Q: Can I challenge jurisdiction if the officer issuing ticket doesn’t work for the city or county they pulled me over in?
Pulled over in a different city and county than the officer works and received speeding citation. Officer included an address for location of offense in his jurisdiction, but that addres is 10-15 miles from where I was pulled over.
A:
Can you challenge it? Yes you can. Will the challenge be successful? It depends. It seems unlikely to have a chance without a defense attorney's help with it.
A police officer outside his jurisdiction doesn't have the right to make an investigative stop unless acting "in the course and scope of his employment while outside his jurisdiction." Being "on duty" alone, without more, is not enough. The police officer wanting to execute a traffic stop outside of his or her jurisdiction can request a local police officer with authority in that jurisdiction to execute the stop, then the outside-jurisdiction police officer could be a witness.
Though Minnesota Statutes Section 629.40 "ALLOWING ARRESTS ANYWHERE IN STATE," appears to provide authority to police officers outside their jurisdiction to make arrests, it does not appear to apply to most suspected traffic violations.
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