Florida speed traps and goverment local goverment corruption
OcalaMarion County
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I felt compelled to reply to this. I'll preface my reply by saying that I've made several posts on CD in the past criticizing places like Waldo and Lawtey that use their police departments as revenue collection services. The purpose of traffic enforcement and law enforcement in general should be for public safety and not revenue generation. While there are a handful of places that use their cops as cash registers, it is not the accepted norm. In addition to that, I know of no officer who would risk their career, pension, and possibly their freedom by perjuring themselves just to issue a traffic ticket. There are so many traffic violations down here that an officer doesn't have to go long without seeing one.
In fact, the FHP monitors their troopers' stats by looking at the number of crash reports troopers write as well s the number of "public contacts." A public contact is everything from a traffic stop to a stranded motorist, and the trooper gets no additional points or stats if he/she issues a ticket instead of a warning.
The downright misinformation and lies present in your post make me doubt the veracity of both your claims and your entire story. I'll address each one.
Quote:
Originally Posted by city365
Miniumium speed ticket is $250.00! Law enforcement will ticket you for only 3-4 miles over limit.
The above link is directly from the Marion County Clerk's website. The minimum speeding fine is $131. As you can see from the flyer, an officer cannot even write a speeding ticket for less than 6 mph over the speed limit unless the violation occurs in a school or work zone.
Before you post misinformation that can easily be found online, please do some research if you expect to be taken seriously.
Quote:
Originally Posted by city365
If you decide to go to court for your citation you appear in front of a "civil infraction officer" in court , Chris Polak, who worked in past as local law enforcement and as their prosecuting attonery. Very inpartial and biased... no judge involved in the court at all.
I'm not from Marion County and don't know Chris Polak. In fact I never heard of him before this thread. Still, it would be beneficial for you to read the Florida Rules of Traffic Court before you criticize. State law allows traffic citations to be heard in front of hearing officers who are not judges. Most states allow for the same thing. This isn't something unique to Florida. In Florida, a hearing officer must be an attorney in good standing with the Florida Bar. They are hearing officers part time and practicing attorneys full time. Looking at his profile on the Bar's website brought me to the following link:
This "biased" hearing officer actually works as a CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY for his full time job! It's comical that you're suggesting someone who makes his real living defending criminals is actually on the side of law enforcement. But we'll forget about that for a second. You criticize him because he's a former prosecutor or law enforcement officer. So what? A very large number of judges in all levels of Florida courts (and the courts of every other state) were prosecutors at some point in their careers. That doesn't mean anything.
Quote:
Originally Posted by city365
My case.I had lots of photogaphic and other evidense, list of cross exmine questions for trooper, that could of easily proven the trooper falsified the whole stop...POLAK would not even view or let me submit, or cross examine the officer!
In light of the other falsities that you have mentioned, I find this not to be credible. The Florida Rules of Traffic Court do allow you to cross-examine the officer and present evidence as long as the questions and the evidence is RELEVANT to the case. Questions that the hearing officer or judge determine not to be relevant cannot be asked, and irrelevant evidence or evidence that is hearsay in nature or otherwise not allowed by the Rules of Evidence are not allowed. Just because YOU think that the evidence should be admitted or the question allowed does not mean that you get to ask or submit it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by city365
Then if you decide to appeal, and go in front of a real Judge, you have to pay a $281 appeal filing fee., and get an attonery.
It is the fundamental right of any citizen to appeal a decision. Inmates in Florida State Prison file appeals on their own without attorneys frequently, and those involve major criminal cases. Nowhere in the Florida Constitution, the Florida Statutes, or any Florida Rules of Procedure does it mandate an appeal must be done by an attorney. Any citizen can file a pro-se appeal of any judicial decision. Yet another piece of misinformation from you.
Quote:
Originally Posted by city365
I now found out C ****** has a history of threating other defandants the same way, not letting them submit photos or any other evidense to prove their case.
You have found out? Where? Through another website filled with other disgruntled people convicted of violating traffic laws? Hardly evidence or a smoking gun. There are plenty of people out there who believe that the Holocaust never happened. That doesn't mean they're correct.
