Why are militarized police enforcing DMV regulations? Seems like expired tags, etc. are often a

[Dream Girl]

Pretext to stop unarmed black men. Why is motor vehicle regulations enforcement even part of their job? Seems like there are too many cops without shit to do.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

1. Because the system doesn't work unless it can scoop up as many people as possible into its maw.

[jimfields33]

5. Cities can't run if registration requirements are not enforced

My mom was stopped due to lack of new regulation. She had it in the glove compartment. The cop made her put it on right away on the street.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

8. Definitely a cop who needed to get that shit done.

[jimfields33]

12. Well that's true. Lol.

The only thing I wonder is if police are banned from stopping registration violations, would anyone bother to update theirs? It’s a nuisance really. I have gone with doing it for two years at a time just to not have to worry about it every year.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

14. People do all sorts of things that are required without threat of arrest. A better way is possible.

[MichMan]

27. Honor system

[radius777]

40. You would have unarmed traffic cops to do that,

who could give tickets, issue summonses, etc.

We need to reimagine the police. Too much of what they do doesn't require weapons or militarized training - which should be targeted for the situations which require it.

[MichMan]

41. So what is the unarmed traffic cop supposed to do when dispatched to a violent crime in progress?

Write a ticket?

[Shrek]

43. The Brits do it that way

They have "police" and "armed police."

[msongs]

52. britain is not run to placate millions of gun nuts nt

[radius777]

57. Uh, reread my post.

There would be armed police for that situation, and unarmed traffic cops to deal with motor vehicle issues.

Very little of what cops do involves violent offenders - though they would like people to think otherwise

Most of it is regular community interaction - which could be done better by social workers, traffic cops, etc.

[gldstwmn]

62. They don't usually get there

until after.

[Thomas Hurt]

2. Ticket revenue

[HUAJIAO]

3. Bingo.. same for many speed traps...

[jrthin]

7. With the focus of poor black and brown people

paying the full freight of the budget: the budget being balanced on the backs of poc.

[CatWoman]

47. did you see that new fangled city hall Ferguson, MO built from revenue siphoned off black, brown

and poor white people? mostly via "traffic fines"???

[TheBlackAdder]

56. Ticket revenue and the hopes a simple expired inspection stop will lead to even more citations.

.

My son waited until the last couple of days to get his car inspected. If he couldn't get his car to pass...

I told him, Why are you going to give the cops an easy excuse to pull you over and risk more fines?

.

[Deminpenn]

66. This

The same goes for speed traps and red light cameras. I doubt most people understand just how expensive police are. It's not only pay, but also paying into benefits, then paying out pensions. When a cop can retire at age 50 with 20 years of service, pension costs can add up in a hurry.

[eppur_se_muova]

71. Exactly. Traffic courts are an economic pump for many communities. nt

[Watchfoxheadexplodes]

4. The lack of knowledge on police duties

Boggles my damn mind.

[Dream Girl]

6. I don't give a shit about "police duties".

[Watchfoxheadexplodes]

9. Police don't make laws

They enforce them.

Take it up with elected officials.

[Dream Girl]

34. That is my point. Why are militarized policed used to enforce dmv laws? There are other solutions

Besides stopping and murdering people. But I think you might be okay with that.

[LiberalFighter]

53. They enforce the laws they want to enforce.

[gldstwmn]

63. True. Many say they will

Not enforce red flags laws yet nothing seems to be done about that.

[Dream Girl]

11. Why the heck should I be "knowledgeable about police duties". Like this can't be reformed or chanced

Technology can be used to enforce dmv regs. I”police duties” = drive around and look for people to fuck with.” Do I have that right?

[Watchfoxheadexplodes]

13. You could look it up first

No?

[Dream Girl]

15. What are you even talking about. Look what up? I'm talking about reform and change their duties

If it’s about revenue this is an issue for reform.I believe this is wat was changed in Ferguson.

[fescuerescue]

24. We aren't here to make it easier on police duties

There job is no more special than a job that produces good for services for society.

[marble falls]

10. I read a few years back that traffic stops for piffles like a cracked lens or a tassle on a ...

... rearview mirror generated about 70% of all drug arrests.

And towns like Ferguson, Missouri - where Derek Brown was cop-murdered - traffic fines made up more than half its operating budget.

[gldstwmn]

64. That's how they buy those tanks

they don't need.

