Speed Traps in Southeast Idaho
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The news today announced the speed limit on Rollandet was just lowered from 35mph to 25mpg and that the Idaho Falls police department have been aggressively patrolling the road.
I remember growing up being taught that Police are your friends, there to help you, people you can trust. “If you ever get lost, look for a policeman.” I can remember my mother saying. There is a lot of good things that can be said about our local police department and the good they do – and I think they get overly criticized for the decisions they make while in intense situations. But one thing that burns my behind is the all-to-common police speed traps located throughout Southeast Idaho. Few things get my blood boiling more than seeing a police car parked behind a fence waiting for someone to pass by at 27 mph in a 25mph zone.
I don’t think anyone uses speed control all the time . I’ll admit I can drift between 24 and 28 mph pretty easily in a 25 mph zone.
I have no quarrels with someone getting pulled over and ticketed if officers were to see someone breaking the law speeding while going out and about their duties of protecting the peace. But to have an officer just sit and wait – wasting valuable (and expensive) time – hoping to catch an otherwise law-abiding citizen traveling slightly above what the posted sign has declared to be safe is deplorable. I believe these traps have created a real gap in the trust and image of police.
If there was a way I could notify everyone that there was a “sneaky-cop” (as a friend once called them) waiting for a citizen to pass by a little fast, I would. If I had the time, I’d park a lawn chair ¼ mile down the road with a big sign saying “SLOW DOWN – LIVE SPEED TRAP AHEAD!”
There are several common speed traps in Idaho Falls. Just about any school zone just before school starts and right after school ends. Heading south on Yellowstone Highway coming to Shelly there is that 25mph strip of death that you’ll get nailed at every time. And driving south on I-15 just before you get to Pocatello, the police seem to love to drive circles round there just to catch out of towners passing by who didn’t notice the quick drop in reduced speed limit.
For everyone’s education, I’d like to invite you to share your thoughts on speed traps in Southeast Idaho. How do you feel about them? Do you think speed traps damage the relationship between the local police and the citizens?
Officers, please chime in. I have a lot of respect for you and the service you provide (just not for this particular activity). Who decides where and when speed traps are set up? Is it done by the officers themselves, or they instructed where and when to set up the trap?
Are officers expected to meet ticket quotas? If quotas are in place, could that increase the aggressiveness of an officer who is behind in his/her quota.
And finally, where have you seen speed traps recently in Southeast Idaho?
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Comments
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0 ditto and I am always seeing speedtraps set up in remote corners, then I get on the Interstate and see cars flying past me, doing 90 or so and no officers in sight….
I realize that is a jurisdictional issue but it is an odd juxtaposition….
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0 0 Having lived in a number of large metropolitan areas over the years, I have to say Idaho Falls has far less speed traps than most cities across the country. I can understand the traps around school zones, but other than that, I rarely see a speed trap in this town. At least not nearly as much as I used to see them in other cities I’ve lived in. Also, most IF city officers don’t even have radar installed in their vehicles. (although pretty much all the county and state police do)
I don’t know if the cops in this state have quotas but other states I’ve lived in they definately did because it was like clockwork the same time each month more cops would be out handing out tickets and hiding behind bushes waiting to pull you over. I guess they have to make their money somehow, I just think they certainly go overboard when pulling people over for 5-6 mph over the limit.
So I’ll continue to use my radar detector and even if I do get a ticket, their really quite easy to get out of. I would urge everyone not to ever plead guilty on a speeding ticket or fall for that 3 hour class they try to hand you to get out of receiving points on your license. Thats just another way for them to make money. I’ve beaten over 95% of all my speeding tickets over the past 25 years, some by myself and others by paying an attorney 60 bucks to do it for me. I’d much rather pay an attorney to get the ticket thrown out than pay the fines to the court, and have to take a driving class.
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0 0 Great tips, CR67. For the community, what is the normal process to successfully contest a ticket?
Also, does anyone know how it impacts the officer, if at all, when the ticket gets overturned?
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0 0 Although the majority of my tickets were handled by an attorney who specifically handles traffic tickets, I have contested a few tickets on my own.
Make sure when you show up to court that you’re dressed professionally, I can’t stress how important this is.
Show up on your court date and plead “not guilty”.. The judge will then set a new court date for you to come in and plead your case. A couple weeks after you’re given a court date, call the clerk of courts and ask for a continuance. They’ll ask why and all you need to tell them is you’ll be out of town or you just realized you can’t make it in that day or whatever. They will always give you a new court date. 9 out of 10 times the officer is not going to take the time out of his day to show up to court for a speeding ticket, which will in turn automatically mean your case will be dismissed. If the officer does happen to show up, all you need to do is claim that you weren’t speeding. Make sure you have a copy of your driving record (hopefully you won’t have any other offenses on it) A judge will always dismiss a speeding case for someone with a clean driving record.
