Citizen Tickets

[Suzyq9241]

What is the name of your state? New Jersey

Please give me information on citizen tickets...... look at the bottom there is another post by me explaining.........

 

[racer72]

There is no such thing. Citizens do not have the authority to write citations.

 

[I AM ALWAYS LIABLE]

My response:

Let's extrapolate this a bit further.

A "ticket", as the writer calls it, is a form of "arrest". While a citizen does not have the right (or even the forms) to write a "ticket", every citizen has the right to make an "arrest" - - which is commonly referred to, and known as, a "citizen's arrest".

So, in a manner of speaking, any citizen has the right to make a "custodial arrest and detention" when an infraction, or higher crime, is performed and violated, in front of another citizen - - giving the citizen time to call police to effectuate any further advisable and continued detention of the "suspect".

IAAL

 

[djohnson]

There is no such thing. Citizens do not have the authority to write citations.

You may want to expand on this some. I am not a police officer or work in any way directly for the police department, yet I do write citations. These just basically say show up in court on a particular day and there is no fine attached to it but citizens can write citations. The problem comes in when people use this incorrectly.

 

[racer72]

You may want to expand on this some. I am not a police officer or work in any way directly for the police department, yet I do write citations. These just basically say show up in court on a particular day and there is no fine attached to it but citizens can write citations. The problem comes in when people use this incorrectly.

You mean that at your leisure you could issue me a "citation" to appear in court and I would be expected to comply? I don't think so. I was assuming the OP was referring to traffic citations. And the only time I saw someone try to make a citizen's arrest (for parking in a handicapped parking slot), the person attempting to make the arrest was themself arrest for unlawful detention. And the parking scofflaw was let go because the officer that responded claimed that he did not see the parking violation take place.

 

[djohnson]

I don't do it for parking violations. Typically my citations are issued for theft of services. An officer is never a witness and isn't even called. I give them a citation, they sign. I give a date to be in court usually 24 hours and the time our court does arraignments. If they do not show up a capias is issued. If the do or once they go to court it is handled like any other criminal charge. I'm not saying it can be done at will, like I said in the first post that could get you in trouble. However, I thought your original statement of 'citizens can't issue citations' needed to be expanded on. If someone that received one from me seen that, and didn't show up it could lead them into trouble. I just wanted to expand that there are cases and instances where regular citizens do give citations. I don't know if a class is required now or what as I didn't do anything but talk to our magistrates office in order to get the book and info. Things may have changed since I started.

 

[Suzyq9241]

Citizen tickets

ok here we go again.......
Now here the thing about 1 month ago my daughter(19) was in an accident..... another car had hit her car on the side........both cars totaled........Mercedes not as bad as hers.... but the police said it was her fault because she was making a left turn....... the car that hit hers was a Mercedes and the owner of the car was the one who sent the tickets to her........ we received them on the 21st of January........ the accident was the 21st of December........ now the court told me that the parties involved had 30 days to write these tickets and the police do not have to tell you....... so in the mean time my daughter is in Virginia for school and has no way home and she can not retaleate against these tickets because she was in Virginia and they were sent to our home on the 21st.........so... basically she is out of luck they told her...... in the mean time...... I was just wondering if anyone had any advice..........

 

[racer72]

djohnson, your state laws allow for civil citations, these are not legal in my state and I would guess, most others. Retailers in my state may levy civil penalties up to $500 without court approval.


SuzyQ, the other party in the accident cannot right tickets or citations. Your state laws do allow citizens to right tickets to others, only those authorized and sworn as deputies of the court (such as police officers) can do so. The tickets were probably written by the officer that investigated the accident and based on his training and the accident scene, made a determination that your daughter was at fault for the accident and the violation of a traffic law(s) was the cause. The officer by law had 90 days from the date of the accident to issue the tickets. The only advice I could give would be for you to contact a local attorney for your daughter. If the attorney determines that fighting the tickets would be the best course of action, your daughter will have to appear in court. The laws of our country are meant to be fair for everyone but they can't be convenient for everyone too. An attorney may be able to delay the hearing until a time that would be convenient for your daughter, such as at spring break.

 

[Suzyq9241]

Citizen tickets

They were from the person who hit her car but sworn in by the police officer........ the police officer did not write those tickets....... the only person whose name on those tickets were the person who had hit her......... Also I am just wondering if a Mercedes E500 travling 35 miles an hour would knock a saturn Sc2 25 ft up a curb, knocking over a sign and having her pinned in there for 45 minutes and having to use the jaws of life........ would 35 miles an hour do that?

 

[racer72]

It doesn't matter how fast the other car was going. Basic traffic laws of the US state the anyone making a left hand turn yields to all oncoming traffic, and this means whether they are going 5 mph or 105 mph. As far as the tickets go, as I stated in my last post, a local attorney can answer your question better than anyone on this forum. There are probably some local ordinances involved and I sure don't have the time to research them all. I already spent an hour of my time today searching through your state traffic laws.