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I was pulled over for only tinted windows in NYC. It's a great story:
I was home from college for a week, so I drove down to my high school to pay some old teachers a visit. Driving home near rush hour, there was heavy traffic on Madison Ave. Once I got to about 128th street or so (in Harlem), there was a cop standing literally right in the middle of the road, walking amongst the cars in traffic. When he got to my car he waved me over to the side of the road.
When he approached my car, I asked what I could do for him. He told me he was part of a special Harlem Task Force against crime/to improve police-community relations (giving out tickets is a greaaaaaaat start, btw, NYPD!). He said that my window tints were too dark, and took a meter out of his pocket to measure the tint. He asked if my tints were factory or aftermarket and I told him they were aftermarket. He said only factory tints like ::that one:: were allowed. He was pointing to a parked Benz, with literally ZERO tint. I said, "I'm sorry officer, that's not a tinted window. At all."
He explained that tints are illegal for police safety. I said that police are generally safe regardless of what color my windows are. Then he said that they are illegal for my safety. (I know about safety glass.) I told him that if they are conducting a traffic stop, they just want to be able to snoop around in the car. It's not for my safety, it's for them.
Being fairly pissed off and inconvenienced, I remembered that those livery cabs (not the trademark yellow cabs, but the tons of other Town Cars and Crown Vics that are all blacked out) always had near-limousine tints. So, I responded further, "Officer, THAT is what a tint is," and pointed at one of the blacked-out culprits. He said, "You know what, you're right," and ran over to the cab and told him to pull over.
I still got a ticket, but only for 1 window (he claimed he could give me a ticket for the four door windows). I did pay the $60 fine. I did not remove the tint. The cop and I were friendly the whole time despite the comments back and forth. I'm glad he saw I was just being honest and stating my opinion and he took no disrespect.
I'm just sick of cops saying they hate tinted windows because they want to see everything during a traffic stop... they want to be safe. If you want to feel safe, A) don't stop the car or B) become a gardner! It's a dangerous job. You'd spot a weapon on our person a lot faster if we all drove around naked, but that's not allowed is it?
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