probable cause...that dealer license plate frame

my buddy was telling me of his experience of being pulled over last night here in Austin, the policeman later said his probable cause for pulling him over was this latest law of your dealer installed license plate holder obscuring the plate..pretty chickenshit, as it may have been obscuring part of where it says TEXAS no way it can blot out any numbers..He wound up in handcuffs as all they need is that little chickenshit reason to search your car and they found his knives, nevermind he is a fellow meat cutter/butcher..we figgered out later part of their probable cause was probably DWBM..driving while bald Mexican

 

Similar thing happened to my son here in OKC and the sorry OCPD slime bag gave him a really hard time about the tag bracket in addition to citing him for 1-5 mph over the posted speed on Interstate 240. OKC cops have a code they can write on the ticket that keeps it from counting against your driving record. The use this code when writing tickets to raise money for the city.

I never heard of any police department writing for 1-5 mph over before this happened. I believe the reason for the stop initially was young person in 300ZX sports car....

 

Cops are fast becoming the new Gestapo.
r

 

the "big" thing in NY is plastic over the lisc plates even though they are sold everywhere also neon under car lights the cops have a "reasonable" reason to stop you .I got a ticket total of $100.00 because my plate was upstructed by clear plastic, go figure, another way to pay for uniforms, also some townships are HOT on tinted windows One juristiction has a special tester to "see" how much light is blocked and fines to match. Started when officers were getting killed because they couldn't see inside vehicles during a stop I can buy that one, but mostly to harass drivers

 

One of the most expensive tickets I ever got was 1979 in Shoreacres Tx. They wrote me up for 57mph in a 55mph zone. The fine was $125 which was alot of money to me in 79. The little towns have always used speed traps a major source of revenue, it has only been in recent years that the big cities have figured out that they can get away with it. Just today the Austin PD is bragging about stepping up "safety" enforcement on commercial vehicles, I guess they had another budget shortfall.

 

CB_Chief, OKC is collecting driver taxes today on the Crosstown bridge. you and your son avoid like the plague, i saw 10 people pulled over on the way to work in a 4 mile stretch.

oh yeah, the ticket you mention is called 'SP-9' code for speeding less than 10 mph over. been getting them for years and years, and they are def. a revenue builder.

 

That law came out a couple of years ago and has been a gold mine for law enforcement ever since. Yet the dealers keep putting the LP frames on every car they sell, coincedence, i dont think so. The TxTag that is sold to go on the front LP to get you through the toll roads also blocks some of the lettering on LPs and there fore is also illegal. I understand that TxDOT has eaten alot of crow over the TxTag and is coming out with a new design and will have to eat the old tags. Our tax dollars hard at work.

 

minnesota has the license plate frame law also , still see all kinds of dealers putting them on the new car, why dont the cops go down to the dealers and fine them?

 

It is getting rediculous...
http://www.thenewspaper.com/news/16/1606.asp

I wish I could find the graphic I had a while back that showed everything that could be an offense. Get this, have a 2" ball mounted on your bumper could qualify as an offense since is blocks the plate.

I love Texas and hope to move back someday but some things they do is just plain dumb.

BPD

 

wtf? I though you were supposed to take the dealer advertising off your new car....unless maybe you're getting paid to leave it on?

really though it doesn't matter what kind of excuse they find, you know they'll find one to pull over those they feel the need to harrass.

 

If they want to pull you over, they will. I used to leave the liscense plate light out just for that reason. A "normal" cop wont say a word, but an asshole will use it to pull me over. Better to get a repair order then a real ticket. So he ended up in the hoosgow for having butcher knives that he works with?????

 

Yes illegal for a few years now. Here in Houston, they do stings just for those. Just sit on the side of the road and flag everyone in with a Dealer ring.

 

I got pulled for this when the law first went in effect. No ticket and the guy was actually nice enough to tell me that if I turned it upside down so the fat part didn't obscure the word TEXAS it would be fine. I did so and haven't had trouble since. It does give them the right to stop you but I don't think that alone gives probable cause to search unless the standards have changed. If I think he's just being a dick and have the time to mess with them when they ask to search I tell them " OK, but with a dog and a search warrant, not you digging around messing stuff up ". I have yet to have them search. If I had something why would I suggest the dog, and it's a pain to get a warrant. The way it was explained to me by several diffent friends who are police officers in different area's ( sheriff, city cop, detective, etc...) if they pull you for traffic they have to smell or see something suspicious to have probable cause. The traffic violation alone does not give them that. I have not been pulled over or done it in about 3 years so the standards may have changed.

