Re: CHP speeding tickets by air mail

[Alfisto@xxxxxxx]

Re- the recent discussion on the CHP issuing speeding tickets following
observation from the air, the following clarification comes from the horse's
mouth, my daughter's boy friend who happens to be a CHiP.

From: Joe Azevedo, LAN/WAN coordinator, Golden Gate Division, CHP.

Well this will be a big can of worms but lets go.

Fortunately I can speak well on this particular subject cause while I was in
Ventura I had the opportunity to be a flight officer one time and work speed
from the airplane.

First lets start out by indicating that although a traffic violation is a
minor offense, technically by law if you are pulled over for a traffic offense
you are technically under arrest. By signing the citation you are agreeing to
appearing in court on a set date in lieu of bail or being taken into custody.

Okay with that set. When a flight officer or pilot in the plane is working
speed he works a section of roadway that has markings painted on the shoulder
by Cal Trans. These markings are approximately one mile apart. Now we wait for
a car to pass one mark and start a stop watch. When the vehicle hits the
second mark he stops the stop watch which automatically calculates the speed
for us. Now for those of you who are afficionados of speed traps, this
technically is not a speed trap since all areas where the plane works is
clearly marked by signs indicating your speed may be tracked by the plane,
ergo the law says that is not a speed trap.

Now once the pilot or flight officer determines the speed of the vehicle, he
radio's ground units and gets them into position behind the speeder. The
ground unit affects the stop and then cites the speeder. Now if you look on
the ticket towards the bottom under your signature you will see two blocks.
One says Issuing officer and the other says Arresting officer. The officer who
makes the stop will have his name in the Issuing Officer block and the name of
the pilot or flight officer will be in the Arresting officer block since he
was the one who witnessed the infraction. The issuing officer is just taking
you into custody which by law he may do based on information given to him by
another peace officer.

Now when you go to trial the arresting officer (pilot or flight officer) must
go into court to give testimony. The issuing officer can only affect an arrest
based on info from plane but cannot use that testimony to convict someone in
court. So, you're right in that hearsay can not be used in court when
attempting to convict. Hearsay however, can be used to affect the arrest. 

So as long the officer who actually determined the violation shows up in court
and testifies there is no legal problems.

Hope this helps clear things up.

Graham Arlen, 

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