You tell him 460......... Of course the court takes the side of the officer when he performs his legal duties. If the court didn't, then anyone could say "no I wasn't speeding" and have it dismissed. Thats the way it works. If you don't like it, move somewhere else and see if you like it any better. The U.S.A. is not perfect, but it is the best DAMN country in the world period. People are so quick to condemn officers but think about this.....if you advertised on all of the major networks, newspapers and other media outlets that there was going to be a five day period without, let's say, lawyers or doctors or teachers. At the end of those 5 days the country would still be the same and for the most part, life would continue as normal. Now do that with the police and it would take years for society to recover from just a few days where everybody could do pretty much what they wanted to. We are overworked, underpaid and underappreciated, but we do it because someone has to. When you lie in bed at night sleeping without a care in the world, there are people like me who don't know you from Adam who are putting their lives on the line so you can enjoy your God given freedom.
As for the radar issue, that is pretty much standard everywhere you go. Officers are trained to estimate speeds and use the radar to confirm their opinions. If someone is certified to estimate speeds using radar, then they don't even have to have a radar in the car.....period. It is also a safety issue. When we pull cars over, we do not know what is going to happen. We have to rely on our training and gut instincts to make sure we go home to our familes at the end of our shift. It is up to the individual officer as to whether he asks the driver to step back to his car or remain in the drivers seat. If you allowed drivers to determine whether or not they can exit their vehicle and come back to a patrol car, then you are in effect taking away one of our safety tools. When you get pulled over the officer has the final word when it comes down to issues of safety. The roadside is not a courtroom and there is no reason to stand on the side of the road or make an officer stand there any longer than needed with traffic whizzing by because you don't agree with what he says. I hope I this will help you understand why some things are done the way they are.
Sorry for the rant, but I feel we are always the target of unjust criticism. If we act on something we are labeled "gung ho" and if we use caution and something happens because we didn't act fast enough then we are accused of not doing our job. The old damned if you do, damned if you don't syndrome. Sleep good tonight.
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