2002 Grand Marquis LSE!

[Mainemantom]

When in a judge's court, what he/she says goes. Right or wrong, there is an appeal process if needed. I can see a major legal challenge with the 85/45 speed issue. The officer got 30 day suspension for that ? I am not saying he didn't however Federal and State confidentiality laws prohibit adverse actions of employees to be made public. The officer may have had additional issues that led to a suspension. Depending upon the State and Union agreements court time is compensated different ways. If it is during the normal shift, that is part of the shift. If it is overtime, there are different methods of compensation most are at OT levels.
4 hour minimum at OT was very good standard whether it lasted 5 minutes or 4 hours. When I went to court, civil, traffic, criminal, the fine or the sentence in many cases was suspended or reduced however the defendant was always found guilty. Case preparation was key to winning. You would be surprised how little preparation is done with cases.
The only case I horribly lost was my divorce case. 9 years of alimony, and a lifetime payment plan from my retirement. I deprived my ex from her standard of living ... she was an accountant.

[mercurygm88]

Well I know that the officer can hope the "violator" takes the issue to court. That way the officer gets overtime for court. Win or lose he gets the overtime pay if it is outside his regular shift time. If the "violator" does not challenge the ticket, that is more money for the jurisdiction where he/she works. Rarely does the officer get chewed out by the judge for writing stupid tickets. Maybe just a glare. Sometimes the officer has to "approach the bench" to explain.
The more tickets written ,the more numbers counted at the end of the day, which equates to numbers on the tally at the end of the month. That equates to a good boy or bad boy on the officer's performance review at the end of the month. The next month, it starts all over again. End of the year might give the officer a raise, a better patrol vehicle or a duncan donuts gift card. Also make the Sgt. LT and above happy which keeps everyone happy !

Actually you can get away without fighting it in court. At least in Ohio. The notice I received states that if you are ticketed for displaying the tag in the back window and you call the number for the Attorney Generals office they will take care of it. And actually judges do chew them out, my dad fought a failure to control ticket a couple years ago and got off on $25 court costs. He later fought one for driving 85mph in a 45mph zone and won. The Judge chewed out the officer and told him Ohio does not have fixed speed limits we have suggested speeds. They don't even use a courtroom for this stuff here dad, the judge, and the officer met in a small office in the courthouse. When I received a written warning for displaying my temp tag in the back window back in 2015 I called the AG's office and they called the local PD and gave them hell, that officer ended up getting a 30 day suspension. The simple fact is if you have a notarized piece of paper stating that you are following the law then there needs to be accountability for power hungry cops who think they can do as they please. I don't think the overtime pay matters to them if they actually get it which I highly highly doubt. Because these court cases don't last more than 10-15 minutes.

[Mainemantom]

Well I know that the officer can hope the "violator" takes the issue to court. That way the officer gets overtime for court. Win or lose he gets the overtime pay if it is outside his regular shift time. If the "violator" does not challenge the ticket, that is more money for the jurisdiction where he/she works. Rarely does the officer get chewed out by the judge for writing stupid tickets. Maybe just a glare. Sometimes the officer has to "approach the bench" to explain.
The more tickets written ,the more numbers counted at the end of the day, which equates to numbers on the tally at the end of the month. That equates to a good boy or bad boy on the officer's performance review at the end of the month. The next month, it starts all over again. End of the year might give the officer a raise, a better patrol vehicle or a duncan donuts gift card. Also make the Sgt. LT and above happy which keeps everyone happy !

[gadget73]

yeah thats a deeper level of bullshit than my tax thing.

[mercurygm88]

Expecting people to know the law is pretty unrealistic. Whenever the NJ DMV re-opens I have to title the Mark VII. I already paid sales tax on it in Florida, and I'm not supposed to have to pay it again in NJ. I'm sure the DMV people won't know this so I'll have to find the relevant section of law to provide to them. All they will know is that normally tax of whatever % of the purchase price gets collected when a title is transferred. I need something that is not absolutely routine and its going to be a problem.

Expecting someone who conducts traffic stops for a living to know how I can display my temporary tag should not be unrealistic. This is certainly a very routine thing, unlike your out of state purchase. I've seen people here in Ohio be illegally taxed twice even after proving that it was illegal. Just depends on the state and whether they really care what the law says. Sure you can refuse to pay it but then you don't get the vehicle transferred. Like I said I've gotten a written warning for this before when it specifically states on the temporary tags registration that the officer looked at that I was in fact in the right. He simply told me that he didn't think that was correct. Because you know the BMV is all about issuing false paperwork.

[gadget73]

Expecting people to know the law is pretty unrealistic. Whenever the NJ DMV re-opens I have to title the Mark VII. I already paid sales tax on it in Florida, and I'm not supposed to have to pay it again in NJ. I'm sure the DMV people won't know this so I'll have to find the relevant section of law to provide to them. All they will know is that normally tax of whatever % of the purchase price gets collected when a title is transferred. I need something that is not absolutely routine and its going to be a problem.

