I got a ticket rant...

[Man]

It's absolutely a valuable lesson to your kids.

"If it's going to cost you more than the benefit you'll receive, just move on down the road."

You're not standing up against slavery. You're not going off to fight a war against tyranny. You're wasting your own time trying not to pay a meaningless $20 you (rightly) think you don't owe. The only thing you're teaching your children is how to make a very mildly bad situation much worse.

Wow that's an absolutely aweful lesson. Thank God you have nothing to do with my kids.

[WRasco]

I would be upset as well...
But then the most expensive ticket I ever had was an inspection sticker issue.
So I would pay the $28 and get on with my life.

[BitBackShot]

Wow that's an absolutely aweful lesson. Thank God you have nothing to do with my kids.

You’d hate for them to have common sense or be able to spell “awful”. No question.

[Jon B]

I would talk to the DA first, then if nothing is done set up a trial date. I think there is cost requesting a jury trial, but the judge should be able to hear and dismiss.

Its a Misdemeanor the person to speak with is the county attorney. I will say its pretty impossible to get someone on the phone in our county.

[Etxbuckman]

Systems for govt are horrible. I got a jury duty letter from ohio to my newly bought house in Texas... when I called they said oh you are still registered to vote. Told them I haven't lived there in 5years now, so if they have me as registered to vote theyve got bigger problems. Told me there's nothing they can do about it and hung up.

I guess now we know one of the ways Democrats can vote more than once.

[TacticalCowboy]

Well.. that sucks.

[Pullersboy]

I run into this same situation on a fairly regular basis.

First and foremost..... the officer/ trooper DOES NOT "Have to write you up." That's a crock of S@#$. Whether or not a citation is issued is solely at the discretion of the officer. There is no requirement to "...write you up." He also has the ability to give a warning, be it verbal or written.
HOWEVER, in this case, there was no warning to be given as you were in compliance with the law (at least with reference to your registration). You paid your registration as required by law and displayed your up to date registration as required by law. There is NO requirement to carry the receipt for your registration in your vehicle, so the sticker itself is proof that you paid your registration. Additionally, that sticker has your license plate on it as well as the last 6 digits of your VIN to indicate that the sticker displayed does in fact belong to that vehicle. You fulfilled your lawful obligation to the state by registering your vehicle. You have no control over the timeframe it takes for the state to update their system. It is not uncommon for it to take a day, maybe two for the system to show the update when the ticket is written. With your registration showing to be expired when he ran you plate, had probable cause to stop you for expired registration. However, once he discovered that you did have a current sticker displayed that belongs to that vehicle, his probable cause disappeared. To detain you any longer(as long as there was no other reasonable suspicion or probable cause) would be a violation of your civil rights. That citation is invalid, period. I'd be pizzed. The 1st person you need to get on the phone with is his supervisor. If that does you no good, go to his supervisor's supervisor. Also talk with the prosecutor. This is BS and should be dismissed quickly and with zero dollars out of your pocket as you did not violate the law as you've described the situation.

You, Sir, got boned. This kind of crap right here is the reason some folks hate the police. That officer was just being an Azzhole. You won't see me say that too often as I understand why and how officers operate and the reasons they do what they do. However, in this case, that officer was wrong and needs to be set straight. It could be a training issue. He could have been taught this way, but it's not likely. My guess is that he's a rookie and trying to impress his boss by putting up big production numbers.
Good luck on getting this straightened out. Keep us in the loop on how this turns out if you don't mind.

[Pullersboy]

A money grab that's all it is, all about the $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$.

Officers don't give a rat's azz about the mo ey. Doesn't benefit them in any way.

[Pullersboy]

You still have the ticket?

It will have his name or number on it. Find out who his superior is and file a complaint. Might hit him in the pocket book when it comes time for a raise.

I am like others too, burn some of their time and make him look like an idiot in front of the court

This will not affect any raises, but could and should cause him to be educated and/or retrained.

[Pullersboy]

Guilty until proven innocent nowadays. And even if proven innocent, they still want money.

Not true, I assure you. But, it does appear that a mistake was made in this case.

[Pullersboy]

oh my bad.....but I gotta get my quota and by the way you still gotta pay, sorry for the inconvenience......yeah..... I dont know why this blows my mind anymore.

Really, dude? Quotas? They don't exist. In fact, they're illegal.

[Pullersboy]

Just to give another angle to the situation:
There are tons and tons of illegal inspection/registration stickers out there. They can be bought at lots of shady places. Because the new registration did not show up in the system, the trooper may well be following protocol to issue a citation with the understanding that if what the OP says is true it will be dismissed. The trooper would NOT know about some stupid 'dismissal fee'.
On the other hand, the clerk is ENTIRELY out of line in saying 'nothing could be done'. A public servant with access to the state's system could easily see when the registration was paid and when the ticket was issued. They could then backtrack with the appropriate agencies and have the ticket dismissed without some 'fee'. Too many public servants won't work outside the box because it inconveniences them.

Officers can pick out a bogus sticker immediately. Legit stickers have the license plate number on them as well as the last 6 digits of the VIN.

[Pullersboy]

In the grand scheme of things it’s only $28, but it’s also $28 that I shouldn’t have to pay to begin with. As much as I would like to go to court over it I think it’s in my best interest to stop the bleeding and just pay it. To go to court will cost me more time and money, and it will cost all of us (tax payers) in the long run. I’m not usually a “letter writer” but I think I will send a letter to the trooper’s supervisor. Actually I think I should send it to the county clerk’s office where I renewed my registration, that may be where the problem started. At any rate, I think it will be less aggravation to just pay it and be done. And like kparker158 Said, focus on the positives!

I will check to see if there is a complaint procedure on the ticket too. If there is I'll follow that. I "appeared" before the date I was supposed to so the clerk said I had met that obligation, I just need to find out how much time I have to pay the fee. I would assume whether it's dismissed by the clerk or by appearing in court I'm still going to have to pay the fee and/or court costs.

If you contact the trooper's supervisor, he can probably get this taken care of. I know my agency has a protocol for the officer that wrote the citation to write a formal letter to the DA to request that a citation be dismissed. The officer himself cannot dismiss the ticket. But, he van request it, which the DA would usually comply with. I would imagine this would not be a problem, given the circumstances.

[Pullersboy]

Not likely for the judge to overturn the LEO but a jury will [emoji106]

Not true at all. Happens all the time. If the officer is wrong, the judge with dismiss.

[tvc184]

In the end, I completely agree that it should not cost you a dime to resolve.
But I completely understand why the officer issued the citation

I can’t understand it and I have been doing it for the last 35 years.