@ markhandles: I get that a lot.

[This message has been edited by Hoss (edited 10/15/2010 10:31a).]

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I am of the mindset that based on the texas law book size, an officer could pull any one of us over with NO PROBABLE CAUSE, and come up with something legal by the time he gets to your window.

Of this, I have no doubt.

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I actually had a very young reserve officer tell me that same thing one time. I forget exactly what he said, but it was something to the effect of, "There's not a vehicle on the road that I can't find a reason to pull over if I really want to." Granted, this guy was young and arrogant, but there was a lot of truth in what he said. If they are looking for a reason to pull you over they can probably find one. I've been pulled over multiple times for a license plate light out (always got warnings). One time the deputy even told me he was looking for drunks. It's a minor inconvenience I'm willing to deal with if it helps keep idiot drunks off the road.

is it illegal to flip the bird at a cop running your plate?

I think that's actually legal, but I wouldn't recommend it.

Reminds me of a joke I heard from a preacher once:

An elderly woman got pulled over for speeding. She was quite upset when the officer informed her that she'd be getting a ticket. She asked the officer, "Is it okay for me to call you an idiot?" Surprised, the officer responded, "Well, no ma'am, that's not okay at all. I can write you a ticket for that." The woman thought for a minute and said, "Well, is it okay for me to THINK you're an idiot?" "Well, ma'am," he replied, "I don't really have any control over what you think and I certainly can't cite you for your thoughts." "In that case," she said, "I think you're an idiot!"

[This message has been edited by Hoss (edited 10/15/2010 10:38a).]

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@ markhandles: I get that a lot.

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for your complacency?

If they can tell if our vehicle is current from our plates then...

WTF do we still need the GD stickers for???

Just set it up so we can pay online more easily, and be over with the stupid sticker cluttering up my windshield...

How do you get that I'm complacent?

If they can tell all that from your plates then why isn't everyone without insurance being pulled over? They would have so much business they could balance any municipal budget.

I think Ramblin believes attitudes like yours lead to our liberties being slowly taken away.

Usually people with that mindset cite the loss of some right they never had when trying to prove their point.....like say some perceived right to privacy via a license plate....

@ 76 - I think that's coming, actually. I saw a recent news story in Austin saying that in the near future officers will be running plates to check for insurance.

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I think Ramblin believes attitudes like yours lead to our liberties being slowly taken away.

Usually people with that mindset cite the loss of some right they never had when trying to prove their point.....like say some perceived right to privacy via a license plate....

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Gotcha. It's like I said, if you've done nothing wrong then you have nothing to worry about. I'm all about privacy, liberty and freedom, but I don't see an officer running my plate as an infringement on any of those.



[This message has been edited by Hoss (edited 10/15/2010 10:57a).]

Good. Uninsured motorists drive up the cost of insurance for everyone....plus those without insurance are more likely to have some other issues such as also not being up to date with registration, inspection and licenses.....also could be here illegally....

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It shouldn't be legal without cause.

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How is it different than what the cops do down the street from my office. At least once a month, a cop will stand at the intersection and write tickets for out of date registration and inspection stickers.

I don't see running the plates to get that information to be different from running the plates.

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How is it different than what the cops do down the street from my office. At least once a month, a cop will stand at the intersection and write tickets for out of date registration and inspection stickers.

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At least in this case, the cop saw what the offense was. He looked at the stickers and saw they had expired.

Running the plates because you fee like it has no probable cause involved.

But what the heck ... it's just freedom. If it gets too bad, we'll just ask for it back, right??

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At least in this case, the cop saw what the offense was. He looked at the stickers and saw they had expired.

Running the plates because you fee like it has no probable cause involved.

But what the heck ... it's just freedom. If it gets too bad, we'll just ask for it back, right??

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In my mind, being on the road at 2:00 AM is probable cause to run your plates. After all, "nothing good happens between midnight and 2:00 AM", right? Now, I'm certainly not saying that everyone on the road at that time is guilty of something, but I would think the percentage is certainly higher.

But seriously, what freedom are you losing by having an officer run your plates while you drive down the road?

To clarify a few things here:

As already mentioned it is completely legal to run your tags with no cause at all. There are a few things that can be gathered from a registration return, including whether it is up to date or not.

Most departments have access to an insurance verification system. This can confirm whether you have a current insurance on file or not. But it is not the final word. You are still supposed to carry proof in your vehicle. Case Law here in Texas prevents a vehicle from being pulled over strictly for insurance not being confirmed in the system. I have stopped plenty of cars that are unconfirmed in the system but they do have current insurance, and vice versa. My experience has been that the people with long term policies tend to show up properly, where as those who pay month to month don't show up, but they may very well have insurance.