Quote:
Originally Posted by city365
Its in google searches for area.. Very corrupt, how FL justice dept lets a county get away with this kind of corruption.
There's no corruption. The judicial system worked how it was designed to work. You just didn't like the end result. That doesn't mean that the system is corrupt.
Quote:
Originally Posted by city365
Also, I meant the cop did not have to show any proof of his radar evdiense in COURT..not along side the rd. He merly stated in court he read the radar as 64!
No, they did not present, nor allow me to see any documents in court... only stated radar was calibrated within last 6 months. Units are supposed to be calibrated each day, according to mafacturers manual.
The officer does not have to show "proof" of what the RADAR read. Again, read the Florida Rules of Traffic Court. No state that I know of requires any sort of video or photographic proof at a traffic infraction hearing. I also wonder what would have happened if the officer DID show you the RADAR, or DID bring some sort of proof into court. I'm sure you would have just made up another excuse, like another car's speed being selected or the device not working properly. When I first started running RADAR years ago I started showing people the readings if we were in a safe spot, however I found out quickly that it just created arguments and more problems. Once they saw the reading they came up with another excuse about why they weren't going that fast.
Please post a link to the manufacturer's manual that says a RADAR unit must be calibrated daily. The Florida Administrative Code that governs RADAR speed measuring devices requires that they be calibrated every six months. They must be TESTED daily by the officer. There is a big difference between CALIBRATION and TESTING, and you're purposely misstating fact to make your argument. RADAR calibration is performed by an electronics technician in a controlled environment and takes a couple hours. Testing can be performed by an officer in a matter of minutes. The two are extremely different and I can tell you with 100% certainty that there is no RADAR unit out there that is required to be calibrated daily.
Quote:
Originally Posted by city365
FL law enforecment DO prey on out of town drivers because they know they are less likey to contest because of the distance.
As has been previously stated, an officer who is looking at a speeding car that is likely 500-1000 feet away has no idea whether the driver or even the vehicle is from out of state. Just another baseless allegation without any proof. If you disagree, go to the Clerk of the Court's office and submit a public records request for the percentage of traffic citations issued to out of state drivers. I'm sure that you will find out the vast majority are given to residents.
Quote:
Originally Posted by city365
Only in FL... it was just in the news of a FL JUDGE assaulting a defense attonery in court! Only in FL.
Not entirely true. The judge challenged the defense attorney to a fight, and the defense attorney left the courtroom and obliged. It's still wrong and that doesn't excuse the judge's behavior, but it's not like the judge jumped across the bench and attacked the attorney. That's the way you made it sound. The judge was wrong by being unprofessional and challenging the attorney to a fight, and the attorney was wrong by accepting the challenge. Both of them are guilty of disorderly conduct or affray.
Massive corruption through out state (Please read all my links in this thread and anyone can google florida corruption and be amazed)
You know what, you can google corruption in any state and find a whole host of articles. Most people don't believe everything that they read on the Internet. The only reason that you believe it is because you agree with it and want it to be true. If you disagree, you simply don't believe it. Such is true about the facts that have been posted in this thread that you have conveniently now ignored.
Quote:
Originally Posted by city365
Very transient population ... a honest agent told me once that about 65% of the people that move to FL, move away again after 2-3 yrs.
How do you know that this is true? Because it's what you wanted to hear? Where's the independent research that shows this is accurate?
I was going to address most of your other points but it's not worth my time. Your initial post that started this thread has now been proven to be completely baseless and without truth, and now that you've been proven wrong you have resorted to attacking Florida in any way you can.
Nobody will shed a tear if you become part of that 65%, leave Florida, and never come back.
I felt compelled to reply to this. I'll preface my reply by saying that I've made several posts on CD in the past criticizing places like Waldo and Lawtey that use their police departments as revenue collection services. The purpose of traffic enforcement and law enforcement in general should be for public safety and not revenue generation. While there are a handful of places that use their cops as cash registers, it is not the accepted norm. In addition to that, I know of no officer who would risk their career, pension, and possibly their freedom by perjuring themselves just to issue a traffic ticket. There are so many traffic violations down here that an officer doesn't have to go long without seeing one.
