Window Tint

[Junkyard Dog]

To be honest, when I was a cop, and if we had the number of guns around that there is in the 'States, I'd be hard on window tints too.

The intention of that law is satisfied by rolling down the windows all the way before he approached, which is what I did.

Don't you think?

I was a police officer for 12 years. When I was stopped, I rolled down the windows all the way, shut off the engine, and placed one hand up on the window with my driver's license and one hand on the steering wheel where it was also visible. This is my usual practice if stopped. I always carry a gun, so I do not want any misunderstandings with nervous ninnies like you.

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[GeekGT5.0]

You are absolutely right and I agree ........ Unfortuneately, the OP did provide the cop with probable cause ....... AND, that often results in catching "bad guys".

Fortunately that would be an illegal stop. Cop cannot just pull you over for no reason, walk up, THEN notice dark tint, test it and use that as PC. Court would toss it in a heartbeat. The cop cannot legally find PC after the stop. In otherwards a cop can't bootstrap probable cause from an illegal detention. Even if the op gave him something "allowed checking of the tint" that would still be an illegal stop, the court would toss it immediately.

 

[Neggytive]

In states like MA where pot is "legal" the mere smell of pot is no longer a valid reason to stop or search a person/car unless the PC was erratic operation and even then there is no way prove impairment.

But window tint is a valid probable cause for a traffic stop, and if they find something else by observation ( furtive movement as they approach the car leading to a reasonable suspicion that something was being hidden, something in plain site, etc) is fair game.

Cops hate tint, especially when doing a traffic stop because they can't see who or how many are in the car and if someone is pointing a weapon at them.

Most states tint laws only apply to the windshield ( no aftermarket tint below the AS1 line) and the side driver and passenger door windows. The Feds do not allow tint darker than the a limit of 30% light transmission any window from the factory , there are different standards for other vehicles. Many states allow "limo" tint on the rear windows. They want to make sure there is enough light transmission to see the side mounted mirrors. it appears Georgia limits it to 32% +/- 3%

Just because " I bought the car that way" does not relieve you of the responsibility to have a vehicle that conforms with the law.

The GA law says it applies to residents and non residents. Oh goody! If you live in a state that allows limo tint on the rear windows and you wander into GA they think they can write you a ticket.

So I guess if you drive stone cold sober, and want to risk the ticket which is cheaper than re-tinting the car to legal limits, you weight the risks and make a decision.

PS in NH, up until last year, and it we still have not gotten a straight answer from the state about enforcement, no aftermarket tint was allowed on any window without a medical reason, Doctors certification, a application to the state, and a secondary registration document allowing the tint, much like a blue or red light permit on a personally owned vehicle.

 

[jbrnigan]

Fortunately that would be an illegal stop. Cop cannot just pull you over for no reason, walk up, THEN notice dark tint, test it and use that as PC. Court would toss it in a heartbeat. The cop cannot legally find PC after the stop. In otherwards a cop can't bootstrap probable cause from an illegal detention. Even if the op gave him something "allowed checking of the tint" that would still be an illegal stop, the court would toss it immediately.

Not sure about Houston, but, our county law enforcement ALWAYS have a reason for a traffic stop. Every patrol car is equipped with dash cams and every officer with body cams, activated before ANY interaction with a citizen. All footage is archived for a decade. If the result of a traffic stop is a citation or arrest resulting in a "court" date, it is hard for a defendant to refute video of the interaction.

 

[Neggytive]

The intention of that law is satisfied by rolling down the windows all the way before he approached, which is what I did.

Don't you think?

I was a police officer for 12 years. When I was stopped, I rolled down the windows all the way, shut off the engine, and placed one hand up on the window with my driver's license and one hand on the steering wheel where it was also visible. This is my usual practice if stopped. I always carry a gun, so I do not want any misunderstandings with nervous ninnies like you.

Many states have a requirement to turn on the interior lights when pulled over after dark too

I have not been pulled over in decades, but I always turned the engine off and kept my hands in view usually on the wheel

I never tried to find my license until asked for it because where I lived at the time had a requirement for gun permits and when they ran the plates before getting out of the car they knew I had one as the issuance of a gun permit made it into the motor vehicle database.

