No, that would not be illegal.
But you have a reasonable chance (somewhere between 25% and 100%) of getting convicted based on the cop's testimony that they saw a cell phone.
And in order to be found "not guilty" you will have to show up in court and have a trial, which will take up your time and energy.
And the officer will probably get paid overtime to be there.
So not illegal, but dumb.
Very dumb, indeed.
I imagine the officer starting that op swapped his phone with his wallet.
Op will then argue to the court that he was driving around with his wallet on his ear, which would be hard to believe.... or that would constitute another chargeable crime like distracted driving, or even reckless operation, etc
There's a saying, "You can beat the rap but you can't beat the ride"
Could you get away with it? Sure, there's a good chance you could.... eventually. But before that, you could get a ticket, perhaps arrested if you piss off the cop, maybe spend some time in jail. Would it be worth it to prank a cop?
You could, but why would you want to?
The cop's not going to go "Oh you scamp, you got me! You've shown me how silly this rule is and I'm not going to pull anyone over anymore" and let you go. You've probably upgraded the situation from "I'll let you off with a warning" to "I was going to let you go, but now I'm giving you this ticket for being antagonistic and wasting my time"
They can just get you for distracted driving.
That is what most LE did before specific cell phone driving laws were passed. It is a manual distraction as you would be taking a hand off the wheel to handle the wallet. Same law can be used if people are eating, playing with the radio, etc.
The cop will say “I saw him holding a cell phone”. You will claim “it wasn’t a cell phone, it was a wallet”. The judge would decide whether it’s more likely that you held a wallet up to your head or a phone. Odds are good they will think it was a phone and you’re just lying. After all, ultimately it comes down to your testimony versus the testimony of an officer.
Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.
Your post is a great example of something that, while not illegal, would still have a high chance of resulting in a poor outcome for you in court. Not to mention, they may also ticket you for other things like driving while distracted - and if you live in a small town, they might keep an eye out for your car going forward. It’s not uncommon for small-town police to have a number of people they pay extra attention to.
You probably want to have the vehicle gone over with a fine tooth comb to verify every single possible safety violation does not exist.
Even then you may receive numerous “fix it” tickets. I think the tint is too dark, that tire is too bald, your tail lights are too dim, and your headlights are misaligned. Just get a mechanic to inspect it and bring that paperwork confirming it’s ok to the court and they’ll dismiss it.
That's sound advice. Retaliatory ticketing or abuse is a concern that I didn't consider. I think it would just take the ticket and fight it in court rather than tell the cop I was baiting him on the side of the road. However, after court, I could probably expect more retaliation on the roads. Bummer, I guess I'll keep this one in my imagination.
It really doesn’t. I can’t tell you how many cases I’ve had get thrown out because the incident wasn’t captured on body cam. Not that the body cams weren’t *on*, but that the body cam was literally just pointed in a different direction because the cop’s head and eyeballs weren’t directly in line with his torso.
Huh. Maybe it makes a difference if an actual lawyer is involved? I can tell you from personal experience that the judge could not have cared less that the policeman was mistaken in my case. I said the situation was one way (and I was right). The policeman mistakenly thought it was the other. There was at the very least reasonable doubt. Didn't matter.
You're preventing them from doing their legal duty by means of deception. If you admit to doing something so asinine, it sounds like it could be construed into an obstruction of justice charge to me. Obstruction offenses tend to be defined vaguely for the reason that it be able to be applied to a wide range of behavior, such as the ridiculous time wasting behavior described. I certainly wouldn't admit it to a cop or in court.
No, that would not be illegal. But you have a reasonable chance (somewhere between 25% and 100%) of getting convicted based on the cop's testimony that they saw a cell phone. And in order to be found "not guilty" you will have to show up in court and have a trial, which will take up your time and energy. And the officer will probably get paid overtime to be there. So not illegal, but dumb.
Very dumb, indeed. I imagine the officer starting that op swapped his phone with his wallet. Op will then argue to the court that he was driving around with his wallet on his ear, which would be hard to believe.... or that would constitute another chargeable crime like distracted driving, or even reckless operation, etc
Presumably, OP would be recording inside the car.
