Anyone know how to file a police dashcam subpoena in Suffolk County ?

s2kdriver80

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So I was pulled over on the LIE yesterday and was given 3 bogus tickets, all of which can be disproved by police dashcam footage (1 ticket for crossing a white solid line, and 2 tickets for changing lanes without signalling). The printed tickets don't mention the cop's precinct but the courthouse associated with the ticket is the Suffolk TPVA (formerly TVB) in Hauppauge.

1. How would I go about subpoenaing his dashcam footage?
2. If I do request the footage, yet one isn't available (either car didn't have one or it wasn't rolling at the time), does it automatically work in my favor? If not, then that means cops can just make up anything and ticket you for whatever they feel like. I'm assuming in 2021, cops need to have their cams rolling all the time, no?

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1. How would I go about subpoenaing his dashcam footage?

2. If I do request the footage, yet one isn't available (either car didn't have one or it wasn't rolling at the time), does it automatically work in my favor? If not, then that means cops can just make up anything and ticket you for whatever they feel like. I'm assuming in 2021, cops need to have their cams rolling all the time, no?
1. Courts issue subpoenas not people. You can find out the department’s FOIA process and request the footage by officer and date-time group. You’ll likely have a lot better luck with a lawyer.

2. It only works in your favor as far as the cop having no video proof. It’s plenty possible to be convicted by other proof, or even by the cop’s word alone, depending on the court. You’ll likely have a lot better luck with a lawyer.
 

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Your lawyer would have to request the footage for it to be shown to a judge or in court as evidence. You, personally (afaik in NY) can't request the footage unless you represent yourself in court.
 

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1 ticket for crossing a white solid line, and 2 tickets for changing lanes without signalling
Wow. They must work on commission up there in NY.
 
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s2kdriver80

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Wow. They must work on commission up there in NY.
Ridiculous. I crossed a combination dash-solid line (left to middle lane is permissible, vice-versa is not). And I'm 99% sure I signalled for both lane changes. They can't go around giving out fake tickets. I get the state is hurting with their wasteful spending, but this is just wrong. Theft, pure and simple. They are banking on the hope that most people won't fight it and just take it up the ass.
 


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s2kdriver80

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Your lawyer would have to request the footage for it to be shown to a judge or in court as evidence. You, personally (afaik in NY) can't request the footage unless you represent yourself in court.
Darn, he is currently out of the country. I talked to him via whatsapp and told me to look into a FOIL request. I guess he would have to do it then?
 
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gtman

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It just blows my mind they ticket people for not signaling. I mean, ok sure, give someone a warning, maybe. But come on that's just ridiculous. I'd be screwed up there. :cool:
 
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s2kdriver80

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1. Courts issue subpoenas not people. You can find out the department’s FOIA process and request the footage by officer and date-time group. You’ll likely have a lot better luck with a lawyer.

2. It only works in your favor as far as the cop having no video proof. It’s plenty possible to be convicted by other proof, or even by the cop’s word alone, depending on the court. You’ll likely have a lot better luck with a lawyer.
If the cop's word alone is good enough, then they can just make up anything they feel like and get away with it, just like what happened here. I thought it was "clear and convincing evidence". Nothing clear and convincing about a cop's word over mine. You'd think in 2021, in the county with the highest paid officers in the country, that every cruiser would have a dashcam that is operational. Should it not be mandated by this point, especially in light of our current political climate over the last year?
 
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s2kdriver80

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It just blows my mind they ticket people for not signaling. I mean, ok sure, give someone a warning, maybe. But come on that's just ridiculous. I'd be screwed up there. :cool:
I know. Except, I did signal. And not only did he give me 1 ticket for not signalling a lane change, he gave me 2... 1 for when i changed from the left to the middle lane, and another for when i changed from the middle to the right lane. I signalled for both. And it's not something that is open to debate or he just made a bad judgment call. It's either I signalled or I didn't. So he made a conscious decision to pull me over with the intention of giving me bogus tickets. This is criminal.
 
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s2kdriver80

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This looks like how one would do a FOIL request, right?

https://suffolkcountyny.gov/da/News-and-Public-Information/FOIL-Requests

I guess the email route is preferable, given potential covid delays through snail mail. This whole process seems iffy and sketchy at best. I mean, what if it goes in their spam box? Do they read all emails right away? And what is the process of how to write up the email and what should it contain exactly? And the whole site looks like it's been done in 1995. The instructions (or lack thereof) just seem lacking and unprofessional. All it says is "submit a request here" lol.

I guess I'll have my lawyer send his email here requesting the FOIL?
 


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This looks like how one would do a FOIL request, right?

https://suffolkcountyny.gov/da/News-and-Public-Information/FOIL-Requests

I guess the email route is preferable, given potential covid delays through snail mail. This whole process seems iffy and sketchy at best. I mean, what if it goes in their spam box? Do they read all emails right away? And what is the process of how to write up the email and what should it contain exactly? And the whole site looks like it's been done in 1995. The instructions (or lack thereof) just seem lacking and unprofessional. All it says is "submit a request here" lol.

I guess I'll have my lawyer send his email here requesting the FOIL?
anything ever come of this? I'm curious as this is too close to home lol
 

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This is funny.... Let me start off by saying their are good police officers and bad police officers. Just just like good people and bad people. Now you're blaming the police for you not signaling (A law when driving). You yourself on here said. "I'm 99% sure I signalled for both lane changes." That's not 100% and if you truly didn't commit the infactions, why didn't tou contest the summonses? As for police getting a commission, lol. People just need to take responsibility for their actions and admit fault. Glad you at least got them downgraded. If the police officer made up the summonses you should have contested them and exposed the bad officer.
 
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s2kdriver80

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This is funny.... Let me start off by saying their are good police officers and bad police officers. Just just like good people and bad people. Now you're blaming the police for you not signaling (A law when driving). You yourself on here said. "I'm 99% sure I signalled for both lane changes." That's not 100% and if you truly didn't commit the infactions, why didn't tou contest the summonses? As for police getting a commission, lol. People just need to take responsibility for their actions and admit fault. Glad you at least got them downgraded. If the police officer made up the summonses you should have contested them and exposed the bad officer.

Clearly, you didn't read the rest.

Then why would I even make a post about subpoenaing dashcam footage? It would just incriminate me further. You don't make any sense.

It was raining out that day, I make it a point to be visible in bad weather. And when you have a cop behind you with lights on, naturally, everyone behaves even more, including signalling the two lanes to get over to the shoulder. And so I clearly remember signalling, but I found the tickets so ridiculous that he had me second-guessing (almost) myself, hence the "99%", which is like you know, much closer to 100% than 0% (but you chose to assume 0% for some reason). I believe the term is "gaslighting". This guy is obviously a good revenue agent for the county. And as I stated, he wrote me up for 2 occurrences of not signalling, so you can infer his state of mind right there and all he's doing is maximizing revenue collection.

My time is also worth something. The way my lawyer described it to me, the least worst method (timewise and angst) was to just plea bargain the tickets down and get it over with, completely avoiding a trial. Maybe he was a shitty lawyer? :dunno:

Of course, there are good and bad officers. I've been supportive of cops throughout all of the bullshit they had to go through the past year, not all of them suck. But I was telling my lawyer that corruption and instances like this don't help their current unfavorable plight and image as a group. At all.
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