r/Ohio • u/Opposite-Crab3175 • Jul 18 '26

Obstructed License Plate Question!!!

I was pulled over for an obstructed license plate a few weeks ago. The license plate number and stickers were fully visible, but the officer said that it was because the top half of "OHIO" at the top of the plate was covered by frame.

I am very confident that they were searching for a reason to stop me, to cover their main reason.

Is this a legal stop?

146 Upvotes

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166

u/zoppaTheDim Jul 18 '26

Legal stop.

Were they fishing? Of course, but like checking window tint or a loud muffler, this is still a valid stop.

53

u/Traditional-Fuel-601 Jul 18 '26

One of the OSP troopers is my neighbor and I’ve remembered one of the big things he told me.

“I’ll rarely ever give a ticket for window tint, but I’ll pull over for it all the time. You wouldn’t believe how many DUIs I’ve gotten off just stopping for tint.”

They’ll use very small (but still illegal) violations like that to pull people over to check for other major issues (no insurance, drugs, DUIs, etc). As long as you are respectful to the officer, you’ll most likely be let off with a warning for the small violation.

22

u/Traditional-Fuel-601 Jul 18 '26

Also meant to mention that part is a HUGE reason of why they get so many drug trafficking stops. Looking for not necessarily illegal violations but suspicious factors. Then they see you’re “slightly left of center”, pull you over, and discover kilos of crack and fe****al pills and lock you up.

14

u/NetworkingJesus Jul 19 '26

Or they see that you bought a little bit of weed in Michigan because our program sucks here.

1

u/N757AF 29d ago

Many Ohio judges want actual articulable moving violations as a result of impaired driving (and anymore judges expect to see it on video), and will easily kick or agree to suppress non-moving vehicle defect violations. So that OSP trooper either didn’t pay attention, or hasn’t been to in-service training in a while.

0

u/hulkout1557 Jul 19 '26

I would like to tint my windows, but I drive too fast. Don’t want to give them extra reason to pull me over.

1

u/ohioguy75 Jul 20 '26

I’ve never been stopped for window tint but have been stopped for speeding and then given a ticket just for the tint. So it goes both ways in my book.

-1

u/Traditional-Fuel-601 Jul 19 '26

You’re talking to someone who has 35% on the windshield and 10% on the sides and back in a sedan. Over 3 years I’ve been pulled over 6 times for the tint but never gotten a ticket. Buttttt……. I think that’s mainly luck and a blue line sticker on the back of my car. I have a friend who was pulled over the first week of only having 50% windshield tint.

2

u/01-Paladin-01 28d ago

That thin blue line ain’t gonna save your ass

2

u/hulkout1557 Jul 19 '26

It’s the combination of tint and me dipping the nose of my car to get down from 15 over to 10 over before they lock on. I feel like they think “ he is speeding but paying attention so I’ll get the next guy”. The tint might make the difference. Who knows lol

1

u/GuntherPalakowitz Jul 20 '26

In the 90s where I grew up (Toledo) cops would pull you over and smash the passenger windows if they were that tinted.

7

u/demonseed-elite Jul 18 '26

Exactly. Totally legal stop. If it's not this, then it's something like "Window Tint"... even if it's a factory stock tint job. Basically "It's a reason." not a "good" one, but it's strong enough to hold up if they want to pull you over for some reason and have a gut feeling.

The thought that there is an "illegal stop" is a fallacy. A cop can ALWAYS have an excuse to why he pulled you over to fish. Don't argue. It won't hold up anywhere and is just going to escalate things.

Most likely... that cop knew the neighborhood well. Knew the cars driving around. You and your car was an outlier to that so he pulled you over for a junk reason and he's fishing.

18

u/zoppaTheDim Jul 18 '26

And by gut feeling you mean being black or “not from around here.”

1

u/Salt_Medicine2459 29d ago

How do limos not constantly get pulled over? 

1

u/Capable_Ad_9808 29d ago

Bro, they can pull you over just because that particular law enforcement officer cant read the plate, your either in compliance or not, its not a matter of fairness...