Question on a ticket.

[Bldrinker]

I was pulled over for tailgating this morning (guilty) Where the ticket says date of violation the officer accidently wrote my birthdate. I understand its a minor mistake, but is there any chance that could help me get out of it or reduced?

I'm in the middle of getting my CCW so this was bad timing for me to screw up.

[TJW]

Typically, a police clerk will review every citation and do their data entry into a computer database. Normally the police clerk will catch these errors and have the officer amend the citation to fix mistakes. If the police clerk doesn't catch the mistake, the court will catch the error and send the citation back to the PD for correction, before they accept the citation or before your court appearance. The officer will then amend the citation and you will be sent a letter explaining the mistake and that it was corrected. You will have absolutely no chance of getting off on the citation or get anything reduced because of an error. Sorry

[Bldrinker]

Originally Posted by TJW

Typically, a police clerk will review every citation and do their data entry into a computer database. Normally the police clerk will catch these errors and have the officer amend the citation to fix mistakes. If the police clerk doesn't catch the mistake, the court will catch the error and send the citation back to the PD for correction, before they accept the citation or before your court appearance. The officer will then amend the citation and you will be sent a letter explaining the mistake and that it was corrected. You will have absolutely no chance of getting off on the citation or get anything reduced because of an error. Sorry

Oh well I knew it was a long shot, but I figured I would at least ask.

Thanks for taking the time to explain it to me.

[teetsjones]

Originally Posted by TJW

Typically, a police clerk will review every citation and do their data entry into a computer database. Normally the police clerk will catch these errors and have the officer amend the citation to fix mistakes. If the police clerk doesn't catch the mistake, the court will catch the error and send the citation back to the PD for correction, before they accept the citation or before your court appearance. The officer will then amend the citation and you will be sent a letter explaining the mistake and that it was corrected. You will have absolutely no chance of getting off on the citation or get anything reduced because of an error. Sorry

That's not always true. I had a ticket dismissed because the CHP Officer did not enter the the street I was on. He wrote South bound crossing Elm to Greenback. I contested the ticket and the Judge dismissed the citation, in his words. "if the officer could not determine what street he was on I doubt his ability to judge your speed."

[glock_this]

I've had one dismissed in college as my license plate on the citation was 1 letter off.

[Bldrinker]

Thanks for the reply guys, he was also off on the location by 2 cross streets.

I'm not in ANY WAY AT ALL trying to bring a negative opinion on the officer, he was actually extremely nice and we had a few jokes with one another, and I am guilty of the charges. I have no problem paying the fine.

Only reason im looking to get out of it is it may affect my CCW application.

[Spyder]

I got off on a ticket once because if a mistake on the cite too. 25mph in a 0mph zone.

I don't think that getting it dismissed or paying the fine will make a difference. Either way, the citation will show up when they look for it. Maybe call or email the person who is reviewing your application and give them a "Just to let you know..." message.

[ChrisO]

For that type if mistake it is HIGHLY unlikely to be dismissed. What is more likely is getting a correction in the mail. Showing up to court dressed professionally and asking the judge for a reduction sometimes helps with the fee.

[micro911]

I wonder how the officer made that kind of mistake. Maybe he had a fight with the wife in the morning.

[Win231]

When I was 17, I got a ticket for not entering a left turn lane at the right spot. A male friend was in the passenger seat. The cop mistakenly said my passenger was female. I tried to beat the ticket by saying "If the officer made that mistake, he may have not been paying attention to my violation, either." It didn't work; the judge said "The officer probably looked at the hair & thought it was a girl." Rather stupid because he didn't have long hair & didn't look like a girl.

The judge would have been smarter if he said, "The officer made a mistake, but you still entered the left turn lane at the wrong spot."

[71MUSTY]

Originally Posted by teetsjones

That's not always true. I had a ticket dismissed because the CHP Officer did not enter the the street I was on. He wrote South bound crossing Elm to Greenback. I contested the ticket and the Judge dismissed the citation, in his words. "if the officer could not determine what street he was on I doubt his ability to judge your speed."

I had a similar experience where the officer listed the wrong make and color for my car. Judge threw it out similarly " If you don't know which car he was driving how do you know he was speeding"


Granted this was 30 years ago and may not apply today.

