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Police officers throughout Ocean and Monmouth County are now using a new device that can scan passersby vehicle license plate numbers in a second and instantly provide the status of your vehicle and information about its owner. With 6 cameras mounted on the roof of the "reader car", information is instantly sent to the dashboard computer screen. If a vehicle warrants stopping, such as a outstanding warrant for arrest, an alert beeps and the officer can initiate a motor vehicle stop. The legality of the instruments usage has already been approved in a recent case, State v. Donis, that held that a police officer may randomly check the status of a vehicle registration or driver's license and whether the vehicle or its plates are stolen. According to one source, there are approximately 1.5 million unregistered or unlicensed vehicles in the State of New Jersey.
The scanners have powerful uses for crimes other then motor vehicle violations enforcement. Each scanner saves the data of license plate numbers it has read. If for example, bank robbers are casing a place for several hours beforehand their plates may be picked up by a police camera. Police are able to fetch this data many days later if need be as evidence to help establish probable cause and other elements of the crime.

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The everyday traffic stop by a police officer has recently taken a drastic new turn. Implementation of tiny personal cameras pinned onto every police officer in Sea Girt Jersey is sure to create vibrations that will be felt for decades to come throughout New Jersey courtrooms. Created by Axon System the mini cameras are mounted on a headband, eyeglasses, or clipped to the collar of police and are able to record up to six hours of an officer at work. When video is recorded, it is wirelessly uploaded to a website, evidence.com, where it is available for retrieval by an officer with the proper authority. This groundbreaking implementation of technology, already used in Western States, is hoped to lead to better overall law enforcement procedure. In today's highly litigious society where even a simple traffic stop may end up in municipal court, this new upgrade will have untold effects.

The new technology will cost the Sea Girt Police Department about $2,000 per system and $1,200 in annual cost for data storage per unit. Sea Girt, with only 11 police officers, is the first of New Jersey's 566 municipalities to implement the mini cameras but already officials in Morristown and Cape May County have indicated their intent to have them soon. This new technology is possibly a response to the current trend of motor vehicle drivers recording snippets of their traffic stop with a cell phone. Rather than having only 10 seconds of recording, the longer videos will provide greater insight into the specifics of what happened.

Continue reading ""Big Brother" Police in New Jersey Are Watching You!" »

Little Silver is a borough of about 6,000 in Monmouth County well known for its peaceful small town atmosphere and convenient proximity to both the beautiful beaches of the New Jersey shore area and the hustle and bustle of nearby Manhattan. Little Silver is bordered directly by each Shrewsbury, Red Bank, Fair Haven, Rumson, and Oceanport, and is accessible through Route 35, Rumson Road, and the New Jersey Transit's North Jersey Coast line, which travels from Little Silver to New York City frequently throughout the day. Because of its location, Little Silver is very often seen as an agreeable option for those wishing to spend time on the beach during the summer without dealing with the burdensome problems associated with living in a beachfront town.

Little Silver normally experiences a substantial population boom during summer months. This spike attracts the attention of local law enforcement who make it their goal to insure the safe and quiet nature of the town is preserved throughout the summer and do so through handing out an increased number of disorderly persons offenses, motor vehicle moving violations, and DWI, DUI, and Refusal charges.

The most common disorderly persons offenses are disorderly conduct (N.J.S. 2C: 33-2), underage drinking (N.J.S. 2C: 33-15), use or possession of a fake ID (N.J.S. 2C: 21-2.1), assault (N.J.S. 2C: 12-1), possession of drugs or drug paraphernalia (N.J.S. 2C: 35-10 and N.J.S. 2C: 36-2), criminal mischief (N.J.S. 2C: 17-3), resisting arrest (N.J.S. 2C: 29-2), or trespassing (N.J.S. 2C: 18-3). Being convicted of one of these offenses can lead to significant monetary penalties, jail time, community service, and other serious penalties. Last year Little Silver witnessed 23 disorderly persons offenses in total.

Moving violations are also quite commonly increased during the summer months and some of the more popularly charged offenses are failure to stop, failure to observe traffic signals, and failure to observe traffic lanes. While these may seem like rather minor offenses, penalties can include the assessment of motor vehicle points on your driver's license, increased insurance premiums, significant monetary fines, loss of license, and jail time. More serious drunk driving alcohol related violations such as DWI, DUI, and Refusal can carry much more extreme penalties. Last year alone, Little Silver witnessed 310 moving violations and 5 DWIs.

Continue reading "Little Silver Criminal Attorney: Little Silver Municipal Court" »