I know it’s a distraction rather than the main issue here, but the two plates and the “spirit of the law” thing confused me. The spirit of that law is that vehicles be identifiable from both front and back, isn’t it? Wouldn’t following the spirit of the law but not the letter mean, in this case, something like painting the number on your bumper to avoid having an actual plate?
Yeah, a front plate on my BMW ruins the aesthetic. However, I had it on until it basically folded in half when I hit a pothole. I was pissed because I paid for vanity plates.
Goodness gracious! Let’s forget I ever said “spirit of the law.” Let’s consider the following:
Others disagree, but many, (perhaps"some" is a better descriptor) cars in NJ, in MY area don’t have front plates. I stood on a busy corner today and did some counting – 15 of 50 NJ cars did not have front plates (and yes, these were NJ, not PA cars).
I’m near the PA border (and work in PA). It’s a “one plate state.” So, if one plate is okay in PA, why not NJ? If not having a front plate in PA presumably hasn’t gotten in the way of crime fighting, it seems an arbitrary requirement in NJ. Yes, “cuz laws,” and all that, but there’s not a compelling reason to require a front plate if it’s not required in a state that is literally 3.5 miles from my home. Last I checked PA does just fine capturing criminals without front plates.
BTW, I’ve never been stopped in PA for anything. 7 miles of my commute is on NJ roads, 21 miles is in PA. Could a PA cop ticket an NJ driver for a front plate if it’s not a law in PA? Curious . . .
Let me propose a state-wide NJ doper study in which we gather area “no front plate” data and report our results. 
Some BMW drivers use the tow hook socket in the front bumper as a plate frame mount - it looks slightly better than the center placement. I assume most sports cars have front tow sockets? ECS - 001912ECS04-01 - Ultimate ECS Tow Hook Mount License Plate Kit
A friend in Germany sent me a genuine used German plate with Munich stickers and all. I’d love to mount it in this space, but given my run-ins with John Law I’d probably be sent to death row for it.
Many is subjective. No one here disagreed with that. This is what was disagreed with:
“and I got a ticket for no front plate (NOBODY has a front plate here, but whatever).”
and
“It may be the law, but a majority of cars here don’t have the front plate on”
Hardly arbitrary.
I get what you are saying. I only made a point of saying that I am a white woman because I was trying to show (maybe not very well) that I, as a member of the demographic that in the past has been the least likely to be mistreated by the police, is now being treated with a lot less consideration than I am accustomed to.
I am certainly not saying it is anything even remotely on the level of how minorities are treated, so please don’t infer that from my anecdotes.
My line of thinking is that the BLM and other awareness movements should have the police thinking maybe they should treat everyone with common courtesy, you know go high… instead, it seems from my recent interactions with cops they have decided they are just going to go low and be dick wads to everyone. :(:mad:
It’s prolly less “fortunate”, and more “on purpose”. Legally, electronic documents have been the same as paper documents for quite some time now.
^ Yes, cops must accept them in NJ.
I’m glad the incident worked out well for OP—and I’d be much gladder still if something like that happened for me—BUT this is corruption at work.
For example, it’s possible Officer Nice would not have treated a minority person so nicely … yet the official stats are now jiggled to hide that racial bias.
FYI, he was Af-Am and his partner Latina. Yes, race doesn’t preclude racial prejudice and corruption, but it wasn’t a white-on-white encounter. I am a minority here (13.6% white, 41% black, 36% Hispanic). Black politicians, police, and public employees here are majority Af-Am. Every cop who has ticketed me was black and a few of them were quite nasty. (And remember this guy DID give me a huge-ass ticket, I didn’t exactly skate).
Of course corruption exists here (oh, does it ever!) Has being a white in a minority area afforded me privileges? I’m positive it has in some situations. Has being visibly gay had negative effects? Probably, but I feel far more comfortable here than I do at my uber-white campus.
Would the black cop have let a young black man with an expired registration go? Maybe not, but maybe he’d give him a pass based in racial solidarity. Do minorities suffer disproportionately from police corruption? Absolutely, without question. Is it a great idea to turn off a body cam? Nope.
But if we grant the black cop the agency to make decisions that are not based in him being black and reacting to my white privilege, we could speculate that he’s a nice guy who disagrees with a Draconian policy and does the same for young black men, Hispanic women, and so on. It grants the cop an identity, thoughts, and ethos not essentialized by race.
Could he be a real asshole who stops and tosses cars of minority drivers but lets white drivers go? Sure. Does he turn off his camera so he can whup Latino guys? It’s possible.
Edit: Septimus, this isn’t aimed at you. I find the racial dynamics in my area interesting and complex.
I was going to buy a house in Millhill. It was so cool, and beautiful. But the home inspection killed that plan, I couldn’t afford what it needed.
I did buy something though, I’m here 12 years now. (But NJ all my life, nearly). My neighborhood is stuck in 1978. I kinda like that, though.
Let’s meet up at Trenton Social or Millhill for a drink!
To contribute to the thread: I never see cars in NJ without 2 plates! Cars look naked to me without 2 plates.
I think you may be giving more notice to African-American police officers similarly to how you give more notice to cars in NJ without front plates.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/n-j-struggles-for-diversity-in-police-force-1459812067
That article was from April 4, 2016. Shortly afterwards 16 new recruits joined the force. They aren’t mostly African American either.
http://www.nj.com/mercer/index.ssf/2017/04/trenton_police_pin_badges_on_16_new_officers_photo.html
In 2018:
And now you are cursed with never being able to unsee NJ license plates AGAIN!!
I would LOVE to meet up! Let me finish the semester and we’ll get together.
We also looked in Millville, there was a darling place I fell in love with but I was worried about being an island surrounded by some troubled neighborhoods. I thought my Cadwalader house was that place, but the 2008 mortgage crisis wiped some of my lovely neighbors out and half the 'hood became abandoned homes and drug dealers started plying their trade on the street and that attracted gun violence 
It’s heartbreaking to see how beautiful Trenton once was and what it could be again. I like my Ewing neighborhood, it’s not as diverse as I’d like, but I love my old fall-y apart house and giant pine trees. But not our property taxes :mad:
That’s where I feared her story was leading.
Nice that it worked out but, as Robot Arm noted, it leads to some concerns on both sides of the issue. Why have the cameras at all if they can be manually over-ridden?
–G?
I know one of those people quoted. Small world! I’m tickled.
This happened to me when I was 18 or so. The cop ran my plates when I was about 1/4mi from my house. My registration was also expired. He told me that legally he was not allowed to let me drive it away, and then said something like “now I’m going to go sit in that parking lot over there. I’ll probably be busy with paperwork for a while.”
I picked up on what he was saying but I wasn’t sure if it was some sort of trap. I think I said something like “umm… so you’re not gonna pull me over if I leave?” he was visibly frustrated and told me “I SAID, I’m going to go over there and I’m going to be BUSY with PAPERWORK for a while!”
I thanked him, he pulled into the parking lot, and I drove away.
The front plate exists to provide a reflective target for the speed laser. Follow the money.
Update: I went to the DMV today to register the car and found out that it was current with reg and it says so in the database cops use to check. I was reasonably certain I had renewed the reg . . . and I had.
Bizarre!
I got paperwork from the DMV that should get the ticket dismissed.
Yeah wrong. Front plates have been around a lot longer than lasers. Most speed devices are radar not laser. With laser you don’t need to aim at the plate any part of the car will do.
So… drinks in Trenton then? JennShark let me know! Or Princeton, I know all the places there, too. PM me!
Nothing to contribute to this, unless is a possible friendship!