Couple catches cop speeding with their own radar gun...

[fastpat]

Naturally, the cop is trying to have them prosecuted.
http://www.daily-tribune.com/NF/omf/daily_tribune/news_story.html?rkey=0041549+cr=

[Aurel]

17 mph over the limit, everybody does that. They are really stupid to go after a cop for this. If he was doing twice the speed limit, they might have a case.

Aurel

[javadog]

Originally posted by Aurel
17 mph over the limit, everybody does that. They are really stupid to go after a cop for this. If he was doing twice the speed limit, they might have a case.

Aurel

17 over, in a neighborhood? Since those mainly are posted at 25mph, the cop was going 42? I say, hang his ass. Speeding in the boonies is one thing. Speeding in a neighborhood isn't excusable.

I'd like to see him sue for stalking. I say, bring it on, dummy.

JR

[berettafan]

Dis a neighborhood, dis aint no residential district!



But seriously, if they do get sued by the fuzz i'd like to see a website set up to take paypal donations to fund the defense AND subsequent counter-suit.

[svandamme]

question , was this cop on duty or off duty?

[javadog]

Originally posted by svandamme
question , was this cop on duty or off duty?

It doesn't really matter. Unless they have the lights/siren on, they are supposed to adhere to the speed limits, too. Being a cop doesn't give you a license to speed.

JR

[turbo6bar]

A Bartow County couple will go before a magistrate judge today to see if they will be arrested for allegedly stalking a Kennesaw police officer by installing cameras to track neighborhood speeders.

Lee and Teresa Sipple spent $1,200 mounting three video cameras and a radar speed unit outside their home, which is at the bottom of a hill. They have said they did so in hopes of convincing neighbors to slow down to create a safe environment for their son.

I hope this article is leaving out some info.

A couple installs cameras outside their home, presumably on their own property, to make the neighborhood safer, and the gubmint accuses them of stalking. In the meantime, the federal government can eavesdrop on your cell phone and the Attorney General disavows habeus corpus. I must ask the obvious question: Who is stalking who?

[svandamme]

well actually it does matter
was he in a patrol car or in his own personal car?

if he was in a patrol car , on or even off duty i'de say stupid to even try and capture speeding , it's a cop car for crying out loud

if he was in his personal car, out of uniform in my eyes he's just a civvie
and should follow speed rules

still childish to eff around with camera's as a private person, sounds like somebody with to much time on their hands to me, but i don't see how it could be considered stalking , not if it was a fixed setup aimed at speeders in general...

[javadog]

Originally posted by svandamme
well actually it does matter

Not legally, it doesn't. The whole point, I suppose, is that the cop did something he shouldn't, and is being a bit of a dick about it. He should just be a man and admit he did something stupid. He is supposed to be a bit of a role model.

I speed from time to time. I just don't do it in residential areas, or other places where children and pets might be playing.

I have had this same problem with speeders in my neighborhood, although I haven't bought a camera and tried to deal with it on my own. I have had someone end up in my front yard, after mowing through a landscape bed. Just barely missed my gas meter- actually it bent it a little. Kind of hard to do on a mostly straight street, unless you are an assh*le. My next door neighbor had a couple of kids end up in his yard, after trying to beat each other around a corner. More assh*les.

JR

[Porsche-O-Phile]

On the way back from the airport yesterday I "tailed" a cop who was doing at least 20 mph over the speed limit and weaving in and out of lanes without signalling. No joke. This was in an L.A. Sheriff's patrol car, I was on my motorcycle.

This kind of crap is routine. Unfortunately out here, especially on the freeways, the rule is "do whatever you can when you can". There's simply no alternative. If you try to play by the rules, you'll either be killed, run over, or stuck in traffic for HOURS, if not days. The system has totally broken down and failed here and honestly I'll be the first one to admit routinely breaking the traffic laws on the freeways just so I can get home (1) in one piece and (2) before hell freezes over.

Point is, circumstances mean everything. However, if the story is so "cut-and-dry" where it was simply a case of a guy speeding without reason through a residential neighborhood that bad, I say nail his ass.

