Can Off Duty Cops Issue Tickets?

[Talies R]

I got a phone call from constable whatever, and apparently he witnessed me driving at speeds of 130km on Crowchild Tr., tailgating cars and cutting people off so he wants to issue me a careless driving ticket, I questioned what on earth he was talking about as I thought it was a joke…and asked why didn’t he pull me over, so he said that he was off duty in his civilian vehicle. He said he would mail the ticket to me. The problem is that I would never drive like that and I expressed my concern to him that he might have the wrong car/plate…. Who knows… but anyways, is it possible for him to issue the ticket to me based on the facts, and also how hard would it be to plead not guilty and fight the ticket? Would it just be my word vs. his word? Any help is appreciated thanks.

[Spyderman_MaryJ]

I have heard of someone being mailed a ticket because they were "Witnessed" stunting, so I guess it could happen. I certainly do not agree with it!! Are you sure it wasn't someone playing a prank on you? But if something does become of it that is something I would certainly fight. Even take it to "A Traffic Defence" (they are great) or one of those for an opinion. As far as I'm concerned, if they didn't stop you "At the scene" too bad for them.

Either way.. good luck.. keep us posted if you do infact get a ticket.

Riley

[Weapon_R]

Originally posted by Talies R
Would it just be my word vs. his word? Any help is appreciated thanks.

It's like that in every case. Your word vs. his. Usually, his word wins.

[CalgaryB5]

Originally posted by Weapon_R


It's like that in every case. Your word vs. his. Usually, his word wins.

How things work if you're not the driver? And can prove the time was with someone.

:angel:

[illeagle]

What does OFF DUTY mean.... that cops full of shit, just drive like an angel for the next couple of weeks..

[LUDELVR]

Originally posted by CalgaryB5


How things work if you're not the driver? And can prove the time was with someone.

:angel:


This is exactly what happened to me, and I was able to prove my innocence beyond resasonable doubt and I was able to get off the ticket. Essentially, I did not give them any reason to believe it was me so the ticket was dismissed. But still, plan everything out and don't leave anything overlooked that would cause them to believe that it was you.

If you're really lucky, then you can put the cop on the stand and make him look incompetent (like I did! haha) :rofl:

[Talies R]

Should I should basically say that it wasn't me driving the car?

[Hollywood]

Duh.....YA!

[Talies R]

Originally posted by Hollywood
Duh.....YA!

So then who was driving it?

[Ridelikeme]

they cant do anything... from my experiences.... every lunch hour last year we used to drive to either wendies or mc's for lunch at C.O.P and on the way back we would throw our fries and shit at hitch hikers on the trans' (16th ave extension) i had a few phone calls but none of them ever did shit... people were phoning in license plates to the police and then the police would phone the owners of the cars... i dont do it anymore, but it sure as hell wasnt the police that taught me a lesson or anything

[rage2]

So much bad info in this thread :).

OK, they can issue you a ticket. It'll be a registered owners ticket, meaning, the person that the car is registered to will get a ticket. Just a fine, no demerits.

ANYONE can get the cops to issue a ticket (believe me, I've got 'em before). If you witness a jackass driving and get his plates, you can report it to the cops and they will also issue a RO ticket to the plates you've given them. They can fight it, and you'd have to go to court in that case as a witness (and probably get your ass kicked outside after the case lol).

In your case here, the cop will obviously show up if you go to court, meaning pay the fine and be glad u didn't get pulled over hehe.

[keroppi]

I can't imagine an off-duty officer could issue a ticket... but perhaps he could be the witness and 'report' a case like somebody else could. Also I can't imagine that he could phone you to tell you about the ticket... could it consider as a harrassment?

Anyway, I think like other posters here say, even if you get the ticket, you have the chance to fight it. I don't think this officer really has a strong case against you.

Also I want to say: I think people like RideLikeMe are stupid... throwing stuff to others on the road is not only senseless but also risking others' lives. Grow up, man!

[2.2vtec]

Maybe you shoud quite driving like an idiot:rofl:

[GTS Jeff]

Originally posted by Talies R


So then who was driving it? it doesnt matter. they have no idea who was driving it and u dont have to tell them.

id approach the case somewhere along the lines of figuring out what the cop was doing at the time and whether he was fit to witness u driving like a jackass.

[VWhooligan]

Originally posted by Ridelikeme
we would throw our fries and shit at hitch hikers on the trans' (16th ave extension) i had a few phone calls but none of them ever did shit

biggest idiot ever.

[hatetank]

Originally posted by Ridelikeme
they cant do anything... from my experiences.... every lunch hour last year we used to drive to either wendies or mc's for lunch at C.O.P and on the way back we would throw our fries and shit at hitch hikers on the trans' (16th ave extension) i had a few phone calls but none of them ever did shit... people were phoning in license plates to the police and then the police would phone the owners of the cars... i dont do it anymore, but it sure as hell wasnt the police that taught me a lesson or anything

throwing food at hitchhikers?