If you don’t have a clean driving record or don’t want to take the time off work to go to court, hire an attorney to do it for you. It’s always going to be cheaper to go this route than plead guilty, pay a fine and go to driving school to get your points removed.
I don’t see many ads for traffic attorney’s in the paper here, but in Florida it was a real big business. I’m sure if you look in the phone book you’ll find some that will represent you at a reasonable rate. The attorney will go to court for you and depending on the traffic offense, will almost always get you off. Sometimes you’ll have to pay court costs, but that’s still less than the actual ticket and the driving school.
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0 0 I would be interested if my thoughts are still applicable in law enforcement.
It was once explained to me that the standard used by engineers for speed limit signs, and police for encorfement is that if 85% of the people are going a certain speed or less, it is acceptable. The top 15% is what is used as the standard for “speeding.” How I view it is that if 85% of the people are comfortable in traveling down Rollandet at 35 mph, then it is incorrectly signed. A judge could throw out any violation under the 85% standard.
I hope there is somebody that can explain it better than I.
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0 0 what about flashing your lights to warn fellow motorists of an upcoming speedtrap? Do you bother or do you figure its their tough luck and they shouldn’t be speeding anyway?
Personally I always flash my lights to warn other drivers. Although I’ve “heard” it’s illegal to do so in some parts of the country, I don’t think I’ve ever heard of someone getting pulled over for doing so.
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0 0 I loved a Reader’s Digest story I read years ago. Supposedly it was one of those true funny stories. Officers had a radar trap set up, and couldn’t understand why everyone was driving the speed limit through a problematic area. One of them drove back down the road, and saw a young man holding a sign “radar ahead”. A mile down from the trap stood another young man, holding a sign which read “donations accepted”. At his feet was a bucket with over $20 in assorted change.
Funny! Seriously, could the boys have been charged with anything?
I flash my lights too. Usually I obey within 5-10 of the law, but I appreciate a flashing light from another if I am not paying close enough attention. I call it professional courtesy amongst us drivers. Most other professions engage in some kind of PC with each other, why can’t we on the road?
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0 0 The #1 cause of non natural death in this country is traffic accidents. The #1 factor by far in determining the severity of an accident is speed. If anyone knows or remembers science class Kinetic Energy = 1/2 * mass * velocity squared. Kinetic energy is in layman’s terms how hard a car is going to crash and as you can see by the formula speeds matters exponentially. Part of the police’s job is to save lives. Thus speed enforcement more than anything else has the potential to do this.
Also, the speed limit changes on Rollandet every summer. Most summer days on Rollandet the baseball parks along the road near the park fill up. There are hundreds of kids running around and bad parking issues as people are parked along side the road. Its a matter of common sense to lower the speeding in the summer and then raise it again in the winter when these baseball fields aren’t being used.
Also, CR67’s claim that 9 times out of 10 a cop isn’t going to show up to court is urban legend TV nonsense. My spouse is a cop (you might notice I’m a bit defensive of his job) and he’s said many a time he wishes everyone would go to court. They get paid overtime to show up and thats easy money for a few minutes testimony. He and most cops love going to court simply because they get paid to do so unless the court time falls during their regular shift. Nearly all cops here in Idaho Falls have to work second jobs to make ends meet but court time helps cut down on how much they do so.
Also I’d challenge anyone to cite one, just one, ticket where someone was written for going 2 mph over the speed limit. Hearsay from a friend isn’t proof - send a copy of the ticket to someone here and scan it via PDF for us all to see. Redact the name if you want and leave the charge and where it shows the speed. This is such a ridiculous claim that everyone on here should be suffering from serious eye rolling. My spouse says he can only remember once or twice ever writing a ticket for anything under 10 mph over and that was only because the stop led to something bigger like a drug arrest and he had to write the intitial ticket to justify the stop. He said this is the case with all cops. He says most of the time he doesn’t even look twice at a car until its going at least 10 over because he knows if he pulls the barely over the “barely over” cars he’ll miss several cars going much more over. You can’t catch them all so he’d rather catch the big fish, not the little ones. But what would he know, its just his job.
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0 0 How did I know a post like Anon’s would show up? 
I probably should have pointed out that all of my offenses were in much larger cities and I can honestly say I only know of a couple instances where an officer actually showed up, but the fact that I showed up to contest it the judge automatically dismissed my case and I only walked out paying court costs.
