Thursday, June 03, 2010

Ohio Court Says Cops can Estimate Speed to Write Tickets

Alright folks, this one has me scratching my head.  I can't figure out what the heck the Ohio Supreme Court was thinking on this one.  You can read the whole article here but in a nutshell, the OSC has ruled that a police officer can ESTIMATE your speed and write a ticket accordingly.

So what they are saying is that if I, as a police officer, THINK you are going 100 mph in a 40 mph zone, then I can write a ticket and/or haul your carcass off to the lock up without ever having to actually PROVE you were speeding.  Or in simpler terms, you are guilty simply because I SAY you are guilty.  I saw you weaving therefore you are driving drunk....I didn't see your seat belt therefore you aren't wearing one, here's your ticket...you are under arrest because I suspect you have drugs even though I haven't actually found any.....

This just smacks of idiocy, abuse of authority, and dictatorship.  Can anyone besides myself see the implications of this ruling?

I realize Ohio is running out of money but are they really THAT desperate to generate revenue?

TTH, I'm curious as to your take on this one......

2 comments:

K T Cat said...

I don't like it at all. It looks like a tool that can be used to punish people you don't like. I can see a case where a motorist has a bumpersticker the cop doesn't like and voila! he's estimated doing 70 in a 25 zone.

Lawman said...

My point exactly K T.