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Can a police remove a car license plate without just cause?
Anonymous10 views5 answers
On june 12, current, a long beach police stopped in front of my apartment and tried to remove my car license plate. i approached and asked him politely why. his response was that my car registration was suspended for insurance lapse. i am aware of the fact as i was told by DMV new york that i had 28 days insurance lapse and had to pay a fine or surrender the plate. i opted to pay, however, it was a sunday, and promised not to drive the car until i pay the fine. but the cop was becoming rude and nasty and refused to listen to my plea. the woman who lives in the apartment downstair, who proved unfriendly to me since , and claimed to work with the long beach police provided the screw driver. was the actuation of the police proper?
As indicated by Mr. Robinson your plates had to be removed and as a result the officer had the duty to insure the vehicle would not be used. That being said it is understandable why this would be upsetting since the officer was rude and the other tenant over zealous. With that in mind you should consider filing a complaint against the police officer. You can go to his precinct and speak to someone in internal affairs if you feel his behavior was sufficiently egregious.
If your registration was already suspended, which it sounds like it was on June 12 (a Sunday) then the Police Officer had the right to take the plate because otherwise it could have been used by you - despite your promise to the contrary. Sorry, but I'm sure their perspective was you had at least a month beforehand to pay the fines and failed to do so.
The best thing to do is pay the fine and get your car registered again.
Good luck.
In response to Mr. Raiser's answer, I agree with his analysis about filing an Internal affairs investigation. However, Long Beach is a small city and I have had dealings with the police department down there. You don't want to mess with them unnecessarily because it can come back to bite you later. They seem to have long memories and you really don't want them monitoring you and whatever you do in Long Beach from now on.
While I understand and agree with Steve Raiser that you can file for an investigation, I don't recommend it because it more than likely won't amount to much against the cop and it could put you in a worse position later with him or his brother police in Long Beach. Better to let it go and realize the neighbor is an overzealous pain and the cop an overbearing pain and it's time to ignore them both in the future as best you can.
Good luck.