I’ve never received a speeding ticket since moving here, but I’m willing to bet I would have no problem getting it dismissed.
I have dozens of stories of getting pulled over over the years, most were my fault I admit since I’ve owned sports cars all my life, but I’ve gotten out of every single “speeding” ticket I’ve ever received. (red lights, stop signs are a different story) perhaps being in a small town the cops will show up unlike bigger cities, but I’m willing to bet I can still get my case dismissed if it’s a speeding ticket.
Granted I don’t know how much different the courts are in a small town, but in the four other states I’ve lived in, I’ve never had a problem getting my tickets dismissed.
As for the 2mph over business, I never received a ticket for it, but I have been pulled over for it. I passed an officer on the hwy and he was doing the speed limit exactly, I passed him going maybe 2-3 over. As soon as I passed him and pulled in front of him he turned his lights on and pulled me over and asked why I did what I did. He bitched me out but didn’t give me a ticket. He still pulled me over though.
People like you Anonymous also say it doesn’t matter what type of car you drive because officers don’t discriminate, but I know that not true. I was always targeted more for driving a sports car, than some soccer mom driving a mini van. Just as some black or mexican man driving a cutlass supreme through a nice neighborhood in Ammon will get “profiled” and pulled over. Its a fact of life and happens everywhere, even in good ole Idaho Falls. Take that to hubby and ask him to deny it.
btw reader….funny comment!
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0 0 I have noticed thats all the Shelley cops do is patrol and wait to bust people speeding. Just one reason why I never go there unless I absolutely have to.
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0 0 CR67 should go speed in Shelley and see if he can take his/her own advice and get out of the ticket. I want front row tickets to see him/her in action on that one! We could start a betting pool while we are at it. If he/she gets off they get the money, if not we split the pot, er money that is….007 can split the pot.
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0 0 Why am I always associated with “pot” references? Thanks Mike!
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0 0 Profiling is real. I know for a fact that cops have settings on their radar guns for “black”, “hispanic”, “woman”, “sports car”, etc. That way they can tell their radar gun to ignore everyone else and single in the specific cars they want. It works really well for vehicles whizzing by at 90 mph on the freeway where the cop can’t see the driver. Without the race /sex detector on their radar guns they might *gasp* pull over a white person.
Yes I’m being sarcastic but sometimes sarcasm is the only way to deal with ridiculous profiling claims.
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0 0 Anonymous,
Thank you for your comments. And thank you for the service your spouse provides for us here in the city. The local police department are too often unsung heroes. There are “bad seeds” in any group, but I think we have a lot of fine officers – at least the one’s I’ve met.
Personally I don’t have a concern with general enforcement of the speed limit – I support it (though others here may feel differently). If someone is flying down the freeway at 90+mph weaving in and out of cars, I think the police should nail them. If while on patrol an officer sees someone traveling at high speeds through residential streets then ticket them hard. Where my concern comes in is when an officer parks their car to lay waiting for someone to speed.
Anonymous, being closer to the action than most of the rest of us - can you let us know if there is ever such thing as ticket quotas in Idaho Falls? If there’s not, I’d like to clear the rumor for.
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0 0 Define quota?
If an officer goes out all month and writes no tickets he / she is likely going to get in trouble. So in that sense there is a quota because they must show they are doing something. Depending on assignment they may be expected to write more or less. A traffic officer would be expected to write more than a patrol officer. A daytime patrol officer would be expected to write more speeding tickets than a nighttime officer. A nighttime officer would be expected to make more drunk driving arrests than a daytime officer. A detective wouldn’t be expected to write any. I’m told there is no magic number they must write but they must do their job and their job may include writing tickets. But its a balancing act and some officers find niches they excell at which might mean they don’t write many tickets. They might write only two tickets a month but make ten drug arrests. Or they might write 100 tickets and make no drug arrests. Or they might make lots of drunk driving arrests. Which officer is serving the community better? My impression is that the administration is happy if the officers are being productive, being professional, not drawing complaints, and not sitting in the coffee shop all day (admittedly some do this).
And I truly don’t get the whole “lie in wait” animosity you have. My head started to hurt the one time my spouse tried to explain the difference between moving radar and stationary radar but what I did take away from it was that most cop cars in this area (state being an exception) have stationary radar meaning the cop car must be stationary for it to function. So the only way for them to do speed enforcement is to lie in wait as you put it. Sides which, what should they be doing if not protecting children in school zones and on residential streets. If you know any actual rapists or murderers they can go out and catch I’m sure they’d be happy to talk to you. Otherwise some of them are out there trying to prevent potential tragedies caused by speeding motorists.
