If you have filled out the affidavit and sent it in, but have not been able to confirm that the ticket against you has been dismissed, you still will have to take action by the "Respond to the Court" date shown on the ticket - or before the expiration of any extension you have obtained. filing charges (a Notice to Appear) at the court. Instead, see the "It's Not Me!" It is a phishing letter, sent out by the police, to get you to confess! likely will be moved to another courthouse. Go to the Hawthorne: An April 2013 random sample showed that 49% of everything Hawthorne sent out was Snitch Tickets; later, the City's (required) annual report showed that the figure was 46% or more for all of 2013. the person who was driving the car. will try to bluff you into giving up, changing your plea to "guilty." winning awards, getting raises, lecturing college classes, appearing on TV shows, and judging journalism contests. Here is a checklist, a condensed version of Step 3, above. Photographic Enforcement of they will use during the TDN. Use the extra time AB 43 - if it passes - will allow local speed limits to be lowered by 5 mph, to as slow as 15 mph. "), or whoever is named on the ticket. / Wrong Defendant. readers might want to watch out for.". Request an extension if necessary. If you are mailing it to the court, you should put it in the mail at least five days in advance of the "respond to" date (or the extended "respond to" date), and use Certified mail with a return receipt. Ask the officer to show you and the court the written guidelines - all three was actually driving. (People v. Park (2010) 187 Cal.App.4th Supp. Ask The first of these notes suggests that contacting the police may be a waste of time, or it could even make things worse! OFFICER: And what are you gonna tell the judge when he asks you who it is? time-payment plan to defendants who plead "guilty," to allow you a couple ME: I already told you I want to see a judge. Other (specify): None There's several ways to request an extension. governmental agency utilizing the system meets respectfully requests, and moves, that this matter be dismissed. Identifies the system by signs visible to traffic approaching from all directions." Exarhos did not reply. Once all the preliminary matters (pre-trial motions, foundational testimony) have been taken care of (by now you could be in another courtroom and/or on a trial and plead the "not me" defense. "We payt a person the compliment of acknowledging his superiority whenever we lie to him." Like your website stated many times, this person insisted that I identify who was driving You get the Because the violation alleged herein was not at the location of the first camera installed in the City, it is evident that the City will not be able to provide evidence that warning notices were issued pursuant to Subsection 21455.5(b) with regard to the intersection at which the violation occurred. "Gender Mismatches" straightforward and businesslike file the claim well before your scheduled arraignment date, maybe the city attorney Johnnie Cochran, 1937 - 2005 See the Index to Lies/Disinformation Coming from the Authorities, above. In Mar. It is up to us individual motorists to spread the word, because - as discussed above - the down to the police station and ask them to drop the charge. THE LEGISLATIVE INTENT / 111th ticket that occurred prior to Aug. 19 will have to have to take dismissal based on "gender mismatch." Here's an example: 1. Thanks to your website, I learned the law does not require me to say anything other than ' it is not me.' Moving your ticket to a different judge, or a different courthouse, may be to your advantage. should understand that what Before the arrival of these computers, when a criminal proceeding, the burden of proving the defendant's guilt beyond (As part of your preparation to do an identity defense at trial, you should read Defect#1 on the Home page, and the Fourth Step the court and purchase a copy of the tape. ahead and do it, and left the building. When I first heard about this "phishing" by the police, I did a little investigating. If the ticket is in your name but it's not . It is our mission to track these dangerous driving locations and monitor photo enforcement laws and fines. ( A request you could make at arraignment would be for your ticket to be moved to a different courthouse. days after that installation, and your violation occurred during that period, this issue can be raised Arizona has them too, but there are major differences between theirs, and California's. If he replies that it was after Jan. 1, 2004, ask him received my bail check and a note indicating that the police had dismissed the ticket. contact you and try to bluff you into giving up, changing your plea to "guilty." (2) If it locates the system at an intersection, and ensures that the system meets the criteria specified in Section 21455.7. the entrances to town. I think he was hesitant to assign a trial chance of getting it; or, you could move on to your next line of questioning. request that your trial be recorded. I had Rancho Cordova's (required) annual report showed that Snitch Tickets were 26% or more of everything they sent out in 2013. life example.". On (c) Make sure you are looking on the court's website, not the one - operated by the camera company - where you go to look at the ticket pictures. grounds that the prosecution has not Also read about California's Truth in Evidence law who is jaywalking, crossing against the light or wandering aimlessly in the middle of the street, to the letter, I held firm, it got a little heated and the officer had the audacity to claim I was making false To Or, even more formally, "I move to dismiss, on the are at: Getting d) Go to the courthouse and see the window clerks. regarding a court trial. "Section D") and only one mention, in the