Small cross on mirror gets me pulled over

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It's illegal here also. Here they use it as a reason to pull you over to check if you've been drinking.
 
Originally Posted By: dkryan
Originally Posted By: Miller88
.......License plate frames are illegal in NY, but its rarely enforced ... unless the police want a reason to pull you over


Seriously?????

I'm afraid to ask the logic behind that genius of a legislative move. New York has problems spewing out of every orifice. And they want to make it a crime to put your license plate in a frame?!


I am sure a PBA frame would be OK however!!
 
If you were here they would of written you up for something...they gota hit quota/generate revenue for something...

Sounds like an excuse. I got pulled over once for a, " random check"...
 
The initial reason the officer wanted to check you out, may have had nothing to do with your cross hanging from the mirror, and could of been related to something that you might never know about unless you run into that officer somewhere and she remembers the exact reason, and you politely ask.

There may have been something about you, your vehicle, or depending on the information available to the officer regarding something going on in the neighborhood, some other reason.

Years ago a cousin of mine was driving his big old red Chrysler Newport with a faded paint job. All of the sudden several police cars swarm down on him and had him and his passenger get out and lean against the car. Then another police vehicle pulled up and an officer got out and escorted a young woman from his car and had her look at my cousin and his friend. She said "no, they are not the ones". The officers then explained to my cousin that that young girl has just been raped, and the suspect drove away in a car matching the description of his car.
 
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Originally Posted By: dkryan
Originally Posted By: Miller88
.......License plate frames are illegal in NY, but its rarely enforced ... unless the police want a reason to pull you over


Seriously?????

I'm afraid to ask the logic behind that genius of a legislative move. New York has problems spewing out of every orifice. And they want to make it a crime to put your license plate in a frame?!



They do not enforce it at all. If they did, new cars wouldn't be sold with them from dealers. Also New York has a lot fewer problems than many other states, from my point of view.

But if I were to hazard a guess at why, it's probably for the same reason that they gave us these horrid license plates on the reasoning of "they are more visible to police"

ny2010fbr.jpg
 
Originally Posted By: JimPghPA
The initial reason the officer wanted to check you out, may have had nothing to do with your cross hanging from the mirror, and could of been related to something that you might never know about unless you run into that officer somewhere and she remembers the exact reason, and you politely ask.

There may have been something about you, your vehicle, or depending on the information available to the officer regarding something going on in the neighborhood, some other reason.

Years ago a cousin of mine was driving his big old red Chrysler Newport with a faded paint job. All of the sudden several police cars swarm down on him and had him and his passenger get out and lean against the car. Then another police vehicle pulled up and an officer got out and escorted a young woman from his car and had her look at my cousin and his friend. She said "no, they are not the ones". The officers then explained to my cousin that that young girl has just been raped, and the suspect drove away in a car matching the description of his car.



Bingo...we have a winner. But I am amazed at how many paranoid people there are on here.
 
[/quote] Better check your local laws before you purposely record the voice of any law enforcement. In some areas, that could get you over a year in prison.
Not yet.. I believe the Supreme Court upheld the right to record/video such interactions.

However, the best thing is keep your mouth shut as much as possible, you have right to remain silent, use it...

This Includes answering gotcha questions like "Do you have any weapons? Had they found the knife the OP claimed to have he could have been charged with providing false information, obstruction and anything else they could think of.

People blab themselves into more trouble
 
Originally Posted By: Rock_Hudstone

Not yet.. I believe the Supreme Court upheld the right to record/video such interactions.



Kind of a "depends" situation. Recording conversations without the consent of both parties (unless the party doing the recording is law enforcement) is illegal. Not all states allow the recording of law enforcement even when they know they are being recorded.
 
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She was probably on the hunt for a dui or something and found an excuse to pull you over. Strange that you had to ask why she stopped you. If she was really concerned about the massive cross blocking your view you'd think she would have said something.
 
My first response to being pulled over would be " Hi, is there a problem officer?" (use the officers name)
Co-operate, but (nicely) always ask why.
In my experience if you 'just' follow orders without question, it suggests you may have something to hide.
Let them know you have noted their name, and they are less likely to 'push' matters.
 
Illegal to have anything form the mirror here. It gives the police probable cause to pull over and investigate further. Don't like that law, run for office and change it, that is what I tell the smokers at work that stand within 20ft of my doorway.

Also a knife, even a pocket knife is a weapon and if searched they could have said you knowingly provided false information.

As for recording, just because you can, doesn't mean you should. It does not help your case any especially if your recording device ends up "missing" at the end of your encounter. At least here the LEOs have audio recording on their person and have video in their cars and some have video on their person. It actually backfired for a DUI suspect locally that claimed police abuse. The video on the officer showed the accused swung first, oops...
 
The cross was just an excuse. You fit some kind of profile worth checking out.

I work in a somewhat wealthy and very quiet area. Nothing but DWIs happen there, and the police are ready and waiting. When I drive home from work late at night, they completely ignore me even if I'm speeding. I think they see my truck often enough at the same time of night that they figure I work over there and it would be a waste of their time to pull me over or even check me out. They don't even get behind me anymore. It's the same thing when I get into the part of the city where I live, which has a lot of bars and restaurants that are open late. If it's late, they totally ignore me. However, if I drive a few miles down the road where my aunt lives, and it's after 11:00 PM or so, every cop checks my truck out. Most will follow me for at least a mile or two, and some will even do a u turn right in the road to get behind me. In that part of the city, a beat up truck driving around late at night = crackhead stealing scrap metal. They don't pull me over, but their interest is pretty obvious.
 
