Is there any point in admitting guilt when a cops asks you?

[HaxorNubcake]

bump for the morning/at work crowd?

 

[Eeezee]

Always admit what you did wrong. The cop already knows what you did wrong (this is why he's pulling you over), so lying about it won't help you.

As for those of you saying that "he's just pulling you over hoping you'll admit to speeding but he really doesn't know," do you realize that cops have devices that can tell them how fast you are going? Do you really think they're going to waste their time pulling over someone random if they weren't actually speeding?

 

[theMan]

one time, i accidentally ran a stop sign, as soon as i noticed that i did it, i noticed there was a cop right around the corner. i just pulled over and stopped, before he did anything. he pulled up behind me, and i told him i knew what i did, it was just an accident. he thanked me for being so honest, and told be to be more careful next time. hehehe, no ticket for me.

 

[FoBoT]

yes
they might let you off

i was pulled over about 1 year ago for a headlight out

i had forgot to put my most current insurance card in the car

i told the office i knew my headlight was out and that i had been to busy to replace it (true) and just answered him truthfully

even though he was "required" to at least ticket me for not having the insurance card, he just gave me a verbal warning to get the headlight fixed and get my insurance card in the car and sent me on my way


i dunno, i think cops (mostly) are just people that are doing their job and just like all other workers, their "performance" varies from day to day

 

[leftyman]

helps if you have a nice rack too

 

[Whisper]

Originally posted by: rmrf

Originally posted by: Vic

Originally posted by: bradruth
I consider lying to be telling me something other than the truth.

We'd still smell it on the person's breath, so they'd likely end up running a few tests regardless. I fail to see how we can arbitrarily hand out DUIs if people pass the tests and blow under the limit.

That's fine if that's how you want to handle it, but it will only result in a citation.

You carry a portable lie detector with you everywhere you go?

And please... your job is to write tickets. That is what you do. You don't let off people just because they were nice to you, but because they're local and have no stops or priors in the system. Otherwise, out-of-area? Guaranteed instant ticket, regardless of how much ass is kissed. Roadside tax collection. Previous stops or priors? Same thing.

A citation... ooh... don't threaten me with what you were going to write anyway.

actually, the cops in my area are bloodsuckers, and will write a ticket whether or not you've had priors. I appreciate what some of them do, but most of them are power tripping dickheads. what I hate the most is when I see someone pulled over for speeding or such, and they have 2 or 3 cop cars that feel the need to pull over as well. wtf. I know sometimes they need backup, but it is very common in my county to see 2 or 3 cop cars at any given time when a speeding citation is being written. either that, or we have one hell of a drug problem, and every time someone gets pulled over they are arrested.

Heh, this happened to me once when I was heading from Atlanta to UGA on my motorcycle. I was in a group of maybe two or three cars, plodding along behind one of them, when they crest a hill and all slam on their brakes. As I get to the top of the hill myself, I see the reason why: a cruiser parked over on the side of the road. He pulls out, comes up behind me maybe a mile down the road, and pulls me over.

After running my license and registration, he walks back over and says something along the lines of, "you and I both know if those cars hadn't been there, you would've been going a lot faster than you were. As it is, I got you at 71 in a 65. Just slow it down from now on."

He was a nice guy about it, and although he was wrong about the whole "would've been going faster part," I wasn't going to say anything. But as this is all going on, another cruiser comes up and pulls in behind him on the shoulder. The second cop (B) walks up just as the first (A) is leaving. Cop A walks by the end of my bike, sees the nice little "Ram Air Direct" sticker Suzuki slapped on all their motorcycles that year, and asks what Ram Air Direct is.

Not wanting to be there any longer than is necessary, I just respond with, "I don't really know," and leave it at that. Cop B then decides to walk over and chime in with, "you don't know what Ram Air is? It's what lets the air get into your engine up front there. Good lord, driving around on this thing without even knowing how to use it, you're gonna kill someone, boy. What year is this, anyway?" I tell him, and he responds with, "you sure? Doesn't look like it. I swear, gonna get yourself killed."

Both officers then got back into their cars and left. Good times.

