accused of racing
 

today i received a call from the york region police that there were complaints that i was racing down elson, a small residential street. They obviously have my plates , but i wasnt informed of the date of this accusation. The problem with this is that i wasnt racing, for ****s sake, i dont understand where this came from at all. i have to make an appointment and go in and see an officer. what the hell do i say? how am i supposed to fight something like this? how do they know its not someone playing a prank or ****ing with me? this is ****ing bs, anyone have any suggestions on what to do???? the officer was talking about charges and too.....ughhhhhh

Brother if you voluntarily go in for an interview then save the tax payers some $$$ and just plead guilty, cause all your doing is helping them to convict you whether you were racing or not.

Trust me, no good ever comes from "having nothing to hide" or "Just want to clear up some info" or whatever other method they use to convince you its in your best interest to go in voluntarily.

If they had enough to convict you without needing a little extra help then your post would have been " HOLY &$^%#*% I'm going to jail!!!!!!!!!" or " who finances outrageously priced insurance " instead of the one you wrote.

Absolute best advice ==> pay the couple bucks to consult with a lawyer BEFORE talking with the police again.

Even if you have never gone over 50 KM/H in your life....go talk to a lawyer.

Good luck with it

wow, you must have pissed someone off. unless they have evidence (video of you racing), than i don't see what you have to be worried about.

Definitely don't voluntarily go in, if they want you, make them come to you. Suggest that they misread the plate(which is possible ;) ), and that you've never been on that street. If you talk to them again ask what evidence they have against you, unless they have a CLEAR video of you and your car "racing" down their street then they have nothing on you, or else they would have charged you already. Just having a license plate isn't enough. I can easily walk down my street and write down a license plate of a car in someone's driveway and tell the cops that they're racing, but without evidence I've got nothing. Don't help the cops by going in, do it for TSR, I mean GTcars. :P

Best advise right there.
Talk to a lawyer

Yeah , DO NOT voluntarily go in! If they have something on you they should come to you.

The best thing you can do is cooperate. If you play hardball, they will play harder. It isn't a game you can win that way.

The best thing you can do is understand your rights. You might want to check out my book about street racing legislation. I posted the information in the introduction thread. Probably the wrong thread but that's where it is unless it gets moved.

Anyway, you have the opportunity to give your side of the story.

Bear in mind that you didn't have to be racing anyone to be charged with street racing.

At some point the cops are going to want to make an example of someone and that someone is going to be someone who really pisses them off. Don't be that someone.

If you lie that you werent on that street and they prove you were, you are now a liar and who knows what else your not being forthcomming with, dont lie, because when you do tell the truth, they can say your fibbing again since you proved yourself a liar, just keep your mouth shut and your ears open, or bare minimum DONT LIE.

Go in and see what they want after a consultation with a lawyer, just see what they want, bring a parent or freind with you who will act as a medium and a witness (means whisper into someones ear and let them "interpret" what your saying and have them talk to the cops). Consider yourself under investigation, anything you say can and will be used bla bla bla........

Have someone drive you there, dont take your car.

You may involuntarily provide them with convicting evidence by talking, even if you truly "didnt do anything wrong".

Its really sad that this is now the way we need to communicate with legal figures, public distrust in police, politicians, etc... too bad, but it didnt just happen accidentally that way either.

Voluntarily going in to talk to them could be seen as an admission of guilt.
If they had any thing on you, they would have come to you.

Not so much an admission of guilt as being tricked into admitting guilt....

"I wasnt goign THAT fast....... just 20 over"... oops you just admitted speeding!

I dont like this situation at all , get some advice , even Pointz or something , and try taking an adult . My buddy took an adult with him when he got called in by the cops .
The cops told him he had to come in on his own by friday . (We were all about 18 - 19 at the time ). The cop probably figgered it would be real easy when he agreed to come in , except for the fact that his dad sent their top corporate lawyer with him . This guy was a retired crown attorney to boot .
Get legal advice first and dont take your own car .
If they ask for a pic of your car , say this is the only one I have , and its a pic of your car before you modded it . Then they have to describe to you the vehicle that committed the offense , time , direction , plate number , clothing on driver . etc etc .
Be as vague with the answers as they are with the questions .
Would you say your car is blue , Well, kind of a greenish blue . Would you say your car is lowered . I,m not sure I dont have another car like this exact year and model to compare it too .
would you say your car is fast . I,m more into just cruising and hanging out .The speeds people travel on some of the local highways kind of scares me ..77.

