DWB - Driving while being Black?

[ricdiablo1]

You judge.
I am driving on Figueroa to take some Freshman friends to see a party on the Row near USC. All of a sudden Police lights -- now mind you, the car in front of me is driving like an idiot and all of us in the car thought the lights were for him--but no, it's us and no one has any clue why.

C: "License, Registration, Proof of Insurance. I stopped you because you have paper plates on the car."
Me: "That would be because this car is brand new" (pointing to the odometer).
C: "Well normally new cars don't have bumper stickers"
Me: "Those are 2 magnets, and I am very politically outspoken"
C: "License, Registration, Proof of Insurance, please"
Me: "Here is my license and insurance card, I am not going to rip the temporary registration off of the window of an obviously new car."
C: "Okay, I can check the vin from the insurance card.
......(*10 minutes later....officer walks to the PASSENGER SIDE to return documents)
C: "Okay, have a nice night"

So the question is...has this happened to you?
I'd love for someone in this forum to say that he or she has been stopped for having paper plates on a brand new car.

 

[GTIMKV20]

Honestly.. Sounds like he was just doing his job. Anyone could put paper plates on their car, probably good to double check. Body style has not changed since 2010 so car COULD be older in their eyes.

Just sayin'

 

[Lou Maiuri]

How many kids were in your car?

 

[FLtrooper]

I'm Sure it has nothing to do with race.. Sounds like a routine traffic stop.

 

[AXO]

Ok this is very tricky! Profiled or looked suspicious? Is there really a difference? I really don't think so. Car load of kids driving what most would classify as a pretty expensive automobile, temp tag, polictally outspoken bumper stickers.

Time and place and all of the above obviously made the Police Officer suspicious. If I am not mistaken most temp tags can't be run on the Officer's computer because the info doesn't get imputed fast enough. A quick check and a Thank you.

Well, I applaud this Police Officer for at least being proactive looking for bad guys, rather then hiding under a tree or sipping coffee with his buds at Double D's or 711. Honestly I don't think it would have been any different if it was car load of white kids.

I am not saying that driving while black does not occurr because it has been proven it does. But in this case I would have to say no racial profiling occurred.

 

[Do Work Son]

I know DWB happens but if this guy was behind you then pulled you over how did he see your race?

 

[PRND[S]]

You are suggesting the hispanic cop is racist and targeted you because you were hispanic? :iono:

Most likely he thought the temporary plates had expired. The magnets which he believed to be more permanent stickers suggested to him that the car didn't just drive off a dealer lot.

Also take into account that the police has stepped up patrols near USC in the wake of a double homicide a few months ago where two students from China were gunned down in their BMW during a botched robbery.

No plates or paper plates are useless for identification by witnesses if something goes down.

 

[JeremiahIsaiah]

He is just doing his job, don't sweat it.

I know people who run the dealer plates even thought their actual plate has come in...then again these are gangsters and drug dealers so they do it to avoid being identified.

 

[GeorgiaBII]

I wish I had a race card....

 

[Uberryan]

To be honest, it sounds like he pulled you on a bogus reason of checking your paper plates, to inspect you and the passengers of the car for DWI, underage drinking, drug use in plain sight, or what have you. He saw a loaded car, and an opportunity to fill the quota.

Now while I'm not up to par on how valid his reason is to stop you, as paper plates on a car with bumper stickers sounds like horse shit to stop someone over. You could've asked for a supervisor to come on scene if you felt uncomfortable. It's also entirely possible that this guy disagreed with your bumper stickers and wanted to give you a hard time over it.

 

[Do Work Son]

I get followed by security people in stores in the winter because after not shaving for 2 days and wearing my favorite faded Washington Caps hoodie I look like a homeless guy. Looking in the mirror one day in a Target bathroom I was like, "Shit, you look homeless!"

When I walk around in a collared shirt with khakis people ask me for help like I work there.

 

[mk6cruzen]

I have been told by many officers they routinely stop people at night if their windows are down. Apparently its common for drunk drivers to drive with their windows down at night and this can throw up a red flag to cops that the driver may be drunk. Not sure what your situation was, but just thought I would share.

In any event, it sounds fairly routine to me.

...Sent from my phone with typos...

 

[DasAuto1295]

I have been told by many officers they routinely stop people at night if their windows are down. Apparently its common for drunk drivers to drive with their windows down at night and this can throw up a red flag to cops that the driver may be drunk. Not sure what your situation was, but just thought I would share.

In any event, it sounds fairly routine to me.

...Sent from my phone with typos...

This makes no sense to me, but it might just explain why I've had multiple cops follow me at night!

Sent from my HTC One X using Tapatalk 2

 

[jedredgti]

With the recent college bomb scares, I am glad the police can be proactive at times.

 

[hiimelvin]

I'm sure you're not the first to get pulled over for paper plates and I'm sure you won't be the last. You didn't get a ticket, he didn't harass you further. Get over it. Not everything is about race.