 

[ngvepforever2]

This happen at the beginning of the month...
I was driving back home from school around 7:00pm , it was snowing but it wasn't that bad. However, there is always a dumbass that gets into a ditch and blocks the traffic, so the traffic was halted for about an hour (we had to wait for the car to be towed , it sucked). So the traffic starts to move and I am about to turn right to enter the parkway and I do so, I accelerated a little bit to 50 mph and then I see the lights behind me . The cop stopped me and asked "Do you know why I stopped you?" to which I responded "Probably because I was speeding". Mind you, my inspection tag had expired ( I took care of it the following weekend). The cop realized that and then asked me if I had been one of those stuck in the traffic before. I told him that I was and probably that was the reason why I accelerated so fast (I was tired as hell and wanted to get home fast). By then, I was 100 percent sure I was going to get two tickets (The cop even told me so! ) one for the expired tag and the other one for going fast in dangerous conditions (even though I was going 50 in 55 mph, but it was snowing).By then, I had accepted the outcome of my stupidity but the cop told me that I should drive slower if I don't want to end up stuck in a ditch like the other car, he then told me that if he ever sees me doing the same he'll write me up and then he let me go

 

[bradruth]

Originally posted by: Vic
You carry a portable lie detector with you everywhere you go?

And please... your job is to write tickets. That is what you do. You don't let off people just because they were nice to you, but because they're local and have no stops or priors in the system. Otherwise, out-of-area? Guaranteed instant ticket, regardless of how much ass is kissed. Roadside tax collection. Previous stops or priors? Same thing.

A citation... ooh... don't threaten me with what you were going to write anyway.

This may come as a shock, but it's not that hard to tell when most people are lying. Most people simply aren't that good at it.

Actually, our primary job is to respond to calls for service. Running traffic is a relatively small percentage of what we do. I'm more apt to write local people citations than out-of-towners because they know the area and the speed limits, etc. We stop Canadians all the time and very rarely cite them...usually because they're friendly and cooperative and they're unfamiliar with the area. But none of this will change your mind, so just keep believing that we're "tax" collectors and do nothing but run traffic all day.

It's not a threat. By not accepting responsibility or being friendly/cooperative you're just eliminating any chance of a break, that's all. It's no skin off my back if you'd rather take the ticket than be decent.

 

[dirtboy]

An ex-highway friend of mine says that if you are cool about things you have a better chance of getting off without a ticket.

 

[Saga]

Just out of curiosity, if you are mute is there something on your license that identifies the fact? I remember a college buddy who claimed to have gotten out of a ticket by pretending he could not talk - the officer ended up taking pity on what appeared to be a kid who got dealt a bad hand in life and let him off with a warning. I never questioned the validity of the story, but I've sort of wondered since if you had to have documents of some type for disabilities.

 

[mugs]

Originally posted by: Vic
Hell no, never. All you do when you admit guilt is make the cop's job easier by incriminating yourself. And keep in mind that a cop's idea of "lying" is whenever you say something different than whatever bit of self-incrimination they want you to say.

Think on this. Suppose you stopped and had one single small beer while driving home from work. You get pulled over (say for burnt-out taillight). The cop asks if you've been drinking, because they ask almost everyone they pull over at night that. You tell the truth and admit you had a single beer. Boom, you walking the line and blowing, and even if you pass the field test and blow under he and he alone gets to decide whether you get a DUI or not. You tell him no, and he has nothing to go on.

Traffic cops write tickets. That is their job. "Breaks" and warnings are much rarer than they would like you to believe, and for this very reason. To get you to believe that self-incrimination will get you off. Sorry, that can and will be used against you in court. The best way to handle the situation is to pretend he didn't ask the question. "Do you know fast you were going?" "Here's my license, registration, and proof of insurance, officer, please don't take long running it, thanks."

If you plan to contest the ticket, they'll ask you the same questions when you go to court anyway. What are you going to do then, lie?

 

[Baked]

Just don't be an ass about it. I will guarantee you the cop will show up in court if you go outta of your way to be an ass when he gives you the ticket. Be nice and he'll be some where else when court day comes. At least that's my experience.

