Ford Focus Forum banner
21 - 40 of 73 Posts
spdshifterSVT said:
raleigh area cops are punks like any other cops at the end of the month. he was just looking to make quota. ive heard of people having pics of the car before the tint and showing that to the DA or judge or whatever and getting out. but i dont have my windows tinted yet so i dont know
COPS DO NOT HAVE QUOTAS. Quotas are against the law.

dave.
 
Discussion starter · #22 · (Edited)
zetecgt said:
That sucks man. I would just strip the 2 front ones and have 35 put on them and keep the 20 in the rear.

As for the ticket, they may still make you pay court costs, but I'm not totally sure.

I've got 20% all the way around on my car and when I went back to NC to visit family, I never got hassled at all over the tint.

You just crossed paths with a cop who wanted to write SOMEONE a ticket to show that he wasn't in a parking lot sleeping all day.



dave.
I was hoping you would chime in.

Steven and I were bs'ing with the officer afterwards. He said that for a 2 door passanger vehicle, even the back side windows have to be within the 32+% range. He said that in a van, truck, or 4door+ vehicle it doesn't matter what the sides are. That really makes a ton of sense. :rolleyes:

On my way home from work I counted 23 different cars with questionable tinting on the front windows. It was a Garner cop. Like I said above, I think it was a slow night...

-spatakula
 
zetecgt said:
COPS DO NOT HAVE QUOTAS. Quotas are against the law.

dave.
Riiiiiggght...

They also claim that their batons aren't for beating people...

Also, in some states it is still legal for a department to mandate each officer to issue X tickets per week/month, and in states that it is illegal there is nothing stopping the department from saying "I want to see everyone issue X tickets this month...this will come up on your yearly review."
 
SkaAddict said:
Riiiiiggght...

They also claim that their batons aren't for beating people...

Also, in some states it is still legal for a department to mandate each officer to issue X tickets per week/month, and in states that it is illegal there is nothing stopping the department from saying "I want to see everyone issue X tickets this month...this will come up on your yearly review."
Dude....why don't you do a little research on the topic before you start spouting BS out of your ass.


Their job is to write tickets and enforce the law. If you get a ticket, then he saw something to stop you and ticket you over.

Period.

The anti-quota law was put in place to protect the citizens from being ticketed for not breaking any laws. If they did in fact have quotas, don't you think they'd be pulling a lot more people over?

They MUST write tickets because it's their job. If they don't write tickets, what do you think happens?

If you work at a Burger Joint and you don't do your job...what do you think happens to you?

The same thing happens to them.

Police are paid a salary, not a commission and most of their salary isn't paid by normal tax money like so many others would assume, but in fact, they are paid by Property Taxes from the city or town.

I've been friends with a lot of cops in my day and I know for a fact that they DO NOT have quotas.

http://www.pe.com/columns/on_the_road/stories/PE_News_Local_D_traffic18.38d1adc.html

http://www.collegian.psu.edu/archive/1989/04/04-04-89tdc/04-04-89dnews-06.asp

At the end of every month, many local residents claim to see more police on the road ticketing for speed limit violations - trying to fill what some students and citizens say may be a quota system.


But local police departments say officers are not required to issue a minimum number of tickets and do not operate under a quota system.


The state legislature in 1981 passed a law outlawing the imposition of quota systems on police officers. And rumors to the contrary, Rockview State Police Corporal James Aikins says, hold absolutely no truth.


In his 21 years as a trooper, Aikins said, he never heard of a quota system at Rockview.
The number of traffic citations issued is one of several criteria used to evaluate officers' total job performance, Aikins said. Written warnings and completed reports are other items of evaluation, he said.


If a pattern of low performance appears in all areas, the officer is interviewed and asked why he or she is falling behind. If the pattern continues, a supervisor will monitor the officer to determine what is wrong.


In the extreme, when deliberate poor performance can be proven, a case is brought against the officer.


"We look at the total picture," Aikins said.


State College police are presently developing a formal evaluation system to be completed around the end of the month, said Theresa McElwain, director of special services for the State College Bureau of Police Services.


Until then, borough police will continue keeping statistics on officers' performances, but not rank them, she said.


Officers are not evaluated by the number of tickets written, McElwain said. Evaluations, she said, are based on a wide range of police activities.
dave.
 
Spatakula said:
I was hoping you would chime in.

