Court date - How to tell if Officer is in court?

Hey guys, I have a court date coming up on Sept 1. I was wondering if there is a way to check if the police officer has showed up in court prior to the trial?

This is my first time in traffic court, any suggestions?

If officer shows up in court, how do i plea guilty instead of proceeding with trial?

If you're asking if there's some sort of bulletin on the door or a list you can check, the answer is no.

The officer could be waiting patiently in the court room or they could be somewhere in the building. Usually, it's not essential for that the officer be in the room the first little while of a scheduled court time block. So just because you don't immediately recognize a face the moment you walk in doesn't necessarily mean one wont appear.

You'll usually line up one by one and will most likely be offered a deal depending on the charge. Either way, they'll ask you how you want to proceed. If you're offered a deal and would like to think about it, politely ask to do so. They will get the others out of the way before coming back to you. Usually you wont be the only individual in the courtroom requiring that officer.

bend wrote:

If you're asking if there's some sort of bulletin on the door or a list you can check, the answer is no.

The officer could be waiting patiently in the court room or they could be somewhere in the building. Usually, it's not essential for that the officer be in the room the first little while of a scheduled court time block. So just because you don't immediately recognize a face the moment you walk in doesn't necessarily mean one wont appear.

You'll usually line up one by one and will most likely be offered a deal depending on the charge. Either way, they'll ask you how you want to proceed. If you're offered a deal and would like to think about it, politely ask to do so. They will get the others out of the way before coming back to you. Usually you wont be the only individual in the courtroom requiring that officer.

Oh alright. Thanks a lot for the information.

So if there are other people in the court room requiring that officer, I'll hear his name whether he's present or not?

The only way to know for sure if officer is there, is to ask prosecutor when you meet with them before court starts, although they have no obligation to tell you.

I have seen some prosecutors that are very honest about it and will tell you up front that the officer is not there, but there are other prosecutors that will not tell you anything and even if they know the officer will not show up they will still try and get you to plead guilty anyways.

If they won't tell you, the only way to really know for sure, is to tell them that you are ready to proceed to trial. Once court starts and they call your name, you will go up and they will ask your name. At this point, if the officer is not there then the prosecutor will say they are not ready to proceed, and will be either (1) withdrawing the charge, or (2) asking for another trial date. If the prosecutor is ready to proceed (meaning officer is there), they will say so, and then they will do the arraignment (read the charge and ask how you plead). You can at this time simply say "I have changed my mind and decided to plead guilty".

jsherk wrote:

The only way to know for sure if officer is there, is to ask prosecutor when you meet with them before court starts, although they have no obligation to tell you.

I have seen some prosecutors that are very honest about it and will tell you up front that the officer is not there, but there are other prosecutors that will not tell you anything and even if they know the officer will not show up they will still try and get you to plead guilty anyways.

If they won't tell you, the only way to really know for sure, is to tell them that you are ready to proceed to trial. Once court starts and they call your name, you will go up and they will ask your name. At this point, if the officer is not there then the prosecutor will say they are not ready to proceed, and will be either (1) withdrawing the charge, or (2) asking for another trial date. If the prosecutor is ready to proceed (meaning officer is there), they will say so, and then they will do the arraignment (read the charge and ask how you plead). You can at this time simply say "I have changed my mind and decided to plead guilty".

Can they deny me the opportunity to plead guilty for a lesser charge after I say i want to proceed to trial?

Yes. If they offer you a plea deal before court starts, that will be your last opportunity to accept it. If you say you want to proceed to trial, then the plea deal offer will be gone, and you will then be up against the original charge.

He'll be the one in the uniform, with a gun and a kick a$$ charger out front

sorry couldnt help myself

t3ch9 wrote:

Hey guys, I have a court date coming up on Sept 1. I was wondering if there is a way to check if the police officer has showed up in court prior to the trial?

This is my first time in traffic court, any suggestions?

If officer shows up in court, how do i plea guilty instead of proceeding with trial?

Check the numbers on the officers' uniforms. If one of them matches the number on your Notice of Trial or Offence Notice (ticket), that's your man/woman. If you don't find your number, the officer could be there in plainclothes. You can simply approach the plainclothes officers (they're the people in the decent suits/professional attire with notebooks). Point to the number on your Notice of Trial and ask "Is this you?" If that doesn't work, do the same in the hallway. If, after all those checks, you don't find your officer, there's a good chance he or she is not there.

Also, when you check in with the Prosecutor, look at the docket. If the officer's number is highlighted or checked off, he or she has already checked in with the Prosecutor and is definitely there. If the Prosecutor doesn't ask you what you want to do, circles your number, says something like "hmm," etc., that MAY be a sign the Prosecutor knows the officer is not there. Perhaps the Prosecutor has tried to find the officer with respect to another matter on the docket and has discovered he or she is not there.

or rather than ask every copper if it's them, ask one where Cst Bloggs is as you want to discuss something with him. Might work.

What I normally do is I sit at the front of the court, but not check in. Usually there is a long enough line checking in so you have enough time. As officer's arrive, they check in with their badge number with the prosecutor. Listen to the officer as they say their badge number, check your notice of trial, or your ticket to see if it matches. Once the line is near the end, I usually check in. By then the officer is usually checked in. But then again that's just how I do it.

from some of the replies on here, you'll find that "generally" they will turn up

so if your planning on using the old "he didnt turn up m'lud" defense you might be SOL

t3ch9 wrote:

Hey guys, I have a court date coming up on Sept 1. I was wondering if there is a way to check if the police officer has showed up in court prior to the trial?

This is my first time in traffic court, any suggestions?

If officer shows up in court, how do i plea guilty instead of proceeding with trial?

They show up more regularly than they used to. My understanding is that with computerization courts are better at scheduling trials on dates the officers would otherwise be off, minimizing the risk of something coming up that could prevent the officer from making it to court. Whenever I've needed to schedule an adjournment, the clerk will go through available dates to find one when the officer is not working.

Requesting a French trial used to be an almost slam-dunk for the officer not being there. It was not uncommon for an officer to have just one trial, perhaps two. In many cases, it wasn't worth the time for him or her to be there. But with the growing French-speaking population, that's no longer the case. I do still request French trials for myself, though. The court occasionally messes up and gives me the first date in English. When that's the case, I don't request disclosure. Then I show up for the first date, adjourn to a new one in French court and run upstairs to request disclosure. If disclosure is missing, I'm already at my second appearance.

Here, the crown often says "the officer is not here but I can have him come in if necessary". And even m

Requesting a translator when one truly does not need it is nothing but waste of court resources and hiking our taxes.

A friend of mine received a seat belt ticket up north, he was advised by an agent to try asking for a translator and given the jurisdiction the court was in, it would be impossible for the court to find some one who speaks his language.

When he showed up to court, he found out a translator was brought in from Ottawa for his case only. So the province paid the travel expenses plus hotel for two night and his time for a 20 minute service.

Needless to say, he plead guilty, I think he was offered a plea by the prosecution, a deal that he could have made/received without wasting all that money and resources.

Exactly. There are altogether too many people who complain about taxes and then waste government resources. This of you who have been here a while will know that I thoroughly disagree with 'fishing hole' enforcement but equally I am dismayed by people who know they have broken the laws playing all sorts of tricks to get out of actually saying yes I did it. If you read these threads they're not full of people saying I am innocent of the charge, how do I prove that but more, yes I was speeding but how do I get off. Sad.....and expensive for you the taxpayer.