 

[Stuxnet]

Originally posted by: Vic
"Do you know fast you were going?" "Here's my license, registration, and proof of insurance, officer, please don't take long running it, thanks."

LOL

"Please don't take long running it. As you can see, I'm in a fsck of a hurry."

I agree with Vic though: asking you "do you know how fast you were going" is one of the most loaded questions anyone could ask you.

One time I was flying down a country road that was out in the middle of nowhere. I was doing 65mph and the speed limit was 50mph. Big deal. Well, a cop comes from the other direction and (rigthfully) thinks I was speeding. He whips around pulls up behind me. Of course by now I'm doing 50.000mph like a good little citizen, but he pulls me over. I know there's no way in hell he clocked me...

"Do you know why I pulled you over?"
"No, sorry officer, I don't."
"Do you know how fast you were going?"
"I think the relevant question is do YOU know how fast I was going."
It was a gamble, but he got a chuckle out of it.
"Try to slow down, okay?"
"Have a nice day, officer."

Not once did I admit speeding, and I'm pretty confident that I would have been cited had I gave him a good number to go with.

Now, if you know you're tagged it's probably best to just fess up. You're not getting a warning if you sit there and argue with the guy...

 

[Stuxnet]

Originally posted by: bradruth
I fail to see how we can arbitrarily hand out DUIs if people pass the tests and blow under the limit.

In my state a cop can determine you weren't fit to be operating the vehicle even if you are under the legal limit. If you blow a .003 and the cop thinks you can't handle it, you're in DUI Smackdown.

 

[CaptnKirk]

Cop - "Do you know how fast you were going ?"

You - "No, is it a record ?"


Result - Guaranteed trouble.

 

[Stuxnet]

Originally posted by: Eeezee
Always admit what you did wrong. The cop already knows what you did wrong (this is why he's pulling you over), so lying about it won't help you.

As for those of you saying that "he's just pulling you over hoping you'll admit to speeding but he really doesn't know," do you realize that cops have devices that can tell them how fast you are going? Do you really think they're going to waste their time pulling over someone random if they weren't actually speeding?

Actually, yes. See above. I was pulled over because the cop knew I was speeding but he didn't have an actual speed... so he tried soliciting the information from me.

Fsck that.

 

[Perknose]

I'm always totally upfront with officers, and they really DO appreciate that. Pretending you don't know what you did wrong or pretending you didn't do anything wrong is just unnecessarily irritating to the apprehending officer.

More than once, the officer has either let me off or cut me a huge break. One time I REALLY landed in clover. This was back when I lived an hour and fifteen minutes away from the church I go to (I now live ten minutes away). Back then, the Blue Route (SE PA residents will know of which I speak) had yet to be built, and there was no good way to get from here to there.

So there I was, late, cold, and pissed off in the ice and snow. Some pokester was impeding my progress on a two lane road, so I crossed the double line and passed him on an arc which also took me through an intersection. Yeeeeee-haw!

Cop pulled me over, came up and asked me if I knew what I'd done. Without even looking up, I handed over my driver's license, reg, and insurance card, and said glumly, "I sure do".

I was pissed at my own extremely poor judgement. When he came back (I had a spotless record), he let me go completely!! I was stunned . . . and grateful! That was one time I truly deserved the long arm of the law.

 

[DaShen]

Originally posted by: Xylitol
Just say the truth
Its always better

Yup! I have been let go with a warning 4 times already. Never had a speeding ticket yet. Had a ticket on an expired license because I got pulled over for speeding though.

 

[broon]

I was pulled over for 15 over on a motorcycle at 11 pm. Cop asked if I knew, I said yes, I was going xx mph. Cop asked why, I said I thought it was 10 mph faster than it was. He let me off.

Cops have stopped me, asked if I'd been drinking, said yes, they let me go. They can usually tell if they need to check you. No need to lie. Besides, if you did it, why lie about it? Don't do it if you can't handle getting caught.

 

[MiniGolfIsFun]

Originally posted by: ucdbiendog
ive gotten out of tickets 2 out of 3 times ive been pulled over by admitting what i did wrong and sounding worry about it. i hate kissing ass, but with the cost of the ticket and insurance, its worth it

Out of the 3 tickets I've gotten, I've fought all 3 and got out of 2 of them. However, I REALLY did deserve the one that I didn't win.

