No tag light excuse

[slonech]

So Saturday night my wife and i were on our way to a comedy show. when we pulled up to the red light of an intersection near my house we noticed a FL officer was monitoring traffic coming by. After making a left at the light and passing the officer the car pulls out and lights come on. I pull off and the officer approachs my car and states she pulled me over for no tag lights. after handing her my license, insurance, and registration she then asks my wife for her ID as well. She goes back to her car and about 5 minutes later she comes back with our information and gives me a verbal warning.

Here is where my confusion is.... when we stopped at our destination i got out and checked the rear of my SUV to find... drum roll... all lights were in perfect working order! What i dont understand is 1. why did she request the license of my wife as well for a simple traffic stop and 2. why did i get stopped? i could understand they were possibly looking for someone who drove a similar vehicle, but she approached my black escalade with tinted windows at 9:30 pm with no backup at all. seemed rather risky either way....

I am tempted to try to file a complaint but she didnt provide her name, badge number, etc so i doubt there is really much i can do, and even then it would be my word against hers on if my lights worked or not. To add insult to injury a car came by with no exhaust and no tail lights at all while i was sitting there waiting for her to run our information.

 

[BlackVic_P71]

You could check to see if it's on video. Next time if the officer says you have a light out, have them show you which one it is.

 

[fake]

Maybe your plate light didn't look illuminated from the angle she was at? I know I've pulled people over before only to find out the plate light was on but very very dim. State law here requires your plate to be legible by a light by certain amount of feet. Officers are people just like you and make mistakes every now and then....

I believe there is case law preventing an officer asking for identification from passengers unless there is probable cause. Example; passenger with no seatbelt.

She may also be a new officer. She didn't give you a ticket and only cost you 5 minutes of your life. I don't understand people like you who want to file a complaint over stupid stuff like this. No foul no harm done in this incident.

 

[fake]

You could check to see if it's on video. Next time if the officer says you have a light out, have them show you which one it is.

This^^
When I use to be in patrol and pulled somebody over for a light out; they would ask me why I was pulling them over. I would tell them it was for something very minor. I would have them step out of the vehicle and show them. I would never give a ticket for any type of rear lights being out because most people don't know those lights are out. After I showed them the light that was out, they were usually very gracious.

 

[slapshot]

We can ask passengers for ID on a traffic stop. They can refuse if there is no PC to investigate them for anything further.

I have seen some cars that had dim tag lights. From certain angles, it might look like they are out.

If you had been issued a citation, then you could fight it in court. But I'd just make sure everything works and move on.

 

[trickability]

A sergeant with the NC SHP once told a new tropper out of school pick your battles , dont loose your life over a tag light. Food for thought......

 

[Uncle Meat]

Just curious... but do you have stock bulbs illuminating your license plate or have you by chance swapped them out for LED's?

U.M.

 

[musclefan21]

it amuses me when you folks talk about tag light being so minor and how officers shouldnt waste their times with it.

1. it is illegal and you will get pulled over...
2. will it be over a tag light? nope. tag light is just a reason to stop you.
3. most officers dont give a rats ass if your tag lights are out. they are interested in making contact with you and see if you things are okay in the car and with you.

just an fyi, dont ask me to show you which light is out and if you can come out and see it. the answer is no, you cant come out and show it to me. if you dont believe me, check it after i let you go.

so many violent criminals are caught by these so called "MINOR" traffic stops, it is not even funny... We just had a murderer run a stop sign and get busted...

instead of stop crying, how about be a good citizen and let officers do their work to keep the streets as safe as possible? you were given a warning. you should be thankful. oh i bet your plate lights were off or so dim, you couldnt tell if they were on at the time of the stop. i dont believe you.

 

[mulchman]

it amuses me when you folks talk about tag light being so minor and how officers shouldnt waste their times with it.

1. it is illegal and you will get pulled over...
2. will it be over a tag light? nope. tag light is just a reason to stop you.
3. most officers dont give a rats ass if your tag lights are out. they are interested in making contact with you and see if you things are okay in the car and with you.

just an fyi, dont ask me to show you which light is out and if you can come out and see it. the answer is no, you cant come out and show it to me. if you dont believe me, check it after i let you go.

so many violent criminals are caught by these so called "MINOR" traffic stops, it is not even funny... We just had a murderer run a stop sign and get busted...

instead of stop crying, how about be a good citizen and let officers do their work to keep the streets as safe as possible? you were given a warning. you should be thankful. oh i bet your plate lights were off or so dim, you couldnt tell if they were on at the time of the stop. i dont believe you.

