pulled over for "dark license plate cover"

[Rossman]

Originally Posted by headlikeahole

7thgear has it right. As a police officer I rutinely pull people over for various things such as tint, plate covers, fail to signal, and all kinds of seeminly "minor" infractions. These traffic stops serve only one purpose; they allow me to dig deeper. Often times these stops turn into drug / alcohol charges.

It's not that your plate covers actually bothered him, I'm sure the officer couldn't care less that you have them.

On a seperate note, traffic stops are the most dangerous situation that a police officer faces on a day to day basis. You might see it as harrasment, but at the end of the day he's trying to find/prevent crime. You should be thankful that someone is willing to do it, rather then belittling his job.

WTF?? I'll paraphrase here but this is what you just said:

"I'm sure the officer didn't care, the real purpose of these traffic stops is to allow us to dig deeper, maybe drum up some extra charges on you"

"Traffic stops are the most dangerous situation that a police officer faces"

If traffic stops are so dangerous why are you stopping people for minor shit you don't care about, just so you can try and bust them on something else? I've never heard anything so absurd in my life.

You are admitting that you are engaging in the most dangerous thing a cop can do as part of his day, for no real reason other than to try and catch someone doing something really wrong. Ridiculous.

[headlikeahole]

Originally Posted by Rossman

WTF?? I'll paraphrase here but this is what you just said:

"I'm sure the officer didn't care, the real purpose of these traffic stops is to allow us to dig deeper, maybe drum up some extra charges on you"

"Traffic stops are the most dangerous situation that a police officer faces"

If traffic stops are so dangerous why are you stopping people for minor shit you don't care about, just so you can try and bust them on something else? I've never heard anything so absurd in my life.

You are admitting that you are engaging in the most dangerous thing a cop can do as part of his day, for no real reason other than to try and catch someone doing something really wrong. Ridiculous.

It's not absurd its police work, I pull people over all the time for 10-20 over the limit, I have never written that ticket, nor do I intend to.

I CAN see that you have illegal plate covers from my cruiser, I CAN'T see that you dont have valid insurance, are drunk (in many cases), have suspended license, have a warrant for your arrest, etc etc. It doesnt mean that the initial traffic stop was for nothing, it doesnt hurt to tell someone about their infraction.

I would say, where I work 90% of traffic stops start out as minor infractions, and probably 90% of those are left at verbal warnings. The common philosophy is "there's no such thing as a bad stop, only bad tickets"

[thorlius]

Originally Posted by headlikeahole

It's not absurd its police work, I pull people over all the time for 10-20 over the limit, I have never written that ticket, nor do I intend to.

I CAN see that you have illegal plate covers from my cruiser, I CAN'T see that you dont have valid insurance, are drunk (in many cases), have suspended license, have a warrant for your arrest, etc etc. It doesnt mean that the initial traffic stop was for nothing, it doesnt hurt to tell someone about their infraction.

I would say, where I work 90% of traffic stops start out as minor infractions, and probably 90% of those are left at verbal warnings. The common philosophy is "there's no such thing as a bad stop, only bad tickets"

10 over, really? I would imagine that's in addition to some other reason or hunch, when it's for something that minor. Everyone does 10 over everywhere, and if you aren't, you're impacting traffic, or you'd better be out of the way of other cars. Even in-car driver training when I was getting my license told me to do 10 over (and 100 in 80 zones), in normal road conditions, of course.

Edit: I read your previous post, so nevermind!

I could understand 20 over on any road other than an 80 road, though. I'd expect to get a ticket for 20 over in my FR-S in the city.

[wbradley]

In general, I think that in order for police to find random and fairly common infractions, they need to interact with motorists. Therefore a routine stop at 10 or 12 km over in a 50 zone for example might not necessitate a ticket, but I totally agree it sure beats having officers sitting in their cruisers not interacting at all.

I was pulled over a while back at maybe 52 in a 40 zone near a school. Fortunately, I thought fast and told the officer I was on my way to pick up a sick child from school (actually my wife really was), and as it turned out I wouldnt have received a ticket anyway, just a friendly warning.