[Deminpenn]

68. Most of that equipment comes from the DoD policy

that lets police buy surplus/old military goods.

[IbogaProject]

16. Circular problem

This is a circular problem. They made drugs very illegal to criminalize African Americans & progressives. So then each stop is high stress on both sides and on rare occasion a cop gets shot. Often by one of their own. So then the cops are scared and trigger happy and eventually another cop gets hit but stupidly-fire (friendly pun).

[Claire Oh Nette]

44. African Americans

When Prohibition was repealed, Anslinger had a department with a million dollar budget and no duties. He either folded or found a new target. Anslinger went after African American musicians like Billie Holiday for heroin and weed, and Mexican farm workers who smoked mota after working in the fields all day.

Progressives weren't the target.

[AZProgressive]

65. The poster could be referring to Nixon's strategy

Nixon started the "war on drugs" and breaking up the Democratic Party was part of that strategy.

This quote is from Nixon advisor John Ehrlichman

“The Nixon Campaign in 1968, and the Nixon White House after that, had two enemies: the antiwar Left, and Black people. You understand what I’m saying? We knew we couldn’t make it illegal to be either against the war or Black. But by getting the public to associate the hippies with marijuana and Blacks with heroin, and then criminalizing both heavily, we could disrupt those communities. We could arrest their leaders, raid their homes, break up their meetings and vilify them night after night on the evening news. Did we know we were lying about the drugs? Of course we did.”

https://truthout.org/articles/the-big-lie-on-the-war-against-drugs/

[dlk]

17. It's overkill - literally

America is long overdue to rethink public safety and what that really means.

[KentuckyWoman]

38. I used to get pulled over for "seatbelt" constantly in my husband's car.

I hated that sporty car but sometimes we had to switch so he could use the SUV. His car just looked like it belonged to a much younger man. I once got pulled over 6 times in 5 miles on the main road near our apartment in Lexington. Every time they said "seatbelt" - which I had on.

Very few traffic stops have to do with driving. Most have to do with getting lucky and finding a bigger problem - or manufacturing one.


Cities and states most often contract out running of the jails and part of the contract is a guarantee of prisoner volume. Gotta meet the contract.

[dlk]

54. We need to rethink the entire system

Too often it’s used in a predatory manner to harass individuals with a certain profile. Getting stopped so many times within such a short distance must have been terrible. Privatization of government services contributes to the problem. Taxpayers end up funding private profits and the amount of accountability is greatly reduced.

[Treefrog]

19. Expired tags may also indicate an insurance problem.

I’ve never had mine expire, but I’m pretty sure insurance takes a dim view of that. I don’t want to be on the road with uninsured drivers, but that’s just me.

[MichMan]

42. 50% of Detroit drivers are uninsured

Obviously police aren't stopping people for that

[Treefrog]

45. Holy shit! So how do they get plates and registration?

Every state I’ve lived in requires proof of at least liability insurance.

[MichMan]

46. Buy insurance for 1 week, get their plates, and then cancel it.

[Treefrog]

48. Wow, color me a dumbass.

I really had no idea.

[MichMan]

49. Then if they hit another car, they flee the scene hoping no one got a plate number

[Treefrog]

50. I haven't been in a wreck in over 30 years. Knocking on wood.

I hope I’d have the composure to get the phone out now. God forbid it happens.

[Deminpenn]

69. In PA, if either you or your insurance company cancels

your auto ins policy, the insurance company is required to report that to the state.

[tblue37]

26. One problem is that so many Americans are armed to the teeth.

[BannonsLiver]

32. That won't work here

We have 400 million guns in circulation. I’m no fan of modern policing but even I wouldn’t favor putting them out there unarmed given the sheer volume of firearms out there. As a country we made our bed letting the gun freaks have their way for so long. Now we have to sleep in it.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

39. "Seems the police are imminently more polite and kind there too."

Rashan Charles, Edson Da Costa, Kingsley Burrell, Sean Rigg, Sarah Reed, Sheku Bayoh and others would likely disagree.

The system itself is certainly kind to cops -- not a one has been successfully prosecuted for a death in custody since 1969.

