BY KATHY CHANG
Staff Writer
JEFF GRANIT staff Anything hanging from your rearview mirror can cost you a $54 fine. Most people have their own perception and misconceptions about the police – good and bad – but some misconceptions can be answered simply by asking a member of a police department.
For instance, do cops operate on a quota basis to raise revenue for the town?
“One big misconception that some people have is the issue about quotas,” said Metuchen Capt. Robin Rentenberg, a 17-year veteran of the force. “It is absolutely illegal in New Jersey for either the chief [James Keane] or I to assign or even expect 20 tickets and 30 tickets a month.”
Rentenberg said their 28-member police department enforces many motor vehicle violations. “Traffic is a big issue in this borough [of 13,335],” he said. “Yes, some people get angry when we stop them. They ask if we have anything better to do than stop their vehicle, or why don’t we go after the bad guys.” Rentenberg said that since the department is aggressive with motor vehicle stops, people tend to think it’s the only thing their police officers do.
“They have to realize that motor vehicle stops and writing tickets is only one aspect of our job,” he said. Over the past few years, the Metuchen Police Department has averaged more than 6,000 moving violations a year. “People don’t realize that these stops also lead us to drug and warrant arrests, and either minor or serious offenses,” Rentenberg said.
One memorable traffic stop in Metuchen happened in March 2004 that yielded two suspects wanted for questioning in connection with a double murder in Alabama.
Cpl. J.P. Therrien pulled over a 1978 Dodge Aspen with no license plates at Main and West Cedar streets around 7:45 p.m. on that fateful Thursday. The Title 39 statute requires New Jersey residents to have two license plates, in the front and back of the vehicle. Upon patting down the driver, Samuel A. Hitt, 22, of Semmes, Ala., Therrien found Hitt in possession of a magazine for a semiautomatic weapon. Also in the car with Hitt were his wife of one week, Ashleigh M. Hitt, 18, of Mobile, Ala., and her brother, Kyle T. Smith, 22, of Linden. Further investigation revealed three guns in the car: a .45-caliber Colt revolver, a .45-caliber Smith & Wesson semiautomatic pistol and a .22-caliber Ruger semiautomatic pistol, police said. At least one of the guns was found to have been the property of Stephen Ellis, 48, of Mobile Ala., who was shot and killed along with his daughter, Stephanie, 16, the week before. Both were shot in the head.
Police said the Hitts had traveled to New Jersey in a red Chevrolet Cavalier, which broke down along the New Jersey Turnpike. They hitched a ride the rest of the way to Smith’s Linden residence. Smith was the owner of the Aspen. Later that week, the Mobile Register reported that Hitt and his wife were charged with capital murder and that the .22-caliber Ruger was believed to be the murder weapon. Rentenberg said it’s unfortunate that if someone has a bad experience with one cop, their opinion of all cops is skewed. “I always tell the officers that their interaction and image out there can affect all of us,” he said. “It’s very important for us to stay professional. Some people perceive us as the bad guy because we issue tickets, but we are just doing our job.”
Officer’s discretion
New Jersey Motor Vehicle Law Title 39 is ever changing and applies to everyone throughout the state.
“A lot of these laws are at the discretion of the officer,” said Rentenberg. “Some [officers] more than others stick to the laws. Many people get breaks, but if it’s a violation, it’s a violation.” For example, a person can be pulled over just for speeding but can end up with more than one ticket. “An officer can observe that they have dice hanging from their rearview mirror, which is a violation, and he or she can observe that they have a clear cover over their license plate, which is a violation,” he said. “The officer can issue three tickets for that stop if he or she chooses, or the officer can decide to issue a ticket for just the speeding. It’s to [the officer’s] discretion.”
Common violations
many people do not know
+ Obstruction of view. Nothing is allowed around the rearview mirror of a motor vehicle – that means no graduation tassels, religious articles, dice, handicapped placards or air fresheners. Title 39 – Obstruction of windshield for vision. “Handicapped placards are used for parking uses,” said Rentenberg, “and should be put away when driving. Before I became a cop, I put my graduation tassel around my rearview mirror, which is technically illegal.”
Christopher Struben, a defense attorney in private practice in Linden and a former Woodbridge municipal prosecutor for five years, said view-of-obstruction tickets are commonly given out by police at night. “It’s more difficult to see at night,” he said. “The ticket can be issued any time of the day, but I’ve seen them given more commonly at night.”
The view-of-obstruction violation also includes anything that is on the dashboard or in the back window. Some people put stuffed animals in their back window.
“Nothing is technically supposed to be on the dashboard or the back window,” said Metuchen Patrolman David Liantonio, who has been on the force for 12 years. “However, if it’s a small bobble-head doll, it’s unlikely that an officer will ticket someone, as long as it’s not excessively blocking their view.”