The people bringing the suit are playing with fire though - it's a suicidal move. They'll have every cop in the town driving 6" off their ass every time they pull out of the driveway from now on and if they so much as go 1mph over - EVER - they're nailed. If they let their grass grow too tall or so much as cut the tags off their matresses, they're gonna' get arrested.

Nice to see the citizens standing up against the tax collectors for a change - but this is gonna' end badly for 'em.

[fastpat]

Originally posted by svandamme
well actually it does matter
was he in a patrol car or in his own personal car?

This gets into the fundamental differences in the basis of the law here, and in europe. Here, a cop is a hired, professional member of the citizen posse. That means he has exactly the same powers as any citizen, delegated by the citizens to be exercised in their behalf. A cop does not have extraordinary powers, since I can't delegate any power to a cop that I don't possess myself.

That means that unless he was in "hot pursuit", he has no authorization to drive beyond the posted speed limit, his duty status is irrelevant.

[svandamme]

well technically , cops here can't go speeding any time they want either
they need the sirens before they can stretch things much

except on high ways, where they have a bit more room to play

[nineoneone]

This has been on the news here in Atlanta for sometime now. As a reporter was interveiwing this couple they turned the camera on the street and sure enough a cop car came down the road to fast, right in front of the cameras. They have had to do the signs and camera thing to prove this was a problem, doh" and catch this cop.... and others. They were told by police that they were doing all they could to slow down traffic in the area but the couples concerns were not taking seriously so they fix it!

[fastpat]

Originally posted by nineoneone
This has been on the news here in Atlanta for sometime now. As a reporter was interveiwing this couple they turned the camera on the street and sure enough a cop car came down the road to fast, right in front of the cameras. They have had to do the signs and camera thing to prove this was a problem, doh" and catch this cop.... and others. They were told by police that they were doing all they could to slow down traffic in the area but the couples concerns were not taking seriously so they fix it!

Positive, non-violent citizen action to bring government under better control.

Kudos to them!

[Jeff Higgins]

Originally posted by fastpat
This gets into the fundamental differences in the basis of the law here, and in europe. Here, a cop is a hired, professional member of the citizen posse. That means he has exactly the same powers as any citizen, delegated by the citizens to be exercised in their behalf. A cop does not have extraordinary powers, since I can't delegate any power to a cop that I don't possess myself.

That means that unless he was in "hot pursuit", he has no authorization to drive beyond the posted speed limit, his duty status is irrelevant.

Unfortunately, most U.S. citizens have absolutely no understanding of this concept. Neither do police officers, unfortunately. The courts seem to have lost their grasp of this as well.

Remember folks, in this country, all power is inherent in the people. We, the citizens, are the true authority in this country. We hire people to fill certain positions to act on our behalf. They simply cannot grant themselves more authority than we have granted them, or than we retain for ourselves. That is the most basic, fundemental, and important difference between our form of government and every other single country on Earth. And yet so many have no idea it exists, how to use it, or any idea that the "authorities" would dearly love to see us lose it entirely.

[RickM]

The charge of speeding against the cop probably wouldn't stick anyway. I doubt the couple have the radar gun calibrated by a state approved official. Seems they're more interested in proving a point. As mentioned they're opening up a can of worms.

IMO, the officer's action is a waste of taxpayers money and an attempt to preserve the "officer is above the law" status quo.

[K9Torro]

Bah ha ha ha ha ha ,

Oh and another ha for good measure.

Todd

[Rikao4]

just roll a basketball into the the street,

Rika

[kach22i]

I think this happened in Georgia, not that it should make any difference.

Stalking?

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[berettafan]

Originally posted by Porsche-O-Phile
The people bringing the suit are playing with fire though - it's a suicidal move. They'll have every cop in the town driving 6" off their ass every time they pull out of the driveway from now on and if they so much as go 1mph over - EVER - they're nailed. If they let their grass grow too tall or so much as cut the tags off their matresses, they're gonna' get arrested.

Nice to see the citizens standing up against the tax collectors for a change - but this is gonna' end badly for 'em.

I will bet there are quite a few big name atty's out there praying to God that these folks get harassed.


Unless a life is in danger do NOT speed in a neighborhood.