Arrest Question

[JimBeam]

A girl I work w/ was pulled over the other day for a minor traffic infraction and while they were running her license it came back suspended.

So the cop told her that he had to arrest her.

So he doesn't handcuff her, puts her in the back of the car, has her car towed and impounded ( denying her request to leave it where it was and have somebody get it for her ) brings her to the statin and doesn't put her in a cell until other cops start to show up.

The cop told her that he had to arrest her because her license was suspended and that she's have only gotten a ticket if she was driving and didn't even have a license.

Is that true ?

Also he apparently never read her her rights ( not sure if he had to ) and they never fingerprinted her.

Is that all kosher ?

[Jujubees2]

I was pulled over once for speeding and didn't have my license with me. I got two tickets, one for speeding and one for driving without a license. But the officer said that if I went to court and showed the judge my license, he would throw out the driving without a license ticket (which he did).

So she may have gotten a ticket for driving without a license and she could have gotten out of it by showing her license to a judge (assuming they don't do check on her license at court).

[Servo]

Seems like everything was proper... driving without a driver's license - in NY, at least - is a traffic infraction. Driving with a suspended license on the other hand is a misdemeanor crime, so that's why he arrested her. I don't believe they were required to fingerprint her, which actually works in her favor.

"Reading her rights" would only come into play if they were trying to get a statement from her. Which, on a case like this, no one cares about. She'll come out of this without the misdemeanor on her record, and will probably only have to pay a small fine and clear up whatever her license is suspended for.

Where did this happen, anyway?

[Doogie]

Something is missing in this story. She didnt get fingerprinted, yet was arrested. Something is missing.

[JimBeam]

I think her issue was that her license was suspended due to a previoulsy unpaid ticket.

She didn't just get a ticket and have her car towed.

She was detained.

[Aggie]

You can always PM ChrisTheCop if he doesn't respond. He'll help you out.

But it seems reasonable she was arrested for that, the other stuff after is a little weird though.

[disneyspy]

fingerprinting and mug shots part of the booking process,which means they plan on keeping you in jail til you post bail or are arraigned.the cop couldnt let her go and drive,with no licence,and many impound cars for liability issues,not a cop,just had a shit load of irresponsible behavior in the 90s

[ozzie]

I was pulled over once for speeding and didn't have my license with me. I got two tickets, one for speeding and one for driving without a license. But the officer said that if I went to court and showed the judge my license, he would throw out the driving without a license ticket (which he did).

So she may have gotten a ticket for driving without a license and she could have gotten out of it by showing her license to a judge (assuming they don't do check on her license at court).

Big difference between not having your (valid) license on you... and having it suspended.

If it was suspended for not paying a ticket, it might be standard practice in your state to arrest the driver and impound the vehicle until the previous fines are paid, and to confiscate the suspended license.

Did she have to post bail, or pay any fines, before being released?

[ozzie]

the cop couldnt let her go and drive,with no licence,and many impound cars for liability issues

This

[JimBeam]

What sucked for her is she had gotten another ticket a while back, I guess at some point before or after the unpaid ticket, and when she paid the one ticket she asked them if everything was now in order and they told her yes.

Seems that the previously unpaid ticket should've come up when she was stopped for the ticket she paid or at least should've showed up while she was paying it.

She did have to have somebody come post bond, $ 250 I think, and they had her for an hour or 2.

It happended in Westchester County so I'm guessing the cop was having a slow work day.

Not that that excuses her from being a violator though.

[Sarge]

I work in New Jersey, so without knowing where this occurred I can only give you what would happen here. If you're stopped and have a suspended D.L. you will most likely receive a summons with a mandatory court appearance, and not be allowed to drive. You can however be arrested if the officer felt the need and bail could be applied. You would not be finger printed, as this is a petty disorderly persons offense, you only get printed for crimes (4th degree and above), and drug related offenses, and shoplifting. You can actually be arrested for any traffic offense, but it rarely happens. As far as not cuffing her, that is his discretion. If she had unpaid tickets, she probably had a warrant for her arrest.

[Servo]

What sucked for her is she had gotten another ticket a while back, I guess at some point before or after the unpaid ticket, and when she paid the one ticket she asked them if everything was now in order and they told her yes.

Seems that the previously unpaid ticket should've come up when she was stopped for the ticket she paid or at least should've showed up while she was paying it.


Yeah, that's DMV for you. When all is said and done, she can get a copy of her driving record (called an "abstract") and that should be up to date.

