Letting you off with a warning

r/

When you get pulled over and at the end of the stop, the cops tells you something along the lines of ” I’m giving you a warning or I’m letting you off with a warning”. Is that warning written/inputted in the “system” for other cops to know that this person was given a warning before or is that all verbal and not really documented?

Comments

  1. ilovecatss1010 Avatar

    It’s going to be different for every department. Policy says We are to do a traffic stop data form after our stops, but a lot of us forget. I usually remember if I want the stop to be on paper somewhere. You’d be surprised how often being able to associate vehicles to people is useful.

  2. Kell5232 Avatar

    Depends on the agency.

    My agency has to document it on a contact card (fuck you colorado) and in our CAD notes. Some people do a written warning which is exactly like a ticket but it listed as warning so you don’t pay or go to court or anything.

    Im sure some agencies don’t do anything.

    It’s really agency dependant.

  3. D_Howie93 Avatar

    Most CAD/Reporting systems keep a running database of stops when it comes to vehicle plates and persons checks, I guess department depending and whatever system the agency uses. (Don’t ask any further on that I’m not a computer guy). So say I stopped a car or person I can run either through NCIC and I’ll have information from when another officer had contact with them. Most of the time it’ll be a verbal warning and the dispatcher will notate that in the system and I can see that.

  4. sconnick124 Avatar

    That will vary by agency. We dont have any type of written warning to hand to a motorist, so it is – quite literally – a “verbal warning.”

    However, we do log every stop via CAD, so there will absolutely be a record of the stop and the disposition.

  5. SmokeyBeeGuy Avatar

    Some places document the warning on paper or electronically, if for no other reason than to comply with racial profiling stats.

  6. Mediocre-Muscle1251 Avatar

    We just put closed on the call and like 3 words. Driver stopped for failing to inserts violation

    Some people don’t even write anything. So a person’s name could pop up for a traffic stop and that’s it unless they were cited

    And that’s it

  7. Qwenzi Avatar

    For my department and the system we use, if you get a verbal warning I can only see that if it was from my own agency in our “Local” tab, verbal warning outside of my agency I can’t see.

    Writing warning I can see if it was given in my state from any agency as it will appear in your driving history as “WRN” next to the offense.

  8. KohKohPuffs Avatar

    In our department, there used to be no forms that followed a warning. Now, we have electronic cites we can print warnings on. Also after the stop, we need to now submit a RIPA form (California DOJ mandated) to write the reason and outcome of our stop plus our perceived age, race, sexuality, etc… of the person we stopped. This form doesn’t have anyone’s personal information on it.

  9. NX01ARCHER Avatar

    Varies by agency. My agency can see any warning issued by us or any other agency our dispatch center also dispatches for (about 5 other towns). The county I worked in before had a county wide system so you could see all warnings, parking tickets, and ordinance tickets for the whole county.

  10. bizzaro321 Avatar

    In my state, written warnings are literally printed warnings on paper. Verbal warnings are just that.

  11. Plasmainjection Avatar

    A CHP officer in the 1980s let a lot of young ladies off with undocumented warnings—until he strangled one and threw her off a bridge. Pretty sure after that, it’s best to document what you do.

  12. Critical-Test-4446 Avatar

    My department had written warning forms. Original gets turned in and is entered into the computer system where it stays for 12 months, then is automatically purged. Copy goes to violator. The reason for this is if one officer stops a motorist and issues a written warning for a headlight out, for example, and two months later the same guy is stopped again by another officer, it will come up on a computer check that he was stopped for the headlight violation and warned previously. Normally the second stop would result in a ticket being issued but it wasn’t mandatory.

  13. daniellosaurus Avatar

    Depends on the police force/state or province etc. We can do verbal warnings, written warnings (do go on the system, can effect drivers licence points etc.) and an actual ticket which is a fine and/or points on DL, or a court date.

  14. Patriot472 Avatar

    We documented it in the CAD. If another officer pulled you over for the same thing at a later time, they would know you were warned and what for.

  15. No-Challenge9659 Avatar

    Previously, we were still on paper tickets, so we would press “warning issued” on our computer system. The only thing that would do would show traffic stops/outcomes when we ran your information (ex: stopped by xyz department, warning issued”. Now we have a digital ticketing system. So even if we don’t give you a copy of a warning, we still input it on our ticket system (mainly for racial profiling information) Now everyone can see why you were stopped and the outcome.

  16. OBGViper Avatar

    My department if you’re verbally warned then there’s no paper trail but if you get a written warning or citation then it’s in our system