Laws vary from state to state about things like this so I'm not sure how it is in any other state other than california, but I know for certain they have a "quota" or a need to "perform" at a certain level. So that said, when its the end of the month and they pull you over, you can bet you're gonna get the ticket anyway regardless of how you answer so you might as well not incriminate yourself. Once you do that you can't even fight the ticket if you wanted to.

"How fast do you think you were going?"
"I'm sorry officer, I know I was speeding by a little bit. maybe 66 mph so 1mph over the speed limit. I'll make sure to slow down from now on"
*Gives you a ticket anyway cuz you did 'break the law'*

Anyway, the answer I use when they ask me how fast I was going, I reply, "At a safe and reasonable speed"

 

[Vic]

Originally posted by: mugs
If you plan to contest the ticket, they'll ask you the same questions when you go to court anyway. What are you going to do then, lie?

Why not? I guarantee you the cop will. I've contested virtually every ticket I've ever gotten (except for some real out-of-towners), and won more than half of them. Every time I went to court the cop committed perjury and lied on the stand. Every time. One time a cop even lied to the judge that I was a nice guy who confessed and apologized at the stop. Seriously. I've had a cop who tried to change his story after he had testified and while I was testifying simply because he realized right then he was beat (in that particular case, he had cited me for the wrong infraction). Shut up, you had your turn.

Now keep in mind that I am never a jerk who a cop who stops me. At least never before he's handed me the ticket. Of course, cops are people too, just doing their job (but so are Best Buy CSR's). I'm just not playing his little game either. And the ultimate cop game is to get you to believe that if just confess your sins, everything will be all right and they'll let you go. They are, in fact, extensively trained in this, and it is similar to professional salesmanship.
Cops don't pull people over to give warnings. They write tickets. That's their job. And while they don't officially have quotas anymore, their performance is still graded on the number of tickets they write. Nice folks don't get off with a warning because they were nice, they get off because they had no priors.

Hey, maybe things are different in the kind rural setting where bradruth lives. But not here.

 

[Toonces]

My girlfriend's grandfather drove for a taxi company and was pulled over through a RIDE check (arbitrary sobriety stops, usually during holidays in Canada) with a fare in the back at about 4pm in the afternoon.

Cop: Have you been drinking today?
Grandfather: Of course officer, I always drink in the afternoon when I'm working.
Cop: Step out of the car please

Needless to say, he had the full series of tests and was held up for a good 10 minutes for being a smart ass... not exactly a great idea if you ask me

Personal experience with the police in my hometown; one good, one bad.
Let off for going 5KM/H over (yes, they pulled me over for that) as I was coming home from a party; completely sober. Officer said he was just trying to let me know that a speeding crackdown was in effect (also, did a little search of the car for drugs/alcohol since it was 2am) and let me go.

2nd time was fun. I went through an advanced green while an officer was turning onto the same street from an alley in the opposite direction. He only saw my car through the intersection and a red light on his side - pulled over immediately. Asked how I could be so careless, didn't even try to stop... I told him that it was an advanced green and he just blew up. Asked if I was calling him a liar, to step out of the car because he "smelled alcohol" (I was just getting into town from driving back from University - car was full of moving junk and I had just wrote an exam the second before I left).
Proceeded to give me the $300 ticket for failing to stop - and left me with the kind words of "people like you who need to pay more attention to driving". I had no idea what he meant by that.

Anyways, long story short he shows up to court still fuming mad that I decided to contest the ticket. Dosen't even have accurate notes (according to the Crown) so negotiated to "failing to obey traffic sign" for $100 fine. I had no problem believing the crown attorney (equivalent to DA in the US) that he was going to either embelish or fabricate a story; and the lawyer did not want to be a part of that type of trial since I was only 20 at the time.

One good experience, one bad. But I am not going to stereotype all law enforcement officers because I had one bad experience. That wouldn't be fair to the men and women who are fair, honest, and hard working out there.

