Are the police out to get you?
If you’re pulled over by the police once, you probably feel like you’re being scrutinized. If you get pulled over by the police more than once in a relatively short period of time, you might think that the police are out to get you. Although sometimes they may be out to get you, it’s important to maintain some perspective. Here are some ways you can avoid setting yourself up to be stopped repeatedly in British Columbia.
Sometimes the police are actually out to get you
There are times the police are out to get you. We’ve had clients over the years who were targeted by the police. Sometimes it’s an individual police officer who has a grudge or certain animosity toward an individual. And other times, the individual has done something or repeatedly does something which causes them to be often the subject of police attention. We’ve noticed that this is more likely in small communities where the police know the person and see their vehicle driving often, or they’ve had some sort of run-in.
In larger communities, this is rare because the police are not often monitoring specific individuals for their driving behaviour. Surrey may be an exception to this, however, which we discuss below.
When you make yourself a target
We see often that people make themselves a target because they are memorable. If you drive a vehicle that stands out as unusual or a high-performance vehicle, the police may discuss it with their colleagues, and they are more likely to watch your vehicle when they see it. If they observe an offence, they may feel the need to pull you over and investigate or issue you a ticket.
If you have a vehicle that has questionable modifications or it appears it is not in compliance with the law, you are likely to get pulled over. Even if you have it repaired, after that you may be pulled over so the officers can confirm that it is in compliance with the law. We see this often with people who have modified their exhaust, have tint on their windows, have unlawful lights on their vehicles, or simply drive vehicles that are very loud. In these circumstances, you can almost guarantee that you will get pulled over repeatedly, and you may feel that the police are out to get you.
When you make yourself memorable.
The clients we can do the best for in most cases are the clients who engage with the police only as required in law. In British Columbia, you must provide your driver’s license and confirm your identity and confirm the identity of the registered owner of the vehicle you’re operating. After that, the wise thing to do is to keep your mouth shut. Sometimes people will spill their guts to the police and tell them all sorts of things. This makes them memorable. Sometimes people admit to things they shouldn’t be doing or that seems suspicious. Officers may go back to their police departments and talk to the other officers about it. Next thing you know, you’re getting pulled over again and again.
Driving while (fill in the blank)
Young men driving nice cars or unusual cars are most likely to get pulled over repeatedly without any discernible reason. Very often, we have noted young brown men getting pulled over by police officers who claim they simply wish to check their driver’s license. Is it due to racism? The police will always deny this. Some of our clients have speculated that the police were jealous of their car. That may be the case in some circumstances, but we suspect we’ll never get to the true motivation. We do know that police officers will make assumptions about suspected illegal conduct and when they don’t have any substantive evidence of illegal conduct, they may use the pretense of a traffic stop to suggest to that person that they are being watched or for the opportunity to scrutinize them more closely and potentially search their vehicle.
These stops are potentially unlawful but the police will always deny an unlawful motivation, and the courts have been likely to accept the police at their word. Moreover, if the police don’t issue a ticket, or there is no other court action, there will be nothing to stop the police from doing it again and again because they won’t be held accountable when there is no adjudication about the lawfulness of the stop.
Studies looking at police stops over the years in Canada have found that Black, Middle Eastern and Indigenous people are more likely to be pulled over. We have noticed that young brown men in Surrey are very likely to get pulled over repeatedly.
From our experience, it is 100% likely that police officers will deny that they are pulling somebody over based on the colour of their skin.
This issue was recently argued at the Supreme Court of Canada (the Luamba Case), and we are now waiting for a decision from the court about what are called pretense stops. Our concern is that the U.S. Supreme Court recently created a new category known as Kavanaugh stops, which allows certain U.S. government officials to pull people over on the basis of their ethnicity. We’re optimistic that this will not be permissible in Canada as it is contrary to the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. It also appears on the face of it to be contrary to the U.S. Constitution, however.
Were the police actually out to get you?
If you’re pulled over more than once, chances are you’re thinking that maybe they are out to get you. Try to maintain some objectivity. Do everything you can to make sure that you are not memorable, that your car is in compliance with the law, and that you don’t do anything that might be a violation of the rules of the road here in B.C. Simply put, you don’t want to give them a reason to pull you over.
If you have a traffic ticket or you have been pulled over by the police, you can contact us right away and we can discuss your case. We’ve been defending traffic tickets for decades, so we know the police officers and we know their practices and we know how to defend traffic tickets. Whether the police are out to get you or not, we’re happy to talk to you about your case. We’re the BC Driving Lawyers. Give us a call.