A.I.P.

[torcher]

well.

on the 19th a few friends and i got a case of beer(yes...that shitty american beer heh.) we proceeded to drink it all. then we decided that we werent done drinking, so around 4 we went to the wine store...got 6 bottles of cheap wine, 2 for each of us, and went back to our regular spot to drink them. finished them....went back into town to the liquor/beer store. got a 6 pack of red stripe(hooray beer!) and two 6 packs of some other import crap. went back to the normal spot. ok now heres where it changes, we ordered two pizzas...drank most of our beer and one of my buddies said he was ready to head to the house...about 11. took him there and my other friend and i went down a back road ate some more pizza and he drank a beer. then all of a sudden a car comes in front of us and i begin to start up my truck, when another car comes behind us with blue lights flashing. so i just shut it back off because its a 1 lane road...no chance in getting around them.

so they come up to my window and say they smell alcohol...ask me to get out and my friend stays in the truck. i got out...got searched blah blah. he put me at the back of my truck. the other cop pulled my buddy out and searched him. didnt find anything on either one of us. so they started to search the truck...they couldnt get the seat-back pulled forward to look behind it so they just stopped looking in the cab. they go to the bed of the truck and pull the lid off of the cooler, and and there's 6 beers in it. they pull the beer out and put it on top of my toolbox and proceed to walk toward us. cuff us, tell us that were being arrested for "Minor in Posession of Alcohol", and put us in the back of one of their cruisers. they put the beer in the passenger seat. ask us who's it is...we say its our friend's beer that he left on there, and that we had'nt been drinking. so whatever. they take us to the police station and on the way there the cop says "well boys, ive got to give you one thing...ya'll had some good beer." i was thinking "man, this is some bullshit"

got to the police station, uncuffed, ticketed, fingerprinted, reported, and mugshots. i get fined $275 and my license will be suspended for 90 days after our court date, as does my friend. we take our tickets, go home and i call a lawyer. he says that i can either do a jury trial, just pay the fine, or do whats called A.I.P.

A.I.P. stands for Alcohol Intervention Program. it costs $250 and i will get to keep my license.

the thing is...im going to have to do counseling, classes, and community service.

have any of you ever had anything like this?

[madscientist]

Did you give them permission to search your truck?

[RELOAD]

I've been through counselling for alcohol abuse.

I've done community service.

I've paid fines etc...

Your country is a bummer if you get fined for possesing alcohol underage man. They just pour it out over here.

[torcher]

here the way they figure it is...if they have probable cause to search it..they dont have to ask.

ive had it poured out before. that was by deputy sheriffs. these were town cops.

[madscientist]

I'm not sure the smell of alcohol is probable cause to tear your vehicle apart. I'd check into that.

[DoctaD]

Taking the authorities to a tribunal can be a very bad thing, especially in a small community. Really, what are you going to do? The word of a teenager against the word of an official, you're fucked from the start.

[madscientist]

Not necessarily. At least in the US, building a case for yourself like that can cause plea bargains to become considerably more slanted in your favor, and sometimes, the charges may even be dropped completely. I've seen it happen with illegal searches more than once.

[RELOAD]

From expirience I say this: Do not fuck with cops.

I was drinking on the street, which in my area is illegal and has all sorts of outcomes if t foes to court, now the cop came over and POURED the cider out, he then asked for my address. got cocky and said I lived on the moon and all the rest, thus he locked me up, if I had given him my address I would have simply got yet another letter sent to my mother (I was under 18 at the time).

Anyways, I got a court summons a few days after, got a solicitor and what not and because the filth POURED the cider out he told me to plead not guilty, how the fuck do they know it was cider, if it's gone, poured out?

Pleaded not guilty, and the case qwas adjoured, a few days later a letter came saying the case got thrown out because the cop had no evidence to come to court...

Now, that bastard that I thought I had one over has never left me alone to this day, he'll stare when he goes past in the car he'll get often get out and ask me what I'm doing and shit and that sucks.

Leave it be man, take the fine or whatever and just keep clean after that.

[madscientist]

#1 England is not America
#2 You were fucking with cops. Threatening a legal case is a very different story. They aren't going to follow you around and beat you because of it. They aren't mobsters. With minor cases, they often just don't bother and the whole thing gets tossed if you show you're going to make a fuss and have solid means of doing so.

[torcher]

when i talked to the lawyer...he said that i could take it to court and the state would have to prove that i was guilty, yet i would not have to prove my innocence. so if i wanted a trial i would be able to sit in there and not say word if i didnt want to. they couldnt hold it against me for the simple fact that im not trying to prove my innocence, they're trying to prove my guilt.

[THErAPIST]

A cop has probable cause as soon as you look at him funny. All he has to do is believe he may find somehting. If he SAYS that he smells alcohol, even if he really doesn't, he can do a search. If he asked if he could look in the truck and torch had said no, then he has probable cause because torch is trying to hide something. Long story short, a cop can do a search whenever he wants to, even if you say no.

AIP, I've never heard of it but it sounds like the thing to do. Make sure though that if you do it you see if it's the same thing as a PTI (pre trial intervention). With a PTI you get probation and classes and stuff instead of charges, but you can only do it once in your life. It also only works on things that aren't felonies. If you stab a guy in the face with a screw driver and then plant a tire iron in his ear dont expect to use the PTI heh. Make sure the AIP does NOT count as your PTI. If it DOES count as your PTI, then I'd say just to take the 90 days suspended license, because you never know at what point you might need to use that PTI ya know?

