What are the legal requirements for RADAR gun calibration in New Mexico?

[nmtx]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? New Mexico

I was given a speeding citation in November of 2014 by a member of the New Mexico State Police. Through an IPRA request I received the calibration report for the unit in question. These are dated April of 2012. My question is what the New Mexico State Police require for their RADAR gun calibration and if I was out of that window.

Edit - Additional Information:

My wife was driving. We were accused of traveling 95 in a 75. We were not. We had the cruise control set at 75. Confirmed by GPS and speedometer. I have the logs copied off of the GPS unit confirming this was our average speed for the previous at least 8 minutes. I have until this Friday to respond with one of the following checkboxes marked:

*I request dismisal because I am providing proof that I was in compliance on the date of the citations as follows: DL/registration/insurance/other

* Not guilty based on proof shown
* Not guilty to one ore more charges (trial will be set)
* Guilty to all charges
* No contest to all charges
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Now, what of the following items can help me?
1) Me and my wife will both submit signed affidavits confirming our speed was set at 75.
2) GPS logs from our Garmin.
3) 3rd Party Calibration was from April 2012, citation was November 2014.
4) Officer was driving eastbound directly into morning sun. He was wearing sunglasses. There were several other dark cars on the road at that time. [we were in a dark minivan]
5) He lost sight of our vehicle after turning around for 90 - 120 seconds
6) He was distracted at the time he supposedly clocked us. He listens to the radio in his patrol car. The RP-1 Manual states he's supposed to listen for a specific pitch to confirm our speed as part of the vehicle tracking. His phone also rings a lot
7) Metal barrier behind our car as he passed us.
8) HUD for dash-cam didn't alert/display his speed until 6 seconds after we had passed. There was another dark car in view at the time the speed displayed. The majority of the other citations i witnessed he uses approaching vehicle mode...
9) He indicated HEAVY traffic on 96% of citations that week including ours. Objectively it was light traffic based on the HCM 2000.
10) He sped at 130mph to pull us over. This also refutes his claim of heavy traffic.
11) He routinely makes other mistakes on his documents:
11a)He didn't check his radar into the unit log the previous day.
11b)The same day he wrote on a citation west-bound vs west-bound radar when in fact it was east vs west.
11c)A day later he wrote down the Kansas abbreviation on a citation as KN not KS.
12) 63% of citations for the week are to out-of-state drivers.
13) On the day i was pulled over, 50% of those cited are requesting a court date to fight it.

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Which of those are useful to me, and should i include those in a letter to the judge when I submit my plea form. Request dismissal, or simply plead not guilty? I am out of state so I will likely do a phone-trial if available.

 

[racer72]

What was the make and model of radar gun?

 

[nmtx]

Radar Gun Model

The RADAR gun in question is a Kustom Signals Raptor RP-1.

 

[HighwayMan]

Now, what of the following items can help me?
1) Me and my wife will both submit signed affidavits confirming our speed was set at 75. This is not proof of anything

2) GPS logs from our Garmin. Not much proof of anything - how does the court know the source of these "logs"?

3) 3rd Party Calibration was from April 2012, citation was November 2014. Calibration of WHAT?

4) Officer was driving eastbound directly into morning sun. He was wearing sunglasses. There were several other dark cars on the road at that time. [we were in a dark minivan] This is meaningless


5) He lost sight of our vehicle after turning around for 90 - 120 seconds Probably doesn't matter if he had a good look at you


6) He was distracted at the time he supposedly clocked us. He listens to the radio in his patrol car. The RP-1 Manual states he's supposed to listen for a specific pitch to confirm our speed as part of the vehicle tracking. His phone also rings a lot You have NO IDEA whether he was distracted or not - or whether his phone was ringing. You're making yourself look foolish now.

7) Metal barrier behind our car as he passed us. And??????

8) HUD for dash-cam didn't alert/display his speed until 6 seconds after we had passed. There was another dark car in view at the time the speed displayed. The majority of the other citations i witnessed he uses approaching vehicle mode... Huh? What HUD and whose dash cam? You witnessed what exactly? Where? When?

9) He indicated HEAVY traffic on 96% of citations that week including ours. Objectively it was light traffic based on the HCM 2000. Where did you get THIS information??

10) He sped at 130mph to pull us over. This also refutes his claim of heavy traffic. You're qualified to do independent speed estimations?

11) He routinely makes other mistakes on his documents: Again, how do you know this?

11a)He didn't check his radar into the unit log the previous day. Really? How did you find that out?

11b)The same day he wrote on a citation west-bound vs west-bound radar when in fact it was east vs west. ??????????

11c)A day later he wrote down the Kansas abbreviation on a citation as KN not KS. What does this have to do with you, if this is even correct?

12) 63% of citations for the week are to out-of-state drivers. Meaningless even if it was true

13) On the day i was pulled over, 50% of those cited are requesting a court date to fight it. Again, totally meaningless.

You have raised many, well, meaningless issues and haven't explained how you even found out alot of the information that you feel is important to your case.

 

[nmtx]

You have raised many, well, meaningless issues and haven't explained how you even found out alot of the information that you feel is important to your case.

Now, what of the following items can help me?
1) Me and my wife will both submit signed affidavits confirming our speed was set at 75. This is not proof of anything. I assumed it was the same proof the officer could submit, his word against mine that he saw me speeding.

2) GPS logs from our Garmin. Not much proof of anything - how does the court know the source of these "logs"? True.

