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~COPS~
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Honestly, I was never told the tint was illegal by the installer. I have been pull over about 6-7 times for the tint. I will add some more stories as they happen!

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1)
In McDonough I had a cop stop me about the tint. He said I could not have any red tint because I could not properly read the traffic lights. Like I sit sideways at lights? I had a heat gun and told him I was removing the tint and he let me off with a warning. Though the warning was about red on the windshield which you can�t see through�Doh!

2) & 3)
Well about a year after I had all this on the car. I had a local cop where I work think that the tint was a problem. Long story here is the complaint I sent to his commander�.

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Incidents
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I am filing a complaint against a police officer. His name is A. E. Forman. His badge number is 622.

(What I am stating is to the best of my memory. I can not be sure of exact words. I have put down things as close as I can remember.)

On October 17th, at 11:00 AM, Officer Forman pulled me over.

Upon seeing his lights, I pulled into a parking lot, stopped, and turned off my engine. My windows are tinted, so I rolled both of them down. This was so the officer could see that I posed no threat to him.

(A Clayton County Police Officer, as well as my father, told me to always do this when you are pulled over, as a courtesy.)

Officer Forman pulled in and positioned his car behind mine and blocked the entrance/exit to the parking lot. He then approached my car, on the driver�s side, & immediately asked me why I rolled down my windows. As I began to explain, he talked over me and said I rolled them down because I knew my window tint was illegal. I stated that I was unaware that my tint was illegal. Officer Forman then told me I was lying. I stated that when I had the tint installed, I asked for the tint to be done legally. I explained that my boyfriend, at the time, helped me get the windows tinted. The look was his idea. Neither my boyfriend nor the installer ever told me that the window tint was illegal, and to my knowledge, the tint is legal. Officer Forman told me again that I was lying and again said that I would not have rolled down the windows unless I knew the tint was illegal. He again asked why I rolled down my windows. I explained that I was told to do this for all officers, for their feelings of safety, and as a courtesy. I rolled down both because you never know how many officers there are & to which side they may approach. Officer Forman then asked if I had a window tint inspection sticker. I said I had one for my old tint, but I had been unable to find anyone who distributes the stickers now. He then told me he had called another officer out. He said this traffic officer would test the tint. He then walked away.

The other officer arrived. I never got his name. This officer came up to my car. He asked to see my tint. I rolled up the window half way. He and Officer Forman discussed my tint. I overheard something about it being just the way the light hits the window. The new officer asked if I had a window tint inspection sticker. I told him what I told Officer Forman. He and Officer Foreman then walked back to his car. I was waiting for him to test the tint, but he did not. Officer Forman asked for advice, should he cite me for illegal tint. I did not hear the response. Officer Forman got in his car and wrote a ticket (included). He then came up and told me he was citing me for illegal tint. I asked him what was wrong with my tint. I would get it fixed if he would please tell me what was wrong. He acted very annoyed by my question and I eluded it. He said that window tint could be no darker that 32% it could only be 20 percent reflective. I stated that I understood these guidelines, but how was my car in violation of these rules. I had to know what, specifically, was wrong, so I could fix the problem. I asked, was it too reflective, too dark, or could it not be red? He would not tell me what he felt was wrong with my tint. He would only state that it was illegal. I then asked where should I go to get an inspection sticker. He danced around the question and finally said I should go to a shop that tests emissions. I was confused. I said my place just has mechanics, they know nothing about window tint. He said all he knew was to go to an emissions shop. He then turned and went back to his car. I had to wait on him to leave, since he had blocked me in. As he pulled out of the parking lot, he squealed and spun his tires. I figured I must have really ticked him off by asking those questions.

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Incidents
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I am filing a complaint against a police officer. His name is A. E. Forman. His badge number is 622.

(What I am stating is to the best of my memory. I can not be sure of exact words. I have put down things as close as I can remember.)

On November 21st, at 8:50 AM, Officer Forman pulled me over.

