“Can a police officer legally take your tags if you just bought the car two weeks ago?”
As in practically every question beginning with, “Is it legal to…” (or whatever variant is presented), the answer will depend entirely on the location where this incident (hypothetically) occurred.
In the US, it is legal for a police officer to seize your license plates if the registration is cancelled, revoked, or suspended, or if the license plates are not supposed to be on whatever vehicle is displaying them.
It is interesting to note that you included “…if you just bought the car two weeks ago…” in the question. This makes me wonder what the significance of that may be, which leads me to wonder if there might not have been some… misunderstanding about the law... which occurred when you bought the car.
For instance, were the license plates from the previous owner still displayed on the car? If so, then the police officer probably seized them because they were illegally displayed. On the flip side, if you took a license plate off a different car you owned and put it on the car you bought, that might also count as “illegally displayed.” While I wouldn’t generally seize a license plate from a vehicle if the driver could produce a recent bill of sale, the statutes regarding vehicle registration usually don’t include any grace period for getting the vehicle registered properly — you’re supposed to get the vehicle registered properly before driving it on the roads.
Regardless of where the license plate originated (the prior owner or yourself), was the registration cancelled, suspended, or revoked? This sometimes happens when an uninsured vehicle is involved in a crash, so that might be the reason for the seizure of the license plate.
It is possible that the license plate was reported stolen, whether it actually was or a mistake was made. If two characters in the registration number get transposed, or if someone reads a “5” on a report, but enters “S” into the computer system, it could lead to the officer mistakenly (but in good faith) believing that the license plate was stolen. I would expect, however, that this would also lead to an arrest, so if they didn’t arrest you, that’s probably not the reason for the seizure.
It is also important to note that the license plate(s) displayed on your vehicle do not actually belong to you; they belong to the State and are displayed on the vehicle to show that your car is properly registered to operate on public roads. While the officer should give you some sort of receipt for the license plates (I used to just use a business card with “Seized: Front and rear plates XYZ123” and my signature, date, and time), it’s not necessarily illegal if the officer didn’t give you a receipt.
At any rate, if your license plates were seized and you want to know if it’s legal to do so, you should contact your local DMV or Registrar’s office and ask. You could also contact a local, licensed traffic attorney to discuss the “why’s,” as well.
Can a police officer legally take your tags if you just bought the car two weeks ago?
That is a very vague question. Yes, a Policeman can confiscate your plates, they are property of the state, you do not own them.
When you buy a car, the OLD PLATES do not come with the car. You must register the car and put other (new) plates on it.
Now, what is the rest of the story?
Maybe. Technically those aren’t your tags and since you didn’t expound on the circumstances, such as there being no insurance or you may have neglected to notify the DMV of the transfer of the tags to a new vehicle if that’s a thing there, we can only speculate.
Maybe you can chime in with some background such as the reason for the stop and maybe whah the police said as to why they confiscated the states license plates.
California was different than some states, the plate stayed with the car for it's life, not the driver unless it was a vanity plate. We had a policy of allowing a 30 day grace period or more at the officers discretion for no plate on a brand new vehicle or expired tags on any vehicle. California linked registration to the vehicle passing a smog tests and for numerous reasons like a failed smog test and parts on back order why some people could not get their new tags on time.
I’ve actually done this, once. I’m still pissed off about it.
I was with my partner, middle of the night. That partner was kind of an asshat, in many ways. Well, since it was the middle of the night, on a dark as shit highway, I got out of the car to urinate. Yeah, standing there in the ditch, doing my thing when I hear/ see a pair of headlights come screaming by. Oh, I just rolled my eyes and zipped up, because I knew what the asshat was about to do.
Yup, he chased the driver. I was…pissed. Pun intended. I walked over to a sign, leaned against it, and waited for dickhead to come back. I was honestly debating doing some rather horrible shit to him. (Have you ever been locked in patrol car with an activated can of pepper spray??)
Then I heard the alert tone of an officer in danger activate over my radio. I couldn’t see the stop, as dick head was over a hill and out of my view. I pulled out my flashlight and waved down the first pair of headlights I saw coming. It was a truck driver. I yelled “Take me down the road, my partner's in trouble” Dispatch had been screaming at him over the radio, but he wasn’t answering. Man, that truck driver put his best into it, and a mile or so later later, I jumped down, (I hung on the outside of the truck for the ride, cause I’m awesome…) and ran to help the dick head. (Truck driver pulled the semi across two lanes of highway to keep traffic stopped while I figured things out. Guy was straight up classy.)
At this point, I was kind of hoping he was getting his ass beat, I was going to help (beat his ass…). He wasn’t. He had accidentally hit the emergency button, and had the volume all the way down on his radio. (because he’s a tool). I canceled the scores of police cars from all across the county burning up tires to help us. I waved the truck driver off, and kicked dickhead out of the driver's seat. I spent the next two hours (possibly longer…) berating him for leaving his partner. Oh I was pissed. Hell, I’m still pissed about that one.
