Police were conducting a "Click it or Ticket" campaign. I live in a Trailer Court and under law state law it is considered private property. I pulled into my trailer court and was ON THEIR LAND and was then pulled over by police. Isn't this illegal? He didn't show any signs of pulling me over until he AND I were well into the trailer courts property. His dashboards can confirm it all and combined with the pictures of where he was setting and when he initiated the stop can prove w/ out a doubt he stopped me ON PRIVATE PROPERTY!
The key issue here is not where he pulled you over, but where the alleged traffic violation occurred. If the officer saw you without your seat belt on a public road, then the officer can pull you over when it is safe to do so. Also, even if the police set up a seat belt checkpoint on private property, you might end up spending more money trying to prove that than the ticket is worth.
I agree with both of these fine attorneys. You can always fight a ticket or defend yourself in court if arrested and charged with a crime. Your trespassing defense will not work however. Even if the property owner specifically banned the police from entering the property (which they did not and could not in your trailer court) it would not affect you at all. If the police illegally entered someone else's property and arrested you, it does not help your case at all. You were not harmed by their trespass (even though you feel you were - you were not legally harmed as far as the law is concerned).
People are stopped on what is technically private property every day. Think about it. How many police cars have you seen with the lights on and a car stopped in a grocery store parking lot? Where you are stopped doesn't matter. If you didn't have your seatbelt on while driving on the street, it doesn't matter where the police officer saw this from either. As a side note, the streets in trailer parks are proabably going to be considered a public street or highway or a place generally accessible to motor vehicles. This why you cannot drink and drive in a trailer park. Not that it matters in your situation. I'd let it go if I were you, but if you don't, I wish you good luck.
