First things first, yes - my registration had expired in September. Yes - it is my fault. Yes - I deserved the ticket. But that seriously is NOT the point of this thread.

Long story short - there was absolutely no way the kid could have seen my expired sticker. It was 2am and he was behind me. It was the only reason he stopped me, and the only offense with which I was charged. I asked him how he could have seen my sticker and he replied, "Oh, I didn't. I just ran your plate."
While I was sorely tempted to give him a piece of my mind, I bit my tongue in the interest of getting some sleep after a long business day trip.

Is this legal? If so, how long has it been the case? Makes me wonder how often my plate has been run without me ever knowing it.

Yes cops can call in for a 10-28 on anyone. Your plates are in public and linked to your record. As I see it you have no expectation of privacy.

"if you have done nothing wrong, you shouldn't have anything to hide ..."

"they are the cops, of course they are in the right"

"just let them search your car, and be on your way"

RR, I think what they did was a load of crap.

I don't know about the legality of it. I think pulling you over and essentially shaking you down is bullcrap.

For essentially not paying a tax when they have changed the sticker so unless you check it from outside, you can't tell when it is due.

Driving at 2 AM is probable cause in many people's minds.

Hell, I got a ticket for an expired INSPECTION on my vehicle earlier this year, so I've got scoreboard.

If it makes you feel any better, it's all in the name of revenue, not safety. Oh, wait...

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As I see it you have no expectation of privacy

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I think you should have an expectaction of privacy in your daily life.

You didn't choose to put a license plate on your car. You are required to.

"then don't drive ..." is probably what I will hear next. whatever

So you require me to do something, and then use the very thing you require to gather information on me any time you feel like it. I think it's horse crap.

money grab

revenue.

Would you have felt better if he had stopped you because of his ALPR?

Never seen a cop at a stop light run all the plates of the nearby cars? It is another way they are able to catch people with warrants. I really see no problem with it.

It's called "Scumbag Bingo".

Fun game, especially when you transpose numbers and the BMW in front of you comes up as being registered to a dude wanted on a murder charge.

That made for an interesting few minutes during a ride along.

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I think you should have an expectaction of privacy in your daily life.

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Not very realistic when you're driving on a PUBLIC road.

And there it is ...

So I lose all rights to privacy when I leave my property?? Using that logic, just throw probable cause out the window as soon as I set foot on public property.

I think you are picking and choosing when to apply the law.

it's complete crap, but people are freely giving up their privacy and rights in the name of "security" daily. it's the norm now even amongst so-called conservatives.

Happened to me last Spring. Had the inspection sticker updated on a Thursday. Next day on way home from SA had a Bulverde PD get on 281 from 1863 behind me and within 1 mile he had me pulled over. I was doing 60 in a 65 and asked him why he stopped me. He said "my computer says your inspection sticker is out of date" to which I said "really? Why don't you take a look". He did, then his face turned red, he apologized and left.
I swear the Bulverde PD and Comal Sheriff's have a massive hardon for inspection & registration stickers!!

I recently saw a show where the police cars have a license plate recognition camera/software. They can drive thru a crowded mall and every license plate gets run thru the system. I personally don't have a problem with it, but I can where some might.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automatic_number_plate_recognition

I predict that some of you fers will change your tune when they start deploying average speed cameras in your neck of the woods like they have in Europe.

Thanks for the ALPR teaser, Sunchaser. I have confirmed in 5 minutes of reading what I have suspected is happening for a few years now.

Who needs black helicopters when this BS is going on? I am so happy I will most likely be dead before 1984. One of the very reasons I never had kids.

That would be the ALPR sunchaser referred to. Neat system, I don't have a problem with it.

Running plates to see if drivers have insurance or if their tags are current is an easy way to find cause to pull them over to look for bigger things. Having a small license plate light not working is an easy target as well. All are legitimate reasons for a cop to stop you, whether it makes it right or not is a separate issue.

My cousin is a police officer in the DFW area. I went for a ride along with him last year and was able to run plates myself. You can see if people have warrants, etc. Quite interesting. Most of the time we didn't stop anyone, but I am sure driving at 2am was enough for the officer to wonder if you had been drinking.

that is, assuming that the registered owner is driving...

image processing would have one heck of a time reading a damaged plate...

once cops start getting lazier and rely 90% on the cameras to do the work, a few well placed scratches will make letters indistinguishable... especially on the unstamped plates that are now coming out. Once the paint is gone, it's unreadable.

I routinely call my dad to get plates run on people that piss me off, or that I'm just curious about.

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You didn't choose to put a license plate on your car. You are required to.

"then don't drive ..." is probably what I will hear next. whatever

So you require me to do something, and then use the very thing you require to gather information on me any time you feel like it. I think it's horse crap.