[JimBeam]

Yeah, that's DMV for you. When all is said and done, she can get a copy of her driving record (called an "abstract") and that should be up to date.

She was going to court today and I told her to mention that and to provide any details ( date paid, amount, etc ... ) for that visit.

She said when she mentioned this to the cop he claimed " Oh it was probably a civilian looking it up ".

Yeah that's who usually works at the DMV.

I'm failry certain I have an unpaid ticket in NY and when I got my CT license a few months ago it never even came up.

Wouldn't there have been something like a " cloud on the title " like in real estate, where I would've had to resolved the issue in NY before CT game me my license ?

[Servo]

I'm failry certain I have an unpaid ticket in NY and when I got my CT license a few months ago it never even came up.

Wouldn't there have been something like a " cloud on the title " like in real estate, where I would've had to resolved the issue in NY before CT game me my license ?

No, but if you ever get pulled over in NY you may have a problem.

[JimBeam]

There in is the disconnect.

If these states were sharing information better you'd have fewer issues like unpaid tickets and eventual arrests.

Even so w/ a tie between your car insurance, registration and driver's license.

I mean I know it's possible, although rare, for a person to have a car registered and insured but to not have a license and for you to have a driver's license w/out actually having a car and therefore not having to insure it but a thing like not having an updated address shouldn't prevent the agency from collecting on unpaid summons.

They should perioically run a check of insurance versus supsended licenses and threaten to suspend the registration if the fine attached to the license isn't paid.

May require a little more work but I think the money they'd get from people having to pay the fines would be more than the cost of becn warrants and arrests for minor traffic stops.

[jonyrotn]

Yeah, a younger cop would have arrested her almost 100% of the time (unless he had a piece of ass lined up for after work) however, a more senior cop would have probably excercised some discretion..

About 7-8 years ago the city and state came up with a plan to get people to pay their moving violations in a timely manor..
Step number one in a one step POLICY was to make operating with a suspended license a "must arrest" situation..

Meaning if a cop runs your license in his mobil digital terminal (MDT) and you come up suspended for any reason (insurance lapse, child support, unsatisfied lawsuit, nonpayment of tickets, etc..) POLICY says, you CAN NOT be issued a summons in lieu of arrest..

Furthermore, if through random inspections or traced through MDT keystroke reports (which a precenct's integrity officers get every month), or even if tickets with his signiture on them are found in a dead man's pocket at the scene of a car accident..
If they a can somehow determine that a cop has issued a summons or given central (radio dispatcher) a disposition of "warn and admonish" to a suspended moterist, he could (will) be brought up to disciplinary charges..
And the best way to get a cop to do what you want is to threaten to take away his vacation days..That's definitly cruel and unusual punishment..

The NYPD was very strict on the cops for a couple of years and managed to brainwash may cops into believing they had zero discretion..
The only problem is New State Law says we did have discretion, it was only the police dept's POLICY to not extend that discretion to moterists..

The way a cop can get around fuckin people is to either not run the licence information in the MDT or (my choice when on patrol) to simply not issue summonses at all..

As far as the finger printing goes, the charge (VTL 5.11) is considered an "Unclassified" misdemeanor as opposed to a class A or class B misd which would come from the penal law not the VTL..Unclassified misd require NO prints and NO mug shot..

The cop didNOT have to take her car, as a matter of fact he could have parked it legally right where he took her into custody..

NO cuffs is NERVER an option..Maybe he was hinting at a "get out of jail free hand job"..
And the NO License thing (VTL 509.1) is true..
She would have qualified for a summons in that case if only because the moterist has not yet established that he or she is NOT going to pay the summons..

I hope I answered your questions bro, I'm a dectective in the violent steet crimes unit so I don't have to fuck people in this mannor any longer but it is a great investigative tool if you have to scoop a guy up and hold him for a day or two..

BTW..Up to 25% of NYS drivers are suspended at one time or another for one reason or another..:help:

[JimBeam]

Great.

Thanks for the info.

I think she told somebody here that she just had to pay the fine ( after sitting in court for 5 hours ).

I still think they should be more proactive about tracking who owes money so that people who legitimately forget or move several times know they have pending fines.

[rick9669]

make sure u tell ur friend when she gets her license restored to carry he letter from dmv with her for a while .i know in new jersey , dmv sometimes takes its time making the change in the computers. if she gets stopped again she might still come back suspended,,,,

[JimBeam]

Will do.

Thanks.