Few people expect to
have a night "in the system" in New York City in their futures, but one
particular group of "offenders" are almost universally shocked when it
happens to them - those who are driving in New York City while their
licenses are suspended as a result of a failure to pay one or more
speeding tickets.
Many people whose
licenses are suspended are driving around New York City at any given
moment. Whether these people realize it or not, the failure to appear
or pay for even a single speeding ticket can result in the Department of
Motor Vehicles suspending your license.
Furthermore, if you are
an out of state resident and have an out of state driver's license, your
"privilege" to drive in New York can be suspended if you fail to pay a
speeding ticket. New York State keeps track of this and if you are
stopped for any reason by a police officer in New York City while
driving, you will be arrested and probably put through the system.
It used to be that such
cases of driving while your license was suspended did not result in
people being put through the system and held for upwards of 24 hours.
In most cases, in days long gone, such cases were almost always dealt
with by summons or desk appearance ticket, in which the person arrested
is simply given a piece of paper informing him of the need to return to
court to deal with the issue.
That changed even
before the police stopped issuing desk appearance tickets with
regularity. Police department and District Attorneys' Offices policy
changes made in response to a couple of cases that made the press
involving drivers who had no licenses causing accidents has caused the
current situation. Many years ago the press identified an "epidemic"
and the police and prosecutors responded by making the preposterous
connection between the fact that the drivers in question had their
licenses suspended and the fact that they got into ugly accidents. The
fact that there was no necessary rational connection between these two
facts, and the fact that the administrative formality of obtaining
proper paperwork would not change the driving habits of anyone, did not
make any difference. No demonstrated formula could possibly connect the
administrative formality of keeping up to date with paying traffic
tickets and quality of driving. But the press identified an "epidemic"
and the police and prosecutors responded with a policy.
The new policy was to
take these driving without a license cases "seriously". That meant that
most of these new cases would have to go "though the system".
In New York City, that
means usually spending the better part of 24 hours in police custody.
But that is not all.
Most people would probably assume that a person arrested for such a
trivial administrative issue as driving even though outstanding tickets
have not been paid, would be treated a little differently from the rest
of the criminally accused.
Wrong.
People arrested for
driving on a suspended license are treated precisely the same as people
arrested for armed robbery. They are handcuffed and frisked in public,
chained together with other accused criminals and transported in police
vans together with other accused criminals. They are held in the same
filthy, horrible, miserable cages as the people accused of murder, armed
robbery and rape.
People arrested for
driving on a suspended license will be fingerprinted, photographed, and
treated with the same dehumanization techniques as everyone else
arrested. People arrested for driving on a suspended license will be
referred to in the system as "bodies" just like everyone else arrested
for robbery, rape, and murder.
Many of the people
arrested for driving with a suspended license are people who have never
been in any form of real trouble before, and would sooner have imagined
themselves walking on Mars as being held in the New York City arrest to
arraignment process.
And consider this: The
information upon which the police make the determination to put somebody
though the arrest to arraignment process comes from The Department of
Motor Vehicles. Can you imagine a more frightening prospect than that?
Realize that there is no debate with the police officer when your
license comes up as having been suspended.
Welcome to the world of
"All I know is what it says here on this printout from DMV. You can
take it up with the judge." (Actually, you can't take it up with the
judge, because the Criminal Court Judge has absolutely nothing to do
with the DMV and the Criminal Court Judge is likely to say something
like, "All I know is what it says here on this printout.")
Even in the event that
New York Department of Motor Vehicles records might be wrong, you will
spend about 24 hours in jail waiting to see a judge.
Ultimately, of course,
once you see a judge it is likely to be resolved or if not resolved, you
are likely to be released without bail. In many, but not all cases, the
criminal matter can be resolved at arraignment with a traffic infraction
and a small fine. Keep in mind, however, that the resolution of the
criminal matter does not resolve the ticket issue with DMV.
Criminal court doesn't care whether you have a million dollars in
outstanding tickets, unless you get behind the wheel of a car in New
York.
However the criminal
matter is resolved, you will still need to clear up the issue with the
Department of Motor Vehicles if you ever want to drive legally in New
York again.
New York City spends
what must be a fortune putting people arrested for Driving on Suspended
Licenses “through the system”. Many people every day come through
facing these types of charges. This seems an unwise use of scarce
public resources when you consider that it really amounts to simply
enforcing administrative rules relating to the collection of money.
Driving after not paying a speeding ticket in New York is a crime not
because it is something that is inherently wrong or evil, like murder.
It is a crime simply because the New York State Legislature has made it
a crime (a “because we said so” type of argument) as a means to
encourage people to pay the Government money they owe. And if it is all
about the money, how can it possibly make sense to spend many times the
amount of money likely owed by putting them through the system?
And if the theory is
that arresting people and putting them through the system will act as
some kind of deterrent, then the theory is wrong. It can be a deterrent
only if it is known or believed to really happen. Nobody ever believes
that they are going to be held in a filthy cage for 24 hours with all
other people accused of all manner of crimes from shoplifting to murder
for simply driving after not having paid a speeding ticket. People
reading this article will still not believe it is going to happen. It
is such a preposterously out of proportion Governmental response to the
“problem” that it has no credibility as a deterrent.
And yet it happens
every day in New York City many times over.
The lesson to be
learned from this policy is to pay your tickets and then make sure that
the DMV records are accurate, and then make sure that the DMV records
remain accurate.
And whenever you pay a
ticket, get a receipt, have it laminated, and keep it with you in your
wallet as proof for the rest of your life. Keep a backup copy at
home as well. If you are able to produce a receipt at the
moment when the police officer is explaining to you that your license
has been suspended for failing to pay the ticket, it is possible,
although not entirely certain, that you may not be put through the
system.
As I said before, the
moment of arrest is not usually an opportunity for extended discussion
or debate of the issues. There is no "I've got proof at my house,
just call my wife." Figure you have about 8 - 10 seconds to
produce absolute unambiguous proof (on the order of Divine Intervention)
that you paid the ticket and then hope for the best. Don't expect
the police officer to do anything other than pretend that the Department
of Motor Vehicles is the most efficient, reliable, and unassailable
agency ever created by mankind. Despite what may be the common
perception that the Department of Motor Vehicle records are almost per se unreliable, the police officer will likely take the position
that if the computer says you didn't pay your ticket, as far as he
is concerned, you didn't pay your ticket.
