Stanhope, New Jersey Speed Traps

State Police love this spot. Why? Because as you are accelerating past the route 46 exit ramp going Westbound on 80 on the decline, they are waiting just over the rise on your left about a quarter mile ahead. You can’t see them fast enough at that speed and by the time you come over that small hill you see them tucked into that median like a tick on a dog, gotcha.

The Stanhope Police Officers park in the corner of the high school parking lot on the north side of the school or in the little league baseball field parking lot just south of the school. The officers patrol in the morning to catch high school students who are late for school and commuters heading to Routes 80 and 206. The officers also patrol the area at around 2:30 pm when school lets out. The primary focus is to stop students. The officers intimidate the drivers and have a history of harassing teen age drivers. The local municipal court is usually full of high school students during each session (what a money maker).

Officers usually sit in the giant yellow lines to the left, travelling northbound, underneath trees. Where the road splits from the southbound lane, and the Public Storage building in to the right. They nab anybody going above 40mph, or leaving "Shakey Jakes" the bar that’s near this corner. Careful, just coasting down the hill you can pickup speeds above 40, and cops love to issue tickets because of it.

I know of a way to avoid a speeding ticket while driving in stanhope. Oddly enough the secret word to say is "sloth". I don’t know why but my buddy is friends with a stanhope cop and he said that that word truthfully will probably get you out of a ticket in stanhope. I don’t know the story behind it but apparently it has worked on more than 1 occassion. Hope this helps

A Stanhope cop stopped us one night about two hundred feet after we pulled out of a bar/restaurant to go south on 183 toward Netcong. He was obviously looking to get a DUI. When asked what the driver did wrong, he said we were going a little fast. We were in a small four cylinder car that couldn’t break the speed limit up that hill (we were in 2nd or third gear with a manual shift)if we wanted to! The driver was an ex-cop who was our designated driver that night and was kind of annoyed at the lack of "probable cause", and said if he had the time he would ask the County Prosecutor’s Office to check into this cop because it is illegal to stop a person for no reason. Oh yeah, I’m sure the cop would say we "swerved" or something.