Original Post
About a month, I got a traffic ticket, "Failure to adhere to traffic control devices: 35 MPH speed limit sign". I'm pretty sure it was an illegal speed trap, as there was one cop sitting on a side street with a radar gun (actually, all I saw was a cruiser, I didn't actually see a cop), and then 3 our 4 cops about 50 yards ahead and around a corner (so out of sight from the cruiser), standing in the road pulling people over. Every cop on the side of the street had someone pulled over, and as soon as someone drove away they had someone else pulled over. Now, this is during rush-hour traffic on a three lane city street. The cops have one lane closed because that is where they are pulling everyone over. They are also standing in the middle of the other traffic lanes, pointing at people. So, traffic was crawling. The cop that pulled me over claimed that the cop in the cruiser tracked me at 52 MPH in a 35 MPH zone. I'd like to know how I got a Honda Civic up to 52 MPH without killing anyone in traffic like that. Before he went back to write my ticket, I asked for the other cop's name and badge number. When the cop came back with the ticket, he told me he reduced it to the infraction I listed above, with a minimum fine (hell, it's still over $100!) and no points. I think he did this because he reallized I was on to their game. So, I went to contest the ticket. After paying the fine and pleading not-guilty (how is it that you have to pay *before* you are found guilty?), my court date was scheduled for yesterday. I went and actually arrived far too early. I thought my docket was at 10:00, arrived 15 minutes early, and found out that the docket was 10:15. While I was sitting in the waiting room, other people were going in to contest their tickets as well. All the cops from the speed trap were there. They would come out of a door, call someone's name, go into the door with the person, and then come back out after a minute. I've seen traffic court in other states, it doesn't go that quickly, so I was confused. One person forgot to close the door before the cop started talking to her. The cop asked her "why are you here?" and she replied that she was concerned about the points on her license. He responded "well, if I can make the points go away, would that be fine?" She agreed and then left. Nobody spent more than a minute behind that door, so I have to assume that nobody actually saw the judge, they just got this "side deal" from the cop. When it came to my turn, the cop asked me why I was there, and I replied that I didn't think I was guilty of anything and didn't feel I should have to pay the fine. The cop then threatened to increase the severity of the ticket to the "original 52MPH in 35MPH zone" if I continued to contest it. At this point, I reallized that there is some kind of scam going on in PA District Court 12-1-02, and it is very likely that the judge is in on it, since it is literally going on right in front of her door. So, instead of calling the cop on the carpet about the legality of changing the ticket after the fact, I took his side option of leaving, not showing up to court, taking the guilty verdict, not getting my money back, but not getting any points on my license. I'm getting ready to write a letter to all the local papers, to Mayor Reed of Harrisburg, Governor Rendell, Senator Specter and Senator Santorum, and Representative Holden. What kind of shake-down are these cops running? Anyway, I'm writing this post so that maybe some folks here can help me collect some information that can help me out. [Edited by - capn_midnight on June 30, 2006 10:40:43 AM]
