I do believe I dislike small-town cops, ..... Options

[95CelicaST]

Well last night after work (Tuesday 11:00PM) I come out to my car to find my front lisence plate on the ground. Someone had come in and taken the screws and left. Thats fine, I can live with that. I toss it up into my window and go home. When I get home I go onto the Washington DOL site to see if it is fine that I have it there. It says plates are required, however it doesn't say where it needs to be located, so I figure I will be alright until I can get to town. This morning (Wednesday 7:30AM) I am taking my girlfriend to school and then off to the hardware store. I pull into the school parking lot and pull to the drop-off spot when a police officer rolls up behind me, lights on. The conversation went something like this:

Cop: Where is your front plate?
Me: In my window for now, I wa..-
Cop: That is improper display. Lisence, registration, and proof of insurance.

So I give it to him. He's gone for 10 minutes. He comes back with a ticket. Now, being that I have never been pulled over before ask him:

Is this a fix-it ticket officer?
Cop: NO. I don't give fix-it tickets. If you don't like it, take it to court!

So I drive off, then I look at the fine.. $195 F***ING DOLLARS! I say, that can't be right..So I call the police station and ask what the fine is for not having a front plate and they tell me it is $101, so officer prickface decided to add 94 bucks for sh*ts and giggles.

I went to the hardware store and didn't know the size screw I needed, so we went out and the guy working there says that one of the holes in my bumper has been stripped, and he isn't sure if he can tap it. I say its fine, get me some zip ties. I zip tied it to the bumper, took a picture with the timestamp on, and also have my reciept from the hardware store. Pretty sure I'm taking this to court. On top of that I thought that if they fill out the ticket wrong they just throw it out, or at least around here. The ticket says I had no lisence plate, when I did. And the fine being so high, which it shouldn't have.

I had to post and vent.
END OF STORY

EDIT: Like I said before, this is my first ticket, clean driving record. Work full time, go to school full time. Do you think they will throw out the ticket?

This post has been edited by 95CelicaST: Jun 1, 2006 - 2:37 AM

[JFrost9]

i didnt think they put court fines in the initial ticket, cuz they always tell people its X amount of dollars for the ticket, plus court fines which may vary. The cop wouldnt of just put the court fines in the ticket. In Texas as long as you have it in your front window your fine, or atleast around here. I think you'll be able to fight that one pretty easily.