3) 3rd Party Calibration was from April 2012, citation was November 2014. Calibration of WHAT? Third party calibration certifications of the radar gun and tuning forks in his patrol car

4) Officer was driving eastbound directly into morning sun. He was wearing sunglasses. There were several other dark cars on the road at that time. [we were in a dark minivan] This is meaningless Can't build doubt on his vision was impaired driving directly into the sun, wearing sunglasses trying to single out a dark car?


5) He lost sight of our vehicle after turning around for 90 - 120 seconds Probably doesn't matter if he had a good look at you given his potentially impaired vision due to the sun and his dark glasses and the several other dark cars in the vicinity he may have mistook me for the wrong vehicle.


6) He was distracted at the time he supposedly clocked us. He listens to the radio in his patrol car. The RP-1 Manual states he's supposed to listen for a specific pitch to confirm our speed as part of the vehicle tracking. His phone also rings a lot You have NO IDEA whether he was distracted or not - or whether his phone was ringing. You're making yourself look foolish now. The dash-cam footage from his vehicle from when he pulled us over. You can hear music/radio playing in the background on at least two of his stops that week, including mine. His phone is heard ringing during MANY stops as well.

7) Metal barrier behind our car as he passed us. And?????? Could have potentially caused a false reading

8) HUD for dash-cam didn't alert/display his speed until 6 seconds after we had passed. There was another dark car in view at the time the speed displayed. The majority of the other citations i witnessed he uses approaching vehicle mode... Huh? What HUD and whose dash cam? You witnessed what exactly? Where? When? On the officers dash cam. Typically it appears to display his patrol speed in the top left corner when the radar gets a hit.

9) He indicated HEAVY traffic on 96% of citations that week including ours. Objectively it was light traffic based on the HCM 2000. Where did you get THIS information?? I have a copy of every citation that he wrote for that week as well as the dash cams for every stop he made.

10) He sped at 130mph to pull us over. This also refutes his claim of heavy traffic. You're qualified to do independent speed estimations? Well for one it displays his speed on the dash-cam readout, and additionally by using google-maps i found out that the spacing between line dashes on that stretch of freeway is 40ft. I counted on his dash-cam that he passed 150 lines over 32 seconds = 128mph

11) He routinely makes other mistakes on his documents: Again, how do you know this? I have a copy of his citations written for that week.

11a)He didn't check his radar into the unit log the previous day. Really? How did you find that out? I requested a copy of his unit log from the State, it shows on Thursday and Saturday and Sunday that he checked his radar as OK, but not on Wednesday, according to that log.

11b)The same day he wrote on a citation west-bound vs west-bound radar when in fact it was east vs west. ?????????? just another error in his record keeping

11c)A day later he wrote down the Kansas abbreviation on a citation as KN not KS. What does this have to do with you, if this is even correct? just another error in his record keeping

12) 63% of citations for the week are to out-of-state drivers. Meaningless even if it was true

13) On the day i was pulled over, 50% of those cited are requesting a court date to fight it. Again, totally meaningless.

I replied inline. Thank you for your response. I submitted an IPRA request with the State of New Mexico for those items I mentioned above. Dash-cam footage for the week, citations for the week, unit log for the week, latest certification for the radar unit he was using, and his personnel file.

 

[racer72]

I replied inline. Thank you for your response. I submitted an IPRA request with the State of New Mexico for those items I mentioned above. Dash-cam footage for the week, citations for the week, unit log for the week, latest certification for the radar unit he was using, and his personnel file.

The bolded items will not be given to you unless that information is going to be used against. The odds of that is slim and none and slim is on his way out of town.

 

[Ohiogal]

If your wife was driving, why were you given the speeding ticket?

 

[nmtx]

The bolded items will not be given to you unless that information is going to be used against. The odds of that is slim and none and slim is on his way out of town.

I have obtained the through an IPRA request, not through the discovery process. I already have them.

 

[nmtx]

If your wife was driving, why were you given the speeding ticket?

She was given the ticket. I was the passenger. I'm simply trying to do research on how to fight this on her behalf. When I say "I" i mean "she".

Should I request a dismissal or go for not guilty and request a trial?

 

[Ohiogal]

She was given the ticket. I was the passenger. I'm simply trying to do research on how to fight this on her behalf. When I say "I" i mean "she".

Should I request a dismissal or go for not guilty and request a trial?

You can hire your wife an attorney or she can hire an attorney.

Most of your "evidence" is not admissible and is not really evidence of anything.

 

[HighwayMan]

Should I request a dismissal...

Based upon what?

 

[nmtx]

So basically i have NOTHING and can't really fight the ticket? Do I have ANY options here?

 

[Ohiogal]

So basically i have NOTHING and can't really fight the ticket? Do I have ANY options here?

YOU have NO OPTIONS. You didn't get the ticket. You seem to be taking over for your wife and you can't do that. She is an adult and should be the one thinking of fighting the ticket. HER. Not you.

 

[TigerD]

She was given the ticket. I was the passenger. I'm simply trying to do research on how to fight this on her behalf.

Then you need to go to law school and pass the bar.

I understand your desire to help your wife. It is admirable as long as it doesn't cross the line to controlling. But you cannot fight this for her. She really needs to be doing the research herself - especially if you expect her to be able to make use of any of it

TD

 

[nmtx]

Okay, then I'll restate it. Is there anything that goes in her favor that she can use to fight this? Yes, I'm trying to help my wife since it's a bogus ticket. I'm trying to help her as much as I can given that our current employment situation leaves me with quite a bit more time. I understand I'm not the one who got the ticket. I'm here looking for help and advice. Is the only advice i'm going to get is "go pound sand and tell your wife to do her own work?"