Do you give tickets while off-duty?

[blunas]

My friend and I were dicussing this and I wanted to see what you guys thought?

Can you give tickets when off duty? If so, would you have to pull the person over? Or could you simply mail it to them?

[Jim1648]

Yes, we can cite someone on duty or off. As a practical matter, I have been a cop for over 25 years and I have never stopped someone off duty. I don't have lights in my personal vehicles and I get enough of that when I am working.

A person does not have to be stopped to be cited for a violation. I have mailed a number of citations over the years. Usually it is something like Driving After Suspension or Driving After Revocation where I determine there is a violation and for whatever reason I mail it to them. Sometimes I learn that after the fact and other times I am too busy to deal with it at the time. Some of them end up going to warrant because the folks that are suspended or revoked don't always have a current address listed. We do have limitations on when someone can be charged, however. Without checking the specific statute, most charges here must be filed within 3 years of the alleged offense.

Keep in mind that I am replying as it pertains to Minnesota. Things very well may be different in other areas.

[t150vsuptpr]

Do you give tickets while off-duty?

My friend and I were dicussing this and I wanted to see what you guys thought?

Can you give tickets when off duty? If so, would you have to pull the person over? Or could you simply mail it to them?
Yes, I "can".

No, I "do not" as a general rule, not in some many years.

Far better, safer options would include simply making notes, go find and ID person on duty if need be, get warrants, ans execute same (warrants that is). Nowadays, might also consider getting a'hold of an onduty via cell, have him make stop and pull over with them and then either get info for a later warrant, or borrow a summons or two and start writing (and have area secretary transfer summons number, a big deal with some for some unknown reason that defies all reason or logic). There are other alternatives as well.

I never "mailed" a ticket to anyone, though I have seant a few warrants through channels to other divisions for execution.

[MPDCjock]

Yes, I can issue NOIs off-duty. But, I rarely do.

[flash40]

A person does not have to be stopped to be cited for a violation. I have mailed a number of citations over the years.

How do you confirm who the driver is? More often than not, it's probably the registered owner, but obviously not always...

[blunas]

That was one other question I had- how can you know who was driving? What if it was not the owner that was driving?

Also, would you guys do it for only major offenses or would you do it for a minor speeding ticket or something like that as well?

(Just curious... I had never known you could get a ticket without being pulled over so this is all new to me.)

[Jim1648]

How do you confirm who the driver is? More often than not, it's probably the registered owner, but obviously not always...

Sorry, that does need a little further explanation. I am assigned to civil process. I am in civilian clothes and an unmarked car. Sometimes I will do an eviction. Usually before doing my eviction I have the full name and date of birth of the person(s) to be evicted. I don't always know if they are going to drive away or get a ride. Sometimes I will know that they don't have a license and I will then see them drive away. I will simply mail them a citation.

Another example was one I had recently. It was just a subpoena to serve on a woman. As I drove near the house she came driving up. I had something else scheduled a few minutes away, so rather than making her wait for the citation, I told her that I would just mail it to her.

Our court security bailiffs have that happen fairly often, as well. They will have people appear in traffic court and they will know that they don't have a drivers license. The bailiffs will watch from the courthouse and often see them get in a vehicle and drive away. Again, it probably works out better to mail a tag then try to get them stopped.

[blunas]

But in terms of a speeding ticket, for example...say you are off-duty and a car speeds by you...can you just mail a ticket to the owner? How would you know that the owner was the on driving? A lot of people drive cars that they dont officially own (for example, parents often let their children drive their car). It just seems odd that you would just be able to send a ticket without ID'ing the person.

[andy5746]

Technically, as soon as I take official action (in this case, cite someone), I am considered as being "on duty" by my department. But to answer the question, as a Motor Officer, I take my ride home with me. When my shift is over, I am considered "off duty", but I am still in uniform on an official police bike. Maybe once or twice a month I see something that is so blatantly unsafe that I do issue a cite. Also, when other folks see a car pass a motor officer at 20 over, they expect you to do something.... feels kind of silly to just ignore someone fronting you off like that :o

In my personal vehicle, I NEVER get involved with minor traffic infractions. If I see something bad, I call the local cops or CHP and pass on the info.

