Why can the police be such a--holes?

One day a few weeks ago I was driving down Hempstead Turnpike and decided to cut through Eisenhower park, which has a road running through it to Stewart avenue on the other side. I'm flying through the park- the limit's 35, and I'm doing at least 60. Suddenly, up ahead, there's a cop standing right in the middle of the road with a radar gun. Turns out there was a huge speed trap set up behind some trees. He waved me over to the side of the road. Turns out also that I had left my new insurance card at home, so I only had the expired one on me. However, the cop let me go on the speeding ("just slow down next time, son"). He gave me a ticket for the expired card, but he told me to just mail in a copy of the new card and the ticket would be automatically dismissed. Very cool guy.

Personally, I've never had any realy trouble with cops around here. I've gotten let off for speeding more often than not (and I speed A LOT). I find as long as you're respectful, they're cool with you. Hell, I once blew past a NY State Trooper (undercover car), and if you know anything about them, you'd know what hardasses they can be. He let me go too. :)

Heh...I remember my old car, a beat up old Buick Regal. I got hit by come Mexican cab driver in my parking lot at work one day, and he tore my left headlight right off the car. I continued to drive around for the next year with that one headlight gone. I got pulled over on a regular basis because of it, and I always said the same exact thing: "Officer, can you believe this? I got hit today and look what the guy did to my car." Even a year after the accident I was still telling the cops that, and they always let me off. :D

I do remember one time when me and an ex of mine parked down by the beach and moved our activities into the back seat... :evil: The cop came by, flashed his light on the car, and them came over to investigate. He actually asked my gf "Are you here of your own free will, miss?" :lol: He ended up giving me a ticket for trespassing, which I contested in court and got reduced to nothing.

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Originally Posted by Shinobi128

The expiration date on a license plate had a date of 10/03. This guy had nothing better to do than make a big deal out of this? 10 days! Not 10 weeks, not 10 months, but 10 days?!?!?

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License plates have expiration dates on them? I never noticed that... :confused:

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Originally Posted by Dolemite

License plates have expiration dates on them? I never noticed that... :confused:

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I think he meant the tags. Though here in California, they only have the month and year for when it expires (I.E. Jan '04, ETC), and not a specific date.

What, the inspection/registration tags on the front windshield? But Shinobi said the cop was behind him...how could he see those?

And in NY, only the month and year they expire is displayed, also.

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Originally Posted by Dolemite

What, the inspection/registration tags on the front windshield? But Shinobi said the cop was behind him...how could he see those?

And in NY, only the month and year they expire is displayed, also.

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This is what the back plates look like in california... And each year, the tags change color, so they are easier to spot:

Jersey has those stickers too. I think it's just one sticker with the month an year though.

Sesquicentennial is a word?! :wtf:

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Originally Posted by Shinobi128

I mean, all I replied was "no sir." He tells me that my tag has expired. Well, yeah, my tag did expire, 10 freaking days after the expiration date. I get a ticket for $47.

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I had almost a similar experience, but mine was much worse, they had pulled me and my mom over on the way to work for an expired sticker on the plate... nether of us knew that it was expired because the DMV never sent a renewel, not only did they give us a ticket but he wouldn't let us drive the car, luckly we were pulled in the parking lot where I had to go to work otherwise they probably would have had it towed over something as stupid as that :mad:

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Originally Posted by Criticom

This is what the back plates look like in california... And each year, the tags change color, so they are easier to spot:

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Ah, I gotcha...NY plates don't do that. See?
http://home.twcny.rr.com/nyplates/emp.jpg

Ok, I got you as well. :)

Here's an example of a Florida tag. The date the tag expires is at the top right, and only shows the month and year.

Out of curiousity, what would you guys do in my case? Court? School? Pay the fine? I here all sorts of stories that a cop usually doesn't show up in court unless it's a big deal, and in a case like this, he'll probably not show up and the fine will be dismissed.

Then again, if the cop does show up, I'd have to give my best sob story right? What would happen if I lose?

http://www.plateshack.com/y2k/Florida/fl2002.jpg