Oh yeah, I’m being told to mention that the whole traffic school thing that got brought up was done away with over a year ago.
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0 0 One other comment I wanted to make.
Once upon a time I did get a few speeding tickets while driving a sports car but I don’t think it was because the cops were targetting my car. I think it was because I was driving a car that went fast and I drove it fast. Thats part, no thats the main reason I had sports car. Sure people speed in regular cars but I think stats would probably show that that those in sports cars tend to speed more and thus logically will get caught more.
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0 0 I find ludicrous the argument that any officer enforcing posted speed limits at “Just about any school zone just before school starts and right after school ends” is engaging in creating a speed trap. That is just totally ridiculous.
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0 0 - moderated. I hate to do this, but very this is very off topic and an apparent personal attack on another user. -
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0 0 re #19: Tobacco, opium and coca are just plants too. Think the book will ever be worth something to a collector?
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0 0 I have had a few speeding over the years due to the fact I was, um, speeding. With every ticket I have received I was going 15-20 mph over and in the interest of convenience I simply wrote a check for the fine and mailed in.
It has been my experience that Idaho Falls police officers have always been courteous, respectful, and helpful. I wish I could say the same for Idaho State police. I have been pulled over three times on I-15 and without fail I have gotten major attitude from the officer. Perhaps this FOX news excerpt sheds some light:
BOISE, Idaho — Idaho law enforcement officials say they are “mortified” by a slogan chosen by the latest group of state police academy graduates.
The slogan, “Don’t suffer from PTSD, go out and cause it,” was emblazoned on the Dec. 14 graduation programs for 43 officers who completed the Idaho Police Officer Standards and Training Academy’s latest course.
PTSD, short for post-traumatic stress disorder, typically afflicts people who have endured civilian violence, military combat and other extremely dislocating experiences.
“That’s not something we encourage or condone,” Jeff Black, director of the police training academy in Meridian, told the Spokesman-Review newspaper this week. “It shouldn’t have been there. It was inappropriate.”
Ada County Sheriff Gary Raney, who attended the event earlier this month, pointed out the slogan to Black about three minutes before the graduation ceremony began, he said.
I get the impression these guys are less about protecting and serving- more about having a badge and a gun.
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0 0 I don’t think the local cops are nearly as bad about harassing minor speeders (2-5mph over) as they were back about 20 years ago. Back then there were one or two truly obnoxious jerks on the force who would set up radar speed traps in highly questionable locations such as the Yellowstone underpass or other congested areas where radar readings would be highly inaccurate and inflated. They would really rake in the cash with those setups. I didn’t know at the time how easy it would have been to beat the tickets I got. And later, after stupidly buying a bright red 280-Z, I would have cops literally flip a u-turn and follow me around just waiting for me to do something wrong so they could pull me over, usually while closely riding my bumper, but I never gave them the satisfaction. I didn’t keep that car for long just because it was such a severe cop magnet even though I never got a ticket in it. Since I began buying more “respectable” cars several years ago I haven’t had a single ticket. The irony is that I probably speed more now than I ever did when I was younger but I’m totally ignored by most cops due to my invisible car! And the classic speed traps appear to be a thing of the past. Speed limits are enforced, especially in school zones, but they are honest about it now.
What really does need to be enforced is traffic rules in general which are ignored by many drivers today. Things like failure to yield, tailgating, swerving in and out of traffic, not stopping for pedestrians, driving too SLOW, impeding traffic, etc. These are much more of a problem than minor speeding yet are rarely enforced.
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0 0 I feel like this post is similar to the “cell phone” post. I am apparently in the minority here, but I believe in following the law.
1. Radar detectors have a sole purpose of helping you to break the law. If you own one, you scoff at the law and willingly break it if you think you won’t get caught. That bothers me.
2. “Speed traps” are there due to the stationary radar equipment, plus in some places there are complaints of speeding drivers so the officers go out in the hopes of having an impact upon the number of speeding cars in that area.
3. Speed limits are supposed to be for our safety, and the safety of our kids in residential areas. If you don’t like them, petition the city to change them. Change the law legally, don’t ignore the law and then complain when you get caught.
I’ve been driving for more years than some of you have been alive. Yet, I have had a total of 3 tickets (of ANY kind) in my whole life. They all came in a 2 week period of time in 1986, when my car’s speedometer needle had broken and I was driving on the freeway. (I had 5 manual gears and I always knew how fast I was going in town, but once I got into 5th and on the freeway, I couldn’t tell anymore).