In fact, the FHP monitors their troopers' stats by looking at the number of crash reports troopers write as well s the number of "public contacts." A public contact is everything from a traffic stop to a stranded motorist, and the trooper gets no additional points or stats if he/she issues a ticket instead of a warning.
The downright misinformation and lies present in your post make me doubt the veracity of both your claims and your entire story. I'll address each one.
The above link is directly from the Marion County Clerk's website. The minimum speeding fine is $131. As you can see from the flyer, an officer cannot even write a speeding ticket for less than 6 mph over the speed limit unless the violation occurs in a school or work zone.
Before you post misinformation that can easily be found online, please do some research if you expect to be taken seriously.
I'm not from Marion County and don't know Chris Polak. In fact I never heard of him before this thread. Still, it would be beneficial for you to read the Florida Rules of Traffic Court before you criticize. State law allows traffic citations to be heard in front of hearing officers who are not judges. Most states allow for the same thing. This isn't something unique to Florida. In Florida, a hearing officer must be an attorney in good standing with the Florida Bar. They are hearing officers part time and practicing attorneys full time. Looking at his profile on the Bar's website brought me to the following link:
This "biased" hearing officer actually works as a CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY for his full time job! It's comical that you're suggesting someone who makes his real living defending criminals is actually on the side of law enforcement. But we'll forget about that for a second. You criticize him because he's a former prosecutor or law enforcement officer. So what? A very large number of judges in all levels of Florida courts (and the courts of every other state) were prosecutors at some point in their careers. That doesn't mean anything.
In light of the other falsities that you have mentioned, I find this not to be credible. The Florida Rules of Traffic Court do allow you to cross-examine the officer and present evidence as long as the questions and the evidence is RELEVANT to the case. Questions that the hearing officer or judge determine not to be relevant cannot be asked, and irrelevant evidence or evidence that is hearsay in nature or otherwise not allowed by the Rules of Evidence are not allowed. Just because YOU think that the evidence should be admitted or the question allowed does not mean that you get to ask or submit it.
It is the fundamental right of any citizen to appeal a decision. Inmates in Florida State Prison file appeals on their own without attorneys frequently, and those involve major criminal cases. Nowhere in the Florida Constitution, the Florida Statutes, or any Florida Rules of Procedure does it mandate an appeal must be done by an attorney. Any citizen can file a pro-se appeal of any judicial decision. Yet another piece of misinformation from you.
You have found out? Where? Through another website filled with other disgruntled people convicted of violating traffic laws? Hardly evidence or a smoking gun. There are plenty of people out there who believe that the Holocaust never happened. That doesn't mean they're correct.
There's no corruption. The judicial system worked how it was designed to work. You just didn't like the end result. That doesn't mean that the system is corrupt.
The officer does not have to show "proof" of what the RADAR read. Again, read the Florida Rules of Traffic Court. No state that I know of requires any sort of video or photographic proof at a traffic infraction hearing. I also wonder what would have happened if the officer DID show you the RADAR, or DID bring some sort of proof into court. I'm sure you would have just made up another excuse, like another car's speed being selected or the device not working properly. When I first started running RADAR years ago I started showing people the readings if we were in a safe spot, however I found out quickly that it just created arguments and more problems. Once they saw the reading they came up with another excuse about why they weren't going that fast.
Please post a link to the manufacturer's manual that says a RADAR unit must be calibrated daily. The Florida Administrative Code that governs RADAR speed measuring devices requires that they be calibrated every six months. They must be TESTED daily by the officer. There is a big difference between CALIBRATION and TESTING, and you're purposely misstating fact to make your argument. RADAR calibration is performed by an electronics technician in a controlled environment and takes a couple hours. Testing can be performed by an officer in a matter of minutes. The two are extremely different and I can tell you with 100% certainty that there is no RADAR unit out there that is required to be calibrated daily.