I pulled into the center turn lane, stopped, and turned off my engine. My windows are tinted, so I rolled both of them down. This was so the officer could see that I posed no threat to him.

(A Clayton County Police Officer, as well as my father, told me to always do this when you are pulled over, as a courtesy.)

The officer pulled his car in behind mine. When he stepped out of his patrol car, I saw that it was again Officer Forman (see earlier complaint). He approached my car on the driver�s side and asked me to roll up my window. I rolled the window up halfway. He said he thought he asked me to take this tint off my car the last time he saw me. I said that once he told me the tint was illegal, I had called the installer and left a message first thing. I told the installer on the machine that Officer Forman told me the tint was illegal. I felt he should have to replace it, since he had not put the correct tint on in the first place. The installer never returned my calls. As I explained, another officer pulled up behind Officer Forman�s patrol car.
Office Forman turned to go talk to the other officer. As he turned, he misquoted what I had told him the last time. Something like, �at least this time you are not saying that the car belongs to your boyfriend�. I replied �no, you misunderstood me last time, I told you it was my x-boyfriend�s idea for the tint. Why would I say it was his car, when the registration is clearly in my name?�
He then walked back to the other patrol car.

The other officer left. This other officer never came up to my car. Officer Forman again approached my
car. He now asked if I had gotten an inspection sticker yet. I told him that I had taken his advice and went to an emission testing facility. When I asked them if they could test my window tint they just laughed. They said they do not test window tint. So, I again attempted to contact the installer. I left another message and still got no return call. Officer Forman said that this does not explain why the tint is still on my car. I said, I paid close to $400.00 for this tint, and I felt it was not my fault that it was done wrong. I wanted the installer to take it off and replace it with what I had asked for. And since he was avoiding me, I felt I needed to leave the tint on as evidence, in case, I was forced to take the installer to court. I felt I needed the tint on to show that he put illegal tint on after I asked him not to. Officer Forman said that all I
needed to have, if I wanted to go to court, was his ticket stating illegal tint. I asked if he could please just
tell me what is making the tint illegal, so I when I went to court I could state it correctly. I said that I had been unable to find anyone who could test the tint and tell me what was wrong with it. I was afraid that w/o this evidence, I would not have a case. Officer Forman then stated that all I needed to know was that he said the tint was illegal, so it is illegal. I asked if a judge would simply take his word without a window tint test. He raised his voice and stated to the effect, �You don�t need to test it. I am telling you it is illegal and that is all the proof you need.� He continued by saying, what I should do is take a picture and then take a razorblade to my tint and remove it. I said that because of the shape of my windows, pictures would be deceiving and would probably not be proof enough for the judge. I said that after all the money I had spent I felt the installer should be responsible for doing that. Plus, you have to use special chemicals and be properly trained or you will break the window as you strip it. I made reference to the two office windows that the professional installers had broken in our office just a few days prior. I was worried I would ruin or
break my own windows. Officer Forman gruffly stated something like, �as far as money is concerned, if he ever saw me again with this tint on my car, he would take my car away and it would be a lot more expensive to get the car back, then to just pay to have the tint replaced�. With this threat, I got very nervous and just decided to drop it. He went to his car and came back with the ticket. He stated that it is illegal because he says so period. The only thing I needed to concern myself with is removing the tint. He then left my car and returned to his patrol car. I was then free to go.

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My responses�
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I have a paper showing the police departments I went to about the inspection sticker. I brought a copy of my tint exemption paper and a copy of the doctor�s note. I also noticed that on the ticket it said no inspection sticker. I was not sure about it, so just in case I brought a picture of my emissions sticker. It shows my VIN number. I brought an old insurance certificate showing it is indeed my VIN number. You can actually see my old window tint inspection sticker.

