Comments | bovlb: Fighting City Hall

bovlb

Fighting City Hall

Aug 18, 2009 22:11

I've had a '93 Acura Legend for a few years. It's been very reliable, but I had a feeling that sooner or later I'd take it to the garage and get a massive estimate for work that needs doing. A few months ago, this finally happened, so it was time to sell it and get a new car. Before I used it as a trade in, I wanted to find out how much I could ( Read more... )

Comments 6

the disparity of verbal evidence revisited _rck_ August 19 2009, 07:47:36 UTC

This is a common but little understood aspect of the Western legal tradition, that the statement of a law enforcement agent trumps that of a "normal human being". The basic idea is that too many situations end up being just the word of the officer against the word of the individual--considering that situation a tie would make evasion overly simple. (Recall that laws are written demanding a compliance that you exhibit customarily but that the laws doubt most people would provide ( ... )

Re: the disparity of verbal evidence revisited ext_44906 August 24 2009, 11:21:30 UTC

In the UK police evidence is often from a notebook that was used at the time to take notes. So that's one reason why it is more credible. Of course, citizens can take notes too.

Re: the disparity of verbal evidence revisited bovlb August 24 2009, 16:38:33 UTC

Some of the questions I prepared for the cop related to examining police records (his notebook, photographs, radio calls). I doubt that it would have revealed any more than a lack of evidence being presented against me.

Re: the disparity of verbal evidence revisited bovlb August 24 2009, 16:36:57 UTC

I'm not surprised that believing the cop was a de facto bias, just that it was a de jure one. And one that was only revealed when I went in and asked about it. I have not found this rule written down anywhere.

enlivend August 23 2009, 07:34:32 UTC

I can't help thinking it's worth getting a couple of unjustified parking tickets in exchange for selling your car for an extra 1k or so.

bovlb August 23 2009, 17:52:44 UTC

Mmm. The asking price was a stretch, but I would probably have gotten more than the trade-in. And I just missed qualifying for cash-for-clunkers. My 16-year-old car wasn't quite inefficient enough.