Steven and I were bs'ing with the officer afterwards. He said that for a 2 door passanger vehicle, even the back side windows have to be within the 32+% range. He said that in a van, truck, or 4door+ vehicle it doesn't matter what the sides are. That really makes a ton of sense. :rolleyes:

On my way home from work I counted 23 different cars with questionable tinting on the front windows. It was a Garner cop. Like I said above, I think it was a slow night...

-spatakula
That sounds funny to me, but if that's how he interprets the law, then that's how it is...:lol:

It may be because SUV's are now coming with 20% in the rear from the factory.

I was looking at the tint laws for NC and sure enough, they say 35% all the way around. I could have sworn that a few years ago it was 35 on the fronts and any % on the rears...but then again, I could be mistaken.

Texas is VERY flexible for tint laws. Like I said before, I have 20% all the way around and I've never been hassled or pulled over for it. I believe that the reason that TX is so flexible is because of the extreme heat here and the proven fact that tint has been shown to decrease temps inside the vehicle.

dave.
 
I just took my ticket in and paid it off I still have my tint on and havent been pulled over its been like 2 years. I knew if I went to court they would make me take it off and I dont want to. So I paid it! And will also do so if I get another one. I usually pay all my tickets off instead of going to court.

-Ashley
 
Discussion starter · #27 ·
zetecgt said:
That sounds funny to me, but if that's how he interprets the law, then that's how it is...:lol:

It may be because SUV's are now coming with 20% in the rear from the factory.

I was looking at the tint laws for NC and sure enough, they say 35% all the way around. I could have sworn that a few years ago it was 35 on the fronts and any % on the rears...but then again, I could be mistaken.

Texas is VERY flexible for tint laws. Like I said before, I have 20% all the way around and I've never been hassled or pulled over for it. I believe that the reason that TX is so flexible is because of the extreme heat here and the proven fact that tint has been shown to decrease temps inside the vehicle.

dave.
See thats what I thought too. I figured that it really wouldn't be a probelm but I was sorely mistaken. Booo! :thumbdown

1badassfoci said:
I just took my ticket in and paid it off I still have my tint on and havent been pulled over its been like 2 years. I knew if I went to court they would make me take it off and I dont want to. So I paid it! And will also do so if I get another one. I usually pay all my tickets off instead of going to court.

-Ashley
Yeah I really don't want to go to court. I just have a feeling that it is going to be a total waste of my time. I loved how my car looked with tint to. Now I am back to the fish bowl look. :(

-spatakula
 
Discussion starter · #29 ·
zetecgt said:
I would just go get 35% put all the way around. That way you're legal. When I was in NC, I had my car done in that and never got hassled.

dave.
Yeah. It has to be within +/- 2% from 35% according to the officer. If my car read 8% darker from the 20% tint I had installed. Do they make a 42% tint? :lol: I just don't want to take the time and effort to re-tint if I am going to have to peel it off again and pay a rediculious fine.

-spatakula
 
1badassfoci said:
Did he read it at night or during the day?
:bang:

Why does that matter? The meter reads transmittance through the glass from a light source of known intensity. You could test the glass on the dark side of the moon and it wouldn't matter.
 
Spatakula said:
Yeah. It has to be within +/- 2% from 35% according to the officer. If my car read 8% darker from the 20% tint I had installed. Do they make a 42% tint? :lol: I just don't want to take the time and effort to re-tint if I am going to have to peel it off again and pay a rediculious fine.

-spatakula
I honestly don't think that they'll mess with you. I got pulled over numerous times and never got hassled for my 35% when I lived there.

You just happened to find that one ******* cop who wanted to pick on you.

dave.
 
Isn't there something you can get from the tint shop that shows that they used legal tint? I need to PM Focusdsound if he's still on here
 
zetecgt said:
You just happened to find that one ******* cop who wanted to pick on you.
BUT BUT BUT THEY HAVE TO ENFORCE THE LAWS OR HURF BLURF AHUJAHRHAHAHAHAHA!

sonicbluzx3 said:
Isn't there something you can get from the tint shop that shows that they used legal tint?
Most cops will tell you to jam it squarely up your ass if they think your tint is too dark, they'll give you the same line they give you if you tell them your speedometer said you were going the speedlimit - their equipment is calibrated, your's (or in this case, the tint shop's) is not. Read my first reply in this thread, a buddy of mine had three highway patrol test printouts invalidated by a judge when he kept getting tint tickets despite the fact that his tint was legal, albeit right on the line of being legal.
 
