united-states police traffic
Can a police car follow you to increase citations and fines?
<p>Let's say you are traveling on city streets.</p>
<p>A police cruiser notices you are speeding and starts following you from an inconspicuous distance.  During the time he follows you, he sees more violations.</p>
<p>Is it legal for a police cruiser to keep following you, and tallying additional citations and fines?</p>
<p>I am wondering specifically whether they could follow you to see if your excess in speed lasts for a distance / time, and further penalize you, but am also interested to learn whether they would tally several distinct citations by following you for a long time.</p>
<p>I am asking specifically of United States law.  I am unsure if it would be different for state police and local police.</p>

<p>In general, yes, police <strong>could</strong> do this. I am not aware of any US state or locality which <strong>requires</strong> an officer to execute a stop as soon as a traffic violation is observed. Whether the police <strong>would</strong> act in such a way is another question, but in some areas maximizing citation revenue is a high priority, so police in such areas might act in such a way.</p>
<p>If police think a person's actions are &quot;suspicious&quot; and think that the person might be involved in some crime more serious than a traffic violation, it would be common procedure to follow without making a stop or arrest to get a better idea of what the person was doing.</p>
<p>Many police I have encountered seem seriously concerned to stop someone driving in what they consider an unsafe way as quickly as possible, and so stop violators promptly, but I don't say that motivates all police all the time.</p>
