Court limits traffic stops due to obscured plate

Says main information must be unrecognizable

By: Ken Serrano
Asbury Park Press
USA Today Network - New Jersey

.....The state Supreme court, in a ruling heralded by civil libertarians as a check on law enforcement power, ruled Monday [08/02/2021] that police cannot pull over a motorist merely because their license plate bracket or plat holder slightly obscures the vehicle's tag.
..... The high court said in its unanimous decision that it wasn't enough that the bracket partially obscures information on the tag to warrant a stop.
... The placeholder has to render the pertinent information - a letter, number or state name - unrecognizable for such a traffic stop to be lawful.
.... The ruling limits what civil libertarians have long complained are illegal pretextual stops - stops made for negligible or no good reason in order to justify questioning the motorist.
..... Such stops give police the chance to make unrelated inquires, such as why the motorist is in the neighborhood or if drugs or weapons are in the vehicle.
..... some detained motorists have likened such pretextual investigations to being stopped for "driving while Black.
.... "Traffic stops and their resulting consequences have an overwhelming and disproportionate impact on people of color, making today's [08/02/2021] opinion an important step toward racial equity in New Jersey," The ACLU NJ said in a statement.
..... The state Policemen's Benevolent Association did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
..... The state's highest court noted that in recent years more than 100,000 motorist have been citied annually under the statue pertaining to the display of license plates.
..... It provides: "No person shall drive a motor vehicle which has a license plate frame or identification marker holder that conceals or other wise obscures any part of any marking imprinted upon the vehicle's registration plate."
..... The court weighed in on two cases, each involving stops that resulted in arrests on criminal charges. The court noted that the stops were pretextual, carried out to try to develop criminal investigations.
..... In one case, Pemberton Township police stopped a motorist in September 2014 because the words "Garden State" were completely covered on his car's license tag, according to the court's opinion.
..... The driver, Darius Carter, who had two outstanding warrants, was arrested when police found heroin and a small amount of cocaine on him, according to the ruling.
..... In that case, the court ruled that the stop was justified - and led to a lawful arrest - because the words "Garden State" were completely obscured.
..... The second case involved an April 2016 stop in Deptford Township that resulted in the discovery that the motorist had an unloaded weapon in the vehicle and outstanding arrest warrants.
..... Police said they stopped Miguel Roman-Rosado because the rear tag on the vehicle he was driving was obstructed by a bracket that covered 10% to 15% of the words "Garden State." It also partially obscured the"N" and "J" in New Jersey.
..... The court concluded the stop was unlawful - ad therefore the resulting arrest as well - because the information on the tag was still discernible.
..... "if a phase like 'Garden State' is partly covered but still recognizable, there would be no violation,: Chief Justice Stuart Rabner wrote in the opinion. "License plate frames abound, and they invariably cover some part of the markings on the plates they surround. Frames supplied by dealerships, booster organizations, nonprofit groups, and others often cover the bottom of 'Garden State' or the very top of 'New Jersey.' "
..... Rabner added that merely driving a car off the dealer's lot would amount to a violation and give officers a basis to stop a car.
..... If the license plate statue were read broadly, "tens if not hundreds of thousands of New Jersey drivers would be in violation of the law," Rabner wrote, adding that a broad reading would raise "serious Constitutional concerns.
..... The Supreme Court also rejected the state's contention that a traffic stop and conviction based on an offer's reasonable but mistaken interpretation of the law should be upheld.
..... The ACLU-NJ appeared as a friend of the court in the Roman-Rosado case to argue the search was unlawful.
.... ACLU-NJ Senior Staff Attorney Karen Thompson said the Supreme Court sided with the rights of people over pretextual policing.
.... "Prioritizing rights over manufactured 'reasonableness' creates real opportunities to hold police accountable and to stop the sue of ambiguously broad laws as a way to excuse radicalized policing," Thompson said.
..... CJ Griffin, the director of the Stein Public Interest Center, who filed an amicus, or friend of the court, brief in the Roman-Rosado case on behalf of the Latino Leadership Alliance of New Jersey, said efforts against pretextual policing shouldn't stop with the high court's ruling.
..... "The Legislature needs to study all of the laws on the books that police use to make pretextual stops" Griffin said in a statement. "Racial profiling is still very much alive in New Jersey and we need to take concrete steps to limit the discretion of police to pull people over for these minor non-moving violations."

HOME