Go put your hat on and sit in the corner you idiot.

[Ducati]

Cops are never truly "off duty". They are Off their Shift, and the cop in question was not able to pull you over in a civilian car without proper signalling and safety equipment. Even "Ghost Cars" have some sort of equipment that can be used for road interdictions.

They can mail you a ticket.
It will be the responsibility of the owner to attempt to prove he wasn't driving.

I would not pay any ticket that came in the mail.
I would also never, even if a cop was being a prick, ever do anything to make him angrier. He/She is a vengeful and eminently capable Human Being, easily able to access resources to rain down a shitstorm of payback upon you. You are best to quickly figure out what he/she wants to hear, and put on your academy award winning best.

It sucks - I know. There are ways to get back at him/her, but I don't want to be banned or arrested

[Talies R]

Originally posted by rage2
It'll be a registered owners ticket, meaning, the person that the car is registered to will get a ticket. Just a fine, no demerits.



I got the ticket in the mail today, it's a yellow traffic violation ticket with my name etc. on it just like any other ticket...$402.00 carelss driving... so that would mean that it will carry the demerits right?

[illeagle]

you better pray you don't get demeritts, Careless driving carry's HUGE points... 8? i think... or 4... ahh... plus your insurance company will hate you...:thumbsdow

[Weapon_R]

Originally posted by Talies R


I got the ticket in the mail today, it's a yellow traffic violation ticket with my name etc. on it just like any other ticket...$402.00 carelss driving... so that would mean that it will carry the demerits right?

It should CLEARLY state if it is a registered owners ticket. And if you don't fight this, and win, you are so screwed. This is one of the worst ticket you can get in the eyes of insurance

[ramminghard]

insurance doesn't go on amount of demerits anymore. They go on how many tickets and what they are for.

[Ridelikeme]

haha.. a couple of french fries never hurt anyone... and as i said we did grow up, and it definately was not a smart thing to do,, ill admit it, but we never threw anything deadly even remotely hard. and it was funny as hell.... as for drive by tossings.. they are done with

[civicrider]

haha i think its funny

[O_J]

thats stupid, mailing tickets. Fight it for sure

[Golf IV]

Originally posted by rage2
So much bad info in this thread :).

OK, they can issue you a ticket. It'll be a registered owners ticket, meaning, the person that the car is registered to will get a ticket. Just a fine, no demerits.

ANYONE can get the cops to issue a ticket (believe me, I've got 'em before). If you witness a jackass driving and get his plates, you can report it to the cops and they will also issue a RO ticket to the plates you've given them. They can fight it, and you'd have to go to court in that case as a witness (and probably get your ass kicked outside after the case lol).

In your case here, the cop will obviously show up if you go to court, meaning pay the fine and be glad u didn't get pulled over hehe.

:bullshit:

I can see if the cop sees you and witnesses it because he's supposed to uphold the law blah blah blah. But someone phoning in your plates??? Thats absolute BS. So I can call in your plates and say you were driving like a jack ass and you get a ticket even if you weren't??

But in this case a cop saw you so I guess his word superceeds yours. Still BS though.

[TofuBoi]

well some defence would be..... if i was going 130km/ hour swirving left and right , why was he able to see the plate? Either he was also speeding , or he read the plate wrong. Cuz its kinda hard looking at other ppls license plates and memorizing it when they zip past u at 130 km/hour........ he has to be at least 10-20 feet away from u to see the license plate clearly

[MistaBrent]

Originally posted by Talies R
I got a phone call from constable whatever, and apparently he witnessed me driving at speeds of 130km on Crowchild Tr., tailgating cars and cutting people off so he wants to issue me a careless driving ticket, I questioned what on earth he was talking about as I thought it was a joke…and asked why didn’t he pull me over, so he said that he was off duty in his civilian vehicle. He said he would mail the ticket to me. The problem is that I would never drive like that and I expressed my concern to him that he might have the wrong car/plate…. Who knows… but anyways, is it possible for him to issue the ticket to me based on the facts, and also how hard would it be to plead not guilty and fight the ticket? Would it just be my word vs. his word? Any help is appreciated thanks.


I got a ticket in Airdrie a long time ago, I was going like 15 and slammed on my breaks (no cars were behind me was a residential street) and a cop lived across the street, he freaked and yelled at me (I had the top down) to come back as I was driving away and I didnt and I got a ticket mailed to me for "stunting"

fuckin cops ! glad im in Vancouver now where the cops dont give bullshit tickets.

