Expired Tags? Go To Jail
So...who else just paid their slightly lapsed car registration because of this story? Just me?
A naval officer who dashed out to pick up dinner on Wisconsin Avenue for his wife and 6-month-old daughter in July returned home more than three hours later with an arrest record instead.
In between, he said, he was photographed in handcuffs by kids loitering on a District street corner, locked in a cell at the 2nd District station, fingerprinted and required to pose for a mug shot.
He was jailed because the license plates on his car had expired.
The District may be the only place in the nation where police are authorized to arrest drivers if their plates are more than 30 days out of date.
Critics of the policy, notably AAA, also cite the case of a mother who was arrested while she was on her way to pick up a child from school in Palisades in May. She was allegedly told that until her release, another child riding in the car would be sent to a social services agency.
It's a bizarre policy, to be sure. Driving with expired tags isn't inherently dangerous, and unlike driving uninsured, it has no bearing on the response to a car accident.
Gwendolyn Crump, director of MPD's Office of Communications, explained in an email why only the people who have let their registration lapse past 30 days go to jail: "Realizing that people forget to renew their registration from time to time, the Chief of Police had previously directed her officers to only issue the civil Notice of Infraction in cases where the registration has been expired for less than thirty (30) days."
How generous!
So to recap: Pay your registration within 30 days, and you're probably not going to get arrested. Past 30: You may want to call your councilmember from jail.
It's worth noting as well that both the Post and WJLA chose not to identify the arrested naval officer, even though the arrest report means his identity is a matter of public record. Perhaps as a sign of solidarity against bad policy?
Photo by Jay Goodman Tamboli
11:39 am
This is such B.S. when is someone going to act against this? I love the policemen in my neighborhood and follow all the crazy parking/ traffic/ registration laws around here...but I have never met such overzelous ticketers and other car hating, enforced, laws in my life.
I once had plates that were 10 days expired (while living in VA). I had just gotten the used car and you all know what a pain it is to register in VA. Anywho. I was driving home from work in DC and stopped to help another woman change her tire ( downtown off 17th). While I was doing this a cop on a bike pulled up and yelled at me to get back in my car. She then continued to write me a ticket while treating me like a criminal ( making me keep my hands on the steering wheel, threatening that she could arrest me and that is was a felony). She was a capiol policman and during all this several other cops showed up. None of them would help this girl change her tire they all stood around and starred at me. Honestly I didn't care if I got a ticket, my plates were expired, but the fact that not ONE of them would help this girl OR let me finish helping her was just horrible. Whatever happened to cops that got into the job to help people...now its seems like its all about power.
11:56 am
Driving on an expired tag is a crime that justifies arrest, but driving with the tags not even registered to the car is not. Just ask Marion Barry!
12:27 pm
MPD doesn't take you to jail unless your tags have been expired for over 90 days.
And if they have, you're either the worlds biggest irresponsible slacker or there's something else going on that merits MPD taking a close look at you anyway.
12:35 pm
"Driving with expired tags isn't inherently dangerous, and unlike driving uninsured, it has no bearing on the response to a car accident."
Driving without a license or on a suspended license isn't inherently dangerous either, and neither is driving on tags that don't belong on your car, or with counterfeit paper tags, but all those can still get you arrested in D.C..
In my experience, most of the time the people who get locked up for Unregistered Auto are four to six months expired at least, or are still driving on paper tags after five months. Most of the time the excuse we're given is that "I didn't get around to doing it" (i.e. I didn't feel like doing it and didn't think I'd get caught). Yes, people who are just over thirty days do get locked up, or citizens with no records, but the guys doing that are usually assholes who have a hard-on for traffic lockups. Also, anecdotally, there's usually fairly statistically significant correlation between operating on suspended licenses and having unregistered vehicles.
A policy solution on MPD's side is to require issuing a 61-D citation after thirty days up until three months expiration. 61-D's are roughly equivalent to a Maryland Citation that requires you to pay a fine or schedule a court date to contest it. It's tantamount to an arrest without actually being arrested, and you don't get printed or photographed. It would be a fair compromise because if you don't get around to re-registering it after three months, you're probably not going to bother at all.
1:53 pm
Sorry, this naval officer's story isn't adding up. He states in the story that he kept his legal residence in Florida for voting and income tax purposes (and where he registered his car). But then he states he has a Maryland drivers license, but lives in the District?
Please. He's obviously working the system and didn't bother to register his car properly. The story was also edited from yesterday's paper version (I think), because I remember the naval officer stating that his plates were 6 months expired.
9:56 am
Typical DC BS, that naval officer story may sound unusual, but as an active duty military member he is allowed to have his residence in one state and be licensed in another. As for the others complaining about being arrested for driving with expired registrations, the complaint is with the DC Council, not the MPD. While arrest may be too harsh, I agree with "Common Sense" about issuing a citation, the only other thing I would add is that the vehicle should be impounded or be towed away at the owners expense because it's against the law to operate a vehicle that way in the District. DCMR Title 18 Chapter 411.1
11:20 am
BLAME FENTY!