so for this week on traffic Thursdays we have a special guest my sergeant Sergeant Wilkins uh it's funny because five years ago when I first got hired as a police officer I passed the police academy in the state exam and I got my certification I got sworn in he was actually my training officer one of my training officers but he was my first training officer so he showed me the ropes on how to be a police officer and 5 years later here we are today um do you want to introduce yourself Serge I'm Sergeant Wilkins I'm at the Coral Springs Police Department um I've been with the department now coming up on 12 years I have approximately 26 years of total law enforcement experience where I started with the New York City Police Department went to the town of PM Beach and eventually here to Coral Springs where this is probably the most satisfying of all the agencies reference to doing actual law enforcement so Charney officer charne is in a good position right now thanks to my tutelage um he's doing a fantastic job hopefully you'll enjoy this episode of traffic Thursdays as I will also be driving around with officer valderama to show case his talents as well that's part of the problem hey nice jams hi officer how are you you good was I yes you were 56 and a 40 and you were also falling cars too closely jamming too H too uh too crazy in here huh I listening to actually gospel gospel music oh man not again I put some Jesus music on Jesus music what's that you said Jesus music yeah man hello good morning Sergeant wils Carl Springs police how about we just shut it off car just preaching right now to turn it down but let me show you my license all right I'm officer Charney with Coral Springs police the reason for the Stop was because you're going 56 and you were following others too closely is everything okay you no you weren't following me too closely but you were following others too closely is everything okay everything is good I actually so I'm an attorney I just left my office I got a call from Costco that my crab legs were in I was very excited that your what my crab legs I've been Wai oh your crab legs all right very good but I was jamming so I guess I didn't really pay attention you know the Mercedes well you got to be careful be yeah you got to be careful because if you crash you're not going to be able to enjoy those crab legs I'm just letting you know you know I'm not trying to be mean I'm just trying to speak reason to you that's all I hear you sorry I I'm an aggressive driver but I I I signal and stuff like that signal I try to make sure I'm not too close yeah and I told my daughter about this I told her I told look you need to back up okay I'm sitting here trying to press the break over here I'm like she's like ma did I learn from you I'm like okay yeah you're preaching to the choir so we know how it is I need to do better and I'm sorry so let me here's my license if you find the insurance and the registration just let my partner know I'll be right back okay all right man so we pulled her over 56 and a 40 I guess the gospel music she was going hard on it because she was driving aggressively she told me that she's on the way to Costco which is probably about 5 minutes away to go pick up some crab legs so must be uh some pretty good crab legs to be driving that fast Mr Krabs wouldn't approve this though I can tell you that right now oh you giving me a ticket I can afford I don't any money I'm a single parent entrepreneur clients are not paying their bills you can't give me a warning I can't give you a warning ma'am well I'm kind of giving you a warning because I could write you for careless I'm not writing you for caress which could be another citation I'm just writing you for the speeding okay so you have three ways to take care of it you can pay it you can go to traffic school which is online or you can go to Traffic Court traffic school traffic school I don't have TR so you don't have to do that option then you can enjoy those crab legs and then just pay the ticket and that's all all right temp thanks is it a high ticket cuz I don't I don't know if I'm going to be able toay so it it is up there um it's it's I cut your ma'am I cut your I cut you a break listen I cut you a break I like money you like money we're all like Mr Krabs out here you know we all like money okay but it's all about safety too no absolutely um so 16 over it is $256 yeah but if I wrote you careless it would have been an additional $166 with an additional citation with came with points so I'm not doing that like I said it's just the one speeding ticket and there's no way I can get a um like a warning you can get a warning on the car list but you can't get a warning on the speed not not today sorry thiss it could be worse you could get more tickets God forbid you could have got into an accident none of that happened okay I mean it's not always you you got to worry about it's other people too because you're you're you're moving at a higher rate of speed that people aren't expecting to come out of nowhere in their blind spot and then you roll up and then that's how accidents happen well set that's why I put my signal on officer well just because you have your signal on doesn't mean it's safe I let them you even said you were aggressive you know what I mean I aggressive yeah I know I know I am aggressive and safe aren't really a too no you can too good I I would unless you're like on a closed course racetrack then yeah I would agree with you but there's a bunch of people out here it's just people's safety we got to worry about okay and I don't want someone or you