Be wary of unlawful arrests if you're stopped by cops over the holidays

[deweyzeph]

Until you are found guilty in a court of law, or admit to your guilt by paying the fine, an outstanding traffic fine is nothing more than an allegation of wrongdoing. As pointed out, you cannot be arrested for an outstanding traffic fine because you have not (yet) been convicted of the offence of which you are being accused in the fine.

What you probably find is that the people who are being arrested for "not paying their fines" are more likely being arrested because a warrant of arrest is out for them for contempt of court because they never pitched up to their court appearance for the fine.

 

[Mystic Twilight]

This is great and all, but when you get pulled over its your word vs the officer. Then you potentially get this weird chicken/egg problem for getting arrested for resisting being arrested, for being arrested on an unlawful arrest. By the way while an unlawful arrest will easily be thrown out in court, its a reactive event which you still have to get to court in the first place for a ruling from a judge/magistrate, so potentially you need to spend a night or two in holding cell first.

Just saying as an extreme case.

 

[Willie Trombone]

Pay your fines. Then you have nothing to worry about.

LMAO
You reckon?

 

[Jet-Fighter7700]

The article points to corruption and an overreach of power.

problem is most people aren't lawyers, and most people aren't aware of their rights.

problem is Cops know this, and use it to their advantage, "scare" the cr@p out of you, in the hopes you'll pay their "fine"

especially if your a whitey, say your a racist, say your not following their instructions,
say they smell booze on your breath, come with us, but dont slap the cuffs on you.

need we mention the Motoring journalist that got stopped while testing a car, with the cameras recording?

did you hear that conversation? the Cop accused him of literally everything he possibly could.
luckily he saw the camera, otherwise it could have been bad.

 

[Willie Trombone]

Seriously tho... what is good advice in this situation? It's no use going on about it being unlawful when the advice to anyone is to co-operate for their own safety and deal with it using the law.

 

[deweyzeph]

need we mention the Motoring journalist that got stopped while testing a car, with the cameras recording?

To be fair the motoring journalist was driving without number plates which is a serious offence.

 

[WollieVerstege]

If you don't have unpaid fines, you have nothing to worry about, yes?

No. Had a fine that was paid 2 days before setting off. According to the thing that stopped me it still showed unpaid and got aggressive when I showed them the proof of payment on my phone, as if it is insufficient.
Only thing that saved me at the time was that the car is not in my name but the companies.

 

[LCBXX]

LMAO
You reckon?

I do. Why would it not be the case?

 

[deweyzeph]

Seriously tho... what is good advice in this situation? It's no use going on about it being unlawful when the advice to anyone is to co-operate for their own safety and deal with it using the law.

Just tell them that you are disputing the fines in court and therefore you cannot pay the fine because you are not guilty of the offence.

 

[LCBXX]

Not exactly. The fact that they're stating this and we're discussing it already points to their corruption. So the fact you don't have fines doesn't mean they will suddenly be moral, upstanding law-enforcement officers.

That's secondary. If you don't have unpaid fines, you licence is valid and your car is roadworthy, how will these thugs be able to extract a bribe from you?

 

[Jet-Fighter7700]

To be fair the motoring journalist was driving without number plates which is a serious offence.

how many taxis do you see driving with no plates,
how many cars do you see with one letter covered up or deliberately damaged so the etoll camera cant catch it.

cops will make up stuff, that much I can guarantee you,
we dont live in the US with untamperable bodycams and a more professional police force.

we have thugs with clubs, that can barely count to 10 locally.
or are afraid of traffic, yet passed the test to be a traffic officer.

 

[LCBXX]

Folks, you have cvnts who speed or break the rules of the road all the time, putting others in danger. Some of them get caught and fined, and then they refuse to pay as well.

Why are so many of you defending their rights not to get arrested by police on a power trip?

 

[deweyzeph]

how many taxis do you see driving with no plates,
how many cars do you see with one letter covered up or deliberately damaged so the etoll camera cant catch it.

cops will make up stuff, that much I can guarantee you,
we dont live in the US with untamperable bodycams and a more professional police force.

we have thugs with clubs, that can barely count to 10 locally.
or are afraid of traffic, yet passed the test to be a traffic officer.

Be that as it may, other people breaking the law is no excuse for breaking the law yourself.

 

[Neuk_]

I checked my fines a few days ago, I see I have a few outstanding despite paying for the outstanding ones when I renewed my licence last year, it may be an interesting festive season on the road.

 

[chromedome]

So here's my predicament: I got zapped by a speed camera in Feb this year, I found no fines on paycity and I managed to renew my licence without a problem last month. Due to covid and no mail delivery I also have not received any mail this year from anyone let alone the traffic department. So how would I even know that I have a fine or a warrant for arrest? I assume they are backlogged and have not processed the violation yet but could do so at any time.

 

[deweyzeph]

Folks, you have cvnts who speed or break the rules of the road all the time, putting others in danger. Some of them get caught and fined, and then they refuse to pay as well.

Why are so many of you defending their rights not to get arrested by police on a power trip?

There is well-established due process that must be followed. It's there to protect all of us from abuse of power. You get a fine, you refuse to pay it, you get summoned to appear in court (or if you received a fine on the roadside, the court date will already be on the fine), then you either go to court and are found guilty or not guilty, or you ignore the summons and get arrested for contempt of court, and land up in court anyway.

 

[Cray]

Then you go and check on the AARTO website before you embark on your journey, or the numerous other websites that offer similar services.

Don't glorify the problem.

Have you done managed to do this?

Tried looking up my fine but the license card font is a bit kak so cant tell if its 8CCOD or BCC0D, tried a whole lot of different variations and keep getting "Driving Licence card number not valid"

Do you know the format of the last 5 digits of the license card number? Are there supposed to be numbers only?

 

[LCBXX]

There is well-established due process that must be followed. It's there to protect all of us from abuse of power. You get a fine, you refuse to pay it, you get summoned to appear in court (or if you received a fine on the roadside, the court date will already be on the fine), then you either go to court and are found guilty or not guilty, or you ignore the summons and get arrested for contempt of court, and land up in court anyway.

Those with overdue fines are welcome to follow due process in that case and table their concerns over the abuse of power with the right authorities, following due process off course.

 

[LCBXX]

Have you done managed to do this?

Tried looking up my fine but the license card font is a bit kak so cant tell if its 8CCOD or BCC0D, tried a whole lot of different variations and keep getting "Driving Licence card number not valid"

Do you know the format of the last 5 digits of the license card number? Are there supposed to be numbers only?

Scan the code on the back with a phone, using an app that can do it.
Most of the banks also offer a fine querying service.

 

[Cray]

Scan the code on the back with a phone, using an app that can do it.
Most of the banks also offer a fine querying service.

Ah, great idea, thanks a lot.