Rather than risk a nervous cop doing something stupid I just kept still and informed them I was carrying and where it was. Sometimes they asked for the gun, the local cops knew me and didn't bother.

Now cops and I don't see eye to eye. we have had some interactions where their opinions and mine did not agree.

But that being said, and knowing a few cops myself, I know the situations they dread most is responding to a DV call, or walking up on a car where they can't see inside. Rental cars are fun because they have no idea who is driving it. Your run of the mill traffic stop usually has the registered owner driving and when you run the plates you see how many times the plate has been queried giving them a good idea if they are dealing with an ahole driver, and they can see the drivers history. At night they use the alley light and other lights to blind the driver so they can't see in back of them. The alley light is usually aimed at the drivers side mirror, the rest of the lights interfere with a look rearwards by the occupants of the car. They mark their territory like a dog pissing by doing the thumbprint on the tail light trick. That establishes the cop was at the car at some point should the need arise to prove it.

 

[Junkyard Dog]

There are too many police officers and too many laws.

My windows were rolled down at the stop, so there was no "safety issue" for this police officer who pretended dishonestly that he smelled marijuana from my car, with its windows up on a cold day, stopping twenty feet away from his car.

What is he, a drug dog?

I mean, he admitted that had he seen how old I was, he would not have stopped me. This was entirely pretextual.

I have a low tolerance for dishonest cops, and an even lower tolerance for the multitude of officers and laws that we have in this country.

"He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance."

 

[Junkyard Dog]

In states like MA where pot is "legal" the mere smell of pot is no longer a valid reason to stop or search a person/car unless the PC was erratic operation and even then there is no way prove impairment.

But window tint is a valid probable cause for a traffic stop, and if they find something else by observation ( furtive movement as they approach the car leading to a reasonable suspicion that something was being hidden, something in plain site, etc) is fair game.

Cops hate tint, especially when doing a traffic stop because they can't see who or how many are in the car and if someone is pointing a weapon at them.

Most states tint laws only apply to the windshield ( no aftermarket tint below the AS1 line) and the side driver and passenger door windows. The Feds do not allow tint darker than the a limit of 30% light transmission any window from the factory , there are different standards for other vehicles. Many states allow "limo" tint on the rear windows. They want to make sure there is enough light transmission to see the side mounted mirrors. it appears Georgia limits it to 32% +/- 3%

Just because " I bought the car that way" does not relieve you of the responsibility to have a vehicle that conforms with the law.

The GA law says it applies to residents and non residents. Oh goody! If you live in a state that allows limo tint on the rear windows and you wander into GA they think they can write you a ticket.

So I guess if you drive stone cold sober, and want to risk the ticket which is cheaper than re-tinting the car to legal limits, you weight the risks and make a decision.

PS in NH, up until last year, and it we still have not gotten a straight answer from the state about enforcement, no aftermarket tint was allowed on any window without a medical reason, Doctors certification, a application to the state, and a secondary registration document allowing the tint, much like a blue or red light permit on a personally owned vehicle.

Assuming his 27% claim was accurate, I would pass in Florida.

And I call BS on applying the law to nonresidents. Talk about interfering with the right to travel. That is probably unconstitutional.

 

[Neggytive]

Assuming his 27% claim was accurate, I would pass in Florida.

And I call BS on applying the law to nonresidents. Talk about interfering with the right to travel. That is probably unconstitutional.

you read my mind on the unconstitutional law and I agree.

 

[jbrnigan]

There are too many police officers and too many laws.

I was a police officer for 12 years.
[/QUOTE]

Then your department is probably better served that you found a different occupation ......

 

[Neggytive]

BTW how did he determine light transmission?

A meter or a piece of tint he held up to the window.

Meter?

When was it last calibrated?
What type of training did he receive on its use?
Request his training records if you are ever ticketed and take it to court
What is the meters accuracy?

In MA every once in a while a bunch of cops would get a hard on about loud pipes on bikes.

