Guilty until proven innocent

*** Updated - scroll down to see the new Update***

Got a slighty-panicked call from my wife yesterday. She had just gotten pulled over for not having an inspection sticker on the car. Now, the fact that there was no sticker is very mysterious. It has been almost a year since our inspection, so you would THINK that if the auto shop had neglected to put one on, we probably would have noticed OR AT THE VERY LEAST, we would have have been pulled over sooner. If I had neglected to get the car inspected at all, it would have had an expired sticker. If the sticker had somehow fallen off, we would have likely found it laying on the dashboard somewhere. So how did it disappear? I have no idea - I have heard of stickers being stolen before, but not in this area. Anyway, I digress - the point of this post is not about the mystery of the missing sticker, but about the behaviour of the state police.



My wife explained that the car was legally inspected and that somehow the sticker must have disappeared. The officer in question basically told her to prove it, and until she COULD prove it, OR get it re-inspected, she would have to park the car. Apparently the officer was extremely rude to her as well, (which brings up a pet peeve of mine - Why is it that people in a position of authority tend to think that their authority gives them the right to be obnoxious? The last time I had a run-in with the state police, the officer came up to my window and just started screaming at me. When my response was not to his personal liking, he started screaming at me some more), but again I digress.....

Now, I am not unreasonable. I understand that the officer has probably heard lots of excuses for various things, and I do NOT expect her to take my wife's story at face value. However, she had ALL OF THE PROOF SHE NEEDED right there in front of her. In the State of New Hampshire, all inspection stickers are numbered. Each unique number is sent in to the state on the "stub" that came with the sticker. The number is also entered into the state computer system with your name and license plate number. The number is also WRITTEN ON THE BACK OF THE REGISTRATION. A simple check by the officer and it would have been easy to verify that the car was legally inspected. Instead, the officer wrote her a summons, and "generously" told my wife that if we could collect the required proof from the garage that did the inspection and submit it to her she would consider retracting the summons.

grrrrrr.........

***Updated at 2:00 p.m.***

Ok, so I called the number that the officer gave my wife as soon as I got home from work last night. (By the way, have you ever tried calling the office of the NH state police? I have never spoken to so many extremely gruff people at one time in my life - maybe they should outsource their call center to India like everyone else has. But once again, I digress.) Of course, because each officer is apparently the king or at least the duke of their own little fiefdom, nobody except the particular officer in question can help me with this, and of course the particular officer in question was not available so I left a message to call my cell phone the next day.

- side note - when referring to a member of the state police, you should refer to them as "trooper so-and-so" not "officer so-and-so". Not sure why this distinction is important - I suppose it prevents people from being confusing them with the lowly regular town and city police officers.

Anyway, the TROOPER called my cell phone at 7:00 A.M. (Poll Question: is 7:00 A.M. a reasonable time to call somebody?). Of course, I was in the shower at the time, and also because my house is in a cellular black hole, I didn't get the message until about 9 A.M. Of course when I called her back she was again unavailable. Finally, around Noon, she calls me back. The following is a transcript of that call:

Oh - in order to understand the call, you need one more piece of information. Our drivers side window has a problem where it does not roll down all the way, It will roll down a few inches which is more than sufficient for handing paperwork out the window and speaking to a police officer. However, my wife apparently opened the door. Apparently my wife has not watched enough episodes of "cops" to know that you NEVER, NEVER, NEVER open the door. It makes cops nervous. You never know when the 30-something white lady in a car with 5 kids, her mother, and her sister is going to try to go for your gun. The other important rule about dealing with cops is the you NEVER, NEVER, NEVER volunteer more information than is absolutely necessary. My wife, foolishly assuming she was dealing with a reasonable person, does not know this rule either, and she informed the officer, er, excuse me, the TROOPER, about this - At which time the trooper immediately started yelling at her, claiming that window was in violation, blah, blah, blah. (Now, I have scoured the NH RSA's concerning vehicle inspections and I cannot find this anywhere. The window is required to be made of safety glass and cannot have any after-market tint, but there is no requirement anywhere listed that it even has to roll down at all. But that is kind of beside the point anyway) Anyway, on to the call:

(jumping ahead of the usual pleasantries)

Her: I pulled your vehicle over yesterday because it did not have an inspection sticker.

Me: (no kidding, otherwise I wouldn't be calling you) I know. I called the garage yesterday and verified that it was inspected last September. I can give you the sticker number right now.

Her: As I told your wife, what I need is something on the garage letterhead stating that it passed inspection and the sticker number.

Me: I have that right here.

Her: It needs to be on garage letterhead.

Me: It is. I have a copy of the reciept right here.

Her: It needs to be on garage letterhead - it can't just be a receipt.

