Does a police officer have to show you proof of you speeding?

Question

I got pulled over and got a speeding ticket yesterday. I asked the police officer to show me the radar or a picture or some sort of evidence of her tagging me. She said she didn't have it, but she was "car clocking" me and that is enough. According to her, "car clocking" is her matching her car's speed to my bike and determining the speed that way. Is this legal? Can she do this? Does she need proof to show me? I'm in Minnesota btw...

Answer 1

"car clocking" is also known as pacing. All police cars have factory certified to do that and it's perfectly legal. I get the occasional speeder like that.

You do not need to see proof you are speeding. There are no laws/regulations that an officer has to show you a radar or anything else. There are couple reasons. First off, it's dangerous for the officer to have you get out of the car, walk to back to his and be moving around in the front seat. I have in there, among other things. Also, a lot of times the speed isn't locked in for whatever reason. But it's still perfectly valid. And finally, I don't really feel like screwing with it. You are speeding, we both know it. If you feel I am in error, the court is the place to take that up.

Also to the poster below. Police officers do not have to answer those questions road side, those are questions for court.

Answer 2

Yes they can do that. If she had been running radar and clocked you in MN she would have not neccisarilly had to show it to you.. However, ever state is differnt on this, Texas officers don't have to show it to you, period. As a matter of fact an officer doesn't even need to "Car clock" or run radar to give a specific "speeding ticket" of sorts. Example, they are stopped at a light. There are vehicles passing in front of them on the cross street. One goes tearing by the others. This lack of specific speed, but the officer knows that the car was speeding, is called exsessive speed. Everyone has seen this scenario and you dont have to be a cop to know the car was going faster than the others. In your situation it can happen and it did. The officer will be the one to testify against you in court, and you will probabily loose. Sticking you not only with the ticket but the court costs as well.

Answer 3

What she did is called "pacing". Matching your speed with the police vehicle speed and determining your speed from the speedometer in the police car. It is perfectly legal and a widely used method of speed determination for speeding tickets. If radar was involved to determine your speed, the officer may have a "third" radar window to lock your speed into the device. They can show you that if they prefer to. They are not obligated to show you a speed reading from radar though. In court, a civil infraction (speeding ticket) is determined as responsible or not responsible on a perponderance of the law. Which means it all depends on who the Judge believes presented a better case. Your best bet is to question the accurancy of the speedometer in the police vehicle and ask for calibration records for it.

Answer 4

What most fail to realize is the radar reading is NOT evidence against you....the officer is!

The radar equipment does not testify in court...the officer does.

The officer makes an initial observation based upon experience and training. He observes you are speeding and "VERIFIES" this with the radar equipment. He is not required to show you the radar reading!

There are NUMEROUS ways to verify a violators speed. There is Radar, Lidar, Vascar, and a stopwatch. One of the more common methods is "pacing." Using your good common sense...if you and another car are traveling down the road without one getting away from or closer to the other...it's fair to say you are both doing the same speed. This is applied to that of the officer following you. If you and the officer are traveling down the road at the same pace....the reading on the patrol car speedometer should be the same as that of the car being paced!

Trust me....those who say "officers get away with murder" or use terms like "radar detector" etc have no clue!

Sorry you got the ticket....slow down...and best wishes!

Answer 5

First off, apolice officer never has to display proof of a vehicle's speeding infraction. As a matter of fact, most radar/laser sets do not print out any receipt of the speed. The speed is usually locked into the radar/laser physically, which means it should be displayed on the front display. Most police officers, myself included, will not allow a person to see the radar/laser set because of the proximity it puts you , the motorist to me (outside of your car - unsafe) and the proximity to a weapon (my sidearm and my shotgun which is mounted in my car).

As for being "car clocked", the proper term is to be "clocked" or "paced". This is where a police officer matches your speed for a certain distance (in NY 3/10 of a mile will do) and then issues a citation for Speed In Zone/Clock or Pace. This is perfectly legal. In court, if a motorist pled not guilty, the officer would have to bring in a Clocking sliP' for the vehicle's speedometer, showing that it was working.

Answer 6

No, the law does not require that an officer display proof of speeding upon the request of the driver. If you want to contest it, do it in court, not at the time of the traffic stop.

You know how fast you were going, so why ask the officer? Slow down, observe the speed limit, and then you won't get pulled over.

Answer 7

what state you reside in? i understand in ny, if the police officer wrote some thing incorrect with regard to the make/colour or something with regard to the motor vehicle, that cost ticket won't pass against you, that became into for parking however. do no longer understand in the adventure that your visual charm will help in any know, that's purely an approximation. If that's your first offense, the choose ought to be lenient and that's available, perhaps 30% risk, you ought to win the case. in simple terms tell the certainty. Say you have been following the pass of the site visitors, and you think of you're going at 60 or someplace above the cost shrink. If the cost shrink is 50, say you're going at fifty 5 or 60. In interior of sight, police permit you pass in case you velocity by way of 5 miles, and 10 miles in highway. sturdy success!

Answer 8

I don't think that legally they HAVE to show you, but you are completely entitled to ask to see the proof... you are also allowed to ask what model, year, make, etc. the radar detector (or whatever device) is... and they need to tell you. If they refuse to tell you, you can fight that in court. You also should draw a map right away of where you were pulled over... include if there were hills, corners, stop signs, children, anything. Also keep note that if there is a bigger vehicle around you, the radar could have detected that... radar detectors tend to detect the largest vehicle around, not necessarily the one you point it at.
So if you feel like you weren't speeding, you should absolutely ask for proof and inquire into it as much as you can. Be respectful and the police should answer your questions. If they don't, like I said, you can discuss that with the judge.

Answer 9

Well i went to court and won. The officer said he was pacing me .. BLAH BLAH BLAH. I had 7 children in the car. He was tail gating me. Less then a 1/2 a car length behind me. I told the judge he was making me nervous. I sped up to move over. The officer said he clocked me going 80 then reduced the ticket to 75. So i said your officer is putting false info on my ticket. He did not ask for my insurance or registration. He put a vin number of a car i no longer owned. He was so buisy looking in a the all my kids. Ages 14 to 17. Also if he clocked my car. o want proof, because if i have to ask for a new date and bring all 7 kids in to court i will. One of the childrens father was a police officer. case dismissed.

Answer 10

An officer wouldn't go to the trouble of clocking you and pulling you over if you were not speeding. He/she doesn't have to show you jack.

If you disagree, go to court and fight the ticket. Keep in mind that if you lose in court (and you probably will), you will still have to pay the fine PLUS the court costs.