Bottom line, dont break the law and none of this will be an issue for you!

[7thgear]

Originally Posted by Rossman

If traffic stops are so dangerous why are you stopping people for minor shit you don't care about, just so you can try and bust them on something else? I've never heard anything so absurd in my life.

You are admitting that you are engaging in the most dangerous thing a cop can do as part of his day, for no real reason other than to try and catch someone doing something really wrong. Ridiculous.

um..

that's kind of a police officer's job is, derp.

he's just explaining that traffic stops are what's actually dangerous about being a cop.

[chenshuo]

i have those tinted(dirty looking) plate covers on my car and i've been using them for almost 4 years without any issue. The police can definitely see through it. Once a cop pulled me over because the little sticker on the plate, behind the cover, was expired.

[Enemies]

There's these new signs all over town now that flashes the number if you go 1-5 KM over the speed limit and blinks TOO FAST at you if you go more than 5 KM over the speed limit. I see so many people going 51-52 in a 50 zone, seeing the numbers flash and going back down to 45KM or so and slowing traffic way down for everybody else.

[wparsons]

Not sure about in BC, but in Ontario those signs don't even light up until you're more than 10km/h over the limit.

[drei]

Originally Posted by wparsons

Not sure about in BC, but in Ontario those signs don't even light up until you're more than 10km/h over the limit.

i thought that is a highscore scoreboard..

[drei]

Originally Posted by 7thgear

you must be new to Canada

probable cause is a big thing here, for better or worse cops can't hassle you for no reason.

and unlike some European countries, there are no check-point type inspections for the average citizen either

I can't pull up the statistic, but there is a measurable statistic behind cops who pull someone over for one thing end up finding weapons or drugs (or other things) and confiscating them

for you it may seem like the cop doesn't have anything to do, but for the cop it's just another routine

are you a visible minority?

I've been in Canada since the age of 7.
I am not a visible minority.

And I am totally OK with checks like this, if it is just a verbal warning as an excuse.
But what it seemed like was he filed a warning on my file, which is what my complaint is.

[engsr]

Originally Posted by drei

But what it seemed like was he filed a warning on my file, which is what my complaint is.

Would you prefer to have received a ticket and have to go through the hassle of going to court to have it potentially dropped?

[zinithin]

That's why I got the clear ones. Getting the tinted ones are just asking to be pulled over. Police Officers think you're trying to hide something.

[Justin.b]

Originally Posted by headlikeahole

7thgear has it right. As a police officer I rutinely pull people over for various things such as tint, plate covers, fail to signal, and all kinds of seeminly "minor" infractions. These traffic stops serve only one purpose; they allow me to dig deeper. Often times these stops turn into drug / alcohol charges.

It's not that your plate covers actually bothered him, I'm sure the officer couldn't care less that you have them.

On a seperate note, traffic stops are the most dangerous situation that a police officer faces on a day to day basis. You might see it as harrasment, but at the end of the day he's trying to find/prevent crime. You should be thankful that someone is willing to do it, rather then belittling his job.

Except that this citizen was not committing any other crime, driving drunk or smuggling drugs.

By your logic, we should embrace unwarranted searches if we're not committing any serious crime because eventually the cops will kick in a criminal's door.

In any case, OP, don't let this guy justify harassing you because he thinks a plate cover is a sure sign that you're running cocaine. Just remove it.

-Justin

[headlikeahole]

Originally Posted by wbradley

In general, I think that in order for police to find random and fairly common infractions, they need to interact with motorists. Therefore a routine stop at 10 or 12 km over in a 50 zone for example might not necessitate a ticket, but I totally agree it sure beats having officers sitting in their cruisers not interacting at all.

Thank you, this is exactly the point I was making. Some guys seem to think because it was a minor infraction the police were essentially harassing him. It's not harassment there was still a reason for the stop, ei not random profiling.

As for the warning, the cop probably entered a check into the system, meaning next time you get pulled over the cop will be able to see that it's a reoccurring problem. In all likelihood the next one wont care/ticket either. I have seen people with over 5 street checks for window tints and not a single ticket.