As a retired LEO...all I can say is attitude and respect. If you come off with an attitude you will more then likely be issued a summons. I treated everyone with respect and was polite during my initial approach and interaction with the driver. If the driver becomes irate then all bets are off and the pen wins. That being said I always empathized with a driver. Believe me I am human too and I know we can all be in a rush at times. Of course the infraction plays a large part. If you are driving like a lunatic, aggressive driving..etc...no chance. I never pulled over a biker, however. Never had a reason too. As far as a quota it is illegal and I can honestly say we were never given a quota. I was a LT when I retired and I never issued a quota. But like the comment left earlier, you are out there to do a job so if you are not issuing anything including warnings, what are you doing?

 

A warning would have been nice. Wife and I were very polite to the young state trooper! I hope he gets promoted soon or transfered to a large city.

 

I'll second what Erock said. Attitude goes a long ways. All too often, people talk themselves into more tickets, or jail when I'm trying to cut them some breaks.

One thing I check is driving history. We print our tickets, so tickets and warnings are saved in our computer system. Each time I run someone's DL, it checks for prior tickets and warnings, and a window pops up showing when priors were issued, what violation they got, and who issued it. I also can check the state driving records. If someone has a decent record and it's a minor violation, I'm very likely to issue a warning. But, if someone has a horrible record, prior tickets or warnings for the same violation, or it's a more serious violation, then tickets are usually issued.

We have no "quota". I can write as many, or as few, citations as I want. My stats are usually around half warnings and half tickets.

I do stop motorcycles every so often. It's usually ricers hauling *** though. For HD guys/girls, it's usually a quick warning for no headlight, or a citation for no motorcycle endorsement (which is a criminal, and arrestable, violation in FL).

I try to have some sympathy for people. I know we all can make mistakes and I'll be the first to admit, ticket prices in FL are WAY too expensive. If I think it is truly an honest mistake, I'll cut them a break. But when they start to show intent or knowledge (like 20+ over the speed limit), the chances of a warning go down greatly.

Again, like Erock said, I have a job to do. I treat everyone with respect and courtesy until they give me a reason not to. In my 14 years in law enforcement, 5 of those were spent in traffic enforcement. I can do my job and not be a butthole to people. Those butthole LEO's out there give us all a bad name. Now that I've moved on and been promoted, I don't tolerate it from the deputies I supervise.

As far as speed goes, other than school zones, I normally give 15 over before I stop someone for speeding. There's usually no problem finding enough. Some days I can can write nothing but 20 overs. At 15 and over, that eliminates a lot of the honest "opps, I wasn't watching my speed" excuses. It's too easy to go 5-10 over and not realize it immediately....we've all done it.

 

Here's radar/laser 101...

Instant on radar...nearly all modern in car radar can be used as "instant on". My current radar unit is on all the time. However, it does not transmit until I select either the front or rear antenna on the remote control. As soon as I hit one of the antenna buttons, I have your speed in about 1 second depending on how heavy traffic is. It can also track 2 targets at once. Most cruiser mounted radars also work while stationary or moving. I can get cars coming towards me, away from me, from both the front and rear, faster or slower than my cruiser while moving or stopped.

Laser....hard to beat laser. It is target specific. Meaning it only tracks one target at a time and not until it has locked onto that target. It uses a light beam that is around 12-18" in diameter, so it only targets one car at a time. The laser will not give a reading until it has actually locked onto the target, and gives a tone indicating it has locked on. There is a target (like a rifle sight) we put on any part of the front of a vehicle or motorcycle. Depending on how steady your hands are, you'll get the speed and distance of the vehicle in 1-2 seconds. Laser uses a time & distance formula to calculate the speed. I much prefer laser over radar. It is very easy to select any car out of traffic. Laser only works while stationary and only transmits when the trigger button is pushed.

