Police cautions...

Just got cautioned for smoking a cigarette in my car. I'm child free tonight and will occasionally have a smoke if I'm doing a longer journey and have no kids or carseats with me. They pulled me up and cautioned me for distracted driving. I saw them look at me as they pulled out of a junction behind me and had a weird feeling they would pull me over. I reckon they thought it was weed because I smoke roll ups and then realised it wasn't but didn't want to leave 'empty handed'...

Thats another ridiculous caution on my record. I got one a few years ago for drunken disorderly although I wasn't drunk but was with a group of people and the majority were, we were all cautioned regardless.. and two others (which I think are gone now as I was a minor) for having cigarettes whilst underage and for 'graffiti/defacing public property', which was actually me and a friend writing on a toilet door at school, they called the police on us.

Seems pretty unfair. They spoke to me and acted as if I was a wanted criminal.

 

So when you get cautioned does that include some kind of written citation that goes on record? Or is it only a verbal warning?

 

I'm glad I don't live where you live. Where would that be btw?

 

London UK.

As far as I'm aware they go on your record but are 'deleted' after a certain amount of time. They are kind of like a warning, usually not for doing anything illegal but doing something that could potentially esculate and become illegal or something that is considered a nuisance. They give you a little slip of paper.

 

Yeah it sounds like they were hoping to bust you for something bigger.

I asked a cop for directions once and he had us get out of the car, searched us, called for backup, took our weed and an open bottle of Jack, and wrote one of us a ticket (not me). I could tell he was disappointed and was really hoping to find guns or cocaine or something big to make his day. In the end he let go then told us "next time you ask a cop for directions, throw you shit out first."

 

Can you not appeal this?

 

on what grounds?

also, no, as you have to admit your guilt and agree to accept one in order to be given a caution as opposed to arrested.

as far as i'm aware, cautions don't get deleted off your file, but only ever mean anything if you're in court for a serious crime at which point they can be referred to by the prosecution as corroborative evidence of poor character.

 

It is not illegal to smoke in a car (unless minors are in the car) and if there is not a concrete reason to site a danger or distraction, such as lane drifting, it could be challenged.

 

presumably not if you've agreed to accept a caution. you don't have a leg to stand on. but i see your point.

 

True. I probably won't appeal as I don't want the hassle. If you don't accept the caution then I think they can take things further, so its easier to just accept it on the spot than take it further. It's not illegal, which is a good point, but cautions can be given for things that are not illegal, my friends boyfriend got pulled over and searched and was in possesion of weed, my friend wasn't but got a caution for being there.

 

Lol not to make light of your situation but that sounds like a ridiculous place to live.

So a 'caution' is recorded there? When a police officer gives a warning here it never makes it to any official court records.

 

As someone else here said, the Barney Fifes are out there. Watch the classic Citizen's Arrest episode of the Andy Griffith show about an overzealous cop.

 

In the not too distant future: A group of people in the Boston area being cautioned by authorities because they had some smudges of dirt on their Prius.

 

I don't think we have the no smoking in a car that minors are in law here.

 

Never heard such a thing

 

We do here.


"Smoking with anyone under the age of 16 present in a vehicle is currently banned in the Provinces of British Columbia, Newfoundland and Labrador (starting 31 May 2011), Manitoba, Ontario, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Saskatchewan and Yukon Territory.[11][12][13][14] Smoking is banned in vehicles with persons under the age of 19 present in Nova Scotia.[15]"

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smoking_bans_in_private_vehicles

 

but you agree its a good law...people shouldnt smoke around kids

 

was your passenger drinking while you were driving? If so i bet your car reeked of alcohol and was able to get probable cause to search your car that way. If not he probably smelled the bud and that gave him enough probable cause to search your vehicle.

You'd be surprised how much the smell lingers on your clothing if you've been smoking and the smell of weed to a non smoker is super strong. I can smell my roommates bag in his pocket several feet away from me.

 

No he wasn't drinking in the car, and I didn't drink that night because I was driving. We were already stopped trying to gps directions home when he drove passed us, parked and then waved us on to pull up next to him. We pulled up rolled down the windows, with about a car width between us. He got suspicious because we were 2 latinos, one of us with dreads looking like a stoner, in a rich white neighborhood at 4:30am.

I'm just glad all we had on us was weed that night, because he was really looking for something to bust us for. He even used some of the typical cops tactics of trick questions, and confusion techniques. In the end they had nothing on us except a little but of weed so they let us go.

 

well damn if you weren't smoking then the cop shouldn't have done anything. But even then they might have to get the dogs out to be sure, i think its really bad if they have "probable cause" and don't find anything. But sounds like racial profiling if ever heard of any. Thats also why i went back to the military style buzz cut instead of dreads, it's amazing how different people treat you just on your hair style.

But you just got lucky enough to get stopped by a dickhead cop like the OP. If smoking a cigarette is considered to be a caution i'd love to see what the texting and driving tickets are like, bet they're ridiculous.