[flash40]

Technically, as soon as I take official action (in this case, cite someone), I am considered as being "on duty" by my department.

Does that mean you can get paid (OT?) if you make a stop off-duty?

[CityCopDC]

I can do anything off duty, I could do "on duty". Technically your never "off". I for the life of me can not come up with a scenario which would casue me to write a ticket off duty....

[lexcoptk]

I am a police officer 24/7. Just because I am not in uniform does not mean that I can't ticket or arrest. My department has a home fleet program. I can, and do, use my cruiser off duty. I just can't leave the county with it. Part of the home fleet, as written in our general orders, is that if we see an infraction, or hear a call for service go out that we are close to, we can respond and render assistance if needed. We are also required to be armed while operating the vehicle off duty. Acctually, we had an off duty officer catch a bank robber a couple of weeks ago. Now does this mean that I go running to a nearby call if I have my family in the car with me? No. Do I stop every traffic violation I see when off duty? No, I don't stop every traffic violation I see on duty, it is officer discression, the same rules apply. It is something you have to weigh against the situation. If I am off duty and see a serious violation, or I am close to a priority call in a possition where my response can save lives or catch a dangerous criminal and I am the only one in the car (ie, not risking anyone elses safety), then I am absolutly going to respond and take care of bussiness.
I also am a motor officer but we are "strongly discouraged" from riding the motors off duty. Besides I have a personal bike, and it is much more fun to ride around than one that has "Police" plastered all over it when I don't have to.

[andy5746]

Does that mean you can get paid (OT?) if you make a stop off-duty?

Nope, but I'm covered under worker's comp if I get hurt and also covered by the department if someone decides to sue me for the actions I took. There really isn't any incentive to dive into anything, and I don't make a habit of it.

[Bully]

No Dinero, No Trabajo

[SddR70]

I'm allowed to hook em up 24/7 on or off duty. However I choose not to for safety reasons.

I have on 1 occassion had a duty officer pull over a car while I was off-duty and I issued the citation.
The subject, we've dealt with so many times that even Carter's doesn't have enough liver pills to cover that count, was driving on a restricted license and likes to thumb his nose at LE. Lesson served.

I've also on numerous occassions followed drunk drivers and called them in, then provided back-up to the officer until the arrest was effected. I probably get about 5-6 of these a year. The duty officer is the one that initates the stop, I simply watch from a distance til he gets the suspect stopped.

In those instances, I just try to be the best witness I can.

[Northtechsan]

I have full enforcement authority off-duty. However unless I am in uniform and working and off-duty detail I do not take enforcement action. If I'm on my own time and I happen to see something bad enough that requires police action. I grab my cell, call 911, identify myself, and have the responding on-duty unit make initial contact.

[Mabbottusmc]

Why do it off duty? You don't have all your tools. What if it went to crap? You don't know who the person is or if they are wanted.

[Tmg]

I have no idea if i can.

and i will never ticket off duty. I mean how big of a loser do you have to be to ticket people off duty? I wont do anything police related off duty unless someone is about to loose their life. Then i will step in.

[creolecop]

I wrote a ticket for loud music off duty just the other day and a handicapp parking ticket in the same parking lot, I was off duty and in civies.

This young punk pulled into the gas pump on the side of me with his music rattling my brain. Got out left the music on and started to walk toward the store. While he was in the store and I was pumping my gas, I donned my off duty badge W/holder and slid my paddle holster on and grabbed my ticket book (I have one I keep for off duty in my POV juuuust in case). I finished pumping my gas and there comes the hoodlum walking back to his car, music still shaking the store up. I asked for all his paperwork and DL and wrote him up, the look on his face was priceless.