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Then don't drive!

Seriously, you are railing that the man "required you to do something" when in reality you are the one who chose to own and drive a car on public roads. In return, the man has required you to pay a tax and obey the laws. If you don't agree to those terms, don't get a car and don't drive.

Ever wonder how a cops find a couple hundred pounds of drugs in the trunk of a car when that car wasn't speeding or involved in an accident? (looking at you Nate Newton)

As the above poster said....its 2am, cop runs the plate and gets a return for a tag and decides to take a look at see if maybe he has a dwi to go along with it......or perhaps you are a bit jumpy because you have a couple hundred pounds of weed in the trunk.....or maybe you've got a 6 yr old boy tied up in the back seat.....

If none of those pan out, he's still got you for being a poor and trying to skate on your registration taxes.

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Is this legal?

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Of course it's legal. Why wouldn't it be? It's not an invasion of privacy for an officer to run your license plate. That's pretty much the reason it's there.

What privacy are you expecting when your car has 2 liscense plates placed on the outside of your car? Additionally, you registration sticker is placed to be explicitly seen from the outside of your car.

I guess you could stop the police from running plates like that, but then a law would be passed requiring two registration stickers, one facing forward and backward to go with your plates.

This just seems like you are looking for something to complain about.

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I routinely call my dad to get plates run on people that piss me off, or that I'm just curious about.

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careful.

I know someone that was fired because they used their police abilities for their personal benefit, just as you are saying.

Quite frankly,some Americans just don't deserve to be free.

They can do anything they want...run through red lights, drive on the wrong side of the road, eat Milanos.

[text]Of course it's legal. Why wouldn't it be? It's not an invasion of privacy for an officer to run your license plate. That's pretty much the reason it's there.
[/text]

Tell me you're kidding.

I'm not denying the reality of the situation (that it's legal), I just have a major problem with it. It shouldn't be legal without cause.

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Quite frankly,most Americans just don't want to be free.

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factual fify

It is perfectly legal. Their usual reason is to check if the car is stolen.

Check this video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itolga3Hi8c

They can't pull you over just cause they are curious, that takes probable cause. If they're just curious they can run your plates and if something comes up then they have probable cause. Which I'm sure you already know. At 2am they are looking for any reason to pull people over to see if they've been drinking.

I'm actually surprised that you're surprised that they can do this. When they run it they can tell if the car is stolen, if they have insurance, or if the person who owns it has a suspended license. These things all benefit law abiding drivers.

I agree that pulling you over for inspection is kind of knit picking, but it happens.

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I think you should have an expectaction of privacy in your daily life.

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I think you should have that expectation at home, in agreement with the law.

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You didn't choose to put a license plate on your car. You are required to.

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Maybe try riding a bike or public transportation if you don't want to be scrutinized by cops while driving.

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Tell me you're kidding.

I'm not denying the reality of the situation (that it's legal), I just have a major problem with it. It shouldn't be legal without cause.

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Why would I be kidding? I have no problem whatsoever with officers being able to run license plates. They probably get a lot of drunks off the street that way. If you haven't done anything wrong then you have nothing to worry about.

You say you have a major problem with it. Would you still have a major problem with it if your car was stolen and the cops managed to find it because they saw someone driving and they decided to run the plates? I doubt it.

You don't need probable cause to run a plate number, though running that plate number will sometimes lead to probably cause for a traffic stop (which is exactly what happened in your case). Had it not been 2:00 AM I suspect you wouldn't have been pulled over. He was probably looking for people under the influence. I'm a little surprised you got a ticket for it though (although it sounds like you may have gotten an attitude with him so it's possible you talked yourself into a ticket).

[This message has been edited by Hoss (edited 10/15/2010 10:23a).]

Continually amazed ...

I am of the mindset that based on the texas law book size, an officer could pull any one of us over with NO PROBABLE CAUSE, and come up with something legal by the time he gets to your window.

Of this, I have no doubt.

And for the OP...yes, its legal. Yes, he had probably cause, even though its not needed to run a plate. I have seen officers run up on my ass MULTIPLE TIMES, then start acting like they are doing something on their computer, then after a few seconds, they back off or pass me and go on their way. I have always assumed they are running my plates just to see what I have outstanding.

I too am surprised you were tickets over it. I have had several expired tags, and only received warnings...

Then again, I pull over, turn off the car, roll down the window, turn on the hazards, put both hands on my steering wheel and use sir, m'am, etc like crazy. I don't berate them, question their motive, or act like a *****bag. Not because I think they are right, but because Id rather make their job as easy as possible....because that makes a happy cop...and happy cops sometimes don't write tickets.



[This message has been edited by jed1154 (edited 10/15/2010 10:28a).]