[yohan4ws]

Originally posted by Talies R


I got the ticket in the mail today, it's a yellow traffic violation ticket with my name etc. on it just like any other ticket...$402.00 carelss driving... so that would mean that it will carry the demerits right?

Careless driving?? .. BS ..

give us the scenario again of the conversation ..

Did you admit to driving the car?

If not they can't prove it... you can just say I thought it was a friend calling yadda yadda so I was being a smart ass... I wasn't driving car that night so prove it ...

sure it may have been your car, but unless they can PROVE beyond reasonable doubt you were driving the car I wouldnt expect the ticket would hold any merit.

[ZCracer]

That’s complete BS, definitely give a traffic lawyer a call and get their opinion. It's not uncommon for insurance to double after receiving that ticket. Please keep us updated!

[turbo_dsm]

well in mostly all cases, the more u fight the ticket, the lower the fine gets and may get dismissed. also if the cop doesnt show up it may be dismissed.
if none of these wud work for you say ur car must hav been stolen and then get a witness to say u were doing something else like watching a movie or something at the estimated time of the incident

[rage2]

Originally posted by Talies R
I got the ticket in the mail today, it's a yellow traffic violation ticket with my name etc. on it just like any other ticket...$402.00 carelss driving... so that would mean that it will carry the demerits right?
Yea, it's a registered owners ticket. But just to make sure, go to Pointts, it's a free consultation, they'll tell you for sure if it's a RO ticket. I've never had one, so I dunno what it looks like. The one I got was mailed to kenny hehe.

[yohan4ws]

carful with pointts.. I had a lady tell me their fee of 300 included the fines ($245) and then I got a letter to pay the courst..

Long story short the bitch lied and got away with it and the person who I had deal with Charles Pester turned out to be a real asshole swore at me on the phone etc.

Oh well, they'll be gettin a letter shortly from the BBB.

[blueripper6]

The cop is off duty right? I dont know what it does, but it seems to make it easier too fight.. 400 is rough, but the demirits are gonna be huge.. go fightit ask for no demerits even if it costs you the full $400

[hendosa]

Originally posted by Ridelikeme
they cant do anything... from my experiences.... every lunch hour last year we used to drive to either wendies or mc's for lunch at C.O.P and on the way back we would throw our fries and shit at hitch hikers on the trans' (16th ave extension) i had a few phone calls but none of them ever did shit... people were phoning in license plates to the police and then the police would phone the owners of the cars... i dont do it anymore, but it sure as hell wasnt the police that taught me a lesson or anything
HAHAHAHA lol good times for sure

[Drew]

hmmm, i've gotten a nice little phone call before aswell but the cop gave me a warning straight up on the phone cause he said he couldn't ticket me cause theres no way to prove who was driving, so if that helps you at all

[broken_legs]

It doesnt matter whos driving the car, the owner gets the ticket


Its The same principle with Photo Radar, even if the owner is not driving, the owner gets the ticket.

The owner of the vehicle is responsible for the car and who drives it.

[RSRT-4]

Well Like someone else stated cops are never off duty , and he was probable one one the cars u cut off, Remember Jackies little run in up in Crowfoot last year LOL

[eb0i]

I think the best thing would be to try and prove that your car wasn't even on the road at that time. Perhaps you can prove that you were somewhere at a given time through receipts or witnesses. Pretty hard for them to disprove you.

A friend of mine had this happen to him as well and he just fought it and won. However I don't think his ticket was $402. Good luck to you man. This system of calling license plates in is rather stupid. Can we get any more commie than this?

[method]

thats fucking ridiculous... if it's his word versus yours, whats to stop some racist cop from giving tickets to any middle eastern person driving down the road?

nothing.

maybe he doesnt like your bumper sticker - ticket

he's jealous of your car - ticket

:confused:

[Kor]

It does seem a little unfair if they can just mail you a ticket, and have some responsiblity attached to you. Because then they could do so to however many innocent people with really no documented evidence. They don't know who was driving the car for sure, and its totally acceptable to loan your car to anyone you want. It shouldn't be on you to find evidence that you did so, or to build a case against someone else who may or may not have been borrowing or driving your car at the time either - you aren't the police.

You should definitely fight such a ticket. Even if its a registered owners ticket, I would argue that the officer should have followed proper procedure. Ask what proper procedure is, I am sure there is on, and I am also betting its not just to write down a license plate on a tim horton's napkin using a crayon then mail the guy a ticket later.

Isn't the whole reason they invented photo radar that they need a PHOTO of your license plate to prove that it was your car? I am sure it would be WAY cheaper for them to just write down the plates as cars sped by.

[hockeybronx]

I don't know buddy, if you ask me I'd say it was a prank call but I guess nobody will be laughing if you get a ticket.

[Talies R]

Ok, so the ticket for careless driving ended up getting quashed due to "technical errors" in the way I received the ticket. :thumbsup: