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How do I know if the cop is present in court....?
- Thread starter arek1200r
- Start date
I remember one time I had a ticket somewhere between here and Kingston, don't remember the exact courthouse, possibly Napanee. Looked around, didn't see the cop there, so I was feeling pretty good. They called up everyone one by one to give their plea, anyone that plead not guilty was asked to sit back down. Once they got through the list, they went through the trial process for the not guiltys. Amazingly, by the time all of the not guiltys had their turn, their respective officer showed up. Not one person got off, including me.
The bastards bought themselves time to bring in the required officers.
The bastards bought themselves time to bring in the required officers.
Unless wearing a monkey-suit (about 50% of the time IME)
The crown WILL FLAT OUT LIE and tell you that the cop is there, even if they KNOW he isn't/won't be.
My friend was fighting a few tickets and I was helping her. Court date was for 11am. I was so disruptive during the pre-court meeting where they were trying to get her to agree to a plea deal they asked me to leave! As I was leaving I told her "DON'T SIGN ANYTHING, DON'T AGREE TO ANYTHING!". She came out a while later, tears in her eyes, and said "We only have one chance to plea. If we don't they'll amend the speed back up and said my insurance will screw me." I walked right into the room and screamed at the crown "How DARE you try and scare the public by telling them their insurance will screw them more if you amend up the speeding charge from 10km/h over to 18km/h over! What a crock of crap! Is the cop even here?" ... "Yes, the cop is here." ... "We'll take our chances with the judge thanks."
So we get into court, 31 other people there, all for the exact same cop (I checked the docket)! Never knew they run it like this. The judge asked if anyone had reached a plea deal as soon as we got in there, all 31 other people had reached a deal, we were the only "not guilty" party. About half way through a lady finished her plea deal and sat down beside me and said "Whew, glad they lowered it so I didn't lose any points. My insurance company said if I got 1 more point on my license they'd cancel me!" .... "How many points have you accumulated?" ... "None, this would have been my first time getting points, the rest were for no insurance card a few times and speeding 10km/h over"... "Ummm, sorry for the bad news, but your insurance company was talking about convictions, not points, and you just plead to two of them." She FREAKED out, ran back up to the front and said she wanted to take her plea back, the CROWN SAID IT WOULDN'T AFFECT MY INSURANCE, I didn't understand was I was doing, etc. Judge asked security to escort her out.
So the VERY last people to go up were us. How do you plead "Not guilty." ... how do you proceed crown "The officer called in sick first thing at 8am this morning so we are unable to proceed." ... "Charges dismissed, have a nice day."
OMFG! The crown knew the ENTIRE time that the cop wouldn't be there. I wonder how many of the 31 other defendants she lied to, about the cop and the crap about insurance too! Wow
My friend was fighting a few tickets and I was helping her. Court date was for 11am. I was so disruptive during the pre-court meeting where they were trying to get her to agree to a plea deal they asked me to leave! As I was leaving I told her "DON'T SIGN ANYTHING, DON'T AGREE TO ANYTHING!". She came out a while later, tears in her eyes, and said "We only have one chance to plea. If we don't they'll amend the speed back up and said my insurance will screw me." I walked right into the room and screamed at the crown "How DARE you try and scare the public by telling them their insurance will screw them more if you amend up the speeding charge from 10km/h over to 18km/h over! What a crock of crap! Is the cop even here?" ... "Yes, the cop is here." ... "We'll take our chances with the judge thanks."
So we get into court, 31 other people there, all for the exact same cop (I checked the docket)! Never knew they run it like this. The judge asked if anyone had reached a plea deal as soon as we got in there, all 31 other people had reached a deal, we were the only "not guilty" party. About half way through a lady finished her plea deal and sat down beside me and said "Whew, glad they lowered it so I didn't lose any points. My insurance company said if I got 1 more point on my license they'd cancel me!" .... "How many points have you accumulated?" ... "None, this would have been my first time getting points, the rest were for no insurance card a few times and speeding 10km/h over"... "Ummm, sorry for the bad news, but your insurance company was talking about convictions, not points, and you just plead to two of them." She FREAKED out, ran back up to the front and said she wanted to take her plea back, the CROWN SAID IT WOULDN'T AFFECT MY INSURANCE, I didn't understand was I was doing, etc. Judge asked security to escort her out.
So the VERY last people to go up were us. How do you plead "Not guilty." ... how do you proceed crown "The officer called in sick first thing at 8am this morning so we are unable to proceed." ... "Charges dismissed, have a nice day."
OMFG! The crown knew the ENTIRE time that the cop wouldn't be there. I wonder how many of the 31 other defendants she lied to, about the cop and the crap about insurance too! Wow
Terrible. Totally doesn't surprise me though. Not only does the city want the revenue, you're in court battling against an opponent. Your opponent is unlikely to help you out. If you are naive enough to ask your opponent for advice you will be misinformed (I was this naive once upon a time, many traffic tickets ago).
