Posted on 10/14/2012 8:59:07 PM PDT by Altariel
Shirley Simmons was pulled over last month for speeding in a school zone near her grandson's south Houston campus.
When she got home, put on her glasses and closely read the ticket, she discovered two incorrect charges: failure to display a valid Texas driver's license and lack of insurance. She went to two nearby Houston Police Department stations, but was directed to the traffic division downtown.
After a supervisor spoke with her and the officer, the two extra violations were removed. She still must go to court later this month for driving 5 miles-per-hour over the limit. But Simmons, a disabled 61-year-old grandmother, wonders if officers are pre-setting tickets with violations in certain communities, like the crossroads of Sunnyside and South Acres, where she was stopped.
The Houston Advocate's inquiry with Houston police turned up an admission that some officers load violations in advance on electronic ticketing devices to keep stops brief.
If these "default settings" don't apply to the specific driver, they're usually deleted, said Sgt. Robert Gonzales, who has worked in the HPD traffic enforcement division since 2000.
"This is just an isolated incident," he said. "This is the first one that we've had that has happened like this."
(Excerpt) Read more at chron.com ...
They screwed up a ticket for me once. They even accused me of not wearing my contact lenses. Tried to load up the ticket with offenses.
I looked closely at it and circled the block to ask them some questions about it.
They tore the whole thing up.
It would seem that while they can be eager to write multiple offenses, they are lousy at putting the carbon in between the tickets properly and sometimes end up transcribing SEVERAL tickets offenses and court dates/locations etc on the same ticket.
It’s about money, not safety or violations.
Shakedown racket. Highway robbery.
Queen Parker needs more cash in the city till.
All good reasonsin addition to many morefor roads to be privatized.
If you think crooked police actions are limited to things like traffic tickets do some more thinking. I have no faith in the run of the mill police type when a situation arises where Obama’s best interest is involved. I’m sorry to feel this way but I have a gut feeling that any kind of law person has no conscience or integrity as to really standing up for Constitutional rights is concerned. To/for these people these days salaries and union membership are societal priorities. These kind of priorities serve Obama very well.
Carbon ticket? What year did you get that ticket.
Harris County, Texas. Don’t even get me started.
Within the past 5 years. There may be a piece of plastic that they are to put between tickets to prevent the impression from appearing on the victim’s copy of the ticket.
It is a property within the paper. I have carbonless copy checks, but they look like carbon copies. Same concept when you press hard on the whole stack.
i thought it was illegal for them to let you drive away without insurance?”
My car was rear ended by a gal several years ago while I was driving in the city. Other driver spoke little English, had no license, no insurance and the car she was driving was “borrowed” from a friend. Called the police. They came, viewed the damage, wrote no tickets and said I could go to one of the local stations and file a report if I wanted to but since I wasn’t injured and had no-fault coverage, there was little they could do that would be effective. Police officer said they used to tow the cars and haul the drivers off to jail and apologized saying they had no support from the Chief of Police, the city of Houston or Austin and were told not to do anything if no one was injured.
Harris County pulled me over one time and took me down town Houston for a ‘failure to appear’. On the way down I had a conversation with the officer to find out why I was being taken down town and after three calls to dispatch he couldn’t provide me with an answer. After a few hours, they let me go and told me it was for a failure to appear. When I asked what I should do next...they I was free to go. I asked what I should appear for and they told me that they didn’t know, but thank you for stopping by. It seems that their database said I had a failure to appear for a violation that they couldn’t name...(I have never failed to appear for anything). I guess it was just a revenue tax.
only if you’re not an illegal alien
It sounds like you have a few stories to tell.
So I guess the proper thing for all of us to do is be "injured" then. I've made a mental note, hopefully I won't have to use it.
So I guess the proper thing for all of us to do is be “injured” then.”
That would guarantee the presence of a police vehicle, an EMT unit, a fire truck and 15 tow trucks!
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