Ok, it's back. This was a thread I began not too long ago, but took down for varying reasons. Mainly I had not taken the time initially to write a disclaimer, the idea was good, but I should have made sure to cover myself.We had a lot of great questions asked and all were answered. The entire purpose for this thread is to help the public understand what they need to do while interacting with us. This could save yourself and another officer a lot of aggravation and time. The kinds of questions that were previously asked and will likely resurface again; to give you an idea:

Questions regarding

Accidents (what to do, what information do you need, who was at fault, hit and runs, etc.)
Being pulled over (what to do with your movements, how to act, what to have ready, what to say, etc)
Crime (larceny from auto, auto theft, assault, burglary, etc)
What it takes to become an officer (applying, academy, college, highschool, etc.)
...and many more general questions

(Last thread there were a lot of, "this officer did this to me!" type posts. It is ok to share your bad/good experiences with police officer's here, but keep in mind we are all different and react to certain situations in our own way. I will gladly respond to how I feel about their actions, but bear in mind rule #2 below.)


A few ground rules.

1- Keep in mind I will not have all the answers to every question. I am familiar with MD law, every state will vary. Many of your questions can be easily found online.

2- My opinions, are exactly that, MY OPINIONS. They do not represent my department or other department's policies. Furthermore, my opion does not represent the opinion of other officers.

3- They're out there. If someone posts anti police type posts, do not respond. The best thing to do is ignore them and stay on topic. Plenty of people aren't fond of the police and it is bound to happen.

4- Do not ask me about tactics or anything that could compromise the safety of other officers. IE I will not discuss how we approach a car, search a house, detect DUI's, etc.

5- Please don't PM me your question unless it's very personal. If you ask me a question via E-Mail no one else will learn from it and it is likely I will have to answer this same question for another person.

6- If you are new to this thread please do your best to at least skim through it so I am not answering the same questions over and over. SEARCH is your friend.


That's it for now, I'm sure this will be modified as time goes on. Enjoy and hopefully I can help.

All non topic related posts and otherwise useless dribble will be edited or deleted - BaconBait

 

ok, i belive the law states a police officer can not be concealed when he is with the radar, ussaly they are if i get pulled over and get a ticket can i argue i court that he was concealed and he had no right

 

In georgia an under cover offcer can not pull you over. you can only be pulled over by a marked car.

 

nope the car is marked hes jsut hiding behind a fence or a overpass

 

different laws for diffeeent states, but, in general, cops can place themselves wherever they want. In some places they are required to have their lights on (cud be as little as parking lights) if they're on duty and in teh vehicle. you'd prolly hafta talk to a lawyer for your area that specalizes in traffic law. basic variation oin the same principle. bottom line is, if you are obeying teh posted limit you have nothing to worry about. any other argument won't hold much water, in court.

 

I've got a question here for any officers using laser. I know that its a national law that you cannot use radar jammers but laser jammers have yet to be outlawed. So what happens if I get hit by laser and my active laser jammer blocks the return signal can you still pull me over? If you do what do you give me a ticket for? Just got talking with some friends about this tonight and thought I'd ask.

 

In this state you, the officer,absolutely do not have to be out in the open. The whole point is to catch people when they are unaware. Why can't the officer hide? The speed limit signs arent concealed, therefore you have already had your warning. If you still choose to speed you know what risks you are taking. Arguing radar/laser tickets is one of the most difficult traffic offenses to win. It's the same principle as an officer being out in the open but at the end of a turn or hill so by the time you see him/her it's too late.

Remedy, don't speed.

 

In MD an officer can pull you over in any vehicle which is registered as an emergency vehicle, marked or no. An officer can also ID themselves in their personal cars and demand you pull over, however this is only in very serious cases; driver is operating in such a way that they are risking death/serious bodily injury to themselves or others on the roadway. If an officer is in plain clothes it is perfectly ok for you to POLITELY REQUEST that you see their identification, I would recommend it with the amount of imposters out there.

 

This will take a little research on my part and I will do so because I am curious about this. The great thing, for officers, is that many traffic laws are vague so infractions can fall under numerous categories. One thing I can almost guarantee is that if the officer is unhappy with you having a jammer he/she can easily find other things to ticket you for.


I was able to pull this off a site that sells blinder brand laser jammers, how accurate this is I can not say. Bear in mind this is coming from a company trying to sell a quasi illegal product.

There are no federal laws in the U.S.A. that prohibit the ownership and/or operation of laser jammers. However, some states have enacted their own laws that do prohibit the use of these devices. These states include: Nebraska, Minnesota, Utah, California, Oklahoma, Virginia, Colorado, Illinois and Washington DC.

 

As an update to the laser jammer I have not found anything in MD law that would prohibit it. Granted radar detectors/jammers aren't illegal here either so this doesnt surprise me.

On a somewhat related note I found a great site for MD drivers if they are curious about our traffic laws.

http://michie.lexisnexis.com/marylan...n-h.htm&cp=

Just click the folder icon next to MD Code then click the folder next to Transportation Article, this will list the subsections. This may or may not be user friendly it is hard for me to say because I am used to the transportation article so I was able to browse it quickly. It also has a search feature, but I was not able to figure a way to limit the search to only the transportation article laws.


I would like to point out one major reason I enjoy this thread, often times I am asked questions that I need to research which will help me learn about laws I haven't considered yet. This is one of those examples.