I’m trying to be nice on this issue but I surely am disappointed in some of the comments I am reading.
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0 0 I also agree with CafeDelSol:
“What really does need to be enforced is traffic rules in general which are ignored by many drivers today. Things like failure to yield, tailgating, swerving in and out of traffic, not stopping for pedestrians, driving too SLOW, impeding traffic, etc. These are much more of a problem than minor speeding yet are rarely enforced.”
There are many things besides speeding which cause tremendous problems, and I’d sure like to see these things be targeted, vs minor speeding.
But then, I’m sure there will be new posts with hints on how to get out of these kinds of tickets, too! 
So, never mind.
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0 0 Over the past year (that i know of) there have been extra patrole targeting aggressive drivers in the county, i suppose this is probable true for the city as well. It is a grant and the officers sign up for times to work extra and target aggressive drivers.
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0 0 I believe traffic laws in general need more enforcement. Every day on my commute to and from work somebody along the way is tailgating me so close I cannot see their headlights in my rear view mirror. This is really scary. You have 3 types of drivers at all times. The ones going too slow, the ones going too fast, and the ones driving the speed limit. What a cocktail for disaster. Not to mention the ones talking on and playing with their cell phones. Hiway 20 between rigby and Idaho Falls needs to be patrolled much more than it is. Many drivers drivers pass me at over 80MPH and the limit is 65MPH. I rarely see one of these speeders pulled over. How about Hitt Rd where the speed limit is 40MPH. I travel that stretch almost daily. I know some people are going through there at 60+MPH. I wish there was more enforcement on the roadways.
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0 0 In California traffic law, evidence obtained from speed traps (as specifically defined) is not admissible:
The notion of “speed traps” is entirely different in California. Before the advent of radars, lasers and other hi-tech speed detectors, the speed of a vehicle was often determined with the help of aircraft observations by timing the moments when the vehicle passes two specific marks on a highway with known distance between them. This way was declared illegal, and for the purposes of the law the following definition was given in the California vehicle code:
A “speed trap” is … a particular section of a highway measured as to distance and with boundaries marked, designated, or otherwise determined in order that the speed of a vehicle may be calculated by securing the time it takes the vehicle to travel the known distance.
The prohibition of this kind of “speed traps” followed after a series of successful defences that argued inadmissible error margin in human timing.
Subsequently, the second clause was added to the “speed trap” definition to cover inadmissible usage of “radar or other electronic devices”. It considers multiple factors, such as the operation standards of devices, training of police officers, and whether the enforced speed limits were properly justified.
From Wikipedia. See the following for a thorough explanation of “speed trap:” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speed_trap
There is a big difference between using an unfair advantage (like waiting where a 25mph meets a 35 mph) to create revenue from tickets and enforcing traffic laws.
From what I have read on this site, IF needs more enforcement, not less.
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0 0 As I look at things, I have to ask myself, “with speed traps, what is the goal?” I think the answer is - keep people traveling at a safe speed on the road.
One concern is, speed traps appear to be set up to catch people in an area where it is easy to make a mistake. For example - a road that used to be 35 mph that all of the sudden has dropped to 25. Someone traveling down that road used to traveling at 35 would now be “caught” if they didn’t notice the reduced speed sign. Or, a sudden drop in speed limit after traveling down a freeway. Miss the sign, don’t slow down in time, and your busted.
And the ticket itself is not that big of a deal, the cost of the cost of the ticket can be minor compared with what happens to your insurance costs for the next 3 years!
I don’t think the speed traps would create such as bad of relationship with the local law enforcement officials if they would pull someone over, give some education, and be more lenient with the ticketing.
I’ve been pulled over before for speeding. I don’t know about everyone else, but for me it is a bit of a high blood-pressure situation. Few things make my heart race more than seeing a cop car with red and blue lights flashing and realize they’re following me. I’ve been a little embarrassed each time I’ve been pulled over. That cop car sitting behind you is a magnate of attention. Just being pulled over can help bring a huge amount of awareness and help educate someone about the speed limit of a street and keep encourage someone to stay within those limits.
I remember several years ago I was pulled over for exceeding the speed limit in another state. I was traveling about 8-10mph over the speed limit in an area where I had not seen a 25mph sign. The officer took my license and registration and ran a check (I think it’s routine to make sure the driver is not a wanted criminal), warned me about the speed limit in the area, and let me go without a ticket. That time has had a bigger impact on me than any ticket I could have received. I appreciated the officer and made a huge effort to drive within the limit from then on. I felt endeared to police officers in general because of how he handled the situation. It made an impact on me.