As has been previously stated, an officer who is looking at a speeding car that is likely 500-1000 feet away has no idea whether the driver or even the vehicle is from out of state. Just another baseless allegation without any proof. If you disagree, go to the Clerk of the Court's office and submit a public records request for the percentage of traffic citations issued to out of state drivers. I'm sure that you will find out the vast majority are given to residents.
Not entirely true. The judge challenged the defense attorney to a fight, and the defense attorney left the courtroom and obliged. It's still wrong and that doesn't excuse the judge's behavior, but it's not like the judge jumped across the bench and attacked the attorney. That's the way you made it sound. The judge was wrong by being unprofessional and challenging the attorney to a fight, and the attorney was wrong by accepting the challenge. Both of them are guilty of disorderly conduct or affray.
OK... so your in law enforcement too! You all are getting very Defensive... WHY?? ANY one that wants the truth just google "Florida corruption" and use the news filter... you will find many investigations that show FL is the most corrupt state in USA.
Or see my other links in this tread.
My statements are true... you were not in court with me... even the public that were seated behind seemed astounded at how the traffic court officer was very unfair... and even the baliff when i signed paper work at end acted scared of Polak.
Polak did'nt even let me have a closing statement as traffic court code requires.
Also The trooper only had to state he read the speed as 64 mph... no other proof was presented..even though he told me at time of stop he clocked me at 65! Totally false. He did'nt show any calibration or certification docs in court also as code recomends.
The trooper lied about the location... I told a pic, with the trooper in view of the intersection behind me with the street names visible! He lied to make on citation to make it look like I was in the 45 zone. Hearing officer would not look at my 8x10 photos i held up, or let me present them at all.
The trooper even lied and said he was in moving radar mode, not stationary in grass as I insisted .I told polak.. trooper stated he was never on grass I have another pic that clearly shows this was totally false... again Polak would not hear or admit this crucial evidense!
It is well known that many PD base promotions on perforemance and citations written.. it has been in the news alot lately about these in many areas
Also, this was a young trooper.. still in training I think... he was actually a passenger in the patrol car... he falsified to cover his mistakes.
Google polak... right he is an attonery, but has worked mostly as a cop, atf agent, and prosecutor. Who, knowing this would hire this attonery that seems so biased against defendants and has most always resprented the state.
Yes maybe he could represent family law divorce or something fairly since he would not be defending against people he has worked with. Very much a conflict of interest.
In closing... this OP seems to be in law enforcement or goverment himself and just does'nt want to admit corruption in FL... any readers wishing to get an objective view of FL please read national news stories and google "Florida corruption" and "florida police corruption" using the news filters, or see my links in thread that were not blocked .
Absolutely perfectly stayed and 100% correct, Occifer. To the original poster, several folks on here have posted their opinion of your situation and you have disagreed with all of them. My intent when I responded to your post was to give you a little information so you could see things from a different perspective. Obviously you prefer to see them from your current perspective. Make sure you give us an update on your appeal once it is heard by a judge.
You know what, you can google corruption in any state and find a whole host of articles. Most people don't believe everything that they read on the Internet. The only reason that you believe it is because you agree with it and want it to be true. If you disagree, you simply don't believe it. Such is true about the facts that have been posted in this thread that you have conveniently now ignored.
How do you know that this is true? Because it's what you wanted to hear? Where's the independent research that shows this is accurate?
I was going to address most of your other points but it's not worth my time. Your initial post that started this thread has now been proven to be completely baseless and without truth, and now that you've been proven wrong you have resorted to attacking Florida in any way you can.
Nobody will shed a tear if you become part of that 65%, leave Florida, and never come back.
Listen .. if you don't want to believe national news sources or studies, you have your head in the sand.
I talk to many folks here and in realestate, so I've heard it all and can usually detect when statistics are true or not.
And why is it so many regulars here on this site are so happy to get sarcastic and wish someone would leave this state any time they disagrree with something? Does the truth hurt? No reason for you to get hostile and wish someone to leave... IS thisTypical law enforcement attitude. Why are you so aggressive?