[jaywish]

NY does a very similar thing with boat registration stickers. Normally a registration sticker is affixed in the bow next to the registration numbers. However if you have a wood boat you are allowed to affix the multi-yearl registration sticker on the windshield. NY provides a little wallet size document explaining this with the stickers so you can show it to the marine cops. I needed to show the document approximately once a year. When I was younger I used to think that it was normal to expect the cops to know this rule. Now that I am "old" I realize how silly my expectation was in the face of reality.

[mercurygm88]

Funny, stupid story!

I got my replacement temp tag today. Ohio quit doing 30 day tags 5 or 6 years ago and went to a 45 day tag. Due to all of the BMV’s being closed their offering 90 day tags. I ordered it on March 30, it was made out and dated April 1 and mailed last Friday! Why didn’t they wait until Friday to date it so I didn’t lose out on 12 of my 90 days? Also they added a little letter in there that said in order to insure the tag lasts 90 days please display it in your rear window, then it listed the section of the Ohio revised code that allows this. Now I did this when I had the first Lincoln and I was pulled over and issued a written warning because it was in the back window when the tag and registration even said write on it that if could be displayed in the rear window. So now the BMV issues you a printout saying it’s legal, stating the ordnance number, and giving you a 1-800 number for the Ohio Attorney General's to call in case you are harassed for it. Then in fine print it says they have had issues over the past several years with law enforcement not following the rear window rule so now they make it a point to include the printout.

Now that's pretty damn stupid if you ask me. The registration and Temp tag already say on it that it can be displayed in the rear window and yet they still pull people over and harass them over it? What makes the state think the stupid printout is going to help? Apparently for some reason Ohio is incapable of keeping law enforcement on a leash, then again with the corruption in my own home town it doesn't surprise me. We've had several police chief's and county Sheriff's removed from office, charged with corruption, and imprisoned in the past 10 years. Even more going back before that. A handful of judges and prosecutors too. The only upside is I've dealt with the Ohio Attorney Generals office twice before involving similar matters, and one thing I've learned is that neither private businesses or law enforcement agencies like to get an unfriendly call from the AG's office.

[mercurygm88]

I also did some hand washing today and found more scratches that I hadn't noticed before. There are some issues that I noticed last time I washed, but the stuff I noticed today isn't as noticeable. Still the nicest car I've ever owned, and like your LSE it's still pretty good looking.

Yeah it's not too bad. The worst parts are the scratches on the trunk lid and the little rust spot on the drivers front fender. There's no way I can afford to buy a fender and have it sprayed, and I don't have the ambition to swap it if I found a matching one. Strangely enough I feel no rust on the inside of the wheel well. It's almost like it was paint chip down to the metal and then it started rusting from the outside in. With any luck I can keep it from getting too much worse. I was able to get up behind the inner fender and put some heavy oil around the whole wheel well, now I just need some touch up paint. It probably won't work but it's worth a try. This car was sold new in Florida but the maintenance records I have show that it's been in Ohio since 2005. Which is interesting because it still looks like new underneath. Then again my grandparents bought a new PT Cruiser when they came out and drove it until 2018, it never had a spot of rust on it or underneath, they got rid of it at a little over 300,000 miles. Regardless of what some people would say based on personal experience I have way more faith in modern rust proofing than old stuff. Drive a clean 1970's car through one Ohio or Michigan winter and it will be rotted out, not so with newer stuff. Unless it's a Dodge truck. My uncles '97 was shot in 3 years.

[mercurygm88]

It can be a quick process. Spray detailer on panel and gently rub clay back and forth until you feel no resistance. Move on. Dont drop the clay.

I may give it a go sometime when I'm feeling ambitious.

[VicCrownVic]

I waxed the car today, by hand, with paste wax. What an ordeal.

Also found more scratches and paint chips I was unaware of. For as well as the previous owner(s) took care of this thing mechanically they sure didn’t much care about it cosmetically.

I also did some hand washing today and found more scratches that I hadn't noticed before. There are some issues that I noticed last time I washed, but the stuff I noticed today isn't as noticeable. Still the nicest car I've ever owned, and like your LSE it's still pretty good looking.

[87gtVIC]

It can be a quick process. Spray detailer on panel and gently rub clay back and forth until you feel no resistance. Move on. Dont drop the clay.

[mercurygm88]

I've never done the clay bar thing myself. I kind of always figured that was more for show cars and other cars that aren't driven everyday. Being that I always have daily drivers that are never perfect I've never really felt like it was worth the trouble.

[tjc78]

Clay bar really works wonderfully to prep for a nice wax job.

[gadget73]

Thats the bad part about hand washing and waxing, you find paint issues that you did not realize existed.

Did you clay it first? I got a lot of crap out of what looked to be reasonably clean paint on the Mark VII, but the bar turned tan or grey depending on what part of the car I was cleaning. Definitely much whiter afterward. Paint was also smoother. It had been decently cared for in terms of washing and waxing over it's life but it was definitely due for some deeper cleaning.