You have but three duties which you SHALL perform when stopped.

1. You WILL present a valid drivers license;

2. You WILL present a valid registration for the vehicle you are driving;

3. You WILL present a valid document ascertaining your financial responsibility.

Failure to do any of the preceding WILL subject you to further charges on the citation and possibly even arrest.

I have cited many of the myriad ways that the police can, and possibly WILL, make your life harder. They can do this based on several things:

You were being uncooperative, even though you have fully complied with the law;

You were acting suspiciously because of your unwillingness to cooperate, even though you have fully complied with the law;

The cop felt “hinky” about you, even though you have fully complied with the law;

All of the above.

The Supreme Court of the United States (SCotUS) has ruled that a person may not be held suspect for the mere exercise of their Constitutional rights. Of course, the cop has to have “heard” of that ruling. One of your rights under the law, civil and penal, is to remain silent.

Anyone ever hear of a cop stopping someone for investigation because they were in compliance with the law? They were acting “too lawful”? That can also lead to your bring stopped. “He was driving 2 miles under the speed limit, staying in one lane, and didn’t “bobble” the line at all. Seemed rather suspicious to me. He seemed like he was being too careful.”

You have no more duty as an arrested driver to acknowledge his presence on this earth than he does to protect you from any crime. You do not have to answer any question he poses to you. You, in fact, do not have to look at him.”

Acting in a manner as outlined by jimpeel may very well get you a trip to see the judge, for bail or even jail while you are awaiting for your ticket to go to trial. I strongly recomend that you don’t use this particular tactic. Recieving a ticket(appearance ticket) is only 1 way for an arrest of a minor violation or infraction to end. It would not be an abuse of power to follow any of the other ways an arresting officer secures that the arrestee will appear in court. If you refuse to acknowledge the officers presence and refuse to answer his questions he has nothing to gauge that you will appear to answer the ticket against. Therefore, he is obligated to custodial arrest you, take you before the judge who will take your plea of guilty and fine from you if you plea guilty or will set bail for you if you plea not guilty. If you don’t have the bail on you off to the county jail you go. Your car is also searched to inventory and document any belongings that you have in it. If you have something that is illegal an additional charge may be forthcoming. also consider that your car will be towed away to an impound lot at your cost.

You have no more duty as an arrested driver to acknowledge his presence on this earth than he does to protect you from any crime. You do not have to answer any question he poses to you. You, in fact, do not have to look at him.

Now this does not relieve you from whatever this person, who has the power to harm you on several levels, may do to demonstrate to you that they can make an example of you for others who may attempt this. Abuse of power under color of authority is more common than some would think.

This person may decide to keep you for an inordinate length of time while writing the citation.

They may call other officers to the location to intimidate you.

They may call a K-9 car to the location to sniff you and your property which WILL result in a “hit” thereby requiring your further detention or impounding or confiscation of your property. [fact: The United States Treasury has stated that 92% of all currency in circulation is tainted with cocaine.]

They may decide that the original cause for the stop is not enough and start looking for other infractions for which to cite you. This can include safety inspections such as using a penny to see if your tires are within legal limits, dirty windows, etc.

So, yes, you can simply ignore them; but you can rest assured that they will not ignore you. You will become the entire focus of their day.

They shunted all cars into the fire dept lot, then would very pleasantly say they’re not stopping motorists on suspicion of doing anything unlawful but rather implementing a federal road safety study. The driver’s participation was totally voluntary. Ok, no problem, what do you want to know? They then asked how long a trip one was making (in my case less than a mile– I was on my way to the supermarket with my dog in the passenger’s seat) and if one had been drinking (which I hadn’t.) Then the kicker– they remind the driver that participation is voluntary but would you mind taking a breathalyzer test? No thank you, I say, I’m happy to have helped in their research but I don’t feel inclined to continue and I’d like to be on my way now. They go away a few seconds, come back with a pamphlet describing the federal study, thank me, and off I go.

Gotta love this, eh? It’s totally “voluntary” even though there’s a roadblock, they give themselves a few minutes to snoop around to try to establish probable cause, run your plate through the database, and then politely ask for the driver’s voluntary participation in incriminating one’s self. And I imagine there are plenty of drivers who are stupid enough to fall for this…