This police officer is from the bizzaro world!

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

Long story short, my wife’s license plates expired on October 15. I renewed them online well before that, and the BMV, being the epitome of efficiency that it is, sent the new sticker which arrived on October 15. I told her I would affix it to her plate in the morning. In the morning I attempted to do just that but there was a license plate frame partially blocking the 07 sticker, and I could not budge the screws holding it on. I sprayed some liquid wrench on the screws and placed the new registration with the new license plate sticker in her car, instructing her that if she got pulled over to show the officer that she did was indeed legal and explain that I was planning to take care of the problem that evening.

Flash forward to that evening, and my wife is driving up the shoulder of the interstate to get around a traffic jam that is keeping her from getting into an empty exit lane. Of course there is a police officer sitting the traffic jam who immediately pulls her over. Several minutes later he approaches her with a ticket for the expired plates, and gives her a little talking to about the dangers of driving on the shoulder. So that’s the first weird thing, he gives her the ticket for the plates that expired yesterday, but not even a written warning for the much more significant and dangerous infraction of flying up the shoulder, which is the reason he pulled her over in the first place. My wife tries to tell him that she has the renewed registration with her, but he tells her that he already wrote the ticket, and if she is indeed legal then she needs to go fight it in court. (He adds that if she is renewed it has not posted to his computer yet, a common problem with our BMV.)

So this morning my wife announces that she is going to try to call the officer and talk to him about it. I point out that a) he’s never going to take her call; and b) she’s never going to talk him out of it. She calls and leaves a message anyway, and to my surprise he calls her back. She explains the situation with the sticker, and points out that he never asked to see her registration, and if he had, he would have seen that she was not expired. He replies that she is right, he didn’t ask for the registration, and that he is going to take her word for it and tear up the ticket! I am very grateful to this guy for this, but totally blown away by the whole thing.

Anybody had something like this happen before?

2

Don’t ask questions! Just count your (well, her) lucky stars.

3

So, your wife is pretty hot then?

4

But then why give her the ticket in the first place by that reasoning, Madd Maxx?

I don’t know. What if he’s lying about tearing up the ticket and this comes back to haunt you?

5

I was driving a new route home about 6 weeks ago because my young daughters started a new daycare that day and it is my job to pick them up right before closing. I had never been there myself and was using Mapquest directions. As I passed through a small town, I saw the police flashers in my rear view mirror and I immediately pulled over. I knew that I had an expired inspection sticker and I hadn’t gotten one because I had a huge crack in my windshield and I was looking into the best way to get it replaced. The officer comes up and tells me that not only my inspection sticker was expired but my registration was too (6 days before). Oddly, he explained that I was not going to get a ticket which was good but that I was going to have to get my car towed back to the station which was very, very bad.

He said that he could not allow me to drive it anymore because the department would be liable in case anything happened. I explained that I absolutely had to get my daughters in the next 15 minutes. He was still pleasant and suggested that I get a friend, coworker, neighbor or anybody to help me out. There was non one. He asked where my wife was and I told him she was 1 1/2 hours away. He had me call her and I think he could hear her screaming over the phone. I was shaking over this and felt completely helpless. Finally, the officer went back to his car for about 5 minutes. When he came back, he told me that the Chief of Police had declared a police emergency so that I could get the kids and them drive straight home. I was 15 minutes late picking them up but that was far preferable the other alternatives and I am actually thankful for the officer for doing that.

6

Yep. :slight_smile:

Obviously so she would call him a couple days later and he could talk to her again. It’s all starting to fall into place.

7

I’m going to check up on it in a month (we have 60 days to respond to the ticket if he puts it through.)

8

Not really the same situation, but a few years ago I was waiting to get onto my husband’s university campus, and it was taking forever because some employees were on strike and they were blocking the gates and only letting a couple of cars through every 5 minutes.

The cops, of course, were taking advantage of this, and were handing out tickets to cars with expired stickers (this was in Ontario), burnt-out tail lights, whatever. Student cars… lots of ticket money there!

So one cop walks up to my car and is looking at my license-plate free front bumper and begins to write up a ticket as he’s walking. Knowing what he was going to ask, I just smile at him and roll down the window, and he asks bluntly “Where’s your front license plate? It’s illegal not to have one”, while not even looking at me but still writing the ticket.

“I’m from Québec” I say, “and so is my car”

The cop goes red in the face, stares at me for several seconds, then slowly walks to the back of my car and stares at the plate. I swear, he was trying to determine if it was a fake. He comes back to the window, mumbles “Have a nice day” and walks away, stuffing the half-filled out ticket into his pocket.

I once had a cop driving in front of me (again in Ontario) glance back at my car, pull into the next lane, slow down, get behind me, pull up to reading distance, then back off and drive away. I think he was checking for the same thing.

9

When my ex was 14 and her sister was 17, they were driving back from a concert and got pulled over. The cop told them to get out of the car. The older one was about to but the younger one told her to stay in the car. She knew the law, which apparently is that under certain circumstances you are not required to get out. The cop grew livid and tried to open the doors and drag them out. They locked the doors just in time. I guess this went on for a while until they pulled the old “Do you know who our grandfather is?” routine. It’s something that the older one would pull for years to come to get out of speeding tickets.

He let them go.

Come to find out, over the past few weeks, women were getting pulled over and raped on that stretch of road.

When the sisters told their grandfather, the Chief of Homicide, about it, Officer Skeevy suddenly grew really clumsy and fell down a flight of stairs. Repeatedly.

10

My guess is that the officer was giving her a break by ticketing on the lesser charge.

11

Kinda sorta similar, I think.