They were even writing parked bikes for noise violations based upon aftermarket pipes not having the noise certification info stamped into them

One of the local bike organizations ( MMA) defended a lot of the riders in court and it turned out the the lack of markings was not enough to write a ticket, nor was getting pulled over and the cop saying "it's too loud" was not enough to sustain a guilty finding.

Many departments bought meters and used an ANSI test for proof ( kind of the I observed a vehicle I believed was speeding by "clocking" it, and I used my RADAR to confirm my suspicion line) but the novelty wore off after many of those tickets were tossed on lack of calibration, lack of training, and improperly administered tests, to say nothing of the constitutional issue of holding someone for longer than 20 minutes to issue a ticket

 

[Neggytive]

I was a police officer for 12 years.

Then your department is probably better served that you found a different occupation ......

Maybe he was too smart to be a cop.

That is a real thing, and I can cite a case in MA where a cop was not hired on those grounds and it was appealed to civil service

Then there was the 1999 Federal case Robert Jordan v. City of New London

Read up on the Wonderlic Personnel Test and how it is used to weed out candidates that are to smart to be cops.

I know more than a few guys who left because they were too smart to be cops, and a couple who were dismissed on the last day of their probationary period because the brass didn't like that they had a brain. Every one of them went on to become very successful in their next profession.

Some people who were cops left because they did not agree with the jack booted thuggery and other crap that was going on in their departments.

 

[jbrnigan]

After 20 years in county law enforcement, the changes in law enforcement have been profound over the last decade. There are few professions that compare. Regardless of your opinion of law enforcement officers, they reflect a cross section of our social consciousness, which vary by geographic locations fed, state and local jurisdictions.

 

[Junkyard Dog]

I was a police officer for 12 years.

Then your department is probably better served that you found a different occupation ......

They were quite sad to see me go.

What an odd thing to say, anyway, unless you believe that more and more laws and more and more police officers is the way to go and makes for a better republic.

I prefer more liberty, less laws, and less police officers.

It is astounding how many police officers I see when I am out and about today, everywhere. In comparison to when I was younger, you did not see them very often, at all.

There is a danger to liberty in having too many laws, and there is a danger to liberty in having too many police officers.

I would rather departments around me hired police officers who believed in that philosophy instead of the opposite.

 

[jbrnigan]

They were quite sad to see me go.

What an odd thing to say, anyway, unless you believe that more and more laws and more and more police officers is the way to go and makes for a better republic.

I prefer more liberty, less laws, and less police officers.

It is astounding how many police officers I see when I am out and about today, everywhere. In comparison to when I was younger, you did not see them very often, at all.

There is a danger to liberty in having too many laws, and there is a danger to liberty in having too many police officers.

I would rather departments around me hired police officers who believed in that philosophy instead of the opposite.

Unless you have been on a different planet for the past 4 decades, that's just not the world we live in today. Lest you forget your days on the force, you didn't make the laws, you were hired to enforce them. You didn't get to pick and choose which laws to enforce. When that becomes an issue of conscious, then it's time to find new circumstances. I personally agree with you, but, society as a whole has shown a preference for more limits on freedoms - not less. Interestingly, the "rule of law" is now more selectively enforced than anytime I can remember, resulting in MORE legislation. And, I see no end in sight. Sometimes, ya just gotta go with the flow to maintain your sanity

 

[LouG]

The intention of that law is satisfied by rolling down the windows all the way before he approached, which is what I did.

Don't you think?

I was a police officer for 12 years. When I was stopped, I rolled down the windows all the way, shut off the engine, and placed one hand up on the window with my driver's license and one hand on the steering wheel where it was also visible. This is my usual practice if stopped. I always carry a gun, so I do not want any misunderstandings with nervous ninnies like you.

I wasn't specifically referring to your case, just a general statement how I'd be concerned as a cop. I'm certainly not nervous about guns, I've owned many since I was 15. Not into hunting much now, but do enjoy shooting still.
The interesting thing is down here, we now have a lot more gun crime and more shootings by and of Police Officers since a certain female Prime Minister saw a chance bring in much tougher anti gun legislation after an Ozzie nutter shot up two mosques.

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