Quote:
Originally Posted by bliss
It just seems strange to me that cops are randomly running plates. It's some sort of profiling - seems illegal to me.
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I agree. I was recently flagged over by a DPS officer in my Cobra as I was headed for Beaumont, TX to show the car. The officer was originally ahead of me, then pulled over to the shoulder and I passed him. Within a few blocs I heard the siren. He asked if I knew why he was stopping me and I answered "Well, officer, usually I KNOW why I'm being stopped, but this time I'm clueless. Care to enlighten me?"
He responded that he had run my tags and was informed that the registration was expired. Well, the car had been up on jackstands in the garage for over a year, but I had completed the suspension upgrade and had gotten insurance, inspection and registration taken care of the day before and it was the first time it was out on the streets. Seems the state of TX had not yet entered the data into their data base. I had all of the required paperwork to prove it was legal and was not cited.
But, it's not over yet. It took me over an hour to get away from the DPS officer...seems he was a "car guy", too, and wanted to check out the Cobra and tell me all about his race cars.
As we parted he explained that the DPS has their officers running tags and little else these days. I suspect he was just attracted by the Cobra, being a car guy, but being on duty he did the "right?" thing and ran my tag, ergo the stop.
IMHO, ANY governmental agency ought to honor our right to privacy, which IMHO includes maintaining anonymnity, unless they have "just cause" to suspect we have committed a crime. That officer may have had just cause because of the information his computer displayed, but I believe my right to anonymnity was violated by the act of running my plates, whether I was legal or not. Getting to "just cause" should have required more than just being on the same road as the officer.
We're rapidly becoming a police state here in the U.S. They have weapons and equipment we cannot LEGALLY obtain, and this indiscriminate use of technology seems to violate our constitutional rights against unreasonable search and seizure.
It's not always OK to do something just because you can, but on the other hand I can understand an officer following direct orders from a superior, regardless of whether he feels justified in the action or not.
I'd sure like for somebody to take this issue to the Supreme Court.
Cheers!
Dugly
