Can DOT officers bother you at a truck stop?

i don't see HOW, they can do ANYTHING, ANYTIME, ANYWHERE, they want.

private property is private property. plain and simple as that. without a warrant for each individual truck. they DON'T have the right to harrass you.

and on another post mentioned above. i could see an accident happening.
cop wakes you up. then leaves you alone. most people don't just go back to sleep at the flip of a switch. and just as they finally get to falling asleep. IT'S TIME TO DRIVE.

 

A whole lot of paranoid drivers in this thread.....

 

About 5 years ago I pulled into an Ohio rest area above Cincy and went off duty to burn off several hours before a delivery. When I pulled in a Diesel Bear was doing a lvl 1 on another truck. A bit later I was sitting at one of the benches chatting on the phone when the DB walked up and informed me he was doing an inspection and needed all my paperwork. I informed him I was off duty for at least another hour and he would have to wait. That didnt go over well.

We had a fairly heated discussion that lasted a few minutes and he ended up calling in a full grown. The FG got the story straight, including the part the DB hadnt told him.. that I was off duty BEFORE the DB had finished his inspection on the other truck. Seems the DB had implied he had tried to start the inspection as soon as I had pulled in.

Final verdict... FG informed the DB that he does not have any authority to demand a driver return to duty for an inspection.

 

There are a lot of LEO's who do not understand or know the law, which is ironic because they are the law enforcement agents. Some of them do know and understand the law and break it themselves because they feel they are somehow doing all of us a service by doing so...and some of them are just looking to generate revenue, tax collectors with guns....

The most important thing to remember, if you are going to question or refuse to comply with the requests or orders of a LEO, is to remain absolutely calm and civil, do not get upset or exchange loud verbal commands with any officer. Use no profanity whatsoever. They have been trained to take control of any situation, and for most of them this translates into ratcheting up any situation wherein the officer is not receiving the cooperation from you that he desires, into one where there is a physical confrontation....allowing himself the ability to use force. Do not play into this. If you remain calm, and do not raise your voice or make any threatening gestures he will not be able to escalate the situation into one where he is then beating you, and claiming to be restraining you.

I'm thinking I'll probably print the regulation that I posted above and fold and carry it in my wallet. If I'm off duty and a LEO decides he's going to compel me to participate with him/them, I'll show him the regulation and tell him I'm going to get my wife to video record our "inspection". I'll make him acknowledge that I was "off duty" at the time of his request for interaction with me, and I'd make sure that he understood what "off duty" actually meant. (cause I think, they think we're always "on duty" anytime they're around, or that we should be considered on duty if they want to inspect us) I'd inform him that I was a member of OOIDA and that I'd have legal representation and be seeing him in front of a judge, with a copy of our video, in the not too distant future.....

Now cops who are breaking the law aren't going to like being recorded breaking the law, and so, yeah, it could get a bit tense.

I don't have any problem with doing an inspection, what I have a problem with is cops acting unlawfully. If they're acting unlawfully at the beginning of their "inspection", what makes me think that they'll comply with the law during the inspection, and not actually break the law by backing one of my slack adjusters out of adjustment so that they can write me a ticket?

There are a lot of really good cops, unfortunately it only takes a couple of really bad ones to make them all look bad.

It blows my mind to think that there are actually cops that would go truck to truck on private property, waking drivers who are actually off duty, so that they can write some tickets....

Can you imagine what would happen if all of the drivers who were in the truck stop sleeping when the cops started their "safety campaign" began filming the illegal activities of the cops???

 

I have a question. Let's say you ran out your 14 hrs. then went off duty. You're 1/2 way through your 10 hrs. off duty and the LEO wakes you up and asks to see your log book. In my way of thinking, I'd have to log on duty not driving at that point which would be a violation right there because legally I'm not allowed to go back on duty until I've completed my 10 hrs. off duty. The question is, how can the LEO get away with this without me being in violation of my hours of service rules ?

 

Well, you are technically wrong. If your 14 hour clock had expired, you could go back "on duty" for any reason other than driving. You would have to have completed 10 hours off duty/sleeper to do any more driving, but not to perform any other work.

 

The fact that he was on duty violates the 10 hour rest cycle and would make it restart.

 

The simple answer is, they can't.

They must obey the law, and the law specifically states that they can only conduct an inspection which begins with you being on duty at the time.

Off duty is off duty, and if you're legally off duty you don't have to comply with them.

They have no authority if the driver is off duty.

None.

They cannot compel you to go on duty for the purposes of their conducting an inspection.

An inspection is not an investigation, although it is similar.

Cops break laws sometimes, and they may just be ignorant to the fact that they cannot disturb you when you're off duty without having some reason other than wanting to write you a log book ticket as the motivation.

I guess if you were doing something illegal, like maybe breaking an anti-idling law, that, that might give them all they need to disturb you.

But cops aren't perfect, they make mistakes, and disturbing an off duty driver without a compelling reason is a violation of the regulations.

How you handle a situation like this is up to you.

 

They can't just do what ever they want. And usually they don't unless someone gives them a reason to be a real PITA. You don't even have to discuss the issue with them. Fact is, that is the last thing you want to do. NEVER #### chat with an LEO. But at the same time, don't try to be an arm chair lawyer. You will lose. You can confidently express yourself, in a nice manner, and leave it at that. If an LEO wanted to play the game and mess with you, like was stated in the rest area situation, they could theoretically do anything they want because they have the gun and the badge. But, they do have to meet certain criteria when it comes to a dispute. And there are civil suits that can be brought against an LEO and the agency they work for.

If an LEO wanted me to exit my vehicle, I would lock it as I exited. Unless it is a legitimate DOT inspection done under authorized conditions, they have no authorization to search in there without meeting proper conditions or seeking approval of the driver. Even if the driver does not own the truck. He is a representative of the truck owner. If the LEO wanted to know why I locked it, I would just say it was force of habit and shrug my shoulders. Both of us would know why I did it, but you can play dumb. That is legal. If they want you to open up the vehicle so they can look, there is nothing wrong with asking what they are looking for and that you do not consent to searches. Even if they order you to open up and do look and find even a pound of pot, it could be thrown out if they could not prove probable cause and you did not consent. And a "hunch" isn't enough for probable cause.

And of course, at every step of any interaction with an LEO, you can ask, "are you detaining me or am I free to leave?". And never answer any questions that might incriminate you. If he asks if you know how fast you were going at a traffic stop, just say "yes". Do not elaborate any beyond that.

What gets most people in trouble, especially the fatigued driver nonsense that went on in Minnesota a few years ago, is that the driver can't keep his mouth shut. The LEO is not your buddy. You do retain your rights, even as a commercial driver. You just have be very knowledgable about where those right begin as it pertains to FMCSA kind of stuff. You are not required to incriminate yourself. People inherently want to defend themselves and their actions when encountering LEO's. That is what they are hoping for. If they can catch you contradicting yourself on anything, they have you. If you don't fall for the game, they have to prove stuff. That is a harder criteria to follow. They might not be too happy about that, and may try to play the good cop bad cop game, but keep your wits about you, don't be an ###, and play it out. You must be the adult with the patience of Job, and the ability to think well before you open your mouth, and not fall for childish little games.