Police Officers Negotiating Traffic Citation Plea Deals

Police Officers Negotiating Traffic Citation Plea Deals

RC Phillips, DDA (Ret.)
October, 2021

It has recently come to light that police officers, subpoenaed into court on traffic citation trials, are being approached by defense attorneys in the courthouse hallway and asked to agree to a reduced charge (typically one that avoids the necessity of traffic school and/or points on the defendant’s driving record) in exchange for a guilty plea. (See http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2012/sep/19/sdpd-orders-officers-stop-cutting-deals-traffic-ti/)  There usually being no representative of any prosecutor’s office present, the defense attorney takes advantage of the citing officer’s willingness to avoid having to wait around in court for another hour or two, and not having to testify.  The problem is that this practice is illegal. “Whether or not the People provide a prosecuting attorney, the citing officer who testifies as ....