How Florida Police are Combatting the Uptick in Street-Racing and How it Could Impact You
Speeding and Street-Racing is a growing problem in Florida. After a particularly devastating streak of injuries and deaths caused by high-speed street races, including the death of an 11-year-old Florida girl, police have been scrambling to put a stop to it. However, their efforts to stop street racing, which largely rely on over-ticketing and in some instances, may result in a lower bar for probable cause, could pose a real threat to many members of our community who cannot always trust the police to protect them. We are writing this article for those members, whose lives often depend on not getting pulled over.
Reclaiming Your Power by Challenging an Unlawful Stop
Of course, you can do everything right and still get pulled over. This is a tragic reality that we are not intending to ignore. Rather, understanding that this is a current reality, we are giving you the tools to challenge an unjust police stop in court. Police have to have a reason to pull you over. Under Florida law, police must have reasonable suspicion to pull you over, and probable cause to search your vehicle.
The bar for reasonable suspicion is rather low, but it is still a bar that must be met. Reasonable suspicion cannot just be a gut-feeling or a hunch, or anything based on racial profiling or bias. Reasonable suspicion is better described as suspicion that must be supported by clearly articulable, objective facts and/or evidence. For instance, a police officer may suspect someone is speeding because they are driving faster than all of the other cars on the road.
Increased Ticketing for Speeding and Traffic Offenses
The Florida Highway Patrol has been increasing its focus on speeding, putting more officers on highways and roads all across the state who are also on the lookout for any traffic-law violations. In short, it is not a good time to speed, even if you are not racing. Even if you are going only five miles per hour over the speed limit. Troopers will likely aim to issue as many tickets and traffic violations as possible to make it look like they are working to control the problem. It is a good time to make sure that your tags are up to date and that your tail-lights work, as well.
