Joe Was Arrested

[Rakuflames]

Originally Posted by Dan_78

A cheap digital voice recorder could come in use.

In Florida it's illegal to record unless all parties know they're being recorded.

[hellosailor]

Tori, I would strongly suggest that you hire an attorne or have one appointed for you. In a situation such as you describe, it is critical to know and cite the EXACT terms of the statutes that are involved, and since you haven't done this for any of them, I would suggest you need a detail-oriented legal specialist (attorney) to defend Joe.

I have no idea what the FL driver's license laws are, but they may refer to domicile, or residence, or permanent mailing address, and all three can be different. Maybe the cop was being a *head and trying to get a technical violation. Maybe he was right. If your tags were two weeks expired--you painted a target on your backs and all he did was use it.

Hire the attorney, and ask his opinion about contacting the press, because there are some surprisingly professional newspapers in Florida and they're always glad to tear into police misbehavior.

But speculating here, without precise facts? That won't help, and might come back to hurt you.

[bella]

Originally Posted by Tori

They doubted our story about living on a boat and called the marina to verify. The only reason the officer knew the addresses changed was that the addresses on joes security licenses did not match the DL. The security address has to be the county in which you are currently residing the dl your permanent address.

In Fla you have ten days after the tags expire to renew or face a fine. I don't think there is any law states you have have matching security and DL addresses. However if you do change your address of residence you have ten days to change it. Most officers here are fully aware of the new Real ID crap and try to work with ppl. If you have a good attorney he can get it either dropped or at least adjudication withheld.

What county are you in? IF Joe was in a company truck that did not renew the tags, I would be talking to them about his defense bills. IF he is the owner of the company, there is really no excuse for not renewing the tags.

Fla has not state income tax...our lovely new governor has done as much as he can to screw with the revenue that the counties get. who in turn put pressure on officers to write more tickets to create more revenue. This officer, however, sounds like he has a problem. I would file a complaint with internal affairs.

If you get your mail at a house you own and your drivers license is listed there. It should be your legal address..you never ever tell anyone you liveaboard in fla.. wash that word right out of your mouth. Not unless you want to end up having your boat stuck in the category of houseboat. You are always just down to the boat to work on it.. IF you are not driving why did you need to show your ID..there is no probable cause to have to show your ID to the officer. The fact that other officers backed you up on the impersonating part and then the guy went out of his way to write you a ticket proves it was harassment.. file a complaint. Until you do, he will just continue to get away with this stuff..
LB.

ps..... all the officer needed to know was that you were where you are for work.. and that your home is where the house is.. There is NO fla statute that makes it so that you cannot be working temp somewhere and not have a home elsewhere in the state..

[Cheechako]

Originally Posted by Tori

We were not driving we exited the bank to find an officer running our tags which had just expired approx 14 days ago. He initially questioned us not about the tags but about our vehicle since Joe is a licensed security officer it is a legally marked security vehicle. He said we wre committing a felony by impersonating law enforcement officers. Long story short three other officers came we were detained three hours they could find no valid reason for the first officers insistence that we were impersonating law enforcement so he arrested Joe for some other offense. The officer did not like security. Joe was handcuffed and went to jail I had to bail him out this is a second degree misdemeanor if convicted Joe could lose his security licenses and face jail time and or steep fines. Fox 35 has filmed the story but not yet aired it we have retained am attorney it was not a traffic stop we were not driving. My address is the marina address my name is not on the title to the house. Some of our mail comes here some goes there. Of our four vehicles two are registered to the marina address two to the house. Apparently this is arrestable in Florida. The charge listed on the arrest report says failure to notify HSMV of an address change when you look up the statute it refers to vehicle registration not your DL. We were polite to the officers and neither has any criminal history. My opinion is the officer wanted an arrest for some reason could not use what he wanted which was a felony of impersonating law enforcement so he researched and found some vague reason. At no time was Joe queried as to his address change. They also did not mentioned the expired tag but he did get a ticket for that. We were wearing flip flops shorts and t shirts. We have also filed written complaints about the officer and contacted internal affairs in all it us absolutely ludicrous.

must bre illegal to own 2 homes in florida? if not illegal...why cant you have 2 addresses?

[hellosailor]

BTW, the bank may have had security cameras recording your incident outside. And if so, that might be important, so if you don't get that attorney right away--do make sure to contact the bank QUICKLY to ask them to make sure those videos are archived and not wiped, if at all possible.

[bella]

Originally Posted by Cheechako

must bre illegal to own 2 homes in florida? if not illegal...why cant you have 2 addresses?

It is not illegal but under florida law one must have one's driver's license listed at one's permanent address. IF you move, you have ten days to change the address. For some the cost of $35 is prohibitive. Most cops just tell you to get it changed. There all sorts of goofy ways a cop can find to write you a titcket.. For instance.. IF you have your tags in a holder that obscures any part of your tag, it is illegal. Most cops don't bother if they can read the tag number and sticker but if you give them a hard time or are mouthy.. well guess what ticket time. I strongly suspect there is far more to this story than meets the casual eye. They set themselves up for grief with an expired tag.. Cops LOVE expired tags. It is probable cause to pull them over and then it just goes downhill from there.

we also have a few towns that the cops are all rejects from real copdom.
The ones who make barney fife like sane. Generally they are city cops..