getting hurt okay so as the supervisor U one of my the most probably the most important goal is the reduction of crashes here in the city you know we have a a city of roughly 135,000 people which is approximately the 14th largest city in the State of Florida so what we want to do and the goal is like I said the reduction in Crash that helps out everybody it helps out the people who walk here who live here who bike here and who just come in and leave come in and leave to go to work it also has a win-win for everybody in the state in the sense that that if we can reduce crashes we've done our part and that the insurance companies will look at it as hey you know what Coral Springs is reducing crashes therefore we're going to reduce premiums overall that that should be a goal of every Traffic Unit uh in the State of Florida so that way we can reduce premiums and that like I said that helps out everybody good afternoon offic B by the Rama Co from Police Department the reason why top you we're going 62 and 40 can you roll down the window for me here I'll let you use the switch okay can I see your license registration proof Insurance please about realize how fast okay when you find a registration Insurance give to my partner please and do not get out of the car how old are you you're 17 how come you're not wearing your seat belt it's broke okay what about the other side does that work the middle or the other side yeah okay and we'll facing north of 1,000 Rich actually this car on pass out is going 57 but he has to get going F fast hit 62 so decided to catch up to the car and stop the vehicle and obviously his passenger in the backside 17 years old didn't even have a seat belt on so we're going to give him a handy dandy seat Bel pet in situation all right sir look I'm only going to give you one citation but you could have gotten two cuz the passenger could got another one well him he could have got one I got for the speeding going at 62 and a 40 22 over is a 281 off not for the speeding part no me I could have given you two I'm only giving you one you could have gave me two you could have gave me zero no you got to take care of it within 30 days it's a $281 ticket make sure you take care with the dir okay so if you can't slide over in the back put your seat belt on listen to me if you can't slide over you I'm going to have you come up in the front stand by stand by you done with me what do you need I'm not done with you he may be done with you you but I'm not I want I want I want my for taking my we can talk about that okay come on out and and sit in the front for me okay sit in the front for you thank you very much put your seat belt okay put your seat belt on for meam thank you but I want to make sure that your daughter survives the ride that's my that's what I'm allowed to do if he had seen what I've seen over my 26 years before he left his home he would have had his daughter in a seat belt 5930 all right so we got a bicycle we got a moped that's driving in a bike lane s 3150 St going to have to stop I'm officer tring with Co Springs police I stopped because you're riding your moped in the bike lane okay why are you doing that no no reason yeah okay do you have your license on you yeah can I see it yeah you're not a bicycle so you got to just be in the regular Lane okay this is for bicycles only all right yeah all right I'm sorry do you have your license uh oh okay do you live here uh in Florida your house yeah okay did you ever get a license in Florida or no I Vietnam or Vietnam okay I see you have your social security card can I see that yeah can I see it so that's going to be his name yeah you eyes on the subject you have to have a license in Florida to drive okay you can't this doesn't count yeah all right so we stopped this driver for riding in the bicycle lane so no motor vehicle is legally allowed to ride in the bicycle lane they have to be on the roadway that's reserved for bicyclist only so we stopped him he tells me he's from Vietnam and he doesn't have his driver license yet which you have to have a license in Florida to legally drive you don't have that it's actually a criminal offense where you can either go to jail or you can be issued a summons where you have it's a criminal citation and you have a mandatory court appearance and if you don't show up for a criminal court appearance they will issue a warrn out for your arrest it's different than just the regular speeding tickets where it's just an infraction and it's a 2B set court appearance that one if you don't show up to court they're going to suspend your license and uh you they won't put a warrant out for your arrest however if it's criminal and you don't show up to a criminal court date they will put a warrant out for your arrest for failure to appeal up here so this these are yours Hey sir yeah just let them know that I'm issuing him two citations and one is Criminal so that means he has a mandatory court date that he needs to appear to okay it's going to be it's on his citation so if he needs to reference it later at a later time he can okay but he has to show up he has to go to the court yes because he's driving with no license in Florida which is actually a crime so instead of me arresting him and taking him to jail going downtown I'm giving him these two tickets and he has to go to the court uh for his court date all right I would tell I would I recommend that he gets his license before the the court date though so that yeah he gets his license before that all right do you have to get the driver license yes he has to get a driver's license to operate a motor vehicle