Pulled Over For A Gps In The Window?

[+woodsters]

I agree with Wadcutter...by the way, nice qual badge there..i've seen one of them before.

 

Another point you have to remember about traffic cops is that they are not out there by their own choice. They are required to be there by the community. You will not believe the load of complaints that a dept gets on people speeding. Then the police depts get ridiculed publically if they are not there at the right time and place to catch these people. And then if you took all the cops off of traffic duty and put them in the neighborhoods for the sole responsibility of patrolling and responding, then people would say that their rights are being infringed upon because they would feel like they are being watched all the time and are uncomfortable. Police depts have been at this for years and do the best they can with what they have, what they don't have and other things that hamper their duties.

[Swagger]

On blocking the view... My GPSr is mounted via suction cup windshield mount, low enough in my Jeep (the bottom rests on the dash) so that the only thing it's obstructing my view of is my hood... It'd be interesting to be cited for that. I'm betting that I'd win in court.

[+skeeter-n-lucy]

I used to enjoy explaining to people that without voluntaary compliance of traffic laws that I was necessary. I was just that reminder that once you didn't voluntarily comply, I was there to help you along in the process.

 

I still remember the kid who I wrote three different seat belt tickets to (2-3 year span) who thanked me at the hospital when he had his seat belt on, when the car he was a passenger in, rolled at 110 mph. Well, at least I got one of his daily bad decision making processes altered.....

 

Oh by the way...geocaching.

[+Confucius' Cat]

Technically, the local and state police have no right to ban radar detectors. Any RF receiving or transmitting device is regulated by the FCC under the federal communications act of 1934 as ammended. If ever challenged in court, and pressed far enough, it would be overturned. Communications equipment control is a federal issue - ONLY.

 

Now, it could get expensive. And as previously stated, if you beat the radar detector ownership law, they hit you with the having it in the window law. You will pay, one way or another.

 

Personally, I prefer my home-made jammer. X-band, K-band, and pulse-flashed infra-red LEDs from radio shack. One of the local police is so ammused with my experiments he often sets up and allows me to test it againce his equipment.

 

Electronics can be fun!

 

Interesting that you can advocate that the laws duly passed by the state legislature are illegal and in the same post advocate BREAKING the laws of the agency (FCC) that you suggest has sole jurisdiction over the device in question.

 

The Communications Act of 1934 specifically prohibits any kind of intentional interferrence to ANY licensed radio transmission.

 

Your 'radar jammer' in the X or K band could cost you 10 years and $10,000. (and your ham license, which grants you the priviledge of radiating in portions of those bands, does NOT excuse you from the prohibition of intentional interferrence, which is unlawful under ham rules also)

 

The IR is debatable whether the FCC has jurisdiction.

 

Further, just because the FCC does not regulate receivers does not negate the states' right to regulate them. See amendment 10 U.S. Constitution (which was modified and for all practical purposes *repealed* by the 'civil war')

 

(there are exceptions to this *general* FCC policy- currently the FCC *bans* receivers on cellular and cordless phone frequencies, and regulates spurious radiation of receivers.),

[+Imajika]

"I am betting most cops have no idea what a personal GPS looks like"

 

Why are you betting that?  You'd be surprised at the number of GPS units in squads these days.  Every patrol squad in my dept has GPS mounted, that's about 1000 squads.  In fact, I don't know too many depts in my area that don't have GPS.  They're hooked into their in-car computers for the mapping program.  Every crash we handle is documented on the crash report by lat/long coordinates.  Everyone one of our SWAT guys carries a GPS.  GPS has rapidly become an effective and practical LE tool.

 

from another post:

"It's amazing that with all the crime going on, the police still find time to rid the streets of the foul scourge of drivers going 9 mph over the speed limit."

 

Let's see, a quick synopsis, from making stops for relatively minor speeding I have arrested:

2 murderers;

a counterfeiter with $250,000 in phony money;

a drug courier with 4 gallons of PCP;

Thousands of unlicensed drivers;

Thousands of people wanted on criminal warrants.

Bad guys speed too.

The GPS system in the patrol vehicles at my job (a LARGE police department) is software installed into a laptop, which is docked in the car. A lot of the cops I work with had never seen a handheld GPS unit before they saw mine. So one in a window might look like a radar detector to them. Of course, they are legal in Colorado so they wouldn't stop you for having one anyway.

Edited January 16, 2004 by Imajika

[+Team GPSaxophone]

Of course, they are legal in Colorado so they wouldn't stop you for having one anyway.