(Judge Dred) " I AM THE LAW " (Judge Dred) :bored::bored:

 

[EvergreenSVT]

instead of stop crying, how about be a good citizen and let officers do their work to keep the streets as safe as possible? you were given a warning. you should be thankful. oh i bet your plate lights were off or so dim, you couldnt tell if they were on at the time of the stop. i dont believe you.

Classy.

 

[zerocool]

it amuses me when you folks talk about tag light being so minor and how officers shouldnt waste their times with it.

1. it is illegal and you will get pulled over...
2. will it be over a tag light? nope. tag light is just a reason to stop you.
3. most officers dont give a rats ass if your tag lights are out. they are interested in making contact with you and see if you things are okay in the car and with you.

just an fyi, dont ask me to show you which light is out and if you can come out and see it. the answer is no, you cant come out and show it to me. if you dont believe me, check it after i let you go.

so many violent criminals are caught by these so called "MINOR" traffic stops, it is not even funny... We just had a murderer run a stop sign and get busted...

instead of stop crying, how about be a good citizen and let officers do their work to keep the streets as safe as possible? you were given a warning. you should be thankful. oh i bet your plate lights were off or so dim, you couldnt tell if they were on at the time of the stop. i dont believe you.

I somehow knew you would be an egotistical cop from the history of your posts on here.

 

[Turbosnake281]

Maybe your plate light didn't look illuminated from the angle she was at? I know I've pulled people over before only to find out the plate light was on but very very dim. State law here requires your plate to be legible by a light by certain amount of feet. Officers are people just like you and make mistakes every now and then....

I believe there is case law preventing an officer asking for identification from passengers unless there is probable cause. Example; passenger with no seatbelt.

She may also be a new officer. She didn't give you a ticket and only cost you 5 minutes of your life. I don't understand people like you who want to file a complaint over stupid stuff like this. No foul no harm done in this incident.

douche face!:dw:

 

[nckissfan]

I am not arguing for or against this stop. But, if the plate didn't look illuminated from initial angle, then coming up from the back would have changed that, if the light was really out.

I would rather be stopped and told they were looking for someone in a vehicle that matched description of my car.

 

[usmotox]

I have made this statement many times in many places--If all your lights obviously work and you like me check them pretty frequently at the moment you are pulled over and your stuff is right you are being confronted by a person that has just proved they are dishonest and they are in possesion of a gun and a badge. That is what this deal is realy about. A former police officer from Florida bragged about making a good drug bust after pulling the guy over after he made a left turn. "intermitate brake light"---the turn signal was on so that light was going off and on??? I see it as an abuse of authority by a person sworn to uphold the law and if you Lie you should not have that responsibility or a gun.

 

[djom1cincy]

it amuses me when you folks talk about tag light being so minor and how officers shouldnt waste their times with it.

1. it is illegal and you will get pulled over...
2. will it be over a tag light? nope. tag light is just a reason to stop you.
3. most officers dont give a rats ass if your tag lights are out. they are interested in making contact with you and see if you things are okay in the car and with you.

just an fyi, dont ask me to show you which light is out and if you can come out and see it. the answer is no, you cant come out and show it to me. if you dont believe me, check it after i let you go.

so many violent criminals are caught by these so called "MINOR" traffic stops, it is not even funny... We just had a murderer run a stop sign and get busted...

instead of stop crying, how about be a good citizen and let officers do their work to keep the streets as safe as possible? you were given a warning. you should be thankful. oh i bet your plate lights were off or so dim, you couldnt tell if they were on at the time of the stop. i dont believe you.

You sir and i use that loosely are the reason cops have bad reputations. I'm willing to bet you would taze a old lady who didn't move to your commands fast enough.

 

[03Cobrra]

it amuses me when you folks talk about tag light being so minor and how officers shouldnt waste their times with it.

1. it is illegal and you will get pulled over...
2. will it be over a tag light? nope. tag light is just a reason to stop you.
3. most officers dont give a rats ass if your tag lights are out. they are interested in making contact with you and see if you things are okay in the car and with you.

just an fyi, dont ask me to show you which light is out and if you can come out and see it. the answer is no, you cant come out and show it to me. if you dont believe me, check it after i let you go.

so many violent criminals are caught by these so called "MINOR" traffic stops, it is not even funny... We just had a murderer run a stop sign and get busted...

instead of stop crying, how about be a good citizen and let officers do their work to keep the streets as safe as possible? you were given a warning. you should be thankful. oh i bet your plate lights were off or so dim, you couldnt tell if they were on at the time of the stop. i dont believe you.