I called the police departments in my area. I wanted to see if they could give me the information that Officer Forman could not. I wanted to ask them about my tint. I still needed to know what specifically was wrong, in order to fix the problem. I also wanted to know if he was allowed to threaten me like that. Everyone was so nice to me. They asked if I checked the tint shops. I told them that I had asked many places, they said they had no inspection stickers, just what the manufactures gave them. I explained that the guy who installed my tint did it through someone else. He forgot to put the receipt in the car and then never mailed it as he had promised. He had no stickers of any kind. Clayton County faxed me a copy of the tint laws. I made an appointment to go and talk to a Jonesboro Police Officer the next day.

I met Officer Gilliam in the Jonesboro Police department parking lot. I told him the whole situation. He said I never should have paid the first ticket. He understood why I did. He said an officer has to test the tint no matter what, before he can issue a ticket for it. He said most of the time, the officers use tint as and excuse to pull over a suspicious car. They only give the ticket, if they test the car�s tint and the test shows it is illegal. He then stated that as far as inspection stickers, no one gives a test tint and gives out stickers if you pass. He looked at my car and said he would have never pulled me over for that tint. He could see through it. He told me I should fight the second ticket. I asked about him about Officer Forman saying he would take my car away. Officer Gillam said that It sounded like he threatened to impound my car,and he could not do that without arresting me. He said he couldn�t arrest me simply over window tint. He said the guy sounded like a jerk to him. I asked if the tint being red might have been the problem. He said there was nothing in the law saying any thing about red tint, unless red tint was on my windshield, which it is not. He said he thought the tint was really cool and brought another officer over to see it. He did not think the tint was illegal either. He saw me again at a later date. We talked for a bit and he asked why I tinted the car in the first place. I said I had migraines and the sun had always bothered me, but I chose red because it was unique. He told me that if my eyes were sensitive to the sun because of the migraines, I just needed a doctor�s note. I was exempt from the tint law.

I also had a Lieutenant at Jonesboro tell me that the ticket was bogus as well. He said that the tint had to be tested at the scene and there were no inspection stickers to even issue. I got this same story from Morrow, Hapeville, East Point, McDonough, Clayton County, and Henry County.

I took everyone�s advice. I got a doctor�s note and went to the Georgia State Patrol office near Memorial Dr.
I talked with a lady in the office, as well as, a Georgia State Patrol Officer. The officer looked at my car and said that she saw no problem with the tint. She got out the Georgia Law book and looked up the section.
I called the police departments in the area and the Georgia State Patrol. They all said he should have tested the tint and there was no window tint inspection sticker. They said his behavior was wrong. The officers tried to convince me to go to court. During my inquiries, I had an officer
ask why I had the windows tinted. I said I had migraines, so my eyes were sensitive to the light. He informed me that all I needed was a doctor�s note and I was excluded from the tint laws.

First I took my car to the Jonesboro PD. He saw nothing wrong with the tint. I got a note from my doctor and took it with me to the GSP office when I went. The GSP officer said in her opinion, there was nothing wrong with the tint, and I did not need the note. I asked about the inspection sticker. She said the do not give them out. She even looked in the law book. She said she could find nothing about mandatory inspection stickers or about red being a problem on the windows. She advised that I got to court and fight the ticket. She said I never should have paid the first ticket. She said the officer was required to test the tint before he issued a ticket. She gave me the exemption and it even includes an exemption of windshield restrictions as well.

The ticket was dropped in court.

So with this exemption, I have been able to have the tint this long with no problems.

4)
I was on the way to work & a GSP officer came up to go past me a few lanes over. She looked at the car. Sped up. Got in front of me via a few lanes changes and then flagged em over. She about caused a wreck finally getting to me in Rush hour traffic.

She motioned me out of the car and called me back to her. She was out of the car with her hand on her gun. I got out and she relaxed. I asked why? She answered the tint I got my paper work and we chatted and joked for about a � hour after that. She really liked the car.

5)
I was in town and a local cop pulled mom and I over. It was the tint again. He let me got once he saw the papers. We talked about the car and then looked under the hood. He liked it too.

6)
I love it when you prove someone wrong, but they won't back down. I had a GA State Patrol officer jump on me at the show this past weekend. He had someone pulled over and I passed on the way to the show. I noticed he looked at it in the "I'm going to get you" stare as I passed. Well, I drove up to the show, registered and then parked.

