Late at night, the police in my area follow whatever car is on the road. I get home from work between 1:30-2am. Back in November I had a citation ticket on my window for not having the county decal sticker. I had just transferred my plates to the new state I'm living in and had 30 days to get the sticker. The ticket was clocked at 1:31am and I remembered the night before coming home there was a cop that was driving behind me for about two miles and disappeared. I think he ran my plates and came back after I went inside.
About a month ago a cop crossed the interaction as I was going home and I watched him make a quick u-turn from the direction he was going and speed like hell to catch up with me. He followed me for a few minutes and then drove off. And last night I watched a cop do the exact same thing to another car and when the cop saw me he did the u-turn to catch up with me and followed me into my apartment complex and pulled up behind me in my parking spot. Is this legal?
2007-03-08 12:25:13 · 16 answers · asked by LuvMyGirls 5 in Politics & Government ➔ Law Enforcement & Police
What crime are they committing? None. They did not stop you, detain you, arrest you.
They were patrolling. It's what you pay taxes for. For the police department to do their job.
If people never saw the police at night in their neighborhood they would complain about that. If there was a drunk driver who killed someone, a burglary, or rape, they would complain that the police aren't doing enough.
If you're doing nothing wrong, you have nothing to worry about.
Why not try to get to know the officers in your area? If you see one just wave and say hi. Talk to them. Once they get to know you and your car, they'll stop checking your plates because they know you just got off work and are going home.
2007-03-08 20:26:41 · answer #1 · answered by sct442 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
sct442 made a good answer. If they followed you and did not stop you, then what they were probably doing was looking for swerving or any other sign of someone DWI. None appearing, they left you and looked at someone else. That is how officers catch drunk drivers. If officers never looked at cars they would never catch drunks. The time of night that you mention is prime drunk driver time. you just happen to be driving through an area in which the officers are active. Be thankful.
2007-03-09 10:16:00 · answer #2 · answered by Hootiesplace 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You asked if it is legal to do this late at night. Why would the time of day make any difference? Observing the behavior of anyone on the road is legal. As others have said, there may not be anything else to do at 1:30am.
RandomLoss: You said "But it may help you to realize that the law doesn't give a crap about what is and isn't legal."
You can argue that OFFICERS don't care, and be wrong. The law itself, by the nature of law, is the DEFINITION of what is legal.
2007-03-08 21:01:02 · answer #3 · answered by STEVEN F 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
What they are doing is just checking to see if you are drunk. Good for them...at least they are not harrasing you. You are driving home from work at drunk:30.
If you watch close in the mirror, they will veer back and forth - left to right to left. This maneuver is called "steering". Drunk people are paranoid when cops are on their tail, and look in the mirrors more than at the road. This will cause them to swerve. Also, if the lights go off to one side, they will steer their car that way, because they are not paying attention to the road - and think they are correcting.
In my town, the cops drag race back to the station at 3:00 for shift change. They got busted by a news crew...big trouble.
2007-03-08 20:30:59 · answer #4 · answered by uab_skinhead 3 · 1⤊ 1⤋
What time do the bars close in your area? - by me its 2am - so the cops are always following people around that time cuz thats when most of the drunks will be driving home. Dont get nervous - unless of course youve been drinking.
2007-03-08 20:47:34 · answer #5 · answered by pepper 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
It is standard procedure that the police patrol certain areas of the city or town in the late night, early morning hours to prevent crime.....
Instead of having a guilty conscience, you should be glad that they are keeping a watch on your neighborhood.
Crikey!!! I'm a 65 year old white woman with grey hair and they stopped me last week on my own daughters street in a small town at 300AM....
Don't be so paranoid.
2007-03-08 22:38:34 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes, following a car without absolutely no probable cause or other reasonable grounds for suspicion is legal.
They're just bored. But if you get stopped for no reason, that's a different line in the sand.
2007-03-08 20:28:11 · answer #7 · answered by coragryph 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
They're probably bored. You should especially expect this if you live in a small town. My husband and I knew of this one cop on this one stretch of US 30 who followed cars at random at night.
2007-03-08 20:42:59 · answer #8 · answered by ? 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
well that sucks but
consider yourself lucky
no crimes will be committed against you or your car while you sleep.
Sure this is as annoying as hell but I wouldnt think it was illegal and even if it was, why would you go thru the trouble of reporting it...they find out it was you and then all hell really breaks loose.
They arrest someone and agree to let him go if they bust open your car or whatever....next time you hear a black person complain we should listen
imagine how they must feel when this happens to them ALL THE TIME
2007-03-08 20:33:54 · answer #9 · answered by onestepbeyond 2 · 1⤊ 1⤋
it shouldn't be, but cops these days are on power trips. give em a gun and a flashlight and they think they are a general. I would like to see the same cops in urban enviromments.
2007-03-08 20:33:47 · answer #10 · answered by Reganomics 3 · 2⤊ 2⤋