DarkFury

Well, yesterday I (along with DFJ) was driving back to Indy from Pensacola (my 14 hour home Christmas Voyage) and I got pulled over by a Tennessee State Trooper.

I was in my pickup truck (a 2004 Dodge Ram) and I wasn't speeding (actually, I was doing about 68 MPH) so I was confused about why he pulled me over...

The officer tells me that he pulled me over because he couldn't see the state (INDIANA) on my license plate. Now granted, I have a small license plate frame over my tag that says "Kappa Alpha Psi" that partially covers the word Indiana, but dayuuum... is that really a reason for pulling someone over that is not doing anything outright unlawful?

I dunno... it just felt weird to me. I saw him in the median tracking speeders, and I saw him come up behind me in traffic... Sure seems that he went WAY out of his way to warn me about my tag.

Funny thing is... so many cars zoomed passed me on the left and yet he picked "ME" out of the crowd for something so insignificant. At least it was just a warning (as he told me to remove the frame at my next stop).

Must have been a slooooooow day for the Tennessee Po Po huh?

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Napoleon54

"Jus wanna let y'outta-state'ers know we gots laws 'ere in Tennasee, so doan' y'go doin' no speedin' er nothin' like dat now, y'hear?"

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DarkFury

I wasn't speeding...

I was only... DWB.

oblongmelon

Do you know you're black? Yeh I know in my area they definately target black drivers..warning DF don't ever come to upstate NY without being prepared to be stopped. Especially with out of town plates. We have alot of drug traffic here and naturally, all our "friendly" smokies pinpoint out of state AND black drivers...they are idiots! Don't they know all the drugs come from mexicans????
(actually it's all white trash from NYC)

mechmike0034

That sucks, DF! I had a tag frame on my car for a while until I saw an item in the Birmingham News about how Alabama Troopers were going to aggressively enforce obscured tags.

Hope your visit down home went well otherwise!

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Napoleon54

I know, you said that.

Some of those areas they'll stop anyone with out of state plates just to let you know they've got their eye on you. They simply don't like city folks or out of state folks, they think outsiders are trouble. Xenophobia.

DarkFury

Bad thing was.... this happend on I-65 and there was TONS of traffic out there (imagine the Friday noontime traffic through Nashville Tennessee...)

BTW... the first question he asked me after getting my license and registration was: "Do you have any warrants for your arrest or have you ever been arrested before?"....

Hmmm... sure makes for a good "profiling" case to me. I'm just glad that I don't have anything to hide as far as the police go.

TofuNinja

Dude that sucks man, I would be uber pissed. THat flat our racist man. This is why people don't like the man.... sheesh.

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chrissy

I was pulled over for the same thing DF. I looked at the cop with my "are you serious??" look and broke the dealer frame off and asked him if that was better Yes, I was being a smart ass, but seriously. Me in my little Ford Aspire wasn't speeding. Really.

Could it be that he had a plate scanner and something about yours set it off by not being able to be read? I know they didn't have that back in 95 when I was pulled over, but it could have been the case with you.

DarkFury

Honestly, I'm too scared of the police to even try to act "smart" around them. I've learned from the video... just be nice, be cool, and you most likely won't get a beat down by the cops. Pretty much I removed it at the rest stop a little bit down the way from where he stopped me.

I wasn't gonna do anything to provoke him and cause a negative reaction back onto me... especially in front of my kid (who's in the back seat asking... "Daddy... why did we get pulled over? Are we going to jail? etc... "

chrissy

Oh of course! I mean, I am a small (always short, but a the time, I was smaller too ) white female. I am sure if you would have done it, there have been negative results. I was just telling what I did

uncledaddy

And it sucks that you should have to even feel that way. We should be way past that in our society. I was thinking "profiling". I, as well, hope your visits with family went better than the trip.

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renovation

there a town here that even the local cops hate to drive in.
we were talking about it today. if you are driving over the speed limit by even 4 mph. they pull you over and write a ticket.it don't matter if your a local resident ,a cop.or there own mother .you will receive a speeding ticket. the town is the village of Wolverine Michigan. so beware if you ever happen to come across this town while driving. if a cop can't get out of receiving a ticket you sure wont !

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ShawnLee

Drug traffic with a little kid in the car? Probably not...

I've had interesting reactions driving through the country with California plates. I won't say that it's the same thing as DWB by far, but it is a funny thing to experience.

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Napoleon54

Hold on everyone, let's not jump to conclusions. Where's the evidence of racism or racial profiling?? Everytime a black man gets pulled over doesn't mean it's either of those. Last time I got pulled over was because my license plate light was out. Very similar.