in Florida if he doesn't have a license in Florida it's a crime even for a motorcycle you have to or a moped you got to have a license oh a d license okay yeah just can you all right so let him know that about the court date he just needs to sign these two tickets and then give me his right thumb print so I'll need his signature on the ticket I'll tell him where to sign and I need his right thumb print okay yes all right know that he can't drive the motorcycle so someone can come get him uh I'm not going to tow his Mo his moped but he can push it he can walk it to the sidewalk and then he could walk on the sidewalk with it but preferably it'd be better if maybe someone came and picked him up or someone with a good license came here and then they could uh I guess he could ride with somebody back to his house okay all right so one of the big no NOS for me when I'm out here uh doing traffic enforcement is actually just that it is not wearing your seat belt the seat belt Act was enacted in approximately 1984 uh by Ronald Reagan who put a lot of pressure on uh states to come up with a seat Bel law if they didn't want to get have a seat Bel law they weren't given federal funds um to improve their highways and roadways that's how he pressured the states into States creating a seat belt law at this point in time there is no reason not to have a not to be wearing your seat belt and especially not for a minor it is that parent's responsibility to make sure that that child is buckled up in my 26 years I've seen some very horrific accidents and I think it's time that the the culture has changed in a sense that most people do wear their seat belts but occasionally some do not is this guy serious is this pool guy really honking at me right now this guy the guy behind me make sure he's wearing a seat belt if you can you can't see he mean he's not even wearing a seat belt he's not even wearing a seat belt pull it over here you're going to pull it over here here no it's not come on now hang 31 1050 2800 block University I'll advise on tag one second it's a white Tacoma one time tra hey officer try with Co Springs police everything okay cuz you're honking at me you're following me too closely you're not wearing your seat belt no sir that thing is I'm not feeling good today I was working I got a headache my neck it's so what do you think everyone is caught me all the time I didn't cut you off so what you think you you're like honking at me and I was going to get out of your car and like attend to you what's that just I didn't I didn't I didn't do anything wrong 100% you did something wrong yeah you followed me too closely you're improperly using your horn you're not wearing your seat Bel and then you pull up next to me and you start mean mugging me like I'm the problem oh so oh yes that's what happened I'll take your license registration Insurance you can't drive like that out here you can't you're going to cause an incident this is how Road rages start this is how people get [Music] trouble I don't know what to tell you so this driver wasn't happy that I turned my turn signal on and I slowly got into his Lane he's he's saying that his head hurts I cut him off but that's not what happened he has more excuses than the normal person has for sure first his head hurts then he's not feeling good then it's my fault then it's oh it wasn't your fault and it's it's just it's ridiculous out here this is how road rage incidents start it happens more often than you guys actually think Road rages are especially in the Tri County of South Florida happens all the time there's been numerous incidents some make it on the news most don't but people Point guns at each other people Point weapons at each other there's been people getting hurt killed this is putting gas on the fire good afternoon officer of V of theama calls from Police Department reason why I stopped you on Ridge coming up over here take a right turn you hit 62 on a 45 you have your license registration Pro Insurance um you mind if I call my sister real quick no no give me the paperwork first the registration insurance no no no yeah that's what I was about to ask oh is this her vehicle that's why usually it's in compartment or center console the registration insurance I wasn't just making sure this is my first time using nope that's not it no yeah that's why I want all right keep looking for it and then give it to my partner to right out okay okay appreciate it uhu you headed to work today yeah I'm literally right there so is there a reason why you're not wearing your seat belt yeah because I was about to get out cuz like I I have yeah but I saw you driving without it yeah I know I had to take it off my stomach cuz I really have to go to the restroom like if I keep pressing against my stuff right now okay actually this car we were going Southbound on Ridge where we were driving he was call Northbound he was actually going 62 on 45 so 62 17 over all right so that's fine look this is a ticket for going 6217 over the speed limit okay that's $256 okay make sure you take care of within 30 days if not the state was to suspend your license also you said this is your sister's car right make sure you tell her to check her license because it is suspended and there a seiz tag order okay okay so basically if she ever gets stopped and she has a fix her license right yeah then basically we allowed to tow the vehicle take the tag and then basically she's going to get ticket for license spend she needs to go to the dmv.gov website okay there she's going to basically put her name or the license number she'll know what