Yay for Colorado. Someday my company will move me back there

[+Bloencustoms]

Let's see, a quick synopsis, from making stops for relatively minor speeding I have arrested:

2 murderers;

a counterfeiter with $250,000 in phony money;

a drug courier with 4 gallons of PCP;

Thousands of unlicensed drivers;

Thousands of people wanted on criminal warrants.

Bad guys speed too.

I'm wondering what exactly make a person a "bad guy". A few miles over the limit hardly qualifies in my book. Actually, I think the problem is the unfair profiling my cache moblie gets.

 

Because it isn't a plain-jane minivan or SUV, I get targeted by cops. And guess what? I pay all of my tickets, I don't have any attachments, I'm sober, and there aren't any bombs, corpses, drugs or smuggled items in my car. I have insurance, a driver's license, and a current brake tag as well.

 

I think many cops view "riced out" or otherwise customised cars as a slap in the face for some reason. The last speeding ticket I got was on the way to go place a new cache. I had turned the corner, and was following a big expensive SUV painted some nice bland neutral green color, and of course I get stopped, and the SUV (which was travelling faster than me) blasts right on by. I guess personal expression through the appearance of your vehicle makes you a potential "bad guy".

 

How many thousands of "routine" traffic stops resulted in nothing more than revenue for the county/city you work for?

[+Imajika]

My salary is paid by sales tax. So come to Colorado and SHOP. I need a raise!

[+Team GPSaxophone]

Why make yourself a target? My vehicles have always appeared 'stock'. It's what's inside that counts.

[+Bloencustoms]

Why make yourself a target? My vehicles have always appeared 'stock'. It's what's inside that counts.

By the same logic, better keep that gps out of sight in Virginia.

 

If I could afford an F50, I'd leave it bone stock. You have to work with what you've got.

[+Confucius' Cat]

<snip> Every patrol squad in my dept has GPS mounted, that's about 1000 squads. In fact, I don't know too many depts in my area that don't have GPS. They're hooked into their in-car computers for the mapping program. Every crash we handle is documented on the crash report by lat/long coordinates. Everyone one of our SWAT guys carries a GPS. GPS has rapidly become an effective and practical LE tool.

</snip>

That being said, wouldn't it be cool if we could call 9-1-1 and tell a dispatcher our coords when we are in trouble in an unfamiliar area and be somewhat secure in the knowledge that help could actually FIND us?

 

My new cellphone has a GPS chip in it. Unfortunately the cell company hasn't figured out how to use it yet and they still report the location of the cell tower on a 9-1-1 call (tested it with Johnson County dispatch a few months ago).

 

I talk to a lot of dispatchers. Very few know what lat-lon coords are. In my area, only the DNR people and Lifeline (the helicopter ambulance service) know what to do with them.

 

I have proposed the scenario to several of a person calling in with GPS coords and very few had any clue how to handle it. I suggested that they might call Lifeline if the call was important enough. They know how to use GPS and they know how to read a map.

[+Wadcutter]

Technically, the local and state police have no right to ban radar detectors.

Technically, local and state police don't ban anything. It's the legislatures in those states that pass the laws banning them.

[+E = Mc2]

Because it isn't a plain-jane minivan or SUV, I get targeted by cops. And guess what? I pay all of my tickets

 

Not to start anything, and please take this in the manner in which it was intended, but the majority of the 'ricers' I see are driving very aggressively - Speeding, tailgating, weaving in and out of traffic, etc. Several have nearly gotten themselves creamed when they came flying around my bus. I watched one just yesterday pass me at over 120 mph and then exit the four lane wide freeway from the far left lane. Daily occurence, seems like. Cops are going to notice things like that.

 

I'm not saying you do that! That has just been my observation over the years. Oh, and in the last ten years and 800,000+ miles of driving, I have not gotten a single ticket, either on or off duty. Of course, I spend a lot of time watching people pass me, too, as I drive no more than 5 mph over.

 

Forget radar detectors, I want a CELL PHONE JAMMER!

[+E = Mc2]

Oh, and happy anniversary to you, too.

[+Renegade Knight]

... the majority of the 'ricers' I see are driving very aggressively - Speeding, tailgating, weaving in and out of traffic, etc. Several have nearly gotten themselves creamed when they came flying around my bus. I watched one just yesterday pass me at over 120 mph and then exit the four lane wide freeway from the far left lane. Daily occurence, seems like. Cops are going to notice things like that. ...