Napoleon54

WTF is wrong with that? That's how it should be! 4mph is breaking the law and whether you're a cop or a cop's mother or John Q Public shouldn't matter.

The only notable thing about it is that it's outside of the norm. The fact that a law being consistantly enforced is an exceptional circumstance is a bit disturbing IMO. Shouldn't that be how it always is??

I mean, thanks for the warning and all, I bet they catch a lot of people off guard. But don't present this as a case of injustice or something... as if cops shouldn't get tickets for speeding. Heaven forbid a town actually enforces the law.

DarkFury

C'mon now...

You got REAL speeders out in noontime traffic doing 80+ (the speed limit was 70), yet he only pulls over the truck doing 68 in the right hand lane with the "Kappa" plates on it?

C'mon... gimme a break.

Seriously, this was a "profile pullover"... Do traffic cops normally ask if you have warrants out for a "license plate frame infraction"? Get real...

Other than that... he had nothing really on me to warrant the pull over. And yes, some cops do know one fraternity from another to possibly know who is in the vehicle.

Seriously, you are giving them too much credit in "upholding the law".

Jeffbx

The thing wrong with that is that they (and a number of other towns) are staffing police purely on speeding ticket revenue. When it's treated as a source of income rather than a safety issue, they're way overstepping their boundries.

I've always said that any traffic ticket revenue should go to fund local school districts, NOT the department writing the tickets. Does anyone else see the potential for abuse here?

Napoleon54

I agree entirely with that. The main thing I took issue with in Reno's post as the implication that cops or their mothers shouldn't get tickets like the rest of us.

Napoleon54

*shrug* I'm not at all familiar with "Kappa" or whatever it means.

Any legitimate way to implicate this cop in a profiling scheme would require a sample size larger than one. Did he pull over other vehicles with "kappa" plates? Did he ask the same question of caucasian drivers? In the absence of any corroborating evidence, you're going entirely on inferences and assumptions.

Believe me, I'm certainly not any sort of cop sympathizer, I flat out hate those gestapo bastards.

LPMiller

getting pulled over while black in any southern state is so common, it will always be questioned as to whether it was for a legit reason or for color.

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DarkFury

Kappa Alpha Psi is one of the 8 largely recognized Black fraternities/sororities. Do a Google search on it and I'm sure you'll get plenty of info about it.

And of course I can't prove or disprove the cop's motive... however it does strike me as quite PECULIAR that my tag frame was so offensive that it distinctly drew his attention despite other vehicles who where obviously travelling faster than the posted speed limit. Now had I been speeding... and got pulled over with the tag frame as a "tack on" then I could probably see WHY he pulled me in the first place. As it stands... this was more like HARASSMENT in my opinion in light of the situation. I did NOTHING suspicious to warrant a pull over other than being who I am and having a plate frame. That tells me that the cops are focused on the WRONG THINGS... as my plate frame in no way was harmful or detrimental to the flow of traffic in the given situation.

Basically what this says to me is... Drive as fast as you want through Tennessee, as long as we can tell what state you are from, you cool with us.

Jeffbx

Ah, I'm with ya there, bro. But you know how the system works, and if they're even making other cops pay, then you KNOW it's a huge revenue stream for that police force. I think that should be illegal.

Napoleon54

Then the question becomes, would they enforce the traffic laws at all if there wasn't an economic incentive to do so? Well, they damn well better IMO, it's their friggin' job.

DarkFury

Ummm... safety of the general public comes to mind.

Having quotas on tickets written has a built in "abuse factor" tagged to it. They are supposed to be there to HELP... not to harass.


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Whenever I see the "To Serve and Protect" on the sides of Chicago police cars, in my mind I tend to add "...our own interests" for the sake of correctness.

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cheapie

aren't your windows tinted as well? would he be able to see through it when you went past to determine your race?

i only ask because if you drive in michigan with tinted windows, they will pull you over if you don't have tags from another state. he could have checked out your tags and noticed the state was covered.

just a thought. i fully believe that you could have been pulled over for DWB. just wondered because my brother has been pulled over lots of times for his tinted window. sadly, his eyes have a condition which requires tinted windows. and he found a doctor willing to write a prescription for him to take to the dmv justifying the need for tinted windows.

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DarkFury

The officer never made any mention of the tint on my windows which are of legal percentage on my truck. Only the plate frame was mentioned in the stop (besides the questions about my current legal status with the judicial system).

Also... according to Tennesee Tint Law:

http://www.tintlaws.com/laws/TN/


My truck has tint that is legal in Tennessee. Now the 300C on the other hand...

cheapie

ok. just wondering.

gwilks98

I don't understand what the problem is: You were the one being suspicious if you were the only one doing 68.

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