The police in southern states seem pretty aggressive about following and stopping drivers. Maybe it's mostly to bring in revenue. I think it's kind of annoying to have to deal with that.
 
Originally Posted By: mechanicx
The police in southern states seem pretty aggressive about following and stopping drivers. Maybe it's mostly to bring in revenue. I think it's kind of annoying to have to deal with that.


That's painting with a broad brush.
laugh.gif


Since Florida doesn't have annual vehicle inspections, I assume the police have to spend time on equipment defects. They probably assume that if they spend enough time on a person/ vehicle, they'll find "something" on one or the other.

Since rust doesn't eat cars down south, they can grow into real heaps and still run and point straight. Not saying OPs car is in poor condition but there could have been a light out or she was in it for the OUI check.
 
Originally Posted By: GreeCguy
she instructs me to stay in the car with my hands visible. She then proceeds to question me, asking if I have any weapons.


I am so happy I live in a country where cops don't carry guns, and have no reason to suspect anyone else will be carrying one either. Although we may get stopped for a random breath test, we certainly wouldn't get pulled over for something so ridiculous as something hanging on the mirror....and be considered a criminal before we opened our mouth.
 
People have stuff hanging from their mirrors all the time, for their whole lives. As previously commented it's one of those million things they can use as an excuse to interrogate you. I got the same routine a few years ago when I was driving a car with deer damage at night. Supposedly my license plate bulb was too dark, funny how he had no angle to even see that until after he took after me. From the angle it was obviously the front end damage that got him excited, but as is typical he wouldn't just say so.
I made the mistake of reading discussions on a LEO forum one time (did nothing to help my mood), and it's clear that they profile you as a criminal if they think your car doesn't look "well maintained".

A few days ago I was surprised to get stopped for one of those minor offenses without it being a fishing trip. Long story short, it was a front plate issue which nobody has cared about for 2.5 years, and the guy who came after me did so in what was a very inconvenient situation for him.
But he was being straight with me and was only interested in the plate, I didn't get the whole knives/guns/grenades routine from him. Given that was his real concern, it surprised me after all the previous police who saw me up close and never cared.
 
Originally Posted By: Kruse
Originally Posted By: Rock_Hudstone

Not yet.. I believe the Supreme Court upheld the right to record/video such interactions.



Kind of a "depends" situation. Recording conversations without the consent of both parties (unless the party doing the recording is law enforcement) is illegal. Not all states allow the recording of law enforcement even when they know they are being recorded.


Can't do audio recording without consent here. I got pulled over once. Turns out they were looking for someone who just robbed a store
 
Originally Posted By: Doog
Originally Posted By: JimPghPA
The initial reason the officer wanted to check you out, may have had nothing to do with your cross hanging from the mirror, and could of been related to something that you might never know about unless you run into that officer somewhere and she remembers the exact reason, and you politely ask.

There may have been something about you, your vehicle, or depending on the information available to the officer regarding something going on in the neighborhood, some other reason.

Years ago a cousin of mine was driving his big old red Chrysler Newport with a faded paint job. All of the sudden several police cars swarm down on him and had him and his passenger get out and lean against the car. Then another police vehicle pulled up and an officer got out and escorted a young woman from his car and had her look at my cousin and his friend. She said "no, they are not the ones". The officers then explained to my cousin that that young girl has just been raped, and the suspect drove away in a car matching the description of his car.



Bingo...we have a winner. But I am amazed at how many paranoid people there are on here.


Agreed. This place is a riot at times.

No one knows why he was pulled over but the conspiracy theorists and anti establishment folks are out in full force with their crazy comments. My 1st thought was not that the officer had to fill a quota or was racial profiling but rather the OP's vehicle, or the OP himself, fit a description the Police were looking for; for some reason. NO harm was done to the OP. He was simply checked and then the officer left. Get over it already. Wow.

Also, lieing to the Police about having a weapon is STUUUPID! When the officer asked if the OP had any weapons he should have calmly stated I have a small pocket knife in whatever pocket it was in. Just asanine to lie about it and just asking for trouble had a search been done. If the OOP didn;t think of it when asked at 1st he should have said so at the 1st opportunity after remembering he had it.
 
Originally Posted By: Donald
Originally Posted By: olddognewtrks
The problem with ANYTHING hanging from your mirror is that it teaches your brain to ignore movement from the center right and beyond. Movement includes kids on Big Wheels, kids on bikes, kids chasing balls.....you get the idea.

I've SEEN a kid get hit and seriously injured. I was on duty as a Paramedic, and I was the first one to his side. It's taken many years to be able to talk about it without having a PTSD moment; scratch that, it's still bothering me as I sit here re-reading my post. It happened in 1985.

Please, one and all, get rid of stuff swinging from your mirror. Someone's life could depend on it.


What about the GPS with its movement in the same general area of your dash?


Many states have made GPS units attached to the window, or mounted on the dash in front of the window, illegal for this reason.
 
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