About 20 min later this GSP car pulls into the show. The cop gets out points at me and the gate guy lets him walk in. He storms over to me and my car. My boyfriend, his son, Chris87TA350 from TGO, and about 15 people from a car club I met up with were all standing there. The cop asks if I drove the car here. I said yes. He said if he saw it on the road after the car show he would have it impounded. I asked why. He said the window tint and the windshield vinyl. So I pulled out my permission slip. He had the nerve to say it did not cover my tint because it was mirrored. I said yes it did. I told him I personally took it as it was to the GA State Patrol headquarters and had it inspected with this tint and vinyl and they approved it. He decided to argue with me about it and he had the tint exemption in his hand. Then he asked what was my medical reason. I said migraines. He comes back with this smart alec "get better sunglasses". He tosses the paperwork back at me and storms off saying he will still impound
the car if he sees it and then I can see if my paperwork covers my tint.

I could not believe he was hassling me on private property over stuff I had actually researched and had handled correctly. He was a few seconds from getting escorted off the property by my boyfriend. Though it was so funny to show a punk cop up in front of almost 20 witnesses. Some people and their power trips. He was proven wrong and still had to push it. Most cops are super nice once I give them the paperwork. We usually stand around and BS for a while. Well, he was not around when I left. Though I will more that likely drive with my windows down when I go through Conyers again.

7)
Covington. Joe and I were on the way to a show. I see a cop at a light.
He is perpendicular to me. He pulls out and comes up on me. He stays on the next lane over and blocks traffic. Follows me about a mile then turns on his lights. He motions me out of the car and asks if I know why I got pulled over. I said that the odd look you gave me at the light back there? I say window tint. He as surprised. I told him I had papers. He radioed dispatch as I got them. He was asking about tint exemption�

I gave him the paper and he radioed to them that there was an exemption. He let me go. Then the followed me to the show and looked around.

8)
On the way to Pensacola in a caravan of F-bodies, I had a cop sit in my blind spot on his radio. He stayed on me for 5 min and then went by. Everybody was joking that he was talking about my car.

9)
I was at church and pulled out of the parking lot in a line of traffic. there was a Sherrif there directing traffic. He motioned me to stop and pull over to the side. I did. Had not clue why. Had my Grams with me. He said the tint was illegal and he was going to write me a ticket when the traffic cleared.

I said wait I have an exemption. He stated that is no such thing. I told him I got it form the State and it was in my truck. He told me to get it. I retrieved the paperwork. He looked at it and siad it did not work for my tint...

Huh...I told himthe Drs note clearly states whatever color I deem necessary to help. I also told him the Officer who issued the permit had inspected the vehicle and the note. Then he back tracked and said it was expired. that it was only good for 1 year. I showed him where it clearly stated 4 years on the permit!

He told me to leave, but don't ever bring the car back to the church...

Crazy cops man...

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Well now there are no tint laws...HAHA whatcha gonna do?

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HOME PAGE

Follow this link to additional information on the car not found on this site!
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DIRECTORY FOR RAIF'S HISTORY SITE
01 Site Overview
02 (1987) Options and window sticker...
03 (1989) Stock pics...
04 (1990) Bottom Accent color changed to Black, Enkei rims, & Tint
05 (1992) Wreck & Added 2 amps
06 (1994) Changer, Alarm, Taillights painted red, Emblems Modified
07 (1998) Engine�s top end rebuilt
08 (1999) Major mods began...Misc. trim, exterior lights, & Alpine head unit
09 (2000) Journal of events
10 (pre July 2001) Journal of events
11 (post July 2001) Journal of events
12 (pre March 2002) Journal of events
13 (March 2002) Pensacola Fiasco
14 (post March 2002) Journal of events
15 Grey and Black Interior
16 Old Sub box
17 Cop Stories <<<
18 Old 2.25 Inch Exhaust
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