We have Rice Rockets in Idaho but it doesn't seem to be too much of an issue. Jr. In Daddy's car is worse. When I went to CA this fall though. It was amazing how many jackasses drove Rice Rockets and drove them agressivly enough to endanger everyone on the freeway.

[+jeff35080]

Meaning that they could tell how fast you are going by watching you and it was alowed in court. They were suppsoedly trained to within 1 or 2 MPH error margin. I do know in the middle of the class that we went off base (Edwards AFB) to a bridge over a highway and we had to guess the speeds of oncoming vehicles. We had to get it down to within a range as part of the class (to pass).

 

Yep, I had to do be able to prove that I could gauge speed by sight for my intial certification and for subsequent recertifications. Also, there is an art to using radar. It's not as easy as it seems and requires knowledge of how to properly set-up and operate the unit. Cheers!

[+wildlifeguy]

I do remember going through the RADAR class in California and we even had some non military going through it with us. They told us that CHP (California Highway PAtrol) was certified by sight. Meaning that they could tell how fast you are going by watching you and it was alowed in court. They were suppsoedly trained to within 1 or 2 MPH error margin. I do know in the middle of the class that we went off base (Edwards AFB) to a bridge over a highway and we had to guess the speeds of oncoming vehicles. We had to get it down to within a range as part of the class (to pass).

In California the CHP is certified by sight but can not give you a ticket by that alone. Your speed has to be grossly over the limit in Cali for them to pull you over on sight alone. Then they ask "DO you know how fast you were going?" most idiots tell them something still over the limit but not quite what they were going, then the police write them up for what they admitted to. This has happened to me several times in my youth, and I learned quickly not ot admit anything! My response now is The Speed Limit! I have gotten out of several ticket this way. When pulled over always always always ask "How was my speed determined. If by radar you have the right to see the gun and ask for it's last calibration date. Each gun is to be calibrated DAILY. I have had several tickets thrown out onthis one too. If they use markers and a stopwatch in California it is considered a speed trap and is illegal!

 

Needless to say, because of my misspent youth, I do the speed limit now, regardless who stacks up behind me! Yes I'm a California resident that obeys all posted speed limits, there are a few of us out there, not many but a few!

 

Peace!

[+Brian - Team A.I.]

I'm with wadcutter here.

 

You'd be amazed at the number of drug/cash seizures that are made from minor traffic infractions. I believe a following-too-closely stop up north (eastern Arizona) last year resulted in $975,000 being seized from the back seat of a car (vacuum wrapped bundles).

 

Another stop for moving violations resulted in the seizure of 440lbs of marijuana. These by comparison, while significant, pale in comparison to those found in EPIC seizure reports, which I have the privilege of being able to read.

 

In Arizona, the frequency of stopping unlicensed drivers is about as likely as landing heads on a coinflip using a coin with 2 heads on it. Through that, officers have managed to stop UDA loads, drugs, weapons, and arrest some pretty bad people.

 

One of my officers stopped a vehicle for expired registration a few months ago. A routine check of the registration information yielded that the vehicle was wanted in connection with a homicide out of Los Angeles County. He realized something was amuck and ran....foot pursuit is on. He's taken into custody after a nearly one-mile foot chase and we later find out that he's the suspect in the homicide, with a $2 million bond, as well as having robbery and weapons warrants out of 2 additional jurisdictions in the LA area.

 

So those minor infractions, speeding or not have yielded significant results in past situations.

[+E = Mc2]

Of course, there was the time when I got a speeding ticket while driving two miles per hour UNDER the speed limit. I rolled my window down and asked the cop (as he finally passed) if he thought he could tailgate any closer...

 

DOH!

[+CygnusX1]

I want to thank all of cachers who have responded to my query about getting pulled over for having a GPS on the dash. My parents were surprised and nervous as the police officer approached. The officer said, "is that a radar detector?"

 

My 72 year old Father simply said, "it is my Magellan GPS." Officer said, "OK, have a nice day."

 

I have learned that it is legal and not unusual for an officer to stop a driver if he/she suspects that the device seen in the window is a radar detector.

 

I guess the next gift I give my parents is an external antenna!

 

I really appreciate all of the humor that came wrapped around many of the responses to my inquiry. I will enjoy these responses alone just in case my Father can't appreciate the humor since he was the one pulled over by the police officer.

 

Those of you that guessed this incident took place in a state East of WVa are correct.

 

Keep on cachin'

 

CygnusX1

Edited January 24, 2004 by CygnusX1