[bella]

Originally Posted by Rakuflames

In Florida it's illegal to record unless all parties know they're being recorded.

A cop does his job IN public.. and he is held ot the government in the sunshine laws.. therefore..


Under the statute, consent is not required for the taping of a non-electronic communication uttered by a person who does not have a reasonable expectation of privacy in that communication. See definition of “oral communication,” Fla. Stat. ch. 934.02. See also Stevenson v. State, 667 So.2d 410 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 1996); Paredes v. State, 760 So.2d 167 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 2000).

[Tori]

Sorry guys but the only reason this officer was interested in the car is because it is a marked security vehicle that resembles a police car. Yes the tag was expired however his beef was the car, Joes uniforms, Joes bullet proof vest, his badges etc. He didn't care about the tag... only cared about the address after he couldn't find a valid reason for a felony arrest it was pretty obvious. He repeatedly told us he going to arrest us for a felony and he was going to make sure we wouldn't be able to work in security in "his" state. The main reason I posted thus is because as "cruisers" many people in Florida may reside primarily on their boat but have a different permanent address on their DL and vehicle registration and this can obviously be an issue if the officer chooses to make it one. I felt like others should be made aware of the issue.

[Aussiesuede]

Originally Posted by Rakuflames

I still don't understand why they arrested him. That happened to me and all I got was a non-moving violation.

Did you just get ticketed for failure to file a change of address for your driver license? That is simply a civil penalty with a $30 fine. The issue seems to be with failure to change address on vehicle registration, which also carries a $30 fine but the statute I noted above makes it a class 2 misdemeanor to enter false information on either a vehicle registration request or request to change address. There are a ton of queries on the internet that some jurisdictions interpret the statute with a common sense approach, and others choose to read it literally.


Here is the request to change address form it asks for current mailing address AND separately current residential address:

http://www.hlfsmv.gov/forms/71117.pdf

So if you're unlucky enough to be in one of those jurisdictions which choose to read the statute literally, then if you don't accurately list you residence address, you've technically committed a class 2 misdemeanor. This could not have possibly been the intention of the legislature, but you can see how some Barney Fife jusrisdiction would choose to interpret the statute literally and charge accordingly, as seems to have been the case here. Corrupt to the core imo, but having dealt with this type of backwards mentality before, I can see how some LEO's choose to excuse such malevolent behaviour as this officer seems to have gone out of his way to engage in.

[Tori]

He has a citation for expired rag for $113 his arrest is for a criminal traffic violation of "failure to notify HSMV of address change"

[bella]

Tori did I miss what city... That would help warn the rest of the cruisers out there..
IF you go before a judge, make sure you ask the judge to withhold adjudication as a matter of a professional license is involved.. Judges are pretty good about that kind of thing.. good luck..

[bella]

Originally Posted by Tori

He has a citation for expired rag for $113 his arrest is for a criminal traffic violation of "failure to notify HSMV of address change"

oh and I forgot.. for the rest of you.. Florida has no income tax.. they use such things as fines and fees to get revenue. In October 2009 they jacked up everything over the roof tops... used to be a duplicate car title was $12 now it is $75 and so on.. other stuff is even more ridiculous.

[sabray]

Sums up my impression of Florida. No desire to go there.

[tropicalescape]

FLA. is a tough row to hoe in all respects..its the vacation capital of the world and the world is a suffering..In Lawte FLA. (north central)they did a story on 60 min. about the cops setting up speed traps for tourists..turns out they were building a new court house and didnt get revenue from tourisum so they got it from the tourist..and didnt Al Gore have some problems with the way things are done down there..dont think he got anywhere trying to fight them!I think you guys came out alright,at least they didnt dimple your chads.LOL. You think its bad where you are try Nassua county..its red neck central.welcome to " The Redneck Riviara"lol wish you the best,DVC

[bella]

Originally Posted by sabray

Sums up my impression of Florida. No desire to go there.

please don't feel that way..this is an incredibly beautiful place. sailing in SW fla is wondeful, esp in the winter when everyone else are on the hard and teeth chattering.
I know places that would leave you stunned with thier beauty.. like all states we have our glitches. I have never lived anywhere there is always some local yokel that has an agenda...one barney fife who has some axe to grind about something. Its the nature of the law enforcement beast. Never let that ruin your day.... in any place if you drive around with expired tags it sets you up for getting stopped.

While working short term up in Maryland I had my license stolen.. or so I thought... to get a replacement Florida used my archived photo and the address in maryland. You should have seen the look on the cop who stopped me face when he saw a maryland address on a florida drivers license. He ran it and came back I was legal but he found it not too amusing. No ticket.. I was a VA nurse on temp assignment..

Please come down and see for yourself... it all depends, too on where you go and what you do.. just as anyplace you or I visit..