If you want defence, get a paralegal to work with you, that way you can have a dialog with the person going to court, and find out whats gonna happen.

Check out www.imintrouble.ca. Find a paralegal that deals in your court.

find out whats going on first, like 1974 consult a lawyer make him call the station and see if they are pressing charges. If they are DONT make the come to you

hahaha york is funny! if they wanted to charge you they would have had to do it on the spot.
they cant do it like that.

For the record a police office CAN come knock on your door and give you a ticket after the fact....

Sometimes all the facts are not availalbe at the "crime" scene.

ok that is true but this is not a hit and run its speeding. they need to have him on radar. hear say means all they need proof of him street racing !

Exactly, I've studied (sat in on many cases) ... and been through the legal system both for HTA and criminally. If the cops had something on you, you would have already been charged with an offense. If the cops don't have anything they will dig, or if they wanted to strengthen their case they dig.

Guess what? if you speak to them they have an "opportunity" for information, if you don't they get nothing.

Why do you think people always ask for their lawyers when the cops want to talk to them and what will a lawyer say when he arrives? My client has nothing to say... cops will try all kinds of tactics to get you to speak before they speak to your lawyer, they know when your lawyer gets there they are screwed, any information helps them incriminate you.

Sounds like http://www.roadwatch.ca/how_roadwatc...der2_r1_c4.gif
http://www.roadwatch.ca/how_roadwatch_works.htm

Someone who lives on that street probably doesn't like your driving and snitched on you. Don't sweat it. If you go talk to Mr. Cop, fine. He'll probably try to intimidate you and get info from you. Just play dumb. No, I don't speed, I don't remember where I was that day, I might have driven on that street before, no I don't remember when, thanks see ya later. :dunno: :dunno: :dunno:

this is an easy scenario. i know for a fact how this will work out. the reason you got a call was because some1 u got beef with or some retired grandpa had nothing better to do.

if you were charged with the street racing legislation, you wouldn't be receiving a phone call, instead you would see a tow truck outside your door taking your car away and the police officer at your door taking away your license after handing you a yellow slip of paper. when things aren't going there way they will be nice to you, once they have the ball on their court...that's when you get screwed

the reason you got a phone call is because the cops do not have any hard evidence, if they did there would be no phone call. whats going to happen is they will try to interrogate you and get you to give them the answers they want. once thats over with..they can make some quick cash off you by charging tow/impound fees and your basically screwed.

so the best option would be talk to a lawyer..then think about talking to the cops. if you werent going over 50 and you weren't at that scene wherever it may be, then don't even bother calling the cops back or showing up they cant do jack

once again keep this in mind...

1) the reason you got a phone call is because the cops do not have any hard evidence
2) if you were charged with the street racing legislation, you wouldn't be receiving a phone call, instead you would see a tow truck outside your door with the police officer taking away your license


if you notice sometimes in murder cases and stuff, sometimes the suspect turns themselves in later. Like it would say in the newspaper "XXX showed up later at the police station and turned themselves in." The reasont hey do that is coz they take that time to consult a paralegal.
keep that in mind, and best of luck, keep us updated

2 videos explaining why you should never talk to the police
 

Professor James Duane of Regent Law School, a former criminal defence attorney, (yes it's American but get past that) gives an amazing lecture on why you should never, ever talk to the police:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8z7NC5sgik

The lecture also includes a second part by a Virginia Police department officer (and a former Navy criminal investigator) who has conducted 1000s of interviews also tells you why you should never, ever talk to the police:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08fZQWjDVKE

The best part of the video is at the beginning Prof Duane reads a short newspaper article about a gangland slaying to the class. At the end of the lecture he asks the class of law students one question as if he was the police officer. It was a show of hands question and almost everyone in the room ended up convicting themselves even though the only connection they had to the slaying was that they heard him read the newspaper article!