[Ocelot II]

21. I used to get stopped every year for expired license tags

because I was always forgetting to renew them. However, being an older white woman I was never tased or shot; they'd just ask to see my drivers' license and then I'd be sent on my way with no ticket, just a warning to get them renewed as soon as possible. When the police do any traffic stop they always run your plates through the system to check for outstanding warrants but I don't know if the system tells them what the warrants are for. I never had any but I don't think I'd have been tased or shot even if I had. I'm better at remembering my tags now.

[MichMan]

28. You probably didn't jump back in your car and speed away with warrants

[Dream Girl]

30. And probably not scared for your life either.

[Ocelot II]

33. That still wouldn't have justified tasing or shooting.

[Arazi]

58. Misdemeanor warrant for court no-show so yeah that deserves killing him

/s

[49jim]

22. In NYS many police agencies

have radar installed on all four corners of their vehicles. They can scan registration and inspection tags without getting out of their car. If a driver has expired tags they simply pull you over and issue a ticket. I've always thought this was a violation of your 4th amendment rights. However, it's been supported in the courts. There is a standing line in NYS that this usually happens at the end of the month....... in order to fill their ticket quota for the last 30 days!

[Dream Girl]

23. Is the ticket handed to the driver or issued by mail?

[49jim]

35. Ticket handed to driver n/t

[gldstwmn]

25. I thought they weren't pursuing these types of stops due to Covid.

[Vinca]

29. An old cop I knew back in the early 80's had a name for this. He - and I imagine other

officers he worked with - called it the "peckweed statute" and it boiled down to spotting someone you wanted to stop and pulling them over for something really stupid or totally made up (example - mysterious blinking taillight) . I imagine that's what happened this time. They spotted a young black guy and that was enough in their minds to warrant a stop. They got lucky because the plates were expired, but they would have used the air freshener anyway. Doesn't matter. They just wanted to harass the guy. Police in every state enforce DMV regulations because there are usually very few DMV officers on the road. Where I live the DMV people pretty much check tractor-trailer papers and patrol the Interstate. From what I can gather in my area stops for DMV stuff are not really done given the Covid pandemic unless it's really an egregious violation of some kind. Militarized police are entirely different issue and probably one of the root causes of the problem. It was a huge mistake after 9/11 to arm departments with equipment made for war.

[MichMan]

31. States should just make license plate renewals optional

Bullshit that you have to pay a fee every year just to drive your own car. In Michigan they are approx $150 for each vehicle

[Ocelot II]

36. It pays for the roads.

[Grasswire2]

37. revenue for localities, too

Quotas.

[ecstatic]

51. exactly. We need to split them apart. Traffic cops

should not be armed. If a situation becomes dangerous and requires real police, call them to the scene.

[MichMan]

60. I live in a rural area. Our local PD has just a small number of officers

If they had to staff every shift with both traffic and armed police, it would require twice as many officers and cars

[MichMan]

59. Does anyone here agree with Detroit Rep. Rashida Tlaib ?

Detroit — Policing in the United States is "intentionally racist" and "can't be reformed," U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib tweeted Monday night, a day after a White Minnesota police officer reportedly mistook her pistol for her Taser and fatally shot a Black man.

"It wasn't an accident," she wrote. "Policing in our country is inherently & intentionally racist. Daunte Wright was met with aggression & violence. I am done with those who condone government funded murder. No more policing, incarceration, and militarization. It can't be reformed."


[link:https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/michigan/2021/04/13/tlaib-calls-us-policing-intentionally-racist-gets-pushback/7207266002/|

[EX500rider]

61. I certainly don't...no more incarceration?

So murders and rapists and child molesters just go free?

[pecosbob]

67. Traffic stops are the initial feeding point for the carceral industry...their fishing nets

But it's not simply to generate revenue from small citations. A certain percentage of stops will invariably lead to arrests for other moving violations, such as driving with a suspended license or failure to appear. Get arrested, lose your license...lose your job...fail to pay the court...go back to court...more court fines and long term incarceration...coercion to work in prison industry.

Our society isn't quite violent or criminal enough to provide enough bodies to feed this growth industry...they need to feed the money machine.

[Deminpenn]

70. Two years ago, Pennsylvania decided the cost of printing and mailing

those little license plate registration stickers was too much and discontinued them. The cops howled because how would they know who was driving with expired tags? There've been a few subsequent legislative efforts to bring the stickers back but so far none have gotten very far.

Since you have to show registration and insurance at annual car inspections, the easiest solution is to make registration and inspection dates coincide so the inspection sticker also serves as registration proof.