[ChrisO]

Mistakes happen, were human too. maybe he was on mandatory OT/tired who knows... It really is a easy mistake to make. Bottom line is you got cited and it is HIGHLY unlikely for you to get the ticket thrown out because of such a small mistake... It does not negate the fact you did what you did and got caught. Sometimes eating a slice of humble pie and asking for a break from the judge because of financials works best... If he's been a traffic cop for awhile you likely won't win this battle. Good luck.

[Bldrinker]

Originally Posted by ChrisO

Mistakes happen, were human too. maybe he was on mandatory OT/tired who knows... It really is a easy mistake to make. Bottom line is you got cited and it is HIGHLY unlikely for you to get the ticket thrown out because of such a small mistake... It does not negate the fact you did what you did and got caught. Sometimes eating a slice of humble pie and asking for a break from the judge because of financials works best... If he's been a traffic cop for awhile you likely won't win this battle. Good luck.

I agree, just concerned about the ccw app is all. If I could get it thrown because of the mistake that would be great. If not I have no problem paying for my mistake. Play stupid games win stupid prizes right?

[BarrettM99]

I got a ticket dismissed few years ago due to wrong color listed for the vehicle. But I think that works for parking violations only. That's what mine was. Still felt good to get out of it

[ChrisO]

I do CCW interviews for my department and I'll tell you right now at least in my county it's not a big deal...

Originally Posted by Bldrinker

I agree, just concerned about the ccw app is all. If I could get it thrown because of the mistake that would be great. If not I have no problem paying for my mistake. Play stupid games win stupid prizes right?

[Bldrinker]

So I just got off the phone with the Barstow court.

I wanted to just pay the fine online and be done, but I put in my info and nothing came up. So I called and was told the reason I can't find my citation is it hasn't been filed yet and the officer made a couple mistakes on the citation and they had to send it back to be corrected.

Lady told me to call back in a couple weeks to see if it is on file, if it's not they will extend my due date. My current due date is july 19th.

Is this normal less than 3 weeks from my due date?

Any chance the officer just round filed it due to the errors? Date of citation is 10/26/79 and the location is off by a 1/2mile.

Citation is for tailgating and no signal.

I just want to get it over with.

[P5Ret]

Originally Posted by Bldrinker

So I just got off the phone with the Barstow court.

I wanted to just pay the fine online and be done, but I put in my info and nothing came up. So I called and was told the reason I can't find my citation is it hasn't been filed yet and the officer made a couple mistakes on the citation and they had to send it back to be corrected.

Lady told me to call back in a couple weeks to see if it is on file, if it's not they will extend my due date. My current due date is july 19th.

Is this normal less than 3 weeks from my due date?

Any chance the officer just round filed it due to the errors? Date of citation is 10/26/79 and the location is off by a 1/2mile.

Citation is for tailgating and no signal.

I just want to get it over with.

Probably not. Most agencies have a procedure for voiding a citation after it has been issued. Just tossing it in a "round file" would probably earn someone a couple days on the beach. Usually some records clerk would notice out of sequence citation number's. That in my experience starts questions being asked, to supervisor's down the the person who has or had that cite book.

[Bldrinker]

Well today was my due date. I called in to the Barstow court and the lady told me it's still not in the system and to call back every 30days until it shows in the system.

This seems odd to me that I have to hunt my citation down? Do I just do this forever or is there a time limit?

I don't want to end up with a failure to appear when i'm doing my best to resolve the issue..

Advice?

[P5Ret]

Call the agency and ask. Tell them you were issued citation number whatever it is and it is not in the courts system, and that you are trying to avoid the possibility of a FTA in case it shows up at court without your knowledge, since the appearance date has come and gone. CYA and document everything.

[Bldrinker]

Originally Posted by P5Ret

Call the agency and ask. Tell them you were issued citation number whatever it is and it is not in the courts system, and that you are trying to avoid the possibility of a FTA in case it shows up at court without your knowledge, since the appearance date has come and gone. CYA and document everything.

Ticket only says Sb Sheriff's Dept.