 

yeah ive been pulled over hundreds of times for dwm. they just find any stupid ass reason to pull you over and search your car in hope of finding something to fuck you over with.im from l.a and that is all too common.still fucken sucks

 

yeah, we just got the lic plate frame law in effect here in Arizona.
They don't pay me to advertise, so I don't have any!

 

There was a kid complaining about getting stopped all the time for the way he looked. Shaved head, tattoos, baggy pants, do-rag, his car was a lowered Maxima with wire daytons. I asked him if he was a cop, would he stop someone that looked like him (it's south central L.A.). He lowered his gaze and said, "Yeah!".

 

As a white teenage kid with long hair, I got pulled over a couple times a month for everything and nothing when I was in highschool. I've been stopped over 100 times because of the way I looked, and later because of the hot-rodded Dakota's I drove. Sometimes, I actually deserved it, but mostly it was to see what they could find, to see what I was doing, where I was going, where I'd been, etc.
It's not a racial thing. It's a profiling thing...and profiles don't exist because a bunch of racist white cops sat around in a smoke filled squad room and said "Hey, let's harass (fill in the blank)!"

-Brad

 

alot of the times its the young latino/black cops trying to prove themselves.sad but true

 

That's just dumb. I wonder where all this fascism will end? In Juarez the new thing is to pull over people with no front plates. One of the cars I drive has no place to put them so I carry it in the car with me and show it to them and they let me go.

I once got pulled over here for not having the "ecological" sticker (emissions are tested in Mexico, if you can belive that). I lied to guy and told him that this year they are issuing combination stickers in the US for both registration and emissions and he let me go. Hey, how would he know the car's from another country? If that fails, ten bucks works pretty good too.

 

....thanks for a good laugh.....

 

The cop was trying to baffle you with bullshit....

He should know better than anyone that it wasnt probable cause, it was mere suspition....falls under a whole different bracket, the excuse to pull your bud over was "valid" in as much that that gave the officer an excuse to talk to him....nothing more, all your friend had to do was politly tell him to write him for the dealer plastic plate deal and oh by the way, no you cant search my car. He can ask all he wants, you dont have to say yes...yeah he can detain you....for a little bit....but if its for very long the question you should be asking is...."am I free to go?" if the officer says no....then ask, "am I in custody or under arrest?" That will usually get you a green light down the road if he has nothin on you and there isnt any outstanding warrents...

For every one cool po-lice officer there is two assholes that were picked on in school and got something to prove....

 

I LOVE it when a cop wants to search my car. I open the glove box, walk to the trunk , open it, then bend down a little and say..."If you look real close from here, you can see there is nothing in the glovebox."

No Interior.
No Backseat.
Only things in the Trunk are a Fuel Cell and a Battery.
Race buckets,
absolutely Barren and Spartan. rusty ass floors as far as the eye can see.
only thing not welded Bolted or welded to the car are the center Console (Cupholders! Bitchin!) and the Fire Extinguisher.

couple of weeks ago, I pulled the factory Dash and put in a sheet of metal with Autometer Guages (piss off...It's a musclecar.) and in doing so, omitted the Glovebox.

Should make for an even shorter "car serching" adventure.

I remember one Cop asking
"Is there anything under the Dash"
"Yes Sir"
"What's under there?"
"Wires. and stuff."
"What kind of stuff?"
"Well, some leftover A/C ductwork, this really nasty insulation shit that I think has Asbestos in it, Various Electrical Connections, Throttle Linkage, ..."
"Allright, Smart Ass, is there anything Illegal under your Dashboard?"
"Isn't Asbestos Illegal now Officer? But I swear, I didn't put it there."

Come to think of it, I might not have gotten those tickets that evening if I had been more polite, but I was feeling a bit Punchy.

 

I got stopped for the ball hitch thing.
In my town, there is not another 69 Ranchero, and if there was another, the chances of it being a blue GT is rare.

I was told by the cops that a car like mine (yeah right) was used in a crime, and my license plate was covered by the ball.

As I was sitting cuffed in the back of the car as they tore mine apart, I saw many truck with trailer balls on them, and told them to get all them too. They said its a big problem that they are going after.

Bull shit. They saw an old car with a long haired guy with cut off jeans on and figured they had a druggie. They waited for me to leave the market, then pulled me over

Assholes.

