| I live in Ohio, and have never run a front license plate on any of my cars. AFAIK, it is the state law in Ohio that you must display a front plate. I have been pulled over twice solely for a not having a plate, and both times the officers were very obnoxious about the entire situation. I was respectful and did nothing wrong other than not having the plate on, but they treated me like a delinquent and looked for any reason to lecture me. Let it be known that I am 19, and last time I was pulled over for it I was 18, but have never had any legal problems in my town and don't understand why I'd be targeted like this. I have had a good relationship with local law enforcement until now, but the officer that pulled me over yesterday has only been on the force for a few months I believe. It was early Sunday afternoon, nice day, average traffic, and I was driving through the middle of my small town under the speed limit when I saw the lights in my mirror. I pulled over immediately, and didn't touch anything, as I had done this many times before for other stupid violations. The officer went through normal protocol and told me why he had pulled me over, but then said "I'm not going to cite you because technically I can't, but get the plate on there." This surprised me that he would say this, so I asked "how does that work?" and he proceeded to flip out about "how it works is that the car shouldn't even be on the road and if you want to take in on the interstate they will cite you for it... or I could cite you right now and get it overwith." I remained calm and politely explained that I am having the front end painted and that I will have a bracket professionally installed (which I don't plan on doing) and he said "I understand you're doing work on the car but get the plate on there." Walked back to his car and left... Now, is it true that local cops can't cite me for the front plate? Is it just because this is a state law? If so there's no way I'm putting the plate on there. I drive past the local cops every day and have no problems, until now. I'd like to know if I have to get the plate on there because that will be mentioned to the body shop when I do paint. Anyone have any legal experience or experience with this issue in particular? Why would he tell me that he couldn't cite me for it and get pissed when I asked why?
Later,
Matt 
|
