Dave Smith said...

> Steve Wertz wrote:
>>
>> On Fri, 29 Jun 2007 12:07:28 -0700, BOBOBOnoBO® wrote:
>>
>>> > What kind of a cop would even think to run the plates on the
>> > Wienermobile?
>>
>> I'm sure he just did it out of curiosity and for kicks (at
>> first). Nowdays most beat/traffic cops, with their computers on
>> the dashbord, run about 75% of the plates they're behind unless
>> their on the way to donuts or talking on their cell phones. It
>> takes all of 5 seconds.
>
>
> You would be surprised how many cars and trucks are running around out
> there with expired or switched plates, but I did a lot of them out of
> curiosity. People would be amazed at the information that pops up on
those
> computers. About two months before I retired I was issued a lap top with
a
> mobile inquiry terminal. I could punch in plates while driving down the
> road and get back the information within seconds, and if the plates were
> expired or there were other problems with it they were flagged.....
> literally.... a red flashing flag appeared. It also automatically
showed
> the owners driver licences information and if he/she had an expired or
> suspended license there was another flag. Some of the inquiry return
> fields were hyper linked for other information, like driver record,
> conviction record, plate transactions etc.


I know that's not new tech but I hear the cops on the scanner constantly
passing tags (license plates) and driver's license numbers to the DATA
channel for DMV & NCIC info. My cops have MDTs but they're used to such a
minimalist extent, pity!

Andy