This was also like the second time the moron had done something stupid that directly affected me, and I was purple with anger. I mistakenly took it out on the next driver we stopped. I walked to the car, still fuming. He rolled down the window. I said “DON'T FUCKING SPEED!” And pointed for him to leave so I could go back to yelling at my partner.
(Not my best moment. I’ve only lost my temper at work twice, and I shouldn’t have taken it out on this driver. And if you're wondering, the other time involved me impaling a brand new pickup truck with an unlit road flare when the driver tried very hard to run me over. Because everyone knows it’s okay to turn left on red and and towards three police cars blocking a road off in broad daylight… I still smile remembering that flare sticking out of his broken grill as his wife was gesturing and yelling wildly at him as they drove away, lol, asshole.)
Asshat got to try and explain to an even more pissed off Sergeant later, who slammed her office door and yelled, while I waited outside grinning. Asshole…
Anyway, that’s how I kind of commandeered a truck. But legally, if the trucker hadn’t stopped, there wasn’t much I could have done. So Mr. Trucker, wherever you are, thanks, you're a good guy.
%3E Can a police officer ask you how you bought your car? Sure. Free country. You can ask him how he bought his car too.
He doesn't have to answer you. Just as you don't have to answer him.
Ooh, Ooh Me!
When I was still living at home, our next door neighbour had his car stolen. He reported it, told the insurance company, they paid up, he bought another car.
Fast forward a year, Police knock on his door, ask him if the car they have is his. Lucky for him, he kept all the paperwork, checked all the numbers, engine, chassis etc and, yes, it was his!
Except, it was now a different colour, and license plate, and appeared to be a year younger than the original manufacturers date.
It cost him, at the time, 500 pounds to buy the car back from the Insurance company and, while it was away, whoever had it had completely serviced and retuned the car as well as the paint job.
All round, better than he had before it was stolen.
Most of the major car makers produce a “police package” model that has heavy-duty everything, and in recent years, either built-in emergency lights and other gear, or wiring harnesses pre-installed to make the aftermarket upfitting easier. These are not supposed to be sold to the consumer public, but I would guess that someone with enough money could get one.
With the exception of pre-installed emergency lights, there wouldn’t be anything illegal about owning and driving one. You could get something very similar by ordering the beefiest electrical system, brakes, cooling, transmission, etc. on the consumer model of the same car.
Police cars are not especially fast, as high-performance cars go. They’ll seldom top out much above 130 MPH, and there are lots of enthusiast cars that will go faster off the showroom floor. The police car needs to be able to sustain a speed for a long distance, idle for extended periods, and operate under all weather conditions. You can probably outrun one police car in most high-performance vehicles. You can’t outrun a fleet of them.
The time limit before the car is towed, already mentioned in other answers, is half the story.
The other half is that a big, bright, orange sticker alerts other cops and passing motorists that this is, indeed, an empty vehicle, and not a situation where somebody needs help. One cold day, many years ago, I couldn't get the sticker to stick on a cold window. My dispatcher eventually asked me to go wrap the car in crime scene tape or something - anything to end the barrage of phone calls about this “stranded motorist” who needed help on such a cold day. I ended up wrapping a sticker around the car's antenna like a flag, sticking it to itself, and the calls stopped. That's a trick I still use in inclement weather.
When a car is wrecked and comes to a rest a long way from the road, and the tow company can't remove it right away, that's when I break out long streamers of crime scene tape that can be seen from a distance. It saves a bunch of calls and a bunch of people from screeching to a halt and running to save the occupants who are no longer there.
When we generally talk about police “Searching” a person, home, vehicle, phone, or other property, we talk about consent to a search or search warrants.
Let’s dive into 4 levels of police interaction: 1) Consensual encounter: You are not in any trouble, but a uniformed officer wants to make conversation. You are free to leave (and probably should). 2) Reasonable Suspicion: The cop has not witnessed anything illegal and has no evidence of wrongdoing. More than a hunch, the officer can articulate why he thinks a crime MIGHT have been committed: For example, your eyes look bloodshot or you’re in the wrong place at the wrong time. 3) Probable cause: Some level of evidence exists that you have committed a crime, more than just suspicion. The officer saw it, the dog indicated it exists, or you have been identified as a person of interest. 4) Arrest: Probable cause has resulted in the police deciding to arrest you and book you.
At level 1 and 2, the police CANNOT search you or your things. They have no evidence and you have rights. They can only get you to give up your rights, or they will need a judge to overrule those rights.
At level 3 and 4, the police can now search without consent or warrant, so long as it’s in connection with the crime you are accused of. The police can also obtain more warrants for unrelated searches, if they suspect you of other crimes.
If you’re driving around with fake tags, you’re already at level 3, and you might end up at level 4. They have full permission to put you in cuffs, detain you, and search to their heart’s content. They will probably also impound the car.