Me: (speaking very slowly) Ok. I have here a COMPUTER INVOICE on GARAGE LETTERHEAD stating that the car passed inspection and the sticker number that was issued. I also verified with the garage that the information has been entered into the state computer. Why don't I just give you the num -

Her: That's not good enough.

Me: What?

Her: Somebody has to take Responsibility!

Me: What?

Her: I'm doing this as a courtesy - I don't have to, you know. I'm trying to help you. That car did not have a sticker.

(side note - She's trying to tell me that she could be hardnosed about this because the sticker was not properly displayed. I'm not sure if this is true. I have scoured the NH RSA about vehicle inspections, and I have yet to find actual law about the sticker display. There are laws about the inspection, and the sticker is the proof of the inspection, but there is no penalty specified for a missing sticker)

Me: Thank You - but I'm having a hard time understanding exactly what I need to do.

Her: I need something on Garage Letterhead that states the vehicle Passed inspection.

Me: I have that.

Her: And it needs to state that the garage admits that they did not put a sticker on. Somebody needs to take responsibility!

(aha! finally some new information at least)

Me: I don't think they will do that. They claim that they put a sticker on there. Isn't it possible that it fell off or something?

Her: Well, then they need to explain what happened. See, when I pull back a ticket, I have to submit the information to the inspection review board. If the mechanic is not following proper procedure he may have to go to a hearing.

Me: What?

Her: (apparently changing subjects) A lot of times cars get inspected, but they don't pass - and people don't know it. That's why they need a sticker.

Me: I understand that. But a sticker WAS ISSUED. I have the number right here. And it is in the state computer. They would not have issued a sticker if the car had not passed.

Her: See, those sticker all have numbers. They come in a little booklet with a stub that has your information on it and it gets sent back to the state.

Me: Right. That's what I'm -

Her: Somebody has to take responsibility!

(by the way, I am totally bewildered by now - deleted some more conversation where she repeated herself a few more times and then insinuated that because my drivers-side window was out of spec, if there was a sticker issued, it had somehow been passed illegally - and the mechanic might get in trouble)

Me: (choosing not to argue whether the window was legal or illegal for the time being) Isn't it possible that since the sticker was issued almost a year ago that the window could have been working fine at that time?

Her: If that's the case, then you should have stopped driving the vehicle immediately.

Me: (incredulous) What?

Her: Anytime that a vehicle is no longer in THE EXACT SAME CONDITION AS IT WAS THE DAY IT ROLLED OFF THE ASSEMBLY LINE - it is not longer legal to drive.

Me: What?

Her: I'm just trying to make sure the vehicles are safe. Just because a vehicle was inspected does not mean it passed.

(totally lost by now, I try to get the conversation back on track)

Me: Ok, so what I need to do is get something with the garage letterhead and the original sticker number (which I already have) and -

Her: I need the mechanic's (license) number too.

Me: Ok - the mechanics number -

Her: Do you have the garage's phone number?

Me: Yes, it is 603-xxx-xxxx. The person I have been talking to is named *****

Her: Ok. Is that the Mechanic?

Me: No. That is his wife. She does the paperwork.

Her: Ok.

(awkward pause where we both apparently wait for the other to give more information)

Me: Um, so does that mean you are going to call the garage?

Her: No. I'm trying to help you get this straightened out.

(*&%^$#@#&????????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!))

Me: (desperately wishing I could get the last 10 minutes of my life back) Ok, so just to be clear, I need to get some garage letterhead, with the mechanics number, the sticker number and their explanation of what happened. (trying to find out where to send the required information) And How can I get this -

Her: And you need to get the sticker put on the windshield. You can't drive around without a sticker.

(side note - maybe that's true, but I fail to see how future drivng has any relevance on what happened yesterday - and also - BECAUSE each sticker is numbered, the garage cannot simply give me another sticker. The garage explained this to me yesterday)

Me: (still failing to see the connection, but desperately wanting to get this over with)Well, since it's almost time for a renewal anyway, I'm going to just get a new sticker for the coming year.

Her: When are you going to do this?

Me: (failing to see how this is any of her business) Today.

Her: You are going to have it re-inspected?

Me: (Isn't that what I JUST said?) Yes.

Her: Ok. Here's what you need to do. Call me after you get THAT done, so I can meet you somewhere and inspect it myself.

Me: What?

Her: I need to see that the new sticker is on the windshield. Call me when you get it done. (Hangs up)

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so, now I am totally confused. Why does she have to see the NEW inspection sticker? What relevance does that have on LAST YEAR's inspection sticker? Does that mean I no longer have to do all the other stuff she asked me for? Or do I have to do both?

And by the way, the vehicle passed inspection with flying colors and the mechanic assured me that the window was fine. However, I KNOW that if I go meet her somewhere, she is going to require that I show her that it has been fixed. I know I should get it fixed, and at some point I will, but I find it really annoying that she thinks she has the power to make me.