I'm sure you won't shed a tear as you say , but you will miss my capital investment in your economy, and the other 65% of inward population migration that move away and take their pocket books with them.
There may be others that have not seen the light. I wish for their sake that they become enlightened about FL.
Absolutely perfectly stayed and 100% correct, Occifer. To the original poster, several folks on here have posted their opinion of your situation and you have disagreed with all of them. My intent when I responded to your post was to give you a little information so you could see things from a different perspective. Obviously you prefer to see them from your current perspective. Make sure you give us an update on your appeal once it is heard by a judge.
Of course they most likely disagree because ther're likely all in lawenforcement. Law enforcement and local goverments don't like to admit truth when it exsposes faults with them.
No one on here was in court with me so you do not know exactly how unfair this looked and sounded... maybe I can get a journalist involved in the appeal process... that would truely exspose the whole situation.
Your statements are not true. Let's look at how many of your statements have been proven to be false.
1. $250 is not the minimum fine for speeding, as you previously alleged. I posted Marion County's fines.
2. Officers cannot write a speeding ticket for going 3-4 mph over the limit, as you previously alleged. The minimum speed (6 mph over) is written plainly in Marion County's fines.
3. You do not need an attorney to appeal the ruling to the County Court, as you previously alleged. You finally admitted this one.
4. The RADAR unit does not need to be calibrated daily, as you previously alleged. That is evident in the link to the Florida Administrative Code that I posted.
5. You alleged the hearing officer is biased towards law enforcement, yet he actually works as a criminal defense attorney. I posted his website.
You have also made additional statements and claims that are nothing but anecdotal and have not contained any proof of veracity. How can anyone take you seriously or think you're credible when you have posted so many things that are proven lies?
Quote:
Originally Posted by city365
and even the baliff when i signed paper work at end acted scared of Polak.
Wait a second. I thought you said he was biased and knows all the officers? Why would a deputy sheriff who works as a bailiff be afraid of someone who is supposedly only on his side?
Quote:
Originally Posted by city365
Also The trooper only had to state he read the speed as 64 mph... no other proof was presented..even though he told me at time of stop he clocked me at 65! Totally false.
According to the data from the Marion County Clerk (you know, the document that says the minimum speeding fine is $131), the fine for 15-19 mph over the speed limit is $256. The fine for 20-29 mph over the speed limit is $281. You were obviously charged with going 19 over (64 mph in a 45 mph zone). If you were charged with going 65 mph, the fine would have been higher. Now you're complaining about getting LESS of a fine?
And contrary to what you might think, an officer doesn't have to put the highest speed on the citation. I would routinely only cite people for going 9 mph (or 19 mph, or 29 mph) over the limit in order to give them a break on the fine amount even though they were going faster.
Quote:
Originally Posted by city365
He did'nt show any calibration or certification docs in court also as code recomends.
He's not required to show you those documents. It's up to the hearing officer. If the trooper had previously testified on other cases recently and the hearing officer knew that the device was within calibration requirements then he doesn't have to ask for it. He can take judicial notice that the device is properly calibrated. Perfectly legal.
Quote:
Originally Posted by city365
The trooper lied about the location... I told a pic, with the trooper in view of the intersection behind me with the street names visible! He lied to make on citation to make it look like I was in the 45 zone.
The traffic stop takes place at a different location than where the violation was observed. A picture taken at the time and location of the stop is not relevant.
Quote:
Originally Posted by city365
The trooper even lied and said he was in moving radar mode, not stationary in grass as I insisted .I told polak.. trooper stated he was never on grass I have another pic that clearly shows this was totally false... again Polak would not hear or admit this crucial evidense!
Now this one is a real doozy. You really expect people to believe that you took a picture of the FHP car in the grass WHILE YOU WERE DRIVING DOWN THE ROAD, before you got stopped? Sorry, that's just not believable. Nobody drives down the street with a camera taking pictures of cars. What you probably did was take a picture of the FHP car (or a different FHP car--there is more than one in Marion County) AFTER your stop when they were in a different position. Again, not relevant.