I think I would support a trackable warning system that would enforce offering warnings and noting repeatable offenders before issuing a ticket.
I agree with CafeDelSol that officers should focus more than they do on the tailgaters, failure to yield, failure to stop for pedestrians, etc. That’s probably not going to happen unless the get out and about more instead of setting up a trap.
When officers set up a speed trap to catch someone making an honest mistake I have concerns about that.
Does anyone know who decides when and where an officer set up the traps? Is it at the officer’s digressions or does the department dictate?
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0 0 I’ve been pulled over a few times in “speed trap” areas, but I have never been given a ticket even though I deserved one, because I was speeding. The cop told me that the main reason he pulled me over was to slow me down. Now, if I didn’t slow down and was pulled over again later that day or even the next day, I am sure I would have gotten a ticket. I’ve never heard of anyone getting a ticket for doing a couple of miles over the speed limit (a school zone might be an exception and if so, rightfully so). I thought that they didn’t give tickets until you hit about 10 miles over.
What do people think the speed limits are there for? To see how fast they can go and not get caught? Some people just have to always push the envelope, and then if they get caught, they cry foul.
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0 0 If the equipment used in the police cars requires them to be stopped to track the speed of a vehicle, then we need to get our officers some new equipment. We skimp way too often on equipment our local law enforcement needs to do their job and we need to take care of them better.
I heard once, however, that an officer is trained to know the speed of another vehicle without radar, that the officer has to pass a test on that very thing, and that the the officers training is enough to issue a speeding ticket.
Can anyone confirm if that is accurate?
If so, lets get our officers out and about - and lets get working right away on getting some new equipment that enables them to do their job.
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0 0 I consider a speed trap to be any stretch of road that has a hidden speed limit sign or where the limit is not obvious, or reduced for no legitimate reason. There was one of these in my hometown that was locally famous. It had a short stretch of 25 mph sandwiched between 35 zones. The 25 mph signs were obscured behind trees or telephone poles. There were days when they had cars lined up 4 or 5 deep waiting for their citations! It was obvious and deliberate deception since the signs were maintained in that state for a long time. Finally enough people complained and the city fixed the problem. That was a very nice revenue stream for the city while it lasted.
The local problem zone where I got nailed years ago was in the underpass on Yellowstone where the road curves and there are a lot of obstructions around. No way could the radar equipment of that time take accurate readings from a hundred yards away with all the reflections and heavy traffic. I got pulled over for supposedly doing 45 in a 25. My truck would have rolled on that corner at that speed! I was actually only about 2 or 3 mph over the limit and should have fought it since the cop agreed he didn’t think I was going that fast. Of course that didn’t stop him from writing the ticket.
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0 0 Most of the police officer in IFPD don’t even write tickets unless your ten plus over. Most of the police give you the expected five miles over the speed limit. The only exception I know of is the school zones but isn’t that expected. How can you call a school zone a speed trap? We the public approved school zones to be made. You won’t believe the amount of complaints IFPD gets because of speeders in the school zones. There are also numerous complaints of speeders on Rollandet when the speed limit changes to 25 mph during the summer. Parents complain about the police aren’t doing enough to stop the speeders. There is no happy medium to this solution. You would actually be doing the police a favor if you stood out with a sign saying “speed trap ahead”. Then people might actually slow down.
Every time you see the speed trailer (the fixed radar unit to advise the public of their speed) in an area it is because someone complained about the speeding problem. Yes, there is a traffic unit in Idaho Falls that deals primarily with traffic complaints and accidents. No, there is no ticket quota in the Idaho Falls Police Dept.
The question for the police seems to come down to who do I need appease today? The citizen who is complaining about speed traps, or the citizen who is complaining the police aren’t doing their job by enforcing speed limits. They will never make everyone happy in this scenario. All in all this is “dam*ed if you do and dam*ed if you don’t” for the police.
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0 0 Aren’t cops employed to enforce laws? If people have a problem with cops enforcing a given law, that needs to be addressed by focussing on amending the law.
The utter morons I daily encounter on the road are just other drivers, not cops, and it seems like IF has enough problems attracting and keeping adequate, satisfied and satisfactory law enforcement, judging just from the comments on this site, without a bunch of senseless cop bashing. Not to mention that several on this site have assured me that I will encounter regular red light running, speeding, turn signal-free attempted vehicular homicide perps at every IF intersection.
I hope the cops where I will be living are going to be parked strategically not only to enforce speed-limits and protect my children, but to keep track of who is coming and going in the neighborhood, and pulling them over routinely.
