Be careful if you are a Canadian in the US!

Cummins12V98 wrote:
Let's remember this is ONE side of the story.

Exactly, and we likely will never find out what really happened as the police agency wants to get this PR issue gone, so they apologize in the hope that it goes away because no matter how right or wrong the cop was, it doesn't come across well in the press that loves nothing better than to run stories about evil police agencies.

The cop likely overstepped his bounds, possibly by a wide margin but I can guarantee, she isn't as innocent as the story makes it out to be. It's not logical to simply harass people for no good reason and an arrest over something silly is a lot of hassle for the cop.

Krow wrote:
There are reciprocal agreements between all US states and Canadian provinces regarding drivers licences and vehicle registrations. All allow for traveling in/through a particular jurisdiction with documentation from another region in those countries. Passports are required to travel by sea or air between our two countries but not by land (this was an exemption after 9-11 and has continually been extended). However at either border, persons from the foreign country can be refused entry for almost any reason - we're each others' guests. We always produce our passports at the border regardless.

^^^^^ This.
Having worked in Law Enforcement/Public Safety for 40 years, retiring in 2015, I have personally queried hundreds of Canadian drivers licenses in the course of my employement. For the past 10+ years, it's been completely automated; access direct to the Canadian versions of motor vehicle departments' computer systems, with responses in a matter of seconds most of the time, maybe a minute or two if it's a busy time.

Ignorance of the law is no excuse. That is what is frequently quoted by LEOs when citing someone. This, arresting officer, is a 2 way street. Your ignorance of reciprocity between the US and Canada is no excuse for your actions.

Anecdote - WAAAY back in the early days, in the 70s and 80s, prior to widespread computerization, if we wanted to query a Canadian DL or license plate, we had to manually send a teletype to the Border Patrol office in Blaine, WA. They would then WALK the teletype over the border to their Canadian counterpart, who would make the requested query, print the response, give it to their US counterpart who would then WALK back to the US side and send us a teletype response. Usually took 10-20 minutes to get a response.

dodge guy wrote:
Woman arrested with legal Canadian license!

Atempted highway robbery by the PD,,
Not like that never hapened before and probably will hapen again,,
Until someone sues them for milions $$ in emotional suffering :W

Something similar happened to a girl I know that was visiting Tokyo and borowed bicycle from a friend..got arested and locked up by cops and treated like serious criminal,bc all bikes are registered,have a licence number and she couldnt speak the language so was pretty traumatized..until her friend somehow found her..

the worst part is cops there can hold a suspect for two weeks while they investigate,or until you confess,no lawyer calls,nothing..one reason crime rate is so very low I guess..

I think in this situation, it's a bit different because this wasn't a ticket. This was an arrest. She was held in jail for driving on a Canadian driver license.

Has not change since the 60s when I was trucking through Georgia, a lot of the small towns made a living on bs ticket's like that, for example a car would pull out in front of you, so following to close, automatic $15.00 to the local hardware store who was also the town Judge, cops were in cahoots with them, Just pay and carry on because you couldn't afford to have the truck shut down and they knew it.

It is unfortunate this had to happen. A lot of us hear stories of American LEO's using out of state drivers as a cash grab and this incident reinforces the perception. Hopefully the states educate their officers regarding asking a supervisor if they are unsure.

Georgia has a reputation for speed traps. The Canada thing was just an excuse to make it more ominous to the driver. These jurisdictions live on traffic fines and they make it very hard on anyone who tries to fight. They usually offer a quick settlement in a traffic court if you don't fight and pay right then.
Texas had a few of those for years and it took a state law to bring it to an end.
With the all the time news cycle this type of thing probably will finally fade out.
It has nothing to do with homeland security or immigration. It is just plain greed and intimidation.

There are reciprocal agreements between all US states and Canadian provinces regarding drivers licences and vehicle registrations. All allow for traveling in/through a particular jurisdiction with documentation from another region in those countries. Passports are required to travel by sea or air between our two countries but not by land (this was an exemption after 9-11 and has continually been extended). However at either border, persons from the foreign country can be refused entry for almost any reason - we're each others' guests. We always produce our passports at the border regardless.

toedtoes wrote:

spud1957 wrote:

Flan wrote:
What would of happened if it were the other way around?

What does your question mean?

If the young lady stopped stopped the LEO and asked for the LEO's drivers license?:h

One of the attributes of a good LEO is to allow common sense to prevail. Apparently this one did not have any.

His/her time would have been better served stopping the idiots on the road dangerously cutting in and out of traffic!!!

I believe the question was "what would have happened if this had been an American arrested in Canada for driving with a U.S. Driver license?

Nothing. I looked up every provincial regulation for foreign licenses and there are no bizarre rules around supporting documentation needed to support your license.

Total nonsense. Go after the real criminals.

Cummins12V98 wrote:
Let's remember this is ONE side of the story.

Just watched the story again on Global Toronto 6pm news and the story hasn't changed. All charges were dropped, the young lady now has a hard copy letter shown on camera that absolves her of any wrong doing, and her costs have been reimbursed. That however does not erase the unnecessary trauma she was put through and when asked by the reporter if there's anything else she wants the answer was simply an apology from the arresting officer. Lotsa luck with that. :(