Getting Stopped by the Cops
Most people don’t realize that there is some things they do that could cause them to be stopped by an officer. May not be a big deal on its own but could lead to something much worse.
Let’s say you were leaving brunch and had a couple glasses of wine. Now they pull you over for a “pretextual stop”. Now all of a sudden, they are asking have you been drinking? Maybe your kid left a blunt in your cup-holder and the cop notices that.
Do not want to give them the chance.
What Is a Pretextual Stop?
A pretextual stop is a when a police officer detains an individual for a minor crime, like a traffic violation, because they believe that the person is actually involved or has committed another more serious crime. Because a pretextual stop is fueled by the subjective opinion of the police officer, many people believe that these stops are illegal because they are based on age, race, or appearance of the individual. However, courts generally ignore police officers’ subjective m
Whren v. United States
In Whren v. United States, police officers in an unmarked police car were patrolling a high crime area. While on their patrol, the officers noticed a SUV stopped at an intersection for a longer than normal period of time. After the driver saw the unmarked car, the SUV turned without signaling and sped off. Based off of this minor traffic violation, the police officers pulled over the vehicle and observed drugs inside the vehicle. During the trial, the defendants tried to suppress the evidence of the drugs by arguing that the traffic stop was pretextual and only a poly by the police officers in order to look inside the vehicle for other possible crimes. After hearing the arguments and legal theories by both parties, the Supreme Court ruled that regardless of the police officers’ subjective intent, the stop was legal due to the legitimate traffic violation.
Takeaway
Although pretextual stops are based on potentially illegal bias or discrimination, often times it is impossible to determine the subjective intent of the police officer. As such, based on Whren v. United States, the Supreme Court has given police officers the ability to pull over individuals using pretextual stops without repercussions, as long as the police officers can identify some minor traffic violation. Due to this, the only defense against pretextual stops is to not violate any traffic laws. Without a identifiable violation by the police officer, there exists no reason to pull you over.
One of the new ones that have come up with the advent of the optical camera, tolls, red light camera. They have to have the ability to read your license plate. If your plate is obstructed in any way. you can get stopped. This is nearly every state. Obscured tag laws. At least ½ the people are driving around with obscured tags. Most dealers give you a plate frame that obstructs the state name. Got to make sure that your plate or anything else is obstructing the complete license plate.
- Trailer hitches
- Bike Racks, especially when bikes are on it.
- Plate blocker sprays. Reflective sprays
Some police have equipment that automatically reads your plates when they just drive down the parking lot. They know immediately if the plates are expired.
Another thing is the correct operation of everything. Do the turn signals work, head lights, brake lights. Have someone sit in your car and check that stuff once in a while. It happens stuff breaks. Don’t have to w
Most states have a catch all for “unsafe equipment” on car. Very discretionary!
- Bald tires
- High Decibels omitted from vehicle
- Tints of glass
- Lower car
- Tires outside of car
- Loud mufflers
- Crazy unsafe suspension
- Lights under the car, especially blue
- Crazy looking cars criminals like
All these things just give the cops a reason to stop you.