I'm not sure if it was a Victorville or Hesperia PD

[LtJim]

I used to review 100s of Citations weekly---COMMON for clerical errors! Thats why had are correction forms. Clerical errors are an old wives tale that was started long ago that could be used in court Never saw it used with success--in fact I saw a judge laugh and interrupt a violator when he tried to use it as a defense

[Ron-Solo]

Originally Posted by Bldrinker

Ticket only says Sb Sheriff's Dept.

I'm not sure if it was a Victorville or Hesperia PD

They both contract with the Sheriff. There technically is no Victorville or Hesperia PD.

[Spyder]

Originally Posted by Bldrinker

Ticket only says Sb Sheriff's Dept.

I'm not sure if it was a Victorville or Hesperia PD

...That leads me to believe that you should call SB Sheriff's Dept.

[Endless]

Originally Posted by TJW

Typically, a police clerk will review every citation and do their data entry into a computer database. Normally the police clerk will catch these errors and have the officer amend the citation to fix mistakes. If the police clerk doesn't catch the mistake, the court will catch the error and send the citation back to the PD for correction, before they accept the citation or before your court appearance. The officer will then amend the citation and you will be sent a letter explaining the mistake and that it was corrected. You will have absolutely no chance of getting off on the citation or get anything reduced because of an error. Sorry

In the 1990s this would have been dismissed as I got a ticket dismissed here in California (1997)and Hawaii (2001) for clerical errors. The judge laughed at the charge and said there was no such thing as what was written and threw it out. Nothing should have changed since then. If it has it's yet another way the state automatically collects money from a citizen .
It was no folktale or wives tale. It was reality then..

[Bldrinker]

Originally Posted by Spyder

...That leads me to believe that you should call SB Sheriff's Dept.

Well I called all 3 nobody knows nothing.

[NukleusX]

I'm dealing with a ticket today which I received in SD over Memorial Day weekend. My fault I did not call to inquire although I was unable to find any info on it by my DL, last name, birthdate, or ticket number online or when calling automated system. On road to SD now to go either pay or if I am lucky see the judge.

[5150ds]

Isn't the officer's name and id# on the bottom? They can track him down that way.

[NukleusX]

It is. When I asked at court this exact info this morning in a calm and collected voice/demeanor they told me to pound sand pretty much, that they couldn't even give me the info for where he reports to. With that said, the officer had not filed my paperwork yet; essentially I showed up to court an hour plus away to be told that.

[Spyder]

Have you tried calling the agency he works for with his name and badge number, instead of the court which has nothing to do with him?

[NukleusX]

Originally Posted by Spyder

Have you tried calling the agency he works for with his name and badge number, instead of the court which has nothing to do with him?

I have not tried that. I was simply showing up for the "appear on or before this date" which was on the ticket. I don't have time for chasing this guy around, I want to pay my fine and be over with this (thus why I went to court when ticket indicated). Had to miss a day of work for something he could have simply given me a warning for and moved on. Holiday weekend quota get the out of towner type ticket. Whatever though. I will follow up as per instructed by the court and when the ticket gets filed I will pay the fine.

[Spyder]

I recommend you call the agency listed on the ticket. Otherwise, you may as well call the Texas Rangers, or the manager of your local Safeway, looking for the guy, as they'll have no more leads on the officer than the employees of a courthouse will.

[NukleusX]

Originally Posted by Spyder

I recommend you call the agency listed on the ticket. Otherwise, you may as well call the Texas Rangers, or the manager of your local Safeway, looking for the guy, as they'll have no more leads on the officer than the employees of a courthouse will.

If you re-read my post above this one, you will see that I do not have time to "look for the guy". Why would I want to see him, anyways? The ticket has been issued, my business is now with the govt collection agency aka the court.

[Spyder]

Ok. Do it your way.

[Bldrinker]

Well I just got a email from the officer going over my CCW, he wants to know the status of my citation. Wrote him a lengthy email telling him I keep calling the court house and it is not in the system.

Sheesh... This sucks now its holding up my ccw!

[Bldrinker]

citation was droped.

[NukleusX]

Gonna celebrate with a bl? Hahaha

[CBR_rider]

Originally Posted by Bldrinker

citation was droped.

well good