Quote:
Originally Posted by RonPaul4Prez
Never underestimate the ability of the government to screw up. There are a number of reasons why an officer may not show up to a hearing. But they probably will, and if it is your word versus theirs (no video, etc) good luck.
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In CA, police officers are given 4 hours of overtime to show up in court if it is not within their shift. Provided that the OP got the ticket at night, this cop probably works in the afternoon / night shift. He/She has a lot of incentive to show up to court, even if they were to go in, sign in and say they have no recollection of the incident, and leave. That's 4 hours of OT, and I know of very few officers who will give that up unless hell was freezing over.
More and more judges are reluctant to let tickets pass when officers don't show up and those officers quickly get a bad reputation for doing so and their supervisors hear about it. Although you are right, there is a chance they won't show up or have something better to do at that time. Compared to years ago though when there was really no incentive for officers to show up, I wouldn't count on it nowadays.