I went paid for my gas, and as I walked out the store I see a car in Handicap parking with no placard or license plate, I walk to my truck and grab the ticket book as I'm walking back to the violators car, she starts to walk out the store to her car with a 12 pack of beer. She saw me standing by her car, she saw the badge and gun and asked if there was a problem, I said, yes, you forgot your wheelchair, and as a result I need to see your licence, reg, and insurance. :D She kept saying she was going to take care of it with Chief, whom she claims she knows very, very well (don't they all). So I told her to hang tight and walked back to my truck and came back with my digital camera, she had her beer sitting on top of her car by the drivers side. I said since a citation is considered an arrest I am authorized to take your picture and all evidence for trial, I positioned her her next to her driver side door with the 12 pack of Bud Lite in full view and took her picture, I then took further pictures of the car and license plate in the handicap spot. I told her I'll notify chief for her in the event she forgets, and show him the photos.
She said, theres drug dealers and criminals out there and you bother with this. I said yes mame, We are not at liberty to decide what laws we enforce, we enforce all laws for your protection and service, and deal with all types of criminals from violent criminals to misdemeanor criminals as in this case" :D
Told her to be safe and walked off.

I rarely ever issue tickets off duty and will not at all stop a vehicle in my POV, but If I can walk up to you and I got nothing better to do, coupled with not being in a rush, I might cite you off duty.

[Gene L]

Can, but don't. I would stop a car if it was driving dangerously and call a uniformed cop on the cellphone to write the ticket.

It would take an eager beaver indeed to make routine traffic stops off duty. And in my state, you can't work traffic in an umarked car. Doesn't mean you can't stop a car for a severe traffic violation, it means you can't have an unmarked car running radar.

[kirch]

Things have changed since I first got into LE, and it's now harder to take enforcement action off-duty.

I work for a municipal agency and we used to have blanket deputization. So I could take whatever enforcement action I wanted, county-wide, on- or off-duty. About a year ago we got a new sheriff that did away with the blanket deputization and renegotiated with all the agencies. Now I have deputy status only when on official duty.

Also, I used to be able to mail citations to people. But more recent rules have come down saying that we can no longer do that.

Back when it was easier to enforce off-duty, I did it a few times. I never stopped anyone off-duty, because I could not have legally done so in my personal vehicle. Plus, I often would be without radio, handcuffs, gun, etc. What I did in those circumstances was write down the license plate, vehicle description and a very detailed description of the driver. Then, the next time I was at work, I'd look up the data I needed and mail a citation with a letter explaining the circumstances. Only one showed up for court and tried to argue she was not the driver, but I reviewed my notes prior to court and was able to postively ID her as the driver.

I mostly did it when I was a new cop and heady with enforcement authority. I've calmed down a lot since then.

I will say, though, it was sure convenient when I had a jerk of a neighbor living in the rental next door to me. He'd get drunk and have his musing blaring at all hours of the night. I'd go over and do the neighborly thing first, asking him to turn it down. If that didn't work, I came back over with the ticketbook in hand and told him if he didn't turn it down, I would start writing. Worked like a charm.

All this being said, I still have enforcement authority statewide for any criminal acts I witness. I've never seen anything that's caused me to take action, but I could if I wanted to.

[creolecop]

I recall being instructed in the academy, that although a Police officer in Louisiana we could arrest if we witnessed a felony anywhere in the country. Not sure if that was a result of the patriot act or if that was in play before then, but our head instructor told of twice he made arrests out of state, Once in Tennessee and once in Texas.

I have had one out of jurisdiction arrest that held up.
I had a guy pull a gun out and point it at me while getting on the on ramp of the interstate. I was in my POV but had my gun and badge on as well as a black shirt with big bold POLICE letters on it because I had come from a class down at that Parish (county) Sheriff's office. I wasn't in my unit because it was being worked on.

I stopped my vehicle, I was in front of him, rolled out the drivers door and started yelling my commands at him at gun point. He didn't immediately drop the gun and get his hands up and i was milliseconds from pulling the trigger at a pretty close range, no doubt I would have tore him up and he dropped the gun in the passenger seat and put his hands up, I had him hold his hands out the window as I approached opened his door with my off hand and grabbed his left hand with my off hand holstered my weapon all in the same motion and made him eat interstate on ramp pavement. I cuffed him placed him under arrest. Called 911 told them an out of town officer needs assistance with an arrest involving a firearm and gave my location. Two officers showed up. I wrote my statement, they entered me as the arresting officer, and off to jail the jackass went. That guy went to jail and his mouth was still open, he could not believe he had just had road rage on a police officer, it was priceless. :D

[gcrfirewolf]

She kept saying she was going to take care of it with Chief, whom she claims she knows very, very well (don't they all). .

