Question for LEOs ... Traffic Speed

[ElWhompo]

Went to Tarelton Graduation tonite. On the way home, there were 2 vehicles on 281 travelling anywhere from 45-55 mph (281 has a posted speed limit of 70). The vehicles weren't swerving, but were tapping brakes quite frequently for no reason. Th Bride & I followed em for about 10 mi. Finally, my Bride called th cops. She gave them direction of travel, locations, & as good a description as possible. We then passed em up & continued on our merry way.
She got a call about 15 min later from dispatch. The officer stated a Deputy was following them, but could not pull em over without us filing a charge.
What gives? I was under the impression that reasonable suspicion was enough ... & drivin that dang slow was suspicious enough for me!


Would a LEO mind clarifying that for me?

Thx

[tvc184]

Went to Tarelton Graduation tonite. On the way home, there were 2 vehicles on 281 travelling anywhere from 45-55 mph (281 has a posted speed limit of 70). The vehicles weren't swerving, but were tapping brakes quite frequently for no reason. Th Bride & I followed em for about 10 mi. Finally, my Bride called th cops. She gave them direction of travel, locations, & as good a description as possible. We then passed em up & continued on our merry way.
She got a call about 15 min later from dispatch. The officer stated a Deputy was following them, but could not pull em over without us filing a charge.
What gives? I was under the impression that reasonable suspicion was enough ... & drivin that dang slow was suspicious enough for me!


Would a LEO mind clarifying that for me?

Thx

Yes, no, maybe?

My first question would be, file charges for what? From what you described, their actions were strange but not illegal or threatening. Especially since you passed them up and you didn't say anything about them following you.

As far as the report by you and a traffic stop, that depends.

An anonymous tip is not a valid reason for a detention of anyone whether it is a traffic stop or a pedestrian stop. An anonymous tip is not reliable. Simply calling the police and telling them that a car or person looks suspicious does not give the officer at least reasonable suspicion.

A person that stops to talk with officers or can be contacted as a witness is generally held to be reliable. An unidentified person or one that refuses to be involved does not count. There are ways to overcome the anonymous tip by an officer seeing the claimed suspicious activity. An example is like a caller saying that a guy standing on the corner is selling dope. An officer has no reasonable suspicion to stop the "suspect" even if he fits an exact description. But if an officer stays back and watches the suspect and sees him walk up to a couple of cars that pass by and exchange something in the window and then walk to a a bush near the road and appear to be hiding something, that seems to fit a dope dealer. So then an officer can justify a brief detention based on the tip AND his observations.

In your case, if an officer spots the car and it is not doing anything illegal in front of the officer, he probably cannot justify a stop. If the officer sees a traffic violation in front of him, he can stop the vehicle with or without your tip.

That is the brief idea of a reasonable suspicion stop. So what did you tell the police, did you give your name and address so they could get a statement if needed, etc.? I can see where the officer wanted to know how far you wanted to go or at least get a statement from you to justify a stop.

You asked if "reasonable suspicion" is enough to justify a stop. The answer is "yes". How the cops come about that reasonable suspicion however, is the issue.

[tvc184]

Clear as mud?

[ElWhompo]

Actually, a very clear reply. Thx!

To answer some of yer questions ... Yes. My wife gave th dispatch Name, Address, & Callback number. "Filing Charges"? I don't know why he asked that as I can't think of any charge I could levy against th vehicles. We were/are relieved that the deputy followed em for a bit.

Our suspicion (what we thought were grounds to report) was that the vehicles were travelling 20-25 mph under th posted speed limit. I thought that that was grounds for reasonable supspicion. I thought that was almost as bad as speeding as both, in my opinion, created unsafe driving hazards.

[supertrooperl14]

We could stop you for impeeding traffic in NM.

[wyliescrib]

isnt the posted speed limit the max you can go .. doesnt refer to the min.