1badassfoci said:
I just took my ticket in and paid it off I still have my tint on and havent been pulled over its been like 2 years. I knew if I went to court they would make me take it off and I dont want to. So I paid it! And will also do so if I get another one. I usually pay all my tickets off instead of going to court.

-Ashley
What fun is that? ...lol
 
So what's the point of getting tint if I could get a fine for it even if it's legal?
 
WebXtremes said:
You were in Lowes Parking lot when this happened? I didn't realize a cop can write a ticket on private property for such a petty bs infraction.
Reasonable cause. The officer had every right to write up a ticket for illegal tint.

Illegal tint is not a BS infraction. Having illegal dark tint like that could possibly jeopardize the safety of the driver, people around the driver, and law enforcement officers. That's why they have laws and regulations. Play it safe and stay legal. If you're going to play the game and run dirty, then expect to pay the consequences.

To the OP, I'd recommend either stripping the tint and show them proof that you did or just get legal tint and show them that. You can always just pay the fine and continue to run the legal tint. This is America....:lol:

Hell in some states it's illegal to have any tint on a car. o_O
 
Discussion starter · #38 ·
Random Select said:
Reasonable cause. The officer had every right to write up a ticket for illegal tint.

Illegal tint is not a BS infraction. Having illegal dark tint like that could possibly jeopardize the safety of the driver, people around the driver, and law enforcement officers. That's why they have laws and regulations. Play it safe and stay legal. If you're going to play the game and run dirty, then expect to pay the consequences.

To the OP, I'd recommend either stripping the tint and show them proof that you did or just get legal tint and show them that. You can always just pay the fine and continue to run the legal tint. This is America....:lol:

Hell in some states it's illegal to have any tint on a car. o_O
Yeah, all of the tint was already off the car less than 1 hour after I got the ticket. I am going to go to the DMV and get that letter from them proving it was all off. Who knows maybe I will luck out. Its worth a shot.

-spatakula
 
Take a picture of yourself with the car (no tint) and a newspaper of the day that the picture is taken. Make a letter and send it out along with your picture in the envelope.
 
zetecgt said:
COPS DO NOT HAVE QUOTAS. Quotas are against the law.

dave.

Technically, this is correct but functionally it's totally wrong. Cops are not allowed to call their "performance metrics" quotas but they are functionally identical concepts. "Click it or Ticket" in Indiana is a perfect example of what I'm talking about. While it's true that cops on the click it or ticket program are not officially "required" to write any seat belt tickets, individual departments receive funding and "performance incentives" based on how many tickets that they write. Officers are also evaluated from a performance standpoint based on the average number of tickets they write compared to the other officers in their department. for traffic officers the situation is even more of a numbers game as their entire career is based on ticket writing. I have known and do know many officers and the traffic officers will NEVER say the word quota no matter what. They will however tell you all about their standing in the department and their ranking compared to their peers. In the departments around Indianapolis, the difference between a meter maid and the cop that gets to drive the 500hp interceptor is tenure and overall performance metric. It takes solid ticket writing to advance your career when your job is ticket writing. The problem with quotas is supposed to be that they encourage officers to "find" infractions that may not exist in order to adhere to their performance expectations. This is as you said illegal almost everywhere. When you replace the idea of a quota with the very legal concept "your department gets funding amount A for writing B quantity of tickets" it becomes very clear that while not a definitive quota, it is indeed the very same thing in practice.

Ticket revenue is just that, revenue. I think of it as another more aggressive form of selective taxation. If you call attention to yourself or you're not paying attention or if it's just your turn to bend over, you get taxed. Why give any officer an opportunity to turn a quick buck for his department when you don't have to? If you feel the need to tempt fate though, take comfort in the fact that the money goes to everything that tax dollars go for so it's not wasted at all it's just inconvenient. At least you don't get jury duty with every ticket. You'd strip that tint off in a hurry then right?

If I were you, I'd find the officer that gave you the ticket and ask him if he knows anybody that can tint you legally. That way if he pops you again you can blame his buddy and he'll probably let you walk. Of course, if you ask him all that and go to his friend he'll likely never bother you again.
 
21 - 40 of 73 Posts