Quote:
Originally Posted by city365
It is well known that many PD base promotions on perforemance and citations written.. it has been in the news alot lately about these in many areas
I'm sure you have googled this, right?
Quote:
Originally Posted by city365
Also, this was a young trooper.. still in training I think... he was actually a passenger in the patrol car... he falsified to cover his mistakes.
So he was in a car with a training officer, and BOTH the new trooper and the training officer are conspiring against you and lying? This whole thing just keeps getting better and better. Anything that the trooper in the passenger seat saw, the trooper in the driver's seat saw too. If the passenger was indeed in training then the driver was in charge, and anything that the trainee did had to be approved and verified by the training officer.
Quote:
Originally Posted by city365
Google polak... right he is an attonery, but has worked mostly as a cop, atf agent, and prosecutor. Who, knowing this would hire this attonery that seems so biased against defendants and has most always resprented the state.
If it's on google it must be true, right? Obviously people who disagree with his rulings have no motivation to post false information, right? He actually appears to be a pretty successful criminal defense attorney, and he obviously has no shortage of business or else he would start doing something else.
There's Polak's FDLE law enforcement certification records that are reference by the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. He has not "worked mostly as a cop." He worked as a Marion County deputy from 1984-1989, then worked for the State Attorney's Office from 1989-1997 as an investigator. He hasn't worked as a certified law enforcement officer since 1997, and at no point was he ever an ATF special agent. Where did that even come from? Google?
Again, many judges and even more criminal defense attorneys began their careers as prosecutors. A large number of them were prosecutors for a decade or more. That doesn't mean that they're biased against defendants. Defense attorneys with experience as prosecutors use that as a marketing tool--and it works.
Quote:
Originally Posted by city365
any readers wishing to get an objective view of FL please read national news stories and google "Florida corruption" and "florida police corruption" using the news filters, or see my links in thread that were not blocked .
One of the links you posted about Florida corruption was an editorial opinion article criticizing Pam Bondi and another one contained a report from a "public watchdog" group with a political agenda to make the state seem as corrupt as possible. Neither are hardly independent sources.
As I previously stated, you can google "____ corruption" and "_____ police corruption," putting in the name of any state that you want, and you will get plenty of responses. Most sensible people don't believe everything that they read on the Internet or in the media in general. I realize that there are many naive people out there who do believe everything that they read, no matter where it comes from, as long as it fits their own set of beliefs or political agenda. Apparently that's how you are.
Quote:
Originally Posted by city365
And why is it so many regulars here on this site are so happy to get sarcastic and wish someone would leave this state any time they disagrree with something? Does the truth hurt? No reason for you to get hostile and wish someone to leave... IS thisTypical law enforcement attitude. Why are you so aggressive?
Every post you have made in this thread (and every post you have made on CD) has been about how Florida is a terrible, expensive, corrupt place to live. I haven't seen you post one positive thing at all about Florida. If you think it's really so bad then you should do everyone (including yourself) a favor and leave. Move somewhere you'll be more happy. You're obviously very unhappy with Florida, so why stay in a place that you can't say a good thing about? It's simply a matter of common sense. Or do you just like being either miserable or a hypocrite?
Quote:
Originally Posted by city365
I'm sure you won't shed a tear as you say , but you will miss my capital investment in your economy, and the other 65% of inward population migration that move away and take their pocket books with them.
No. Someone will move down here, buy your home (if you own one), and continue with the capital investment in the economy that you were providing. No big loss. If your made up statistic were true, Florida would have a severely high net population loss every year. It's not true because that's not the case. Even since the economic downturn, Florida has had a positive net migration every year since 2008.
Everything you have stated has been proven wrong. I have had 3 written warnings, and no, Im not in Law Enforcement. If I had a scanner I would scan and post the last traffic warning I got, on April 3, in Alachua. It was in Micanopy on 441. The speed limit does go from 65 to 45. I was just not paying attention and got clocked at 55. The officer was so nice that I actually wrote to the FHP in Alachua to thank him for being so nice.
Two of the three troopers that pulled me over were black.
You really act a bit psychotic. You may need to adjust your medications.
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