Ooooh! Got a Ohio Highway Patrol Captain and a city cop in the family. This is a very touchy subject at the holidays. My windows are tinted and not legally in this state, but I can see all sides to this arguement. If I get pulled over... I roll down both my windows to make the car transparent as possible. I think that the best of both worlds!
Scott
Scott

 

SAFER... yes
SAFE... no
If you look at my other post on the other thread the NH cop was shot in the back by a person he knew.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NF-Bt...elated&search=

 

Yes you can never be 100% sure, but it's there to help cut down on the risk.

 

Touch'e pal, I concur.

 

I don't want to hear anyone bad mouth a LEO in here...
whether you've had a bad experience or not....
Not everyone is perfect.

Most of them would/will risk their lives for people they don't know on a daily basis, so stow away the attitude.

This thread is on the verge of closure....don't mess it up

 

Deleted since a previous post was edited.

 

It stems from the last thread and part of this one:
and I cleaned them up (both sides)

It's more of a warning to both 'sides' of the coin.

 

All I can say is that as a civilian I can only imagine how uneasy it might feel approaching a vehicle where you can't see inside. A cop has NO idea what they might be dealing with and even the smallest visual clue might make the difference of weather he see's his family again or not. I am simply amazed at what appears to be the complete inability of some people to at least try and look at something from someone else's point of view.
So to those who are showing this lack of understanding, unless you've been in a cop's shoes you simply CAN'T know what it's like but the least you can do is try too look beyond your tiny little world and have some respect for the people who would be willing to put their lives on the line for any one of us.

 

edited non-productive info. My tint is Legal!

 

Well....I go Friday to pay my tint fine...Same as the above stories. I rolled both my windows down when I was pulled over. I was pulled over at 11 A.M downtown for my tint. Only tint. No speeding, no stunting, just tint. Light tint 40% on the sides...

Yes, I understand both sides...This is only a cash cow if you ask me. Criminals will do what ever they want. I rolled my windows down and will always do so if stopped by police. Common sense...I will not take the tint off. The officer never said to take the tint off. He put up his arms when I asked...I will keep it on until the tickets get out of hand...

 

well said there 281GT, its good to know that there are people like you out there who actually do care. i put myself on the line everyday for that job, as well as a volunteer fireman i risk my life to save another, but the police job is still the #1 dangerous job. no matter what type of call your on, you have to be ready and expect the worse. you never think of a call as "routine" as they teach you in the academy. no moving violation stop or speeding stop is ever routine. you can pull over an elderly lady for speeding, she's very nice to you, and admires you, says all nice things and as you turn to go back to your car BANG she pulled a gun and shot you in the back, for reasons unknown, but it CAN happen, people are crazy these days and the world has changed a lot since 9/11, some bad and some good. i do appologize for blowing off steam on that last post, but I'm going to try to be professional on this level as I can. there's soo much I can say in the defense of law enforcement, but everyone really needs to put themselves in the shoes of a law enforcement officer and have to know what goes through out minds when we are on the job. any type of call i'm on, I'm nervous, cause I dont know what to expect. you really dont know what to expect. as to the response to someone who wrote back to when I said we are hero's when we respond to calls like to a burglary (someone breaking into your car to steal items) and saying we're slow, you cant say that we are slow cause all we do is rather sit there and give out tickets and pull people over for "stupid" things all day, thats is no way in any shape or form the reason. how do you know that officer was not on a previous call or in the middle of call with a life threatening situation where someone was shot and bleeding to death or was stabbed. that officer has to attend to the situation and give medical care before EMS arrives, if it means keeping direct pressure on the wound to keep it from bleeding so bad and to keep that person from dieing. so whats more important in that situation, someone stealing a CD player or something of higher value out of your vehicle in the driveway of your home or the human being who was stabbed or shot to death for no reason's chance of living? i'm not going to get up and leave the person to bleed to death to save your items out of your vehicle. i can really go on more about this but I'm not, I'm just trying to give a brief view of how a job in police can be complicated but more importantly dangerous.

but the whole tint situation, its a law for the safety of not just us, its the safety of everyone

 

Well said Mav!

 

Boomer, I too used to live in the Hammer (Westdale near Mac) and can see how you’re protective of the cops. Our cops in Canada are polite, courteous, and have their wings clipped enough not to have a God complex. Many people are courteous to cops in Canada because they are polite back, not out of fear. I’ve also lived in LA for a couple of years, and can tell you from repeated experiences that its very different there. You feel threatened if a cop pulls you over, and automatically try to be nice and kiss *** and bend over backwards to accommodate and not offend the cop. That’s just not right. Granted the cops in LA deal with a lot more crap than in Hamilton, but that’s no excuse. Yes it is a stressful job, a high risk job, but they signed up for it fully knowing that. I actually believe that dark tinting is a road hazard while driving at night, but as for cop safety I just don’t buy it. I agree it might give the cop more of a sense of security (not actual security) , but it also erodes individual freedoms.