As mentioned also you can sometimes find warrant information from running the registration. Generally speaking people cannot be stopped based on that alone (especially with regards to traffic warrants), as you do not know for sure that the person is in the vehicle. This changes if it is a BOLO for a specific vehicle and some descriptors as to the occupant(s) inside, such as from a robbery.

This is not to say that no one is ever stopped only for those things, but legally there is more backing for the person who is stopped in those situations due to case law and such. As with anything it is up to the individual officer as to how they will apply the law and enforce it, some do it well and others don't.

As for you getting a ticket, well that could have to do with your attitude or maybe the officer was just no nonsense. I can tell you I would not typically write a ticket for registration expiring that recently, but I absolutely would use that to stop your vehicle, particularly that time of night. Not saying I stop every single minor violation I see, but I have plenty of major cases that came out of a very minor traffic violations. Yes there are departments who write every one a ticket on everything pretty much solely for revenue. Thats not the school of thought that I was taught, and I write far more warnings than I do tickets. That being said some people need tickets for their violations and I am more than willing to provide them with that. Fortunately I work for a department that allows me that discretion. But plenty of people in my department also make it their ambition to see how many tickets they can write.

To each his own, but I see my job not as one that I write as many tickets as I can, but rather one where I can put criminals who need to be in jail, in jail. I merely use traffic stops as a proactive approach to come in to contact with these criminals, rather than wait and be reactive like the majority of law enforcement.

How else could he have met his quota for the night and won that new toaster oven?

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In my mind, being on the road at 2:00 AM is probable cause to run your plates

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do you know what the definition of asinine is?

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I guess you could stop the police from running plates like that, but then a law would be passed requiring two registration stickers, one facing forward and backward to go with your plates.

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This is normal in most states. Every state I've lived but TX you have stickers on your back plate.

Yah, and in every state where the still put them on plates, they regularly get stolen...

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Yah, and in every state where the still put them on plates, they regularly get stolen...

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I've never heard of this ever happening, having lived in WA, OR, CA and FL.

It was the norm growing up in a border city. You got your new registration sticker, put it on the license plate, and then took a razor blade to it and sliced it into a zillion pieces. It was still legible, but it helped prevent the sticker from being peeled off and stolen.

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But seriously, what freedom are you losing by having an officer run your plates while you drive down the road?

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I'll tell you what freedom he's "losing". He's losing the freedom to drive an unregistered vehicle.

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How is it different than what the cops do down the street from my office. At least once a month, a cop will stand at the intersection and write tickets for out of date registration and inspection stickers.
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At least in this case, the cop saw what the offense was. He looked at the stickers and saw they had expired.

Running the plates because you fee like it has no probable cause involved.

But what the heck ... it's just freedom. If it gets too bad, we'll just ask for it back, right??

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What is the difference between a cop using his eyes and brain to see that your registration is up v. using his eyes and a computer to see if your registration is up?

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do you know what the definition of asinine is?

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Yes. It's whining and complaining about the loss of freedom because a police officer checks your license plate number.

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This is normal in most states. Every state I've lived but TX you have stickers on your back plate.

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Texas used to require the registration stickers to be on the rear license plate (maybe front too...don't recall). I don't know why that changed.

[This message has been edited by Hoss (edited 10/15/2010 1:56p).]

Had my rear TX plate stolen back in the day, I assume to get the tags.......but I used to take a razor and slice up the tag pretty well so whoever took it would have had a heck of a time peeling off and then piecing back together 100 different pieces of that sticker.

Before it went to the windshield, the sticker was always on the rear plate.

Several people I knew had only their rear plates stolen, most likely for the tag.

This entire thread makes me want to freaking laugh. Why the hell else do you think license plates exist?

The freedom that's being lost is the right to be left alone. How hard is that to grasp?

this country is doomed.

"Rights I never had"???

Some serious legal minds tend to agree with me:

http://www.realtruth.biz/right_to_drive.htm

Some of you gloom and doomers crack me up.

I guess you do know that they can also know if your liability insurance is up to date by running your plates?

Which I think is a good thing.

If you're driving legally, you will be left alone. Why is that so hard to grasp?

great hoss, looks like you don't understand the definition. pretty sad that in your mind every person out late is doing something wrong.

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The freedom that's being lost is the right to be left alone. How hard is that to grasp?

this country is doomed.

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I hope you're being facetious. If not, you probably shouldn't leave the house.

isleag,

not really, there's been numerous articles written about the amount of legal offenses people commit every day because of the over-legislation of our society.

isleag,

not really, there's been numerous articles written about the amount of legal offenses people commit every day because of the over-legislation of our society.