smallest type size, of the availability of a I happened not to be the driver red light. A Brief History they had issued hundreds, perhaps thousands, of tickets there. defendant or if the photograph is not legible, then I'll dismiss it. you cannot make your request for TBD by phone - you must come to the court in person! What Will Happen If You Ignore Based upon emails I've received from defendants, many police departments are threatening, like the ones depicted above - or You can "dummy up" and refuse to tell the police who was driving your car, but it is illegal to send them on statewide. If you want to submit your TBD then you may want to consider taking advantage of the new "no bail" privilege.) Lies by Court Personnel Margaret Thatcher, former British This is supposed to be a get to court, read it to the judge Don't ad lib ! Under Section 21455.5(b) compliance is required "[p]rior to issuing "It's Not Me!" date because he understood the futility of a trial. Oxnard's (required) annual report showed that Snitch Tickets were 45% or more of everything they sent out in 2013 (their cameras were shut down in Jan. 2017). behind the wheel? makes from traffic tickets. The citations issued have diminished, and there has been a large uptick in the amount of challenges due to the large amount of information about fighting the tickets. court hearing. judges will trample all over you.) job. Note: at the courthouse, everyone I talked to asked me if I wanted to "nominate" someone else as the driver. get a dismissal "on the spot" without having to come back for a trial. mailed on time and with proper proof of service, or it wasn't; either the City (not the camera company) wrote up a gun owned by you. In some other countries this right - to refuse to identify who was the back of my ticket (highlighting - First (Optional) Step (of four): Contact the Police? With a more serious crime like a misdemeanor or a felony, arraignment is always in front of a judge; but to file your Proposed Statement on Appeal ("PSOA"). If you were driving a car belonging to your company or to a rental/leasing company, it is likely that what the company received was a Snitch Ticket - which they could have ignored, rather than turning you in. To use a sample, highlight it, then copy (Control-C then in. The picture was not clear. If you cannot find the Late Time figure on your ticket, or it is If they are less than that, or obscured by trees or parked Bakersfield's (required) annual report showed that Snitch Tickets were 46% or more of everything they sent out in 2013. End of Section 2, "Police Going Too Far" (Snitch Tickets, etc.). to being the person pictured in the car. Here's an excerpt from an article in the Nov. 27, 2004 San Diego Union-Tribune. request a TBD, most courts will give ), Many defendants never received their original ticket in the mail - or ignored it. Declaration for a Ticket at an Intersection Where No Warning Tickets (warning notices) Were Issued, January 28, 2009 motorists to be warned to the greatest respectfully, 'Hey guys, I know it is not me.' TrialThe last step, which is optional. as an indicator that your ticket is a real one. Sometimes the police have lost or garbled the electronic evidence. filing a Challenge, and if it is now too late for you to file one, They will not take credit cards for the bail, so you will not be able to initiate the process by phone or the Internet. The lack of Probable Cause was discussed in the landmark 2001 decision which closed-down San Diego's first camera system. ignoring the ticket (who does? Riverside data showed that in 2011 Snitch Tickets were 47% of what they sent out; later, the City's (required) annual report showed that in 2013 the figure was 41% or more (their cameras were shut down in 2014). "Falsehood is invariably the child of fear in one form or another." The City's decision to forego issuing warning notices upon the installation of the automated camera at the site of the A very useful website (JP's Fight Your Ticket, see my Links page) gives this warning: sequence as given. the DMV, claiming that the DMV was illegally suspending the licenses of about these problems, so in the minutes before the courtroom doors open and/or the judge comes in, the officer 2.) used by you to issue the citation. The defendant in these tickets, and that defense is if you're not the driver of the vehicle. Did you get a gridlock ticket in the mail, complete with photos of your car? Then he may dismiss the ticket.Here's an example of a good judge. What should I do if I receive a red light camera ticket? She looked up and asked for my ticket and my driver license. Examples of real (signature) Fake/Snitch Tickets are designed to look very much like a real ticket, but are legally very different. Here is an excerpt from a law ticket. Leave that to the registered "San Diego police are warning of a scam that involves letters to people supposedly caught for the TDN, there is little a defendant can do if the court violates the Rule. a genuine ticket - keep For more info on Arizona Snitch Tickets, see the Mesa section on the Camera Towns page. problem was revealed. all of the following requirements: So, having read highwayrobbery.net, I knew what to do. "There's a process in place that helps us identify who the driver is," forms, you can get and waited for the officer to present the information to the judge. To which the officer said quite threateningly, 'Good luck in court, pal.' having complied with the Section 21455.5(b) warning notice requirements. If you have checked the length of the yellow and it appears Snitch Ticket. is near the top of the Action/Legis page. any time on those cases." If you're a reporter and are not hesitant to write about Snitch Tickets, etc., click will tell you that you must. issued to someone other than you, and look at the photos of those drivers. If, despite all your precautions, the judge asks you if you were the You can go right through a stop sign. He mentioned again that he needed the ticket dismissed so that he could renew his license. 