 

OK - I'll jump in with both feet this time around...

As is the case with pretty much everything these days, there are good, upstanding officers and then there are those who feel they themselves are above the law and feel compelled to come down on anyone and everyone they feel moved to harrass. In my area there's a serious problem with state troopers driving like maniacs for apparently no good reason. No lights, no pursuit, just driving **** fast (>100 MPH in traffic). I've made it a practice to call the local barracks and report the unit numbers, mile marker and time to the shift supervisor. You'd be amazed at how well received the info is. On more than one occassion my reports led to disciplinary action since the shift supervisor can quickly cross reference the time of my report to active calls that trooper was responding to. One of the worst cases was with a couple of troopers that had gotten in the habit of blasting past traffic and collecting a bunch of "followers" only to jump off at the next exit, do a quick loop onto the on-ramp and pull out their radar. Lowlife move in my opinion. I've had both good and bad experiences myself. Some guys do it for the satisfaction of serving and protecting the public and some do it to stroke their egos and feelings of superiority. Occassionaly they need to be reminded that they work for the common good, not their personal kill tally. There are a lot of agendas that are money-making schemes vs. upholding the law. Just look at the way most jurisdictions handle speeding. The officers hide and pick folks off one at a time levying hefty fines. If they're really doing it for the sake of slowing folks down they would park in plain site where everyone can see them. They're kind of like modern day pirates if you ask me. It's not my intention to flame cops with this post. I just want to remind everyone that stereotypes are formed based on common observations. Folks rarely recognize or remember the good, but bad experiences get lots of attention and leave an aftertaste that lingers for a long time. It only takes one bad apple to ruin the whole bushel. So, what was this thread about again? Oh yeah, illegal tint. I've done it. My Corolla had 5% all around. I'll admit it was pretty tough to see at night. I also had issues with folks not able to see me at intersections. I had my reasons, but I knew what I was up against. I had it for about two years and never had an issue until the day I discovered the hard way that my V1 wasn't working. The officer gave me a verbal warning, but nothing further. He actually gave me some friendly advice letting me know that it's now a primary offense so I should be careful if I've had a couple beers before venturing out. The one thing nobody has mentioned to this point is probable cause. There's a short list of things an officer can stop you for. If he suspects you might be up to something he's going to try to find some PC so he can dig a little deeper. I think there's a general feeling that folks running tint are trying to hide something. I could be wrong, but I think that's more of a motivator for a tint stop than anything else. So, the bottom line here kids is that if you're running tint that you know is illegal, just keep your nose clean. If you get stopped, do everything you can to keep everyone comfortable and be straight up. Don't cop an attitude and ***** about how stupid the laws are. Just take your lumps and pay your fine.

 

Ok let me ask a question before this gets locked down, I will be doing some traveling to WI soon and down here in texas it is legal to have 20% on the sides and any % on the back and quarter windows. I saw someone say they got stopped in another state for tint. My question is since texas is one of the "do not care" (using the term lightly) states will i still get a ticket in another state just for driving through with dark tint

 

ok since no one is willing to answer your questions I will resist temptation to chime in with my opinion on the subject and try to help you out.

I dont know how it works in Michigan, but can tell you how it works in Cali and hope it helps you out a bit.

In Cali the fine isnt written on the ticket but the amount would appear on the courtesy notice the court sends you. The fine here is more than it would be to remove the front two doors' tint and reapply.

You can opt to either fix the violation and pay a $10 filing fee with the court to have the violation dismissed or you can pay the fine, which btw you are expected to still correct the violation but do not need to provide proof

You can have any officer sign it off or go to the court to do so. Usually here the city/municiple cops wont sign off another jurisdictions tickets as each jurisdiction charges an extra fee to sign it off. The exception is CHP, they do not charge and will sign off any ticket.

But if you know a cop that would be willing to sign it off without proof of correction then thats the easiest way about it, just do that and be done with it.

 

it totally depends on the state and more importantly the cop, hopefully the cop is understanding and wont write you a ticket. I would take a copy of your states laws with you and proof of what shade your tint is just in case and be as polite as possible.

I do know that having cali plates and driving in texas you will get a ticket for just about anything they can think of.....lol

 

and Id like to re-ask my question from the last thread since no one answered it:

if it is unsafe to approach a vehicle that you can not see into, whether it be tint or something else, then what sense does it make to pull someone over and approach a tinted vehicle that you can not see into when the ONLY crime being committed was having tinted windows? to me it makes no sense to require officers to put themselves in possible harms way to enforce a law designed for their safety; or am I the only one that sees the irony (and stupidity) in that?

 

Uh, did you read my post, it's the one right above yours #13!

 

Can you seriously get a ticket if your window tint is legal in the state your car is registered, however it is illegal in the state you are driving through?

Ex: My car is registered in TN. Legal limit there is 35% all around. I live/work in Ohio for military reasons (but my legal home of record is TN, hence I can register my car there). Ohio's limit is 50%