it is suspended for she needs to fix it pay whatever she needs to pay whatever okay okay all right just take it easy that's all okay no problem all right have a better day bud so one of the as far as police work goes one of the most dangerous positions to put yourself in is in a car stop and that car stop could be somebody speeding that could be somebody having a brake light um that person who we are stopping who might be just for an infraction might have just committed a robbery and we don't know that so the safety Factor if you have it now you have it times two with both myself and officer uh viie you know that puts an extra set of eyes of which I myself can start to scan inside the vehicle for threats you know whether that be a handgun a knife some sort of weapon uh maybe there's some drugs that were that are in there we could sort of get a better gauge of what's what's inside that vehicle uh it also sort of gives the person who's driving the car uh two Targets to which they would have to go after uh if they were to go to guy and do something uh nefarious so um and hopefully we both catch it at the same time if that person was going to do something bad to us but like I said then now we're at where we have both myself and and officer VB looking at it to determine whether or not you know somebody's like I said is going to attempt to do something bad to one of us we can hopefully stop that from happening also safe factor that one of us could go back to the vehicle run the license and do whatever we have to do while the other one still keeps an eye on the driver or the passenger in the state so then now person other officer don't have to worry about looking forward all the time or looking behind his back two lane [Music] changes here you go right here M Lane changes what's the problem what happened why you drive what do you mean what happened that's how you normally Drive no I don't think that speeding you're more than speeding you're following cars too closely improperly changing lanes okay I'm s i Lally very very late I was just to get all right I'm officer Charney with Coral Springs police that's the reason for the Stop do you have your license on you registration Insurance any guns on you or in a car no so you're running late for work yeah I I was right all right you can't drive like that okay so besid your tailgating in multiple Lane chain without using your turn signal you put a lot of people at risk okay not including yourself you should really start thinking about everybody else on the roadway just do me a favor just put the window up here I'm going to test your window tint that's good that's good it's 5% okay if it's below 28 you can't have it okay no I'm asking I'm not asking look read it [Music] all right so as you guys could just see that was careless all day even borderline Reckless uh he's telling me he's late for work but that's no excuse to be driving like that out here there's people out here with kids and cars uh people without kids and cars if he hits someone he's going to cause serious damage to a person's car and possibly hurt somebody or God forbid kill somebody so and then when I walked up to the car him acting like what what's the problem so there's zero uh zero tolerance or something like that especially in Coral Springs we don't we don't tolerate this in the City of Coral Springs yeah your license is suspended because you didn't take care of a speeding ticket in the county of Monroe which is by like Key West yeah that's I know that's where and just to make sure you you know why would they suspend it I said when do you know what when it suspended uh yeah just got suspended July 9th of this year so about 3 weeks ago he's telling me he didn't know his license was suspended usually what the state of Florida will do is they'll send him a letter in the mail to his house letting him know hey you have a ticket uh that's not being taken care of if it's not taken care of within this date we're going to suspend your license he's telling me he didn't know so because I don't have any way to prove it it's going to be a citation without knowledge but now if he gets stopped again which he shouldn't be driving in the first place because right now his license is suspended but say he goes off and he drives away after this or tomorrow he decides to go drive now there's proof there's written there's a written trail that he uh an officer gave him a citation for driving while his license was suspended without knowledge so if he gets stopped again and he says oh I didn't know my license was suspended now there's a paper trail so that he would obviously get caught in his lie all right I'm issuing five citations okay the first one's for the speeding the second one's for the careless driving the third one's for your window tint violation the fourth is because your license is suspended you didn't have knowledge that it was suspended so nothing's criminal and the last one is because your tag has a license plate cover on it you can't have anything that's obstruct in your tag it has to be visible within 100 ft now you have three ways to take care of this you can pay it go to traffic school or traffic court But whichever option you choose you have to comply with in 30 days or they're going to suspend your license again and the more suspensions you have in your license the worse it'll be for you all right you got to slow it down all right that car stop is exactly why this unit was created it was created to stop those individuals who do not care for themselves and do not care for the rest of the public that are on these roadways [Music] h