Yeah in NH if the officer doesnt appear in court the ticket gets dropped, but usually the officer IS present. I have had to talk to the officer and prosecutor in a room before the hearing to work out a deal (community service, driver safety classes, etc), but i have also gotten off of tickets because the officer just didnt show up. I think it depends on the size of the town/city and then just some plain old luck. I got out of a ticket because the officer filed paper work with my name last name as Groe instead of Orde.

 

In IL the cop doesnt have to show up. Depending on the judge and the situation the cop wrote the ticket for, he may still write you a ticket and slap you with some court fines for wasting his time and thinking you could get away with it by pleading not guilty if you were "Most Likely."

On that note he doesnt even have to show you the radar, but if he doesnt and you then take it to court and say he didnt showit to you, then you have a more likely shot of getting it dropped. You guys have to understand that its your verbal word against a cops written word, and its also about the money. Towns are going to internet traffic school because they know people will be repeat offenders then and make more money for that town. Bottomline only go to court and plead notguilty if you really were not guilty or there was something that the cop did where you could have a case and get it dropped. i.e. writing the wrong ticket, not showing you the radar, or some other random mistake the rookies make nowadays to try to catch someone and make it up in their police worlds.

 

Also just heard from a coworker that in some cases in IL if the cop doesnt show up they may ask for a continuance in mesely traffic court, just to getthe copthere and rack more money on your court fines.