That's right. Yours truly got pulled over for not having a front plate. My gf and I and a bunch of friends had been at one of the local Irish restaurants for St. Patty's Day. We ate and drank. We were there for about 4 hours and I had 3 1/2 beers and lots of water since I was the designated driver. Here's the kicker...

I passed twin motorcycle cops who were conveniently hiding on a side street where the street light was not working. There were in the dark. I checked my speed and I was 5 mph below the limit so I wasn't worried. I'm stopped at a stop light and I check my rear view mirror when I see the cyclone light of a motorcycle pull out from the side street and right behind me. At this point I'm thinking, "Shi....".

He proceeds to follow me when I see the pretty red and blue lights start to flicker. I immediately turn down a side street and pull over. He asks to see my license and registration. He tells me that he pulled me over for not having a front plate. I tell him that I have the plate under my seat and would be happy to put it on. He then asks if I've been drinking. I tell him the truth and state that I had 3-3 1/2 beers in about 4 hours and have drank lots of water. He asks me to step out of my car.

I am then put through several sobriety tests to confirm I am not driving under the influence. He then asks me some questions which I guess a drunk person would find hard to answer. (ex. "How long did I sleep last night?" "What did I have to eat at the restaurant?" "Do they serve food at the restaurant?" etc.) In the meantime, his partner in the dark has pulled over a car pretty much right next to mine. (The cop I had was actually really cool. This other guy was trying to be the "bad" cop.) He tells me to sit tight while the police car comes so that I can do a breathalyzer test. As I wait I can see my poor gf freaking out. Which isn't helping me out any. Needless to say I was a little nervous.

The lady officer shows up and tells the "good" cop that I'm 'clean'. They bring out the breathalyzer and tell me what to do. After a few moments, my reading is fine. He tells me that he won't write me a ticket for not having a front plate. (Which is odd to me because they crack down on everything here in Cali.) He tells me that I'm free to go and to be careful on the drive home. I get my license back and I go on my merry way. Close call!

Now the thing that gets me is the cops were totally staking out this Irish (being that it's St. Patty's day) restaurant. From us leaving the parking lot to me turning out into the street and stopping at the stop light, I saw 6, that's right 6 motorcycle cops. And the fact that the 2 that pulled me over where hiding in the dark just wanting for (inebriated) patrons to exit the restaurant parking lot leads me to believe entrapment was involved. (A friend of mine at another Irish restaurant told me almost the exact thing. When he left, he saw 4 motorcycle cops and 3 police cruisers. Odd don't you think?) Basically he tried to pull me over for one thing and tried to bust me for another. Lucky for me I was fine. What do you guys and gals think? Entrapment or not?

 

the front plate is ___!

 

obviously..... he tells u he pulled u over for no front plate, tests u, then lets u go without ticketing u for what he pulled u over purposely in the first place?

 

I can't stress enough how cool the cop was. I just didn't care for their tactics of pulling people over. It seemed like anybody who left that particular parking lot was going to get pulled over. That's why I'm stating that it seemed like entrapment. (That and the fact those 2 cops were hiding in pretty much total darkness.)

 

lol how funny. at least you didnt get a ticket or anything.

 

x5

 

i'm thinking not.

entrapment is more when police involvement actually leads to a person committing an offense... not by trapping would-be drunks by pulling people over for minor offenses they wouldn't normally care too much about.

for example... a bunch of cops (undercover) goes to a bar, makes a guy drink a bunch of alchy.. then when the drunk walks outside.. another cop is completely ready to arrest him.

cause it's likely that the person that was at the bar.. might've planned to say sober, to not drink as much.. who knows... but because the involvement of police in the matter may have made him do what he would've probably not intended to do in the first place...

THAT.. is entrapment.

 

It isn't entrapment, though it is weak, but it is expected I suppose.

Here is the definiton (per dictionary.com) of entrapment:

"1. the luring by a law-enforcement agent of a person into committing a crime."

So in this case, the cop isn't really doing this, they are just using tactic's to get drunk drivers. It is like on new years and fourth of july, they stake out certain areas where people may be drinking and are likely to get a bunch of people who may have been drinking. In this case they stake out the Irish restaurants because it is St. Patricks Day.

That is cool that the cop didn't harass you, I have nothing but the utmost respect for most cops, but whenever I get pulled over (usually them trying to get something out of me even though I've done nothing wrong) I am nice, don't get out of line in any way, yet they act like I am being a total jerk to them.


Probably the reason why you didn't get ticketed on that front plate is it was an excuse to see if you were drunk. They would rather bust drunk drivers then spend 10-15 giving out a ticket for a front plate (if they really wanted to, they would have done it in the meantime while the other cop was coming).

 

yup... legal definitions must have 3 things proven to be considered entrapment:

- the idea of committing the crime originates from the authorities/police and not from the person committing the crime him/herself

- the authorities/police successfully induces the person to commit the crime

and the kicker..
- the person that committed the crime had no intentions or plans to have committed the crime in the first place before the authorities or police got involved

what they did by pulling you over and setting up small checkpoints (pretty much what they were).. is completely legal.

hey.. at least it wasn't a full on checkpoint where they bottleneck a street and check every single car for drunks...

(i've seen soooo many cars getting towed away from those nights.... stupid drunk drivers... and yet.. people never learn)

 

"""He tells me that he won't write me a ticket for not having a front plate. (Which is odd to me because they crack down on everything here in Cali.)"""


HAHA so true. got pulled over for my exhaust couple weeks ago :/

i'm scared to get 8000k because of this. :/

 

Wow crazy! At least you didn't get a ticket though--

but plenty of Officer Billies (bike and car) hide in places over here in san gabriel....hiding in the alleys, hiding behind walls, hiding in that tiny spot between KFC and that little thai restaurant....::sigh::: they hide anywhere and everywhere around here =/

 

x2

 

LOL
You are breaking the law by not having the plate.
He had every right to pull you over.

Now...it's my exact two-year anniversary of getting a tint ticket on St. Patty's Day.
I got not quite the same shakedown as you, but I did get a ticket.
Why are you complaining?

 

Thats pretty common in NJ, I've watched as cops have parked in bar parking lots, then followed cars out and pulled them over not more than 50 feet from the parking lot exit.

 

^ haha.....yea thats funny and fudged up at the same time....

 

hahaha. lmao!

 

x7

Also, fixed.

 

x3

 

x6

but yeah man cops were out in force in northern va last night. Yay for DD's!

 

x7