If you talk to the police, you will screw up. It's that straighforward.

Screw up?
 

I'm sorry, but lawyers aside, I don't buy it. I have talked to police since my first traffic ticket in 1967. In all those years I've been ticketed with a wide variety of offences. The only ones I've ever been convicted of were the ones where I either forgot to show up for my court appearance or I really was guilty.

Considering how many traffic offences I committed when I was street racing back in the day, the occasional ticket really didn't bother me. If I was guilty, I was prepared to be accountable. Certainly not without a court battle though just in case I got lucky.

In all those years I've found it most helpful to maintain a positive, respectful attitude and where possible use my sense of humour to best effect. Many cops react well to the notion that they're human too and will give you a break. If you act hostile, you have raised the odds you're going down. And for what? You couldn't be polite and friendly? Even if it's an act, it can work. And when it works, you are that much better off.

Murder cases and traffic cases are not conducted with the same energy due to cost, general importance and the burden on the system. The system does not have time to play games normally at this level unless you have caused the system to spotlight you.

There are bad cops out there but they don't generally start out that way. They get sour from dealing with idiots. When it turns out that at last they aren't dealing with a total moron, they tend to act more reasonably.

Bear in mind though, that if you are a real street racer you are doing so with the understanding of the consequences. So if you get caught regardless of whether the law is legal or not, you have to take your lumps. Up until we get the law changed that is.

I'm working on it. It will take time. It also may be that some of you will be able to participate. More on that in a dedicated post.

Don't worry. They'll just serve the ticket to you at home (if they want to charge you w/ driving offence).

Unless they want to lay charges of dangerous operation. Where the next time ur out, you'll be stopped, arrested, and u'll spend the night at the station.

Depends on a lot, maybe they just want to talk / interview re roadwatch.

Best bet is to call a lawyer and go in. Will look better IF it reaches to court for possible show cause (if criminal or even provincial), or even when it reaches trial.

Both of the points made in the last two posts are covered in the video and why the reasoning doesn't work.

The police officer in the video said, why would I interview someone I didn't think did something wrong? It's a waste of his time. He even goes on to profile the different kinds of people who come in, the talkers, the polite kids, the wise guys, etc. It doesn't matter. He'll be their best friend if it gets them to admit guilt.

If you got in a ring with a professional boxer, do you think you could go the distance? Why would you think you can go the distance with a professional interviewer?

A complaint by the member of the public works both ways. If the driver is truly not guilty, the member of the public can be charged with mischief.

The problem is that if the person ever did anything that could be construed as a "stunt" or racing as covered under the legislation, then that is a problem since there is no time limit as to when the offence had to have occurred mentioned in the legislation. That means for many drivers, a witch hunt could ensue if the general public actually understood the meaning of the legislation.

The originator of this thread could order a copy of my book and get the complete lowdown.

I don't remember the details of the OP, but I don't see any reason why he should go to the police station at all. If police wanted to charge me with anything, they can come find me, whereupon I'd just keep my mouth shut.

Yeah, does he legally have to go talk to the cops?

How about if he was involved in a situation where the police should be called... such as an accident?

if you said your gonna talk to the cops and then you dont show up its like your avoiding them and then your gonna have more issues to deal with. heres what happens, and im speaking from experience twice now. someone saw you do something, they reported it, the cops cant do if they didnt pysically catch you in the act. ive had letters sent to me saying that the police have been notified because of my wreckless driving and basically in lamens terms those letter said, we know you were, but we cant proove a fuken thing. hell man we were racing on the qew one nite and blew past the bitch who ran the opp department in that area and she got my buddeies plates, he had to go in there and appologize to her for speeding and thats it, she didnt hand otu a ticket to him or anything. as stated,m the cops are digging for a conviction, go in there, play dumb, dont admit to anything not even 5 over the limit, if anything tell them that you always driver 5 or 10 under the limit in residential areas. but never over.