Radar/laser detectors can pick up "splash" from radar or laser beams if it is nearby the source. These beams do bounce off the target and can be detected. Radar more than laser. However, if your detector goes off when you are actually being targeted, it's usually too late. Most of the time when I see the telltale tapping of the brakes and quick slow down, I already have the speed and I'm starting to turn around or pull out for the traffic stop.

 

I've had passport, radio shack, valentine and a host of others in the years since the 70's. By far, I prefer the valentine. while a little higher priced, it offers directional queues to where the radar is coming from and also tells the number of emitters. I think its worth the extra $$ and has saved me a couple of dollars. That said, instant on laser and radar will get you dead to rights.....ask me how I know. it will pop you before your radar alerts you unless you happen to be in the wake of someone else. I also like a remote feature they offer. that allows you to put the indicators out of sight from other drivers, not drawing attention that you have a radar detector. best defense I've found on the bike is my cruise control a couple of miles an hour above the speed limit or dropping in behind some one and let them draw fire.

 

We just got a shipment of LIDAR units that can't be jammed. I won't tell you why. And, not only can they NOT be jammed, it'll tell you when the person you're shooting is TRYING to jam you.

Don't count on those jammers. I'm very VERY familiar with them. They don't always work any more.

Ben

 

Valentine One in the cage. Nothing on the bike. I keep it no higher than 9 MPH above posted while riding. I never speed while in the cage if I do not have a few cars in front of me that the Officer will time so I get the warning with time to hit the brakes. No speeding tickets in 20+ years.

 

Ben,

Yes, that has been on Laser Focus and LidarNews for some time now and I've got bad news for ya..... Blinder and LI both have the guns and the latest Blinder Blog post has them field testing the new units with positive results and their post is titled "JAMMED TOO". Estimated delivery is late 1Q14. Remember when the Truspeed was un-jammable and touted as such by the manufacturer? I do and it didn't take long at all for that one to be jammed. Plus, I know a private website or two that tracks what department has what technologies and if your detector / jammer will work against it.

I know many of the jammers offer upgrades to keep up with current technologies. Radar/Laser/Jamming is always a cat and mouse game. The minute someone comes out with a better mouse, there is someone building a better cat.

I would agree that you cannot count on any device other than your right foot or right hand to keep you from getting a speeding ticket. But for me, any little help I can get is well worth it. Great thing about most states, having a LIDAR Jammer is not illegal and such kind of pointless to tell a LEO that someone is jamming the gun. My LEO friends can tell that anyways after about 3 seconds and, as they say, the three dashes from hell, they know that the target is using a jammer. They just move on to the next target.

I know in DFW, the favorite game to play is hitting you from behind from an overpass. They then just send a chase car after you.

Oh, and when I get pulled over, I always give the LEO respect. The law is the law and no point in trying to argue it. Plus, I have a CHL and it is never a good idea to raise the BP of anyone.

 

Love this forum - this info is priceless

ps - when I got stopped alot years ago I learned to admit to my minor infraction (75-80 in a 65) and the usual response from the cop was "I can't believe someone is finally telling me the truth - just slow down" and would let me go. Now I drive closer to 75 in a 65 daily.

The truth shall set you free

 

It seems the whole radar/lidar thing has been covered. But one other avenue which has not been touched on is air speed....which involves two painted lines across the roadway 18 inches wide at a distance which escapes me now, an airplane with a couple Troopers, a couple electronic stop watches and a few chase cars. Kinda like the sitting on the overpass thing. If you are clocked you are caught, bottom line. With that being said it looked like you were riding an Ultra which means you have a CB. If a LEO or a group of LEO's are sitting out on the interstate somebody is going to talk about it. Radar detector by itself is good but with the CB is even better. I spent 28 years chasing and catching mostly in plain cars and what we call "fast cars" Camaros,Mustangs and now Chargers. I wouldn't even look at you until you got 20 over (why write a guy slower when a 90 or 95 is coming) and could write 25 tickets in a shift all 25+ over if I chose. Like other guys have said attitude sets the tone...act like an a$$hole get treated like an a$$hole. Oh and by the way Valentine One to get me down to a respectable number.