1) If the Court's address and phone number are not on the ticket, the to park in a lot or a garage vs. at meters. Success thanks to you and your website." with a camera violation. And then the next case, and the next. 3. They were trying to coerce her to give up the name of the driver. In this matter the People's sole evidence is a series of photos and/or video generated by said automated camera. I update portions of this website almost daily. Your Ticket Page: - 1 - Ignore Your California Red Light Camera Ticket? The system is triggered to capture images of a vehicle if it . In California, traffic tickets can become very expensive very quickly. "The officer who apparently runs the red light program demanded [during a phone conversation before the court session] to know Fight Your Ticket. continued to play hardball to get me to submit the name of the driver in the ticket picture. Control -V) it into came back for it, and after about 45 minutes total sitting in the courtroom, the bailiff called my name, handed me a submitted bail. Det. noting that DMV staff had contacted the El Cajon police department, and that "The representative [of the ECPD] stated You do not have to tell the police who the driver was, either when you are talking to them, or by filling out the the Challenges page. doesn't say "respond to the court," it could be a passwords." ticket, you should read all of Defect#1 on the Home page, and also He never I understand and agree that by making any statement, I am giving up and waiving that right and privilege." Ask the officer who is certifying that the camera was calibrated and operating properly. Other (specify): . The court took the liberty of blackest of lies." replied to it, be sure to read Defect # 8 before you do anything further. TBD forms (TR-205, TR-200), they have a special form that they created just for their own So, defendants who are not so good about making it to important appointments should think twice before taking advantage of the new "no bail" privilege. at: (If the judge questions the relevance You then asked me to nominate the driver . of defendants to leave so that there's not so many cases to be heard. Should you be compelled to snitch on your wife He (with the court's assistance) may try to "bribe" you into belief that the individual in the photograph was not the registered owner because of a fairly obvious gender difference, Red light camera tickets in California. pleading "not guilty" is still a good idea - maybe the judge you don't . . in the courthouse. If It Obviously wasn't You, Should the Police Even have Filed the Charges? "I was the date. A TBD - Trial by Declaration - can be done without making any visits to the courthouse. has images of the fake speeding ticket letter. ticketed at has enough yellow, look up the legal minimum in the Yellow See the trial examples or it can be a word-for-word transcript of the trial, transcribed by you or by a court reporter. Heres how it went down. to Appear (where it says, "You must respond to the court on or before ______"). William James, American M.D., teacher, say it in so many words, it is clear to me that the deadline to request TBD would be extended by any extension you have obtained of See Change of Venue on someone else. Dennis Romero March 13, 2015. Some courts have been trying to make it difficult or impossible for San Leandro's (required) annual report showed that Snitch Tickets were 24% or more of everything they sent out in 2013. be acquitted if the prosecution does not prove beyond a reasonable Until June 24 there was a bill moving the California Legislature to abolish Trial de Novo after a Trial by Declaration. [Rescinded.] If you don't want to ignore your ticket but would have great difficulty paying the full fine, read the Jan. 2021 CalMatters article in the "Ignore Your Ticket" section, near the top of this page, before you make any contact with the court. Tomono has the story of a Bakersfield man who faced that very dilemma. Archived If you are making a return visit after an California law permits the use of automated cameras at intersections to catch red light violations. Because Section 21455.5(a) provides that "the intersection" may be equipped with an automated enforcement system, "automated enforcement system" in Section 21455.5(b) cannot refer to the City's overall automated enforcement plan, but must instead refer to each individual automated camera system operated at an intersection within the City. forfeiture." May 28, 2004 I sent the same letter to (then) DMV Director Chon Gutierrez in I followed your advice As I was not the person driving the car, I could not in a crosswalk and not against the signal. The email says that you can view photos of the violation by opening an attached file.Which could contain a virus. The base fines for common violations run anywhere from $35 to $100 but come with exorbitant fees. 30 McGeorge L. Rev. probably not eligible for traffic school - So read the "Alternatives" info in the big box, below. (a lie). What to Do About Your Fake/Snitch Ticket - Is It a Bluff? send you a copy of my appeal briefs. When you are named on the ticket but it was not you driving, it is actually better if the face photo is a clear one. have to. in four main sections - scroll down, or click on these links: 1. ticket! The deadline to file your Notice of Appeal is within 30 days from the date the (It doesn't have to Payment of red light camera tickets is entirely optional in a number of states. You can use the questionnaire on Last Updated: January 18, 2023 References More than 40 cities and counties throughout California use red-light cameras as a traffic enforcement tool.