That said, I'm not sure but I think PTI still works even if you're over 18. If you can't use a PTI over the age of 18 though, then use the AIP

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And while we're on the subject I'm also going to say this. For everyone here that doesn't know. If you ever get pulled over for drunk driving DO NOT blow into that tube unless you haven't had a single thing to drink. If you blow over the legal limit, then you get fucked. You lose your drivers license for 6 months minimum. To get it back after 6 months you have to pay the high liability insurance from hell plus a reinstatement fee. If you don't pay the insurance and stuff you can't get it back for a year. If you do NOT blow in the tube, the worst they can do is suspend your license for 90 days. Then you also don't have to pay the high liability insurance.

[RELOAD]

And while we're on the subject I'm also going to say this. For everyone here that doesn't know. If you ever get pulled over for drunk driving DO NOT blow into that tube unless you haven't had a single thing to drink. If you blow over the legal limit, then you get fucked. You lose your drivers license for 6 months minimum. To get it back after 6 months you have to pay the high liability insurance from hell plus a reinstatement fee. If you don't pay the insurance and stuff you can't get it back for a year. If you do NOT blow in the tube, the worst they can do is suspend your license for 90 days. Then you also don't have to pay the high liability insurance.

That wouldn't be the case in over here in England. You'd get blood tested or something at that station.

[torcher]

what i have is PTI just with alcohol. and yeah i can only have it once after that im screwed. and i cant go 3 months without a drivers license. because then i would have no friends that could drive. and the AIP is cheaper than my original ticket. after the AIP my record will be exspunged of all charges and i wont have a record of this ever happening.

[madscientist]

A cop has probable cause as soon as you look at him funny. All he has to do is believe he may find somehting. If he SAYS that he smells alcohol, even if he really doesn't, he can do a search. If he asked if he could look in the truck and torch had said no, then he has probable cause because torch is trying to hide something. Long story short, a cop can do a search whenever he wants to, even if you say no.

That's not true. They need more than that, like a bowl they saw lying on the seat. They can't just search for any reason.

As far as I know, the smell of alcohol is cause to test the DRIVER for drunkenness, nothing more.

But torcher, you have a lawyer now, that's good... he obviously will know more than any of us. :P

[THErAPIST]

in that case, then I uess the AIP may be a good thing. HOw is it that you always get caught? The cops there have it out for you guys haha.

Wel, youre both right and wrong mad. Yes, a cop has to have probable cause. Probable cause depends on the situation though. Did he smell alcohol? yes, so he then has probable cause to look in that cooler, to check torch, and to do a few funny little drunk tests. It also gives him probable cause to look in the truck for open containers. It doesn't however give him the ability to rip the truck appart looking for guns and stuff. Why would there be cans behind the seat? I don't know about you guys, but I make a habbit of getting up, lifting my seat, and throwing empty cans behind it as im driving down the road. Don't you? He didnt really have the right to go through like that, but smelling alcohol does give him the right to look for open containers and such.

You get blood tested here for your blood alcohol level, but that's only if you're so drunk you cant stand. Even still, if you down a brand new bottle of shnapps, they can't exactly draw blood because he watched you drink that whole bottle down.

I don't know how stuff works over there, but what I just said about letting the cop see you down the bottle comes from a cop that I know so I know it works here :p

[torcher]

the cop didnt give me any sobriety tests at all. but here's something funny...when we got to the police station....i had to empty my pockets. and i had 10 beer can tabs from what i drank earlier, because i save them for more beer and/or money. but they didnt say a word about those. oh well. today's the day.

[evilwalnut]

Fuck with the pigs at every possible turn. Get your lawyer, get the court date, and do not let them just pass your through the legal system like some illegal immigrant.

*generally* A sobriety test is what police need for probable cause, one they determine they have this probable cause they can search you and your car, as well as breathalyze you.

Please do not just go to the counseling to avoid clashing with police in court. If you can afford it, take the legal route...which is seems like you are choosing. Pigs love to be in control on the road..and for most purposes they are, but in the courtroom a gun and an intimidating presence doesnt give an animal superiority.

I've gone to court over such things and have yet to be charged. Simple things such as mis-writing your citation, saying the wrong thing, roughly handling you, or any of the above can screw the police badly. If you're underage still, its even better as they cannot do certain things to you physically that they can to an adult or person over 18, and if they did it works very nicely for your case.

Go to court and eat bacon.

[torcher]

my courtdate has passed...i should be starting A.I.P. tomorow. i would have gone to court but since im good friends with the judge's granddaughter i got off light. i could have lost my license, and payed a $275 fine. the way i figure it now that i wont be caught with alcohol again is i put it in my toolbox on thet back of my truck and lock it. no way they can go in it without a warrant.
and another reason i didnt want to go to court is because i would have to pay lawyer and court fees. so ill just go through this and deal with it.

on another note. the guy that is supposed to be setting all this up is fucking around and not getting things done. i went to his office on the 3rd, but he wasnt there so his secretary called him and he said to come back thursday morning. ok...did that...he wasnt there again...and said to come back tomorow. so if he's not there tomorow im going to talk to the judge to see if i can get it dropped becasue the guy is bullshitting me.

[THErAPIST]

sounds right to me. nice to know people or have connections eh?

as long as they didnt ass rape you for fun... the myrtle beach cops here try that sometimes and end up getting screamed at by other cops..

[torcher]

i have been stood up once again by that stupid fcuker. if he isnt there thursday when he said to come back, im going to the judge to see if i can get this shit dropped. if he does and i get it dropped that will be an extra $250 in my pocket!