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0 0 And CR67, if you have been pulled over dozens of times, I think that is very concerning. I think you should be more concerned about what you are doing to get pulled over than whether you can get out of the consequences. Sounds like you are costing the rest of us alot of money, by getting pulled over in the first place, and tying up law enforcement and then the courts as well. For shame.
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0 0 This is the spouse of the person normally writing under this account, aka I’m the cop.
I’m not going to try and support or defend speed enforcement as I doubt I’m really going to change anyone’s mind one way or the other. But I would like to make a few comments to illuminate a few things that might give non cops a better idea of what really is going on with the police.
1) I never see a dime of the money from any ticket I write personally and I see no tangible benefit to my department for them. I get credit on my ticket count for writing a normal ticket or a warning ticket so really there is no pressure for me to write one vs the other. We don’t have a quota per se as my spouse said but traffic enforcement is part of our job and we are expected to do it. And all that matters there is that a supervisor can look at our ticket count and see that we are out there doing something.
2) My decision to write one way or the other is almost always made up before I’ve even talked to the person I’ve pulled over. In other words you can’t talk yourself out of a ticket. And this is true of most cops. If you get a warning its because we already intended to give a warning before we ever even talked to you. Half the time we are just fishing to see if your drunk or shows signs you might be transporting drugs. If things look good we send you on your way with a warning. But you can talk yourself into a ticket by being a complete and utter *******. Our goal is change driving behavior for the better. If your attitude is one that basically implies you think your above the law and cops suck you’ve taken a big step towards convincing us you need a real ticket to encourage better driving in the future.
3) I don’t even blink at speeders unless they are going at least 10 over. And then I often ignore them until they are 15 over. Its the big fish vs little fish theory. I let the little ones go else I’ll miss the big one shortly thereafter.
4) I think I and most cops would agree that traffic on 17th is really bad and that tailgating and quick lane changes are a big problem. But a marked police car has this odd effect of causing everyone in the vicinity to drive carefully. I see all kinds of bad driving in my personal car on 17th but very little in my police car. Obviously the key would be to drive an unmarked car but that then would require officers in marked cars hiding just off the street waiting to pull people over for the guy in the unmarked car. Due to manpower constraints this kind of thing only can be done in saturation efforts which we have a few times a year.
5) Most of the time I don’t even know the sex or race of the person I’ve pulled over til I’ve made contact. Especially at night where I never have any idea. Thats why profiling claims always bother me.
6) When you get pulled over your worried that your getting a ticket. The cop as he approaches you is worried he is going to get shot or hit by a passing motorist. Every cop who has ever gone to the academy has seen far too many videos from dashboard cams of cops gunned down as the reach the window of the car they pulled over on what the cop thought was a routine traffic stop. One such video came from an ISP trooper and happened just outside Idaho Falls so it can happen here. And every cop who has made more than three traffic stops in his career has had someone flame out on them for pulling them over yelling about “Shouldn’t you be out catching murderers and rapists?” And every cop has seen videos of cops mowed down by passing motorists who failed to move over and out of the way the traffic stop. You hear non cops say that domestics are the most dangerous call for a cop. Thats not true, routine traffic stops are. Just something to keep in mind when your pulled over. There is no excuse for the cop being rude but he’s got all these kind of things in the back of his mind while making contact with you. There is a difference between being rude and being professional but some people see anything that doesn’t involve joking and laughing as rude.
7) If the cop is professional with you and not rude then try to keep things in perspective. You were most likely pulled over a valid reason and chances are you deserved the ticket you got, if you got one. I know I personally deserved the tickets I got in my youth though at the time I thought the cop was a jerk for giving me the ticket. In hindsight it was apparent I was the jerk and I should have remembered that the cop was just doing his / her job.
I won’t comment on ongoing cases or personnel issues so don’t ask. I tell my spouse things at times and at times she has pushed the edge of what I’m comfortable with her saying. I certainly can’t and won’t say anything and after this comment will be probably just go back to reading what she writes on occasion.
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0 0 Thanks for giving us your point of view Mr. Officer.
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0 0 Thank you for taking the time to write and educate us all. Many of us have little or no experience with police officers outside of a traffic violation, so I believe the information you share here will be helpful and beneficial to many people.
You’re comments helped open my eyes a little bit. I have always had respect for the police force and after your explanation I have an added respect.
I still have concerns about officers parked in a speed zone waiting for the occasional speeder, and wishing more stern warnings were given until someone is identified as a repeat-offender. I also think this could help bridge the apparent gap between in a good trusting relationship between the citizens and officers, but the 5 points you noted above added great insight to what is going on behind the scenes.