I was the last one called in court one day and I was told ahead of time that my cop was present. I had my case prepared and ready to fight it. Cop disappeared. They had me wait while they paged him repeatedly. Imagine if I had to take an emergency poo when it was my time to take the stand... no way in hell they'd make the cop wait while they paged me. They'd say "tough luck, you should've been here". Luckily he never showed and I was let go so no complaints about the outcome except that I'll never know if my case had the strength to win.
I was the last one called in court one day and I was told ahead of time that my cop was present. I had my case prepared and ready to fight it. Cop disappeared. They had me wait while they paged him repeatedly. Imagine if I had to take an emergency poo when it was my time to take the stand... no way in hell they'd make the cop wait while they paged me. They'd say "tough luck, you should've been here". Luckily he never showed and I was let go so no complaints about the outcome except that I'll never know if my case had the strength to win.
Match the name on the ticket to the name tags the cops are wearing. Sometimes they also have their "badge" number on the uniform as well. I have tried the recognize them approach and it has never worked for me. Name and or number...
I have both ,his name and badge number...It sucks that this is the only way to know if he is in or not....
GateKeeper
Well-known member
Unless he is sicker than a dog, or got transferred to another city, he will be there, they are paid to attend court.......
if it's a young cop that pulled you over, and enough time has passed you might get lucky and he has transferred to another locale, if it's an older type cop the chances diminish as they don't move around as much
.
if it's a young cop that pulled you over, and enough time has passed you might get lucky and he has transferred to another locale, if it's an older type cop the chances diminish as they don't move around as much
.
fixed
GateKeeper
Well-known member
even in a blizzard they show up......
never mind on a nice day....
.
never mind on a nice day....
.
I always use badge number on uniform, it's much easier to read from a distance (ticket and sheet in hall show badge numbers). I've never had any luck reading their name badges, they are small and the cops aren't exactly hanging out with the "criminals".
mike100
Well-known member
This was not the case two weeks ago in Mississauga. Approx. 50% of the police did not show up, so charges were withdrawn...including mine.
It genuinely depends on the jurisdiction, places like Brampton; the prosecutor actually told us to wait, and that she won't talk to anyone until officers arrived. This was on a friday at 14:30... one of the paralegals was boasting about how her defendant's officer never shows up to 14:30 trials. Low and behold, the clock strikes 14:30 and not a single officer was in the room.
Prosecutor withdrew all charges, my friend was charged with 100 in a 60 zone and got off because of an "officer no-show".
Similarly at Old City Hall in Toronto, they're so busy that if the officer is not present they'll withdraw. We had one defendant who agreed to take a plea-deal... goes in front of the JP and asks, "is the officer here?". JP gets ******, and tells him he already agreed to a plea-deal and the crown will withdraw charges if the officer isn't present. JP had the court clerk call out the officer's name and badge number. Officer stands up. Defendant droops his head and takes the deal.
Although you might be mocked and laughed at, what the defendant at Old City Hall did was smart; before you accept the plea-deal you can play the dumb self-represented card and ask the JP if your officer is here.
Prosecutor withdrew all charges, my friend was charged with 100 in a 60 zone and got off because of an "officer no-show".
Similarly at Old City Hall in Toronto, they're so busy that if the officer is not present they'll withdraw. We had one defendant who agreed to take a plea-deal... goes in front of the JP and asks, "is the officer here?". JP gets ******, and tells him he already agreed to a plea-deal and the crown will withdraw charges if the officer isn't present. JP had the court clerk call out the officer's name and badge number. Officer stands up. Defendant droops his head and takes the deal.
Although you might be mocked and laughed at, what the defendant at Old City Hall did was smart; before you accept the plea-deal you can play the dumb self-represented card and ask the JP if your officer is here.
the last time agreed to a deal, that exact thought occurred to me afterward. While I was waiting my turn, I looked around the room and didn't see the officer. When called and asked "how do you plead"....I simply said (probably less eloquently, in my nervous state) "Your worship, I came today prepared to give evidence at a trial. I have discussed entering a plea with the prosecutor to save the court time. If, however, the witness for the prosecution is not present and prepared to give testimony, then I am prepared to plead not guilty and go to trial." The prosecutor just about screamed at me. "Of course the officer is here, I wouldn't have offered you the option if he wasn't!". "I'm just checkin!" I said (just like that, too!). Turns out I simply didn't recognize the officer, because as the JP raised his eyebrows and scanned the court, the officer stood up and nodded and smiled.
...but it still wasn't too late to check!
...but it still wasn't too late to check!
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