 

That's great Lux!

I got wheeled once when I was about 18. It was quite "coincidental" as I had just bought myself a Red Ryder BB gun at Meijers (department/grocery store). It was NIB, sealed even, in my trunk. I had an 88 1/2 Escort GT, at that time, that had a factory "spoiler" that was all of 1 inch tall, maybe.

The "officer" pulled out of the parking lot ahead of me, then waited (read drove REALLY slow in the right hand lane) until I stopped next to him at the light. At the green, as I left, he slid in behind and popped the lights. My little brother was with me, and we were baffled as to what we did. We were sitting STILL at a stop light!

So the "officer" walks up (broad daylight/Sunday afternoon) with a Mag Lite in his hand. Asks the usual "license, registration" stuff, then "reacts" to seeing the Red Ryder in the trunk... by dropping the mag light and grabbing his gun! So he gives me the 3rd degree about having a "weapon" in the car... mind you it's STILL IN THE SEALED BOX, and I explain that I just bought it, and handed him the reciept, dated and timed for about 7 minutes before the pull over. So he sorta "calms down" then noticed my toolbox on the floor behind my seat... you know the blow molded "Craftsman" black boxes... oh yeah, you see where this is going. So my brother and I are on the back of his car while he goes to search my "pistol case". He was pretty pissed when he saw it was just sockets and ratchets...

Oh, the point of this story? The probable cause was I had had the car transfered from my Dad's name to mine, and had a temp plate on it. Well, the secretary of state had sent my new plate and tags that Friday, and I hadn't taken the temp plate off. So the reason for the pull over was that the 1 inch tall "fin" on the back of my Escort (mind you this was about 1993) obscured the temp plate in the back window...

I can understand doing your job, but sometimes lines get crossed. That was one of them.

Jay

 

has anyone been stopped just cause the cop likes your car?its happened to me more than once turns out they have cars too and shit man i made some really good friends.i will admit though i have been fucked with bad for many years just like everyone else,but i guess my deal is they are not all assholes.

 

I guess it's true from what I've read American cops are really mean. In Canada B.C. there is a rule ya got to run fenders on your rod and when i found this out i was like thats stupid. But I talked to some guys at a car show and they said ya put them on with u bolts get it inspected so it's street legal and then take them off and cops don't car as long as ya don't drive like an idiot. Also happy we don't have that stupid license plate law that is just dumb.

 

Police need a warrant to search your car. If they search it anyway, make sure you voice refusal, get badge number and officer(s) name. And as far as the questions they ask you, everything you say can or will be used against you. You do not have to answer them. If you give them nothing, then they have nothing to base their actions upon. Legally, all you are required to give them (if you are driving) is your: License. Insurance. Registration. You don't have to answer their questions. Remember, the cops are no more your friends than a judge or a prosecutor. If they hold you more than 15-20 minutes, you need to start asking if you can leave. If you do not ask and do not keep asking every couple of minutes after that, the law sees it as voluntary. The ACLU website is a good source of information for those of you who are interested. There's bad apples in every barrel. Know your rights.

 

Brudwich,
Not totally true...police do not need a warrant to search a car...they either need permission, or have contraband in plain view, OR as a officer safety issue...they do not always need a warrant. My thing is, if you aint got nothin to hide, you shouldnt mind letting em take a peek...my thing is though (after seeing folks get their cars ripped apart and not put back together) is I always tell em....you take it apart, you put it back together, I will inspect it before you leave, and I will have your contact info if it aint right....I've never had any hassle for it...(twice I've used it....and I had multiple weapons in the car...all legal)

 

I have found now that I'm old and fat and have short hair I don't ever get hassled. though it used to be a regular occurance. bet I haven't been pulled over twice in the last 10 years.

 

I've seen a few cars running around with the clear plastic plate covers and that plastic gets all yellowed and foggy and dirty after a while. On a few cars, I legitimately couldn't read the plate. Why would you want clear plastic over a licence plate anyway? Especially in the back, it's not like you're gonna get bugs smashed on it or anything.

And dealer-advertising plate frames are ugly anyway, why run one? Around here, dealers all have vinyl stickers that they put on the trunk to advertise. That's the first thing I peel off of a car when I get it.

Nobody likes to get pulled over, myself included. But I find if you're very polite and patient, and cooperative, things will go fine. Being a smartass has never gotten anyone out of a ticket.