Two questions I’m curious about if you’re able to answer them, is 1) how many tickets on average will a police officer have in a week or month? (i.e. I’m trying to figure out how few of tickets would get an officer in trouble?) 2) What percentage of those tickets come from speed traps?
Thank you again for sharing the information. And thank you for the service you provide for our community.
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0 0 Below is one email responce I received on this topic said.
(thank you for sending the helpful information and for allowing me to repost it for everyone)
“Joe, per your question on the radar training: about 25 years ago I was a Reserve Officer (not this area, but this State.) We had a 3 day training course on radar and yes, we were required to be able to estimate what speed the oncoming car was traveling at to within 2 to 3 mph of its actual speed to pass the course. We worked from a fixed location. We also had to learn the math involved.”
The person also mentioned that it is possible training has changed and wasn’t sure what today’s procedure is.
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0 0 The term Speed Trap is really not useful here unless there is some consensus on its meaning. A cop who is stationary with radar is not creating a speed trap, absent some other extenuating factor, like poorly placed signs, such that no reasonable person could avoid being over the speed limit at that spot, at least as my understanding of the term goes. The nature of speed traps is such, again, to my understanding, that they do not bear up under scrutiny, and I believe what you are referring to is just the enforcement of speed limits by police in stationary marked cars. Can we at least get an agreed upon definition of this term for the sake of this conversation?
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0 0 I cannot help but get the sense that for the sake of this conversation so far the term “speed trap” is being used to describe the unexpected presence of a police officer monitoring traffic speeds in an area where one is knowingly exceeding the speed limit.
That is hardly a trap.
I see this where I live and it does slow down traffic. That it seems to happen more at certain times than others can easily be explained by the amount of territory covered by relatively few officers and cars. I see this with County as well as CHP. I think that is a far more logical and reasonable explanation than officers cramming for some monthly ticketing quota deadline.
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0 0 I was caught in a “speed trap” on 25th right in front of community park about 3 years ago. I had just bought my first Harley and was clocked going 50mph in a 25mph zone on a beautiful Saturday afternoon.
I had no plates, no title, no proof of insurance, and no motorcycle license. The officer asked me if I was having fun and I couldn’t help but blurt out a big “Hell Yeah”! The officer chuckled, cautioned be for speeding in an area with so many kids around, and gave me a speeding ticket. He let me slide on all the non-moving offenses and I promised to get down to the court house the following week and take care of my rider responsibilities, which I did.
Speed traps my butt, he was there to make sure some dipstick didn’t run a kid over because he’s going twice the speed limit. The reason they lower the speed limit on Rollandet is because little league is in full swing for the summer and it’s best to error on the side of caution. Put away the radar detector, loose that Ricky race care driver attitude, and slow the hell down.
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0 0 ooohhhh you’re sooo demanding Alumni!
Funny you telling everyone to slow down when you were doing twice the limit! Yeah, that makes alot of sense.
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0 0 Ya got me!!!
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0 0 So the moral of my tail (which I thought was obvious) is:
A cop pulled me over in a perceived speed trap. He explained the importance of slowing down in certain areas of Idaho Falls so we don’t accidentally kill children with our speeding vehicles. The officer was courteous and gave me a break, he wasn’t filling a quota, he was doing the right thing by making sure ****weeds (like myself) don’t blast through speed zones.
(comment edited by moderator due to language)
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0 0 I think most of us understood and appreciated what you were saying. But you must expect outbursts to spice things up
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0 0 I think it would be cool if a quarter mile track was set up out in the country somewhere, where people could go to race their cars with each other and more or less have an outlet for that “need for speed” in a safe environment.
They have a couple of tracks in S.Florida that I used to frequent and it was a great time. Twice a month you could go and put your muscle car up against someone elses rice rocket. People of all ages would be out there. Older guys in their Aston Martins and Porsches, BMW’s and younger people with their supped up Honda Civics or older muscle cars. It was a great outlet and kept street racing to a minimum, as that was a huge problem in S. Fl. I don’t see many people with modified cars around here, but I’ve seen a few. I think that would be a great thing to start around SE Idaho.
What do you think?
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AsI was thinking about it, I ought to clear up I have NOT been caught in a speed trap recently. (I have had a ticket before, though not for several years.)
People need to drive safely. But I don’t like the idea of watchdogs trying to catch someone in a simple mistake.
I add to that - the ticket itself is bad enough - I feel aweful for the people who’s driving insurance goes through the roof.