Legal Help: Police Intimidation

[ken0042]

Originally Posted by Berger_4_

To continue this sort of derailment about police being kinda dumb from time to time...

My brother's hockey team played a game in Winfield (which is about two hours from Camrose) the other weekend when it was minus forty out. Anyways, one of the parents is driving home from the game when he hits a checkstop in one of the towns along the way. So he gets up to the cop, gives him his license and registration. Cop looks at it and says, your registration is expired (his birthday had been two weeks ago and he forgot to get it renewed). So the officer made him drive to a parking lot and sit for an hour and a half with a ten year old kid while he waited for someone to come and pick up his vehicle. Now it's true that a cop becomes liable if he lets you go when he knows that you're not one hundred percent legal to drive, but come on, the guy had a ten year old kid in the back of his vehicle and just wanted to get home from the hockey game. Kinda pisses me off, and I'm sure he was too, but what can you do I suppose...

I think somebody doesn't have their facts straight- you or your friend. Your registration has nothing to do with your birthday, but you license does.

So if the guy was driving with an invalid license, had the cop just "let him go" and there was an accident, that kid would not have been covered by insurance.

In your story, I believe the cop did the kindest thing he possibly could have. He could have impounded the car, issued tickets for no license, etc. Instead he offered a solution that wouldn't put an extra financial burden on a parent.

The parent wasn't just "not 100% legal to drive", he was 0% legal to drive. No license, and therefore also no insurance.

[Berger_4_]

Originally Posted by ken0042

I think somebody doesn't have their facts straight- you or your friend. Your registration has nothing to do with your birthday, but you license does.

So if the guy was driving with an invalid license, had the cop just "let him go" and there was an accident, that kid would not have been covered by insurance.

In your story, I believe the cop did the kindest thing he possibly could have. He could have impounded the car, issued tickets for no license, etc. Instead he offered a solution that wouldn't put an extra financial burden on a parent.

The parent wasn't just "not 100% legal to drive", he was 0% legal to drive. No license, and therefore also no insurance.

Alright, could be. I'd heard it second hand that his registration was expired, but then for some reason his birthday came into it. So maybe it was his license, maybe it was the registration. Who knows haha.

Originally Posted by ken0042

I think somebody doesn't have their facts straight- you or your friend. Your registration has nothing to do with your birthday, but you license does.

So if the guy was driving with an invalid license, had the cop just "let him go" and there was an accident, that kid would not have been covered by insurance.

In your story, I believe the cop did the kindest thing he possibly could have. He could have impounded the car, issued tickets for no license, etc. Instead he offered a solution that wouldn't put an extra financial burden on a parent.

The parent wasn't just "not 100% legal to drive", he was 0% legal to drive. No license, and therefore also no insurance.

Sorta true. Your vehicle registration is tied to your birthday as it gives everyone with the same birth month the same expiratory month. So someone with a birth date in June for example might have the registration expire in December.

This is a good point though. Again it show's how stories get spun about issues someone is ignorant about.

[habernac]

registration has nothing to do with your birthdate, it's tied to the first letter of your last name.

[ken0042]

Originally Posted by Bent Wookie

Sorta true. Your vehicle registration is tied to your birthday as it gives everyone with the same birth month the same expiratory month.

I think you have that wrong. It's tied to your last name, or what letter of the alphabet your last name starts with.

http://www.servicealberta.ca/1088.cfm

[IgiTang]

As for the OP.. How does the cop quantify which is the legit ticket? The 80 something km/hr or the 104km/hr.. the 2 tickets if dated and @ the same time.. someone cant be going 2 different speeds... says logic. So I would think both tickets would be thrown out as they cant substantiate which ticket is legit.

[RougeUnderoos]

AN 84-year-old pensioner has been banned from driving for the next 1000 years.

Luba Relic, who in her early 80s clashed with her neighbours in court 78 times, has hit her mid 80s with an appearance for negligent driving, driving without a licence and failing to give particulars.

http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegrap...001021,00.html

[Kenny007]

Visit

http://www.clg.ab.ca/

You can get a free consultation from them. They'll be able to inform you about your legal rights and any recourse you might have.

Originally Posted by habernac

registration has nothing to do with your birthdate, it's tied to the first letter of your last name.

Oh yes, I stand corrected. Birthdate, last name, I say tomato you say tomato.

[Bring_Back_Shantz]

Originally Posted by IgiTang

As for the OP.. How does the cop quantify which is the legit ticket? The 80 something km/hr or the 104km/hr.. the 2 tickets if dated and @ the same time.. someone cant be going 2 different speeds... says logic. So I would think both tickets would be thrown out as they cant substantiate which ticket is legit.

Not at all, the 80 in a 60 is just a lesser offence, and doens't mean that the guy isn't guilty of both, but in this case he'd be conviced of the higher offence if the cop brings up both.

