OHTA.ca

Hello, everyone. I have a lidar court date coming up. I would appreciate some help with the defense and some tips on how to proceed.

In my disclosure I asked for

1. The officers notes regarding the alleged infractions, including explanations or shorthand, or

coded notes by the officer.

2. A typed version of any hand written notes.

3. Both sides of the officers copy of the Ticket.

4. Information about any speed monitoring devices used in the alleged offence.

5. A copy of the officers training record, or certificate of qualification specific to said speed-

monitoring device, or speed estimation device.

6. A copy of the calibration, and repair history of any speed-monitoring device used in this alleged

offence.

7. A copy of the operators manual for said speed-monitoring device.

9. And any other document that the Crown, or Crowns witness, may rely on at trial.

I received a copy of the ticket

And two printouts

I did not receive any certifications or traing information except in the first document where it says "August 2014". Is it reasonable to ask he shows a certification document. If he does not have it, can I question it's validity and the fact that he can't prove he was trained for that exact unit.

The second document I assume it is a confirmation that that the unit passed testing at the end of the shift. That is at 5:20PM. In the first document the unit was tested at 9:30AM. The second test just says PASS, there is no detailed information on what tests were performed. Also isn't it a bit too long before tests? I am sure the officer must have had lunch or moved. How often should the unit be tested?

Here is some case law I am going by that states the unit has to be tested before and after. http://www.canlii.org/en/on/oncj/doc/20 ... cj266.html

Therefore, I find that it is necessary for a laser device to be tested by a police officer both before and after a speed enforcement stop.

Are there any guidelines/case law for the time frame that a unit must be tested after a speed enforcement stop?

I plan to question his testing procedure step by step. If he omit steps it should help me, no?

What else can I use for defense?

They don't give out training certificates. It is accepted that the officer only needs to say that he was trained and was current in his certification. You can question him on his training and if the person who trained him was an instructor (if not, you win). Testing of the unit only needs to be done at the start of the day, and at the end, there is no time limit for duration between tests. You certainly can question the officer on testing procedures. If you request a copy of the testing procedure as a part of disclosure, you will get it. You will not get the whole manual. Even if the officer doesn't get it 100% right on testing procedure during your cross examination, it does not mean you have an automatic win (contrary to popular belief)

One more thing, what exactly are the typed pages I received? Are those the officers notes or they are the officers notes transcript? Who typed them? I did not get any handwritten notes.

screeech wrote:They don't give out training certificates. It is accepted that the officer only needs to say that he was trained and was current in his certification. You can question him on his training and if the person who trained him was an instructor (if not, you win). Testing of the unit only needs to be done at the start of the day, and at the end, there is no time limit for duration between tests. You certainly can question the officer on testing procedures. If you request a copy of the testing procedure as a part of disclosure, you will get it. You will not get the whole manual. Even if the officer doesn't get it 100% right on testing procedure during your cross examination, it does not mean you have an automatic win (contrary to popular belief)

Is there any case law regarding that statement?

yes

screeech wrote:yes

Any idea what those two typed pages are? They are not signed. Are the notes required to be signed?

daught wrote:

screeech wrote:yes

Any idea what those two typed pages are? They are not signed. Are the notes required to be signed?

Its hard to say what the pages are unless you tell us what they say .. typically notes aren't signed.

It could be notes if is a typed page from an eticket , notes can also be handwritten from the back of the offence notice that the officer submits.