Simmer down super trooper its just a tag light, glad you dont work in my city.

 

[neatofrito1618]

it amuses me when you folks talk about tag light being so minor and how officers shouldnt waste their times with it.

1. it is illegal and you will get pulled over...
2. will it be over a tag light? nope. tag light is just a reason to stop you.
3. most officers dont give a rats ass if your tag lights are out. they are interested in making contact with you and see if you things are okay in the car and with you.

just an fyi, dont ask me to show you which light is out and if you can come out and see it. the answer is no, you cant come out and show it to me. if you dont believe me, check it after i let you go.

so many violent criminals are caught by these so called "MINOR" traffic stops, it is not even funny... We just had a murderer run a stop sign and get busted...

instead of stop crying, how about be a good citizen and let officers do their work to keep the streets as safe as possible? you were given a warning. you should be thankful. oh i bet your plate lights were off or so dim, you couldnt tell if they were on at the time of the stop. i dont believe you.

Take it easy there turbo.

 

[Machdup1]

it amuses me when you folks talk about tag light being so minor and how officers shouldnt waste their times with it.

1. it is illegal and you will get pulled over...
2. will it be over a tag light? nope. tag light is just a reason to stop you.
3. most officers dont give a rats ass if your tag lights are out. they are interested in making contact with you and see if you things are okay in the car and with you.

just an fyi, dont ask me to show you which light is out and if you can come out and see it. the answer is no, you cant come out and show it to me. if you dont believe me, check it after i let you go.

so many violent criminals are caught by these so called "MINOR" traffic stops, it is not even funny... We just had a murderer run a stop sign and get busted...

instead of stop crying, how about be a good citizen and let officers do their work to keep the streets as safe as possible? you were given a warning. you should be thankful. oh i bet your plate lights were off or so dim, you couldnt tell if they were on at the time of the stop. i dont believe you.

I don't know if they need to be thankful, but the inconvenience of a legitimate stop is not a big deal. It is just an officer doing their job.

I wonder if the folks who are bent about this realize how much descretion an officer shows on a daily basis. I bet any officer could write citations all day, everyday if that was their goal.

 

[EvergreenSVT]

A traffic stop is a distressing event for most people. Few people are accustomed to being accosted by an armed man during their daily life, and if the reason that their freedom was temporarily suspended seems to them to be less than meaningful even reasonable people will become resentful.

A friend of mine lead his department in felony arrests and OISs for many years. He made a lot of stops and rarely wrote tickets. He would explain why he had stopped the person, ask them to correct the issue and give them his card with a request that if they knew of criminal activity he'd like to hear from them. His phone rang off the hook.

 

[musclefan21]

I somehow knew you would be an egotistical cop from the history of your posts on here.

because I speak the truth? so be it.

No ego here. It is funny how everyone complains about legitimate traffic stops and they have no idea how the system works. I am the first to say a cop messed up if they did. I simply dont see any issues on this stop.

I have pulled people over for one headlight and the person would look at me in the face during stop and tell me that their headlight worked just fine and that I was lying... People lie to cops... all the time...

You sir and i use that loosely are the reason cops have bad reputations. I'm willing to bet you would taze a old lady who didn't move to your commands fast enough.

if cops have bad reputations because they bitchslap cry babies like yourself over a traffic stop which resulted in a simple warning, then so be it.

I stop cars with legitimate reasons and I give more "get that taken care of as soon as possible" warnings than writing tickets. you know why? because i am not perfect either and i know where I came from. So, if I am going to have a bad reputation for doing my job properly, then there is nothing I can do about it as I will continue to do my job properly.

you may continue to think negatively about police officers.. just make sure to call us when you need us though. OK? we will get there as soon as we can to help you.

Simmer down super trooper its just a tag light, glad you dont work in my city.

just a tag light? what is that suppose to be? you may stop a vehicle for just a tag light and end up with wanted person behind the wheel. << this happens more often than you think. so, is it JUST a tag light now?

I would be happy if police officers put the effort to do more proactive patrol, such as stopping cars in my community. it would make me go to bed with piece of mind. Apparently you folks get butt hurt by it. I could throw it back at you, it is just a tag light stop, no big deal. you will be on your way in a few. whats the big deal?

Take it easy there turbo.

truth hurts