 

[Stuxnet]

I know for a fact that cops have quotas where I live. I've had two separate cops, one who is a friend, flat out admit to it. I won't assume that ALL cops in ALL areas have quotas, but I'd be willing to bet that the majority of cops who deny the existance of quotas are full of bovine excrement.

 

[marvdmartian]

A few years ago, I was driving thru an area where I knew it eventually was going to drop from 70mph to 55, and had even seen a sign that said "lowered speed ahead" (or whatever verbage they use), but was talking to a friend and missed the 55mph sign. Add to that, there was construction going on (come to find out, later on, the sign was hidden by a piece of construction equipment while I was going past it, and they had replaced the standard highway sign, approximately 3' x 4', with a city street sign, which is 1/4 that size!!) in the area, which automatically doubles your speeding ticket fine.

So I'm driving along, cruise control on, not much traffic, and suddenly there's a black & white pickup behind me with red lights a-flashing......and it wasn't even Christmas time!! Anyways, this state cop comes up, tells me he pulled me over for doing 70 in a 55 zone, and asked why I was driving so fast. Dang. I knew I was busted, clean and simple.....he had me cold. So I told him the truth, that I'd seen the sign saying the speed limit was going to drop, but never saw the lowered speed limit sign, and didn't think to kick off the cruise control. I was driving a government truck (I work for the USAF, as a civil servant), so didn't have any insurance papers on me, or any registration paperwork (US govt tags their own vehicles, versus having state issued tags, so you don't have registrations).

He took my driver's license, walked back to his truck, and ran my name on his computer. Of course, I'm clean as a whistle, and he comes back to the driver's window to talk to me. He asked me if I worked for the government, and I told him yes, I worked at such and such air force base, as a civil service employee. He asked me if I had my government ID card, and I passed that to him. He perused it, then told me to take it easy the rest of the way back, and have a nice day!

Of course, this was probably only about 6 months after 9-11, so working for the military might have had a positive benefit!


On the flip side, when I was YD&FOC (look it up if you don't know what it means), and in the navy, stationed in the SF bay area, I took a midnight drive across the San Rafael bridge one Sunday morning. Since the highway was essentially empty, and it was a nice night out, plus the fact that I was young & dumb, I decided to see how fast I could go across the bridge. Unknown to me, there was a CHP cruiser sitting off to the side of the toll gate, who saw me take off a bit fast, and decided to follow.
To this day, I swear he ran that bridge with his lights off, since I never saw him til he decided to pull me over! To make a long story a bit shorter, I could've been nailed for exceeding 100mph in a 55mph zone. :shocked:
When I spotted him, though, I was back down to maybe 60, so pulled over (AFTER the exit for the prison, mind you!! :laugh: ). He asked me why I was driving so fast? Did I have a fire to get to?? Geez, how original.....
Then he asked me if I knew how fast I was going. Well, no.....my speedo only went to 85mph, and it was pegged (and then some!!). Knowing that he had me for something, I played it cool, and asked him if HE knew how fast I was going. Lucky for me, he was only able to get me going over 70 when he lost sight of me, so he wrote the ticket for 70+ in a 55mph zone! :laugh: Shoot, I was happy to get away with just that!! hehehe

 

[Vic]

Originally posted by: jbourne77
I know for a fact that cops have quotas where I live. I've had two separate cops, one who is a friend, flat out admit to it. I won't assume that ALL cops in ALL areas have quotas, but I'd be willing to bet that the majority of cops who deny the existance of quotas are full of bovine excrement.

Yeah, in Oregon, they don't have quotas, they have "performance expectations." Which means that if an officer consistently writes less than what is expected for his department, he is subject to evaluation, review, reprimand, and even suspension. Warnings are rare. Getting out of a ticket means going to see the judge. That's just how it is.

And now, I don't want my tone confused to say that all cops are bad, or that I treat all cops like they are bad. I certainly don't believe that. I have met plenty of good (hell even great) cops in my time. I've even been let off by cool cops when I probably shouldn't have been. I imagine that bradruth is a very good cop. But I've also met more than my share of power-mad prick cops who like to fsck with people and set them up. And until you know whether you are dealing with a good cop or a prick cop, I think it's wise to guard your words and not unnecessarily incriminate yourself.