Tint ticket stupid San Diego cops

[mixxalot]

So this cop pulls me over last night for no reason other to harass me and give me a ticket because my front windows are tinted! Can I beat this ticket? The car has factory tint that I’ve had for almost seven years of owning the car. Never been pulled over just for that and it was at night. Cop did not use a tint meter either but made arbitrary decision. WTF is up with SDPD cops? Do they actually spend time fighting real crime in San Diego or just harassing law abiding citizens to make money for the city?

[spdrun]

That’s a fix-it ticket, right? Can you take it to the station, show that there’s no add’l tint, have a different cop use a tint-meter and sign off on it?

As far as that cop, f him, maybe he’ll get bit in the azz by a rabid bobcat.

[NotCranky]

Tint was just an excuse to pull you over and check you out.

[spdrun]

Then why ticket for legal tint as opposed to giving a warning for something? F that cop.

[mixxalot]

Problem is that the car came that way from the dealer when I bought it seven years ago. Been driving the BMW for seven years never had this happen before. Seems like overzealous SD cop! Needs to be sent to do real work not harass people! Yeah its fix it but I am NOT removing the tint it is part of the window from factory.

[spdrun]

So go to the local pigsty and explain the situation to a different denizen of said venue. Any half-competent cop should be able to tell factory tint from added tint.

If the tint was illegally dark, the car wouldn’t have been allowed to be sold in the US.

[scaredyclassic]

He suspected a black person might have been driving and needed to investigate.

[spdrun]

… or just sniff for truffles.

[Huckleberry]

I agree, not cool! I have darkly tinted windows and live in PB with no issues in 6 years. Where did this happen? Were you in the hood, downtown, PB, Carlsbad? Maybe the location is the factor that got you pulled over?

[Doofrat]

I got popped for that once. Had driven for years with tint on the side windows. One night, cop in a car pulled me over and gave me a tint ticket. Told me to go home and remove the tint that night, blah blah blah. Of course I didn’t and there was a 30 day period to comply. About a week later a motorcycle cop is pulling onto the freeway while I’m getting off and does a U-Turn and pulls me over. Ends up being the same cop who proceeds to give me a $500 (in 1990) illegal operation charge.
I went to court (since Illegal operation required a court visit) and the judge threw out the illegal operation charge. Actually the judge seemed perturbed that we were both in court over tint and told the cop to stay as he wanted to speak to him after.
By then I had already removed the tint and found a cop near the courthouse to sign my ticket. Done for $10, but what a PITA for some tint.

[scaredyclassic]

Maybe the cops heavily tinted sunglasses should be illegal.

[bearishgurl]

[quote=spdrun]So go to the local pigsty and explain the situation to a different denizen of said venue. . . .[/quote]

I would follow spd’s suggestion, mixxalot. I got a tint ticket for my front side windows in about 2000 as their aftermarket tint was a shade too dark for CA (but the car was orig sold in CA and had already been driven for a few years with this tint applied). I had the two windows replaced with lighter tint at $40 each and then parked in my local pigsty’s parking lot. I went inside and showed my “fix-it ticket” at the counter and they sent a uniformed denizen outside to check and pass my new tint and the ticket was written off in my presence.

In your case, you may be able to take your vehicle to be signed off at your local pigsty w/o even replacing the tint. But before doing so, go to someplace reputable like Progressive:

http://www.progressivemobile.com/

… and get their opinion on if your tint is light enough to be “legal” in CA. They’re “experts” on this subject.

[spdrun]

OK. It’s factory tint. Any halfway sentient human should be able to notice (a) factory markings on the glass and (b) lack of plastic tintfilm inside the glass. Take it to the cops first, it seems dumb to pay for an expert opinion unless they still whine about it.

[bearishgurl]

[quote=spdrun]OK. It’s factory tint. Any halfway sentient human should be able to notice (a) factory markings on the glass and (b) lack of plastic tintfilm inside the glass. Take it to the cops first, it seems dumb to pay for an expert opinion unless they still whine about it.[/quote]Progressive won’t charge for an opinion.

[mixxalot]

Well the cop pulled me over at night on Midway near Von’s after I had bought groceries from Trader Joes. Didn’t use a tint meter. In daylight the tint is not very dark and plenty of light comes through to see passengers and driver side. So I’m going to fight it in court that a) it was night time and b) cop didn’t use a tint meter and c) in day time the tint is very light which I think is legal in California.

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