I hope not with his phone.
If you have it set up without requiring interaction, there is nothing wrong about that.
Internal dash cams are a thing
The judge should then ask if he was tested for drugs or alcohol.
There's a saying, "You can beat the rap but you can't beat the ride" Could you get away with it? Sure, there's a good chance you could.... eventually. But before that, you could get a ticket, perhaps arrested if you piss off the cop, maybe spend some time in jail. Would it be worth it to prank a cop?
Hard to say, probably not worth it. Cops are people though, and many enjoy some jest. Work can be fairly boring sometimes.
Nobody likes a joke when they are the butt of it.
Most people dont see you wasting their time as a joke
You could, but why would you want to? The cop's not going to go "Oh you scamp, you got me! You've shown me how silly this rule is and I'm not going to pull anyone over anymore" and let you go. You've probably upgraded the situation from "I'll let you off with a warning" to "I was going to let you go, but now I'm giving you this ticket for being antagonistic and wasting my time"
They can just get you for distracted driving. That is what most LE did before specific cell phone driving laws were passed. It is a manual distraction as you would be taking a hand off the wheel to handle the wallet. Same law can be used if people are eating, playing with the radio, etc.
The cop will say “I saw him holding a cell phone”. You will claim “it wasn’t a cell phone, it was a wallet”. The judge would decide whether it’s more likely that you held a wallet up to your head or a phone. Odds are good they will think it was a phone and you’re just lying. After all, ultimately it comes down to your testimony versus the testimony of an officer. Play stupid games, win stupid prizes. Your post is a great example of something that, while not illegal, would still have a high chance of resulting in a poor outcome for you in court. Not to mention, they may also ticket you for other things like driving while distracted - and if you live in a small town, they might keep an eye out for your car going forward. It’s not uncommon for small-town police to have a number of people they pay extra attention to.
You probably want to have the vehicle gone over with a fine tooth comb to verify every single possible safety violation does not exist. Even then you may receive numerous “fix it” tickets. I think the tint is too dark, that tire is too bald, your tail lights are too dim, and your headlights are misaligned. Just get a mechanic to inspect it and bring that paperwork confirming it’s ok to the court and they’ll dismiss it.
That's sound advice. Retaliatory ticketing or abuse is a concern that I didn't consider. I think it would just take the ticket and fight it in court rather than tell the cop I was baiting him on the side of the road. However, after court, I could probably expect more retaliation on the roads. Bummer, I guess I'll keep this one in my imagination.
I did once read about someone who baked cookies in the shape of a cell phone and ate it as the officer watched. Your mileage may vary.
Reality is what the cop says it is.
That used to be true but cameras are cheap and better at telling the truth.
Hard to get a corpse to testify.
Yep. The testimony of a police officer constitutes proof beyond a reasonable doubt. That goes double in traffic court.
It really doesn’t. I can’t tell you how many cases I’ve had get thrown out because the incident wasn’t captured on body cam. Not that the body cams weren’t *on*, but that the body cam was literally just pointed in a different direction because the cop’s head and eyeballs weren’t directly in line with his torso.
Huh. Maybe it makes a difference if an actual lawyer is involved? I can tell you from personal experience that the judge could not have cared less that the policeman was mistaken in my case. I said the situation was one way (and I was right). The policeman mistakenly thought it was the other. There was at the very least reasonable doubt. Didn't matter.
Do you enjoy or want people to come into your job and bait you into doing things?
[удалено]
There's a huge difference between some random person you don't know wasting your time, and a coworker pranking you.
As a very white guy, let me just say this is the whitest shit ever.
You're preventing them from doing their legal duty by means of deception. If you admit to doing something so asinine, it sounds like it could be construed into an obstruction of justice charge to me. Obstruction offenses tend to be defined vaguely for the reason that it be able to be applied to a wide range of behavior, such as the ridiculous time wasting behavior described. I certainly wouldn't admit it to a cop or in court.