Team "What IF"

[Mstangfk]

I recall being instructed in the academy, that although a Police officer in Louisiana we could arrest if we witnessed a felony anywhere in the country. Not sure if that was a result of the patriot act or if that was in play before then, but our head instructor told of twice he made arrests out of state, Once in Tennessee and once in Texas.

I have had one out of jurisdiction arrest that held up.
I had a guy pull a gun out and point it at me while getting on the on ramp of the interstate. I was in my POV but had my gun and badge on as well as a black shirt with big bold POLICE letters on it because I had come from a class down at that Parish (county) Sheriff's office. I wasn't in my unit because it was being worked on.

I stopped my vehicle, I was in front of him, rolled out the drivers door and started yelling my commands at him at gun point. He didn't immediately drop the gun and get his hands up and i was milliseconds from pulling the trigger at a pretty close range, no doubt I would have tore him up and he dropped the gun in the passenger seat and put his hands up, I had him hold his hands out the window as I approached opened his door with my off hand and grabbed his left hand with my off hand holstered my weapon all in the same motion and made him eat interstate on ramp pavement. I cuffed him placed him under arrest. Called 911 told them an out of town officer needs assistance with an arrest involving a firearm and gave my location. Two officers showed up. I wrote my statement, they entered me as the arresting officer, and off to jail the jackass went. That guy went to jail and his mouth was still open, he could not believe he had just had road rage on a police officer, it was priceless. :D




lol

awesome..

[Nightshift va]

My friend and I were dicussing this and I wanted to see what you guys thought?

Can you give tickets when off duty? If so, would you have to pull the person over? Or could you simply mail it to them?

We can enforce the law when we are off. But other than life and death matters Im off and I keep it that way. I have followed up on matters though but since I don't live in my jurisdiction any longer I don't do much of that either. I do though always remain armed and viligante in case a situation should arise where my involvement might save a life.

[LeanG]

..... would you have to pull the person over?

ABSOLUTELY NOT!!! I can, but why would I? For a traffic violation? Nope, wouldn't do it.

[VA Dutch]

We can enforce the law when we are off. But other than life and death matters Im off and I keep it that way. I have followed up on matters though but since I don't live in my jurisdiction any longer I don't do much of that either. I do though always remain armed and viligante in case a situation should arise where my involvement might save a life.


Better watch that "e" at the end of that word, sir. Someone might get the wrong idea and think that you made a faux pas there.
:D

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Merry Christmas to all of you!!

[AlabamaCop]

In response to the original poster's follow-up question about how we can identify the offender if it is not the registered owner of the vehicle... we have our ways. If I see the driver, I can usually identify the driver and figure out who it is. Remember that we have many resources such as driver's license photos and booking photos as well as our computer system at our departments to identify someone. For example, if a person is driving a car, it probably isn't the first time they have driven that car and they may have been stopped in that car before. All that has to be done is to plug the tag number into the dispatch computer and pull up any previous traffic stops on the vehicle. If the officer ran a license on that stop, it will show up in the log. Take that person and pull up the DL picture and see if it's the offender. If that doesn't work there are countless other ways to tie people other than the registered owner to cars and identify them. It's all just a matter of how hard you want to try.

I personally don't get worked up over traffic offenses or any other small things when I am not at work.

[Frank Sector]

Why do it off duty? You don't have all your tools. What if it went to crap? You don't know who the person is or if they are wanted.

My logic exactly. I have called 9-1-1 about drunks bouncing off of retaining walls and other vehicles but I would not make an Officer Farva stop and run up on a car with my gun out to give em a ticket.
It is pretty easy to get fired in my department by doing ANYTHING off duty.

[LA DEP]

Giving a ticket off duty??...how?....pull them over in my POV?....why?...If somebody is being enough of a jackass for me to take notice of them when I am off duty, than I use the trusty cell phone to call the ON DUTY guys....

Taking police action off duty is a good way to either get 1) Killed 2) hurt 3) Sued and/or 4) Fired.....

No thanks