One night several years ago my wife was driving home maybe 10 p.m. on a busy suburban street - 2 lanes in each direction widening at intersections to provide R and L turn lanes. Where she was at it was wide enough for the R turn lane, but there was a solid line indicating you were not supposed to go there yet.

You know the drill - traffic in the through lanes was backed up, so she pulled into the right lane shoulder to get to the intersection and make her turn, after which she got pulled over by a cop. The cop was going to let her off with a warning for the illegal lane usage, but she didn’t have her proof of insurance with her. I believe this was relatively soon after carrying your PoI was required, or perhaps the penalty for failure had just been increased. The cop said something like she had until midnight to show up at the police station with PoI, or he’d issue a warrant for her arrest.

Well, she comes home, gets the card, and heads back to the police station a couple of towns over. Several hours later I hear what ensued. To set the mood, let me say she wasn’t thrilled about this turn of events, she was tired after a long day, she was pissed and a little concerned about the threat that she would have an arrest warrant issued, and she was rushing so as to get it done by the bewitching hour.

She had never been to this town’s police station, so it took her a bit of effort to find it. When she did, she described the public parking and entrances as being unclearly marked/poorly lit. Being late at night, it was pretty much unpopulated, but for a few - um - questionable-looking individuals hanging around. She got the idea that they may have been arrestees who had been released and were awaiting rides or such.

When she figured out where to park, and where the public entrance was, she tripped on the steps and fell, causing her finger to bleed. Not a huge deal, but it was bleeding. So when she gets inside, she asks if she can have a band-aid. The response, no, that would constitute providing medical care, but if she wished they will call the paramedics for her.

She didn’t want/need the paramedics, she needed a friggin band-aid. So she went to the john, washed her finger off, and wrapped it with some TP. Then when she said why she was there and asked to show officer friendly her card, she was informed that he was busy and would see her when he got a chance. She could see/hear him in another part of the office past the counter, and he clearly was not doing anything critical, pretty much doing paperwork and shooting the shit with his fellow officers.

Prick kept her waiting over an hour, during which time some woman who had been brought in by a cop and was awaiting processing gave her a band-aid. Eventually the public servant walked 20 feet to the desk, glanced at the card and said “Okay.”

As my wife was concerned with the guy’s ability to cause her difficulty, she held her tongue. But lucky I got to hear all about it when she got home.

12

Check and make sure he ripped up the ticket. Never assume anything a cop tells you is true if he wrote you up for breaking the law. Cops lie to defendants all the damn time, just to screw them over. This guy may be one of the nice ones, but it just takes one more phone call to make sure he’s a man of his word.

13

Once the ticket is written, it’s my understanding that the officer can’t do anything about it. Take the ticket to court and they’ll probably throw out the ticket. If you have any kind of a receipt showing when you paid the fee for the sticker (even a bank statement showing the debit) that would help alot.

Next, tell your wife she’s LUCKY she had expired plates. If she didn’t she probably would have received the ticket for driving in the emergency lane.

14

Interesting. CA requires front license plates and Arizona doesn’t; my house is about half a mile from the police station, and I drive past (in front of, behind, etc.) a handful of cops every day. None has ever seemed bothered by seeing my car without a front license plate from the rear-view mirror. There are so many Zonies wandering the streets of San Diego that they apparently just figure it’s a waste of time to check.

15

My driver’s license was about to expire so I sent in the form and they sent out a sticker for the back of my license. One evening a couple weeks later I get pulled over because the temporary plates I had were older than the cop thought they should be (AKA: The “Is the driver white?” test). He looks at my license and says, “Mr Zone, your drivers license has expired, too.”

I flipped it over, showed him the sticker, and he said, “I never saw one of those before.”

I told him the state was getting cheap. He let me go.

16

Dude, never give Johnny Law any reason to pull you over. It is guaranteed to cause you trouble at the most inopportune time. I suspect you are just lucky so far. After it happened to me, I’ve always made every effort to try to make sure everything is in order on my vehicle. I’m pretty sure that you would be more likely to be pulled over for a petty traffic violation. Is it the expense that’s keeping you from getting a new plate?

17

How can you rip up a ticket? The things are numbered and accountable.

18

I live in the country,in the woods,on a road which prior to 911 regulations had few house markers or numbered mailboxes.
Mid-morning a few years ago there was a knock on the door.Two State Police troopers inform me they are responding to a call about an attempted suicide at __15 My Road.I inform them that this doorway belongs to __01 My Road,and the address they seek is further south,take the second left and down that right of way.They were dubious about my claim so I requested they wait a sec and grabbed my photo driver’s license,which (to my mind ) confirms that the photo jibes with the addressee,and is indeed,__01,My Road.
One of the troopers has a communication device clipped to his lapel,calls his barracks for advise.I clearly hear in response “…he could be lying.”
So they asked if they could come in and have a look around.I said yes,though not too politely.They covered the whole house,barring the attic,which is accessed via a sliding hatch.One of the troopers says he heard footsteps up there,can I open the attic? I do.
Nothing is found.They leave.
Some hours later I see an ambulance go down the road (no siren) and shortly a knock at the door,the same troopers,who tell me the site of the call was actually south,and to the east. No!Really?
This tale prompts lots of discussion amongst hearers.Most people are aware of Constitutional rights,but consensus is had I resisted it would have provoked a raft of shit with judge’s orders,or a fracas with two armed cops (I was alone at the time).
So yes,I’ve met cops from the same world.

19

Another reason to put the plate on…In Wisconsin you don’t have to have front plates either. However a friend of mine was driving through Michigan where you DO have to have them. He got pulled over and ticketed in Michigan for the violation.

20

Are you sure it was Michigan? We haven’t had front plates for at least 20 years.