I was pulled over by police and was told " I pulled you over because you are driving with no auto insurance which was not true. I showed him my proof of insurance and registration. he than came back to the car and said" there might have been a Laps months back" however he still gave me 2 citations one ..Must Appear in Court and the other a $290 fine for "Knowingly driving with no insurance.
I contacted my insurance co and no Laps in coverage , I then contacted MVA and no flags. I contacted the police department to report him and their response was to just appear in court. NOw this is in public records destroying my character for something i did not do. I am still trying to figure out why this officer would do something like this. i am 47 and never been in any kind of trouble.HELP
Police cars have license plate readers attached to them. As the police are driving around, there cars are reading your license plates. They can find if your license is suspended, revoked, registration flagged, etc.
Also, most of the tunnels and Ez-Pass tolls have license plate readers, too.
Contact an attorney to help you out. You don't want your license to get points!
In short, there is no prohibition in the police running a random check on your registration - and if there is articuable suspicion of an offense the police can initiate and investigative traffic stop. I would recommend you retain counsel to contact the assigned Assistant State's Attorney handling your case - before trial - to produce the proof that you were properly registered and insured. This could result in an administrative dismissal of the case and relieve you of the obligation to appear in court.
The short answer is No...the police can not randomly pull over cars without "reasonable suspicion". However, exceptions to this rule exist and the police can acquire reasonable suspicion in a number of ways. Its always best to consult an attorney concerning traffic and criminal matters. An attorney can evaluate your case and determine whether making constitutional arguments to the court will be beneficial or necessary.
Unfortunately yes, they can run your tags and if they find things such as suspended registration, no insurance, stolen car, etc., they can pull you over. The police find a lot of weed, cocaine and weapons this way. Of course if they were wrong, a Court may say the stop was illegal, especially if the officer was acting in bad faith. In my experience, the previous lapse in insurance is a very common mistake officers make--they think a prior lapse means that you have a current violation. Which of course isn't true, and why he wrote you the must appear citation (I assume this was for Driving Uninsured?) You should consider getting a good lawyer who's familiar with these issues so that you don't run into a prosecutor who tries to screw you in Court. If you get a good lawyer, it will be taken care of relatively easily.
Though this sounds like it was very frustrating for you, if you have truly been covered by insurance and can prove it, don't plead guilty or no contest and pay the fines with the ticket. Instead, bring your proof of continuous coverage with you to court to show the Judge. I cannot say for Maryland specifically, but here in Kansas just receiving a ticket doesn't earn you points or damage your driving record. You have to be found guilty of the violation. An attorney may be a smart move.
Scott R. ScherrCar / Auto Accident LawyerLutherville, MD ·
The police can pull you over if a random tag check indicates a lapse in insurance. Go to court and bring proof that the car was insured at the time of the stop. The State's Attorney should drop the driving without insurance charge which carries jail time. If you were also charged with failure to maintain proper security, which only carries a fine, bring proof that the car was continuously insured and this should be dropped as well. Good luck!
Actually the standard required for a stop is reasonable articulable suspicion, not probable cause. What this means is that the officer must have a suspicion based on specific explainable facts. Probable cause is proof more likely than not that a crime has been committed. Probable cause is required for an arrest, and is a higher level of proof.
Therefore, if a random check of your license tag number revealed information from the motor vehicle administration databases that your insurance has lapsed, then the officer would've had a reasonable articulable suspicion to stop you in order to confirm or dispel his suspicions.
