Question for LEOs

[Lex_Luthor]

Is it common practice to pull someone over for a license plate infraction, run their license which comes up as "denied" (whatever that means) and then impound someone's car for unpaid parking tickets?

Yesterday my fiance was driving her Jeep to the library and was contacted by Adams County Sheriff. Apparently her license plate registration is past due (neither of us had checked in a while, dummy mistake on our part), but when he ran her license he told her it was "denied". Not suspended. Not under revocation. Denied. He asked if she was aware that her license was "denied" and she didn't even know what that meant. He told her she shouldn't be driving, and that this had been in effect since June of 2008. She NEVER received anything from the Dept of Motor Vehicles saying anything about an issue with her license. She doesn't have any moving violations. Just a couple parking tickets from Denver that need to be paid. She had honestly just forgotten about them. Then the officer told her that he would just give her a court summons instead of impounding the car, because he "trusted" that she would just drive home and not drive again. Her summons is for expired registration and for driving with a "denied" license.

Here's where it gets weird. She called the Dept of Motor Vehicle License Division, and talked to a high-up manager. He looked at her license record and said that it isn't "denied" and has no idea what the officer was talking about. Her license isn't suspended, it isn't revoked, and more over, there's NOTHING in there referring to the year 2008 that would indicate anything similar. She called the court and they had NO idea what the officer was talking about either. They said that they would tow a car if it was illegally parked, but from that location, not after an officer made contact with someone. Or they would boot the car, but they said that unpaid parking tickets have NO bearing on one's license.

So she's going to be calling the police station itself this morning to ask, and to challenge why was a ticket even written for "driving while license denied."

....? Any LEOs have any input? How would the officer even be able to run her license and come up with something completely different than even the DMV has on file? Aren't they looking at the same database? How come both the DMV and the Court have absolutely NO idea what this guy was talking about?

BTW: She's pretty sure it wasn't an impersonator. It was a fully marked, Adams County Sheriff car, he had a complete uniform, his badge number and name are on the summons, and it was a legitimate court summons.

FORGOT TO ADD: Oh yeah, AND he fingerprinted her when she signed the court summons! Right there, on the spot. I've never had this happen before. Is this new standard procedure?

[Ronin13]

I'm no LEO, but I would contact Adams County Sheriff and first find out if said Deputy is actually on the department, then contact the court and see if she actually has to make an appearance. If yes to the court appearance, get all necessary documentation either in person or faxed from DMV and bring it to court (or even before the summons date go to the court house and see if you can handle it). There may be a need to pay some sort of court fees but odds are if there was an error and her license is (as we can assume) valid the whole thing should be thrown out.
Good luck, this sounds like maybe the deputy entered the DL# wrong or something.

[BPTactical]

I would get a letter from DMV attesting to her having a license in good standing then go visit ADCO and ask them to explain the officers statement while they are reading said letter.

[TFOGGER]

What is the code section on the summons?

As far as I knew, the only official statuses for a DL were valid, expired, restricted, suspended, or revoked...but I'm not LE or DMworthlesslazybastardV...

[Lex_Luthor]

She called the police department, and the woman she talked to had no idea what the officer meant by "denied" license either. I would assume that she does still need to go to court because of the expired registration part of the ticket. But the other half is very strange. She did say that she is familiar with the officer who wrote the ticket and asked if she wanted him to give her a call or his Sergeant. My fiance suggested that the sergeant giver her a call. The woman she talked to also said to ask about being fingerprinted too, whether or not it's standard procedure.

[Ronin13]

Never in all my years have I heard of someone being fingerprinted during a traffic stop? Something sounds fishy here... were there black vans parked in areas that offered good lines of sight? Maybe she got Punk'd...

[Lex_Luthor]

The code for expired tags as written on the summons was 038 (she thinks, trying to decode the officer's handwriting.

The code for "denied" license he wrote 078

-- She also talked to Denver Parking Violations and they ALSO had no idea what was going on, that parking violations have no bearing on one's license status.....

[Jumpstart]

Fingerprints,.... during a traffic stop? That sounds way, way out of bounds to me.

[TFOGGER]

Found this on the Colorado Dept of Revenue site:

http://www.colorado.gov/cs/Satellite?c=Page&cid=1207900868757&pagename=Revenu e-MV%2FRMVLayout

Revocation: A mandatory restraint action on a valid driver's license or driving privilege. A revoked license is invalid and cannot be re-issued. After reinstatement of your driving privilege you must re-test (both written and drive) to be issued a new license.
Suspension: A temporary withdrawal of the driving privilege. A suspension is a restraint action but does not void the driver's license. A valid license may be re-issued upon reinstatement. A license that has expired must be renewed upon reinstatement. Point suspensions require a written test at renewal.

Denial: A restraint action when no valid license exists at the time of restraint.

Cancellation/Denial: Actions to void a Colorado license and deny the driving privilege. Reinstatement is required and passing of a written and a road test is mandatory.

Cancellation: This action will void a valid Colorado license. A cancellation by itself is not a restraint action and does NOT require reinstatement if complied with in a timely manner. Another license/permit may be issued, unless the reason for cancellation is still outstanding.

Possible causes for restraint:
http://www.colorado.gov/cs/Satellite.../1218536116688

[BlasterBob]

She doesn't have any moving violations. Just a couple parking tickets from Denver that need to be paid. She had honestly just forgotten about them.

I sure hope this does not make me look like an insensitive old fart but "forgetting" to pay a traffic ticket of any kind is, to me, about like "forgetting" to pay your Federal income tax - things that just can't be overlooked or forgotten. On the upside, at least the car didn't get booted, hauled off, impounded and then costing a small fortune to retrieve it. It will be interesting to hear more about that fingerprinting thing. Good luck.