Say if I hit someone in the head with a bat and kill them.
I'm guitly of murder, and technically assault at the same time. Just because I got chaged with assault before the guy died doesn't mean they can't change it to murder. Same as if a guy is charged with manslaghter, those chages can always be dropped and upped to murder if other evidence comes forward.

[MJM]

If this story is indeed true, If it was me, I'd go to the media. Calgary Police would have no choice but to look into it than and hold someone accountable if something wrong was indeed done. I'm tired of hearing stories like these in Calgary (I seem to hear them far too often lately). I fully understand that most cops in Calgary are top notch, but in my opinion the boom handcuffed the police force and, made it so cops were hired that likely would not have been under ordinary circumstances. They may have passed all tests, but they certainly weren't "the best of the best" like they are in other cities in Canada.

PS. I have no problem with the original poster being given a ticket (his fault really, I have no sympathy), I have a huge problem with what transpired afterwards.

Originally Posted by MJM

If this story is indeed true, If it was me, I'd go to the media. Calgary Police would have no choice but to look into it than and hold someone accountable if something wrong was indeed done. I'm tired of hearing stories like these in Calgary (I seem to hear them far too often lately). I fully understand that most cops in Calgary are top notch, but in my opinion the boom handcuffed the police force and, made it so cops were hired that likely would not have been under ordinary circumstances. They may have passed all tests, but they certainly weren't "the best of the best" like they are in other cities in Canada.

PS. I have no problem with the original poster being given a ticket (his fault really, I have no sympathy), I have a huge problem with what transpired afterwards.

That's the point, "stories" like this are "stories" and as some have pointed out, there is way more to it.

Someone relayed a story on the previous page about a dad with expired reg not being allowed to drive and the cop made him sit in a parking lot with his 10 year old son in the back. How dare that cop. He must be one of the bad hires. Or, as it was pointed out was actually being quite reasonable under the circumstances.

Luckily, the media is way smarter then to to report on something like this.

[MJM]

Originally Posted by Bent Wookie

That's the point, "stories" like this are "stories" and as some have pointed out, there is way more to it.

Someone relayed a story on the previous page about a dad with expired reg not being allowed to drive and the cop made him sit in a parking lot with his 10 year old son in the back. How dare that cop. He must be one of the bad hires. Or, as it was pointed out was actually being quite reasonable under the circumstances.

Luckily, the media is way smarter then to to report on something like this.

I think you give too much credit to the media. If they had their hands on this, they'd be all over it.

[JiriHrdina]

Originally Posted by MJM

I think you give too much credit to the media. If they had their hands on this, they'd be all over it.

Only if they could present both sides. They aren't going to air something without some sort of confirmation or corroboration that what the posters says happens actually did.

Remember the media has to have a relationship with the police in order to do their jobs - so they aren't going to be reckless with running this type of thing.

[Madman]

Originally Posted by JiriHrdina

Remember the media has to have a relationship with the police in order to do their jobs - so they aren't going to be reckless with running this type of thing.

What if it was an Asian police officer?

Originally Posted by MJM

I think you give too much credit to the media. If they had their hands on this, they'd be all over it.

Ok... MJM... call them... relay the story... see what they say.

[ken0042]

Well, if nothing else maybe he might get to talk to Nancy Hixt- she seems to do all the police related stories for Global.

That would worth it in itself.

[MaxPower]

Originally Posted by Bring_Back_Shantz

Not at all, the 80 in a 60 is just a lesser offence, and doens't mean that the guy isn't guilty of both, but in this case he'd be conviced of the higher offence if the cop brings up both.

Say if I hit someone in the head with a bat and kill them.
I'm guitly of murder, and technically assault at the same time. Just because I got chaged with assault before the guy died doesn't mean they can't change it to murder. Same as if a guy is charged with manslaghter, those chages can always be dropped and upped to murder if other evidence comes forward.

So theoretically could he get a ticket for driving each of 70kph, 71, 72, 73, 74,... etc?

Just seems like there should be something explicitly saying that a person couldn't be ticketed for each kph over the limit he was going, instead of our only protection being "the cop would have to be a real A-hole to do that".

Another problem I got here is with the "police can charge you with whatever they want" statement. If I'm charged with some traffic offense, the burden is now on me for some reason, to prove my innocence. Sounds fair. Also it's not cheap or convenient to prove my innocence. So if you've done nothing wrong, the absolute best case scenario is a loss of a days wages. Pretty sketchy.

[troutman]

Originally Posted by killer_carlson

I'd like to add up the billable time of all the different lawyers who have posted in this thread.

It's got to be over $1,000.00

It took me 0.5 to read your post.

[Dang]

I want to make it clear that I had no intention of bashing the Calgary Police Service with my original post. I view the actions of this particular police officer as an isolated incident. Because of this, I currently have no intentions of pursuing this in the media.

I honestly was seeking legal advice on how to pursue this further and I appreciate the advice I've received.

I've read through all of your posts but I have been unable to seek affordable legal assistance on such short notice. I will be representing myself in court tomorrow and I will let everyone know how it goes.

Wish me luck! Thanks again everyone.