25 SPVM cops make court appearances daily
Every day, when court is operating, around 25 SPVM police have to appear in court to give testimony on all kinds of cases. That’s paid hours in which they won’t be doing their usual work, and most of the cases are minor ones in which the officer basically reads out the content of a parking ticket.
Steve Q 10:34 on 2018-12-25 Permalink
This is one area where the city should inprove the system in order to be more efficient and to save money.
Kate 10:47 on 2018-12-25 Permalink
It’s a balance, Steve Q. If the city wants to collect on tickets, the cop has to show up. That’s our protection as citizens – a cop can’t just write something down and disappear, they have to testify to it. This is not a thing we want to lose.
Secondarily, policing is stressful, and the occasional afternoon in court is probably good for a cop’s well-being.
Ephraim 11:00 on 2018-12-25 Permalink
The police are officers of the court. It’s one of the reasons that it’s so important for them to NOT perjure themselves and not violate the law. To this day I still want to get a policeman on the stand and ask him if they know the speed limit on the 720 and if they have ever gone over the speed limit while not in an emergency. I don’t know ANYONE who has ever done the speed limit on the 720. The limit is just 70km/h.
dhomas 07:59 on 2018-12-26 Permalink
I’ve contested many tickets and the police officer has never shown up. According to the “procureur”, this is no longer required in order to get a conviction. In my parents’ day, having the police officer not show up to court basically meant you won your court case (from what they told me).
Kate 09:42 on 2018-12-26 Permalink
dhomas, interesting. If that’s so, I wonder why police are still being asked to show up in court.
Bill Binns 12:46 on 2018-12-26 Permalink
Lots of places have gotten rid of the requirement for the cop to show up in court for minor cases. For years, this functioned as an almost guaranteed “get out of jail free card” (at least for traffic tickets) where I grew up in Massachusetts. I personally had thousands of dollars in speeding tickets torn up back in the 80’s. I would say that the cops showed up in one out of 10 cases back then. The early internet killed the fun when the trick became too widely known. The last time I tried it, a whole room full of people got their “hearing” at the same time. It was explained to us that anyone who would like to plead guilty should raise their hands now and proceed to the cashier to pay their original fine. Anyone who would like to plead innocent could do so but if found guilty by the judge would have to pay their original fine + “court costs” (which would often double the ticket).