in humanity and likes people and tries to go easy on them. Despite the officer's frustration at all 5 tickets getting dropped and the fact that he could keep an eye on this person if he wanted to, he has no intention of doing so and going after them or making it personal. I'm very happy to be in a department that stays in line and I wouldn't be ok working in a department that I couldn't say that about.
When the mother wouldn't stop yelling at me, she kept telling me how she wasn't going to let this be another Ferguson. It's not the first time recently we've had something to that extent yelled at us. Never for minor violations, always for big stuff or laundry lists of violations. It gets frustrating after a while especially when I know that the officers aren't stepping out of line. Hell, they aren't even putting hands on the person, no weapons are being drawn. The officers are being calm and respectful while they are dealing with someone throwing a tantrum. Really the Ferguson thing is just the most recent thing that has been used to try and make a thing of the officers doing their jobs and it's not just people of any one race pulling various stuff like that so I'm not claiming this is a race thing. And I get that some people don't trust cops or they have had a bad experience with them. But this is instances where people are being treated fairly and aren't being persecuted or dealing with assholes and they are throwing tantrums.
I found out today that if you get a ticket for not having a child in a car seat, it's ok. All you have to do is take in a car seat and show it to the judge, and the ticket gets dropped. Doesn't matter if it's your car seat, if you ever plan on using it, or that it doesn't change the fact that your 3 year old was loose in the back of your car while you were driving.
I found out because we gave someone a ticket for that at work and it got completely dropped which seems crazy. We know he'll do it again and it's been reported that he's been seen doing it plenty of times. We looked it up in the law book and sure enough, it says all you have to do is show the judge a car seat. You don't even have to claim it was in the car at the time of the stop. It doesn't specify that this is only for the first time it happens or anything like that. Any time you get pulled over for this, no problem. Sure it's a pain to go to court but it's not like you'll get hit with child endangerment charges or anything.
This is on top of the irritation that tickets are constantly getting dropped for no reason as it is. The car seat guy had 5 of them and they flat out all got dropped. Some of them were fairly cut and dry ones like how he didn't have a front plate. There's no shades of that one like with speeding (was your radar up to date and calibrated, how far over were they going, etc) it's mostly a yes or no, either you had the plate or you didn't and he didn't.
The whole stop with that guy was fun. He made everything way more of a thing than it needed to be. During the traffic stop, both of his parents called me at dispatch to bitch me out. His mother called several times to scream and rant at me. I should mention that he's in his 30s and they aren't even local. The officer was well within his rights to pull him over for at least 3 different visible reasons including the small child. And while I understand and am not debating that there are racist cops out there, including ones who use unnecessary force, we are a small department with a very good chief who somehow despite a lifetime of being a cop still has faith in humanity and likes people and tries to go easy on them. Despite the officer's frustration at all 5 tickets getting dropped and the fact that he could keep an eye on this person if he wanted to, he has no intention of doing so and going after them or making it personal. I'm very happy to be in a department that stays in line and I wouldn't be ok working in a department that I couldn't say that about.
When the mother wouldn't stop yelling at me, she kept telling me how she wasn't going to let this be another Ferguson. It's not the first time recently we've had something to that extent yelled at us. Never for minor violations, always for big stuff or laundry lists of violations. It gets frustrating after a while especially when I know that the officers aren't stepping out of line. Hell, they aren't even putting hands on the person, no weapons are being drawn. The officers are being calm and respectful while they are dealing with someone throwing a tantrum. Really the Ferguson thing is just the most recent thing that has been used to try and make a thing of the officers doing their jobs and it's not just people of any one race pulling various stuff like that so I'm not claiming this is a race thing. And I get that some people don't trust cops or they have had a bad experience with them. But this is instances where people are being treated fairly and aren't being persecuted or dealing with assholes and they are throwing tantrums.
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