The traffic cop that pulled me over today.

The BBQ Pit
1

I hardly ever drive my car; I take it out no more than once a week to get groceries. Also, I was out of town all summer, and left it at my parents’ place. So I let the registration slip. It expired in June and I haven’t renewed it yet. Until today I hadn’t even realized it had expired.

I go out today to get groceries. I get pulled over for expired registration. OK, my mistake. But I’m not hurting anybody, right?

The cop asks for my license and registration. I give them to him. Then he holds the registration up, says “Look at this. What is the date on this?” Totally condescending.

He writes me up and comes back with the ticket. $150. Then he says “Why haven’t you renewed this yet?”
Me: “I’m a grad student, I’m busy, I’ve been out of town, yada yada yada.”
Him: “I’m not buying this grad student story. There are troops overseas that had time to take care of all their things before leaving!”

WTF?

Then he goes “You’re not going anywhere. I’m taking your license plate, and you’re going to pull into this parking lot”—he had stopped me at a parking lot—“leave your car here, and go get your registration renewed.” Then he went back behind my car and removed my license plate!!

WTF?? I don’t even have a parking permit for that lot. And now I have to leave my car there with no rear license plate?

He told me I could renew my registration online. He told me to go do that and bring him back the receipt and he’d give me my license plate back. So I left my car in the lot, risking a parking ticket, and walked up to the university library. I got on the RMV web page, filled out the online renewal form, and got a message that said I’ll hear from them within 3 business days. WTF? So I printed out that message and walked back to the parking lot (after spending about 10 minutes trying to get on the phone with the RMV—by the time I finally did, it was 5pm and they were closed).

The cop was nowhere to be found! He had completely disappeared. So I drove out of the parking lot, taking back streets to avoid cops, and made it home with groceries and no additional fines. But now there’s some cop out there somewhere with my license plate, and I can’t drive my car without incurring high risk of being pulled over—there are cops everywhere in this town.

Bonus GQs: Is what this cop did legal (in Massachusetts)? Is it standard? How can I get my license plate back?

2

Yes, you could well be. If your unregistered car is also uninsured (as it would be here), then you could seriously be affecting anyone else injured in an accident that you cause.

Four months seems considerably more than merely “letting the registration slip”.

3

Yes, the cop was right to take your plate. Your car is unregistered, in some states (California is one); it would also mean its likely uninsured as well. Remember driving is a privilege not a right. In California, your car would have been towed with a hold until you could provide proof of registration and insurance. You might want to count your blessings.

P.S. Driving it after he took your plate was most likely illegal as hell.

4

Can’t say for Mass… But it’s legal here. I pull invalid plates all the time. It’s not legal to drive the vehicle with invalid registration. Yanking the plates insures that if you drove away without renewing you’d get pulled over again soon. A car w/o plates stands out to a seasoned patrolman.

He probably turned them in at whatever station he’s working out of. Go there. The location should be in the phone book.

5

You’re lucky he let you take it in the lot. Otherwise, you’d be paying hundreds to get it out of impound.

Go to the local station as soon as possible, with the printout, so maybe they’ll cut you a break. Don’t expect it, mind you, but could be. If no break, go back when you get the new stickers.

6

IANAL but, I suggest you do not speak to that cop when you go down there again. If he learns you drove that car away then you could be in even bigger trouble. A friend of mine, who let it lapse almost a year (I note that is far worse than yours) had his car impounded on sight. My hubby, OTOH, let it lapse 3 months and was given a ticket and told to go to the courthouse to prove he registered. They let him keep his tags and drive home though.

I would have to say that the officer did not have to pull your plates but made a discretionary decision that is within his legal right.

7

A recent change in the vehicle code here requires the police officer to pull the license plate of an uninsured vehicle. AFAIK, the car’s registration must be current for the insurance to be current also.

About the police officer not being there when you returned: perhaps he got called to something a bit more important.

pkbites: How unseasoned does a patrolman have to be to not notice a car doesn’t have plates?

8

On the plus side… at least hear in CA you pay a much smaller (fix-it) fine once you do get regisration renewed. See if you can go down to the DMV, get your registration renewed, then go to the police dept and see if they’ll tear up the ticket. It’s worth a shot, even if you need to have a friend drive you around.

9

How does this work? If the insurance isn’t valid, what happens to the premiums that were paid?

10

I know it was illegal to drive without the plate, but it was also illegal to leave it parked in a lot that I had no permit to park in. That seemed unfair.

I’m pretty lazy about stuff like that, and I’ve been pulled over in the past with expired registration without getting my license plates seized. I guess I didn’t realize it was such a serious offense, especially w.r.t. insurance. Thanks for the advice and education, everyone.

11

In the same town? Recently? By, umm, the same cop? If any of those three apply, that explains the attitude you got.

12

Yeah, especially if they recorded those other stops. The “I don’t believe the grad student” statement applies if he can see a record of non compliance in the past. Also, if he ran your tags prior to, and saw those prior stops, his original snarkiness is a little bit more justified as well.

13

On second thought, the use of justified and snarkiness should not be in the same sentence. I beelive a police officer should act professional at all times. It should really read “explain the snarkiness” not condone it.

14

No, not recently. Over a year ago. And I’m almost certain it wasn’t the same cop. But it was the same town, so… OK.

15

Beats me. I keep my vehicle (in California) properly registered and insured. And before anyone mentions my location–no, I’m not commuting that far.

To the OP: IMHO, you would’ve been better off with a parking ticket than a moving violation when it comes to your vehicle insurance. Well, you’re far better off with no ticket since you didn’t get caught driving the plateless vehicle. Sticking to back streets isn’t always the way to avoid the police. They do patrol neighborhoods too.

16

Well the cop doesn’t know how yoru car left, you could have gotten it towed (due to it being illegally parked), or have aquired dealer plates from a friend.

17

That doesn’t strike me as a particularly good idea.

18

Boy-O. This gets the Shirley Temple Pitting Award™ of the week. No bad words in the OP-the closest he got was WTF, and the pitter is wrong, to boot. Fuck this. :stuck_out_tongue:

19

carterba, I live in the same area as you and got a Louisiana plate in the back of my car. $175 and it is yours. Cops around here will fuck with someone with NH plates or something like that but you get an exotic one and you are free and clear. I used it 2 years. No tickets. No warnings guaranteed. Will deliver.

20

Shagnasty, I can’t imagine how this is not illegal. We don’t allow posters to use the board enable illegal activities. Don’t do this again.