[supertrooperl14]

When the speed limit is 70 and you are going 45 for 10 miles it poses a safety danger as well. I've never written a ticket but made a stop or two for it. We have stopped folks for this and got into DWIs, lost folks, and tired folks. So this law has actually made the roads safer.

[Mr.RonGilbert]

TVC nailed it.

Regardless of the complaint/observation that was phoned in - IMO the officer would have made his own observations, developed his own PC (even if he used the phone call as the initiator) then taken care of business. If you follow someone long enough a reason will present itself, and pretty darn fast if they are under the influence. The "You have to file a charge" sounds like a load of crap to me. At worst I may ask for a statement from you and your wife to contribute to whatever I gathered for the case.


Perhaps they were getting the "highway delight"

[Olphart]

Sec. 545.363. MINIMUM SPEED REGULATIONS. (a) An operator may not drive so slowly as to impede the normal and reasonable movement of traffic, except when reduced speed is necessary for safe operation or in compliance with law.(b) When the Texas Transportation Commission, the Texas Turnpike Authority, the commissioners court of a county, or the governing body of a municipality, within the jurisdiction of each, as applicable, as specified in Sections 545.353 to 545.357, determines from the results of an engineering and traffic investigation that slow speeds on a part of a highway consistently impede the normal and reasonable movement of traffic, the commission, authority, county commissioners court, or governing body may determine and declare a minimum speed limit on the highway.(c) If appropriate signs are erected giving notice of a minimum speed limit adopted under this section, an operator may not drive a vehicle more slowly than that limit except as necessary for safe operation or in compliance with law.
Acts 1995, 74th Leg., ch. 165, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1995.

I don't know if this is still current, but it needs to be observed by the officer, not the reporting citizen, to file charges. Plus, there are a lot of discretionary issues to consider (IMO).

[quackerback]

my wife has been pulled over for going to slow before. she did not receive a ticket though. we were going to eat with some friends and were not sure where we were going. she was driving 20 in a 35 and got pulled over. i have called 911 2 times before for a driver. both times i stayed behind the driver and waited until the officer showed up.

[tvc184]

my wife has been pulled over for going to slow before. she did not receive a ticket though. we were going to eat with some friends and were not sure where we were going. she was driving 20 in a 35 and got pulled over. i have called 911 2 times before for a driver. both times i stayed behind the driver and waited until the officer showed up.

That helps a lot, especially in cases like a DWI. When people complain about officer intrusions without cause, it never hurts to have a citizen willing to get involved and say, "I am the one that called because I saw.....". Nothing makes a case better for a jury (or getting a quick guilty plea) than an average citizen willing to stand up and say that the officer is correct and the guy was weaving and endangering people. It takes the cops vs the picked on citizen aspect out of it.

Thanks for getting involved. It sure makes the officer's job a lot easier and the public a lot safer.

[quackerback]

That helps a lot, especially in cases like a DWI. When people complain about officer intrusions without cause, it never hurts to have a citizen willing to get involved and say, "I am the one that called because I saw.....". Nothing makes a case better for a jury (or getting a quick guilty plea) than an average citizen willing to stand up and say that the officer is correct and the guy was weaving and endangering people. It takes the cops vs the picked on citizen aspect out of it.

Thanks for getting involved. It sure makes the officer's job a lot easier and the public a lot safer.

we were almost hit both times as the driver was swerving. when we called in we gave our identification and what we were driving. we were on the line with the dispatcher as the officer showed up. once the officer was pulling the car over, dispatch told us to move on and they would be in contact if needed.

[tvc184]

we were almost hit both times as the driver was swerving. when we called in we gave our identification and what we were driving. we were on the line with the dispatcher as the officer showed up. once the officer was pulling the car over, dispatch told us to move on and they would be in contact if needed.

Strange indeed from my point of view.

[tvc184]

.... unless the officer was trying to save himself some paperwork by not getting a witness statement.

[Raypo]

If it was me I would have got 5 tickets, my car impounded, and tazed...