+ University and college alumni stickers and plate holders.
“The clear stickers on the back window or the license plate holders are OK as long as it’s not blocking someone’s view excessively,” said Liantonio.
+ Clear covers over license plates.
“The clear covers get dirty over time and it’s hard to read the license plate number,” Liantonio said. “And it doesn’t even matter if the cover is clean, it’s illegal.”
+ Tinted windows on the two front windows – driver’s and passenger side – and the front and back windshield are illegal.
“The violation is also for the officer’s safety,” Liantonio said. “If an officer approaches a vehicle and all the windows are tinted, it’s not safe.”
+ Colored lights. If a motor vehicle has colored lights other than the standard red and yellow lights, it’s illegal. “Anything that is not put on the vehicle by the manufacturer, it’s illegal,” said Liantonio.
+ Excessively loud muffler.
+ Headlights or back lights out or not working.
+ Not wearing a seat belt.
+ Cell phone use is a secondary charge. “For example, if an officer pulls someone over for speeding and observes that that person was on their cell phone, then the officer can issue the cell phone ticket,” said Liantonio.
+ Vehicles should stay in the right lane. “A state trooper could pull someone over for ‘failure to keep right’ …, even if you are going the speed limit,” Rentenberg said. “If there is traffic on the road, it’s different, but the left lane is a passing lane. In those situations, stay to your right.”
+Right to search vehicle – The Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution requires that arrests, searches and seizures must be founded upon probable cause – “well-grounded suspicion.” “Anything in plain view is fair game,” Rentenberg said. “Years ago, an officer could ask a person if they could search their vehicle, but nowadays we can’t. We need reasonable suspicion to search someone’s vehicle. For example, the officer could search the vehicle if he or she smells the odor of marijuana or alcohol,” Rentenberg said. “Or if a person is pulled over for running a red light and the officer observes movement in the vehicle, the officer can reserve his or her judgment to search the vehicle.” A person can then refuse or accept the officer’s request to search. “If the person refuses, we have to ask for a warrant,” Liantonio said.
Can an officer from another town pull a vehicle over that is not in his jurisdiction? “Yes,” said Struben. “The officer may issue a ticket and file it with the jurisdiction’s department that they issued the ticket in. I had someone come to me and he was issued a DWI summons by a Rutgers police officer. I made the mistake because I thought they were just limited to the Rutgers and UMDNJ campuses, but they do have the same ability as any other police officer.” If someone drives a friend’s car, which is uninsured … what happens? “It depends if someone knows or should know,” Struben said. “For a friend, it’s reasonable that the friend did not know that their friend’s car was uninsured. However, if it was a husband and wife, a spouse should more likely know if their husband or wife’s car is uninsured. In both situations, both parties will be ticketed for the same offense so they don’t play the blaming game.”
DWI – Driving while intoxicated “No one should get a DWI,” said Struben, who has dealt with a number of DWI cases as a private lawyer and a municipal court prosecutor. “A DWI charge is considered a violent crime. It costs the person a lot of money [up to $10,000] and it’s devastating to their families.” The law reads that if a person receives a DWI every 10 years, then a person can be charged with a first offense every time. However, if a person receives a DWI more than once within a 10-year span, then the offenses will add up. “For example, if a person gets their first DWI in 1990 and second DWI in 2001, then that person in 2001 will only be charged for a DWI for the first time,” said Struben. “However, if a person gets their first DWI in 1990 and second DWI in 1995, and another one in 2006, then that person in 2006 will be charged for their third DWI offense.”
The DWI law has recently tightened up on repeat drunken drivers after Raritan Township resident Bobby Czyz, a two-time world champion boxer, was improperly sentenced as a first-time offender following his second and third offenses in 1999 and 2000.
A bill co-sponsored by Assemblyman Upendra Chivikula [D-Somerset] and Peter J. Barnes Jr. [D-Middlesex] to prevent repeat drunken-driving offenders from getting off with lesser punishments was signed into law by then-Gov. James E. McGreevey in 2004. The new law requires prosecutors and judges to examine a convicted drunken-driver’s driving record before sentencing to determine whether he or she is a repeat offender. The discovery on Czyz was made after he was arrested a fourth time for drunken driving in Readington Township in February 2003. Czyz was eventually resentenced for the earlier convictions and stripped of his license of 20 years. During 2005, 16,885 people died in alcohol-related motor vehicle crashes, accounting for 49 percent of all traffic-related deaths in the United States, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
If a person is asked by a police officer if he or she has been drinking, does the person have a right not to answer? “The DWI statute states a person must take a Breathalyzer test, but a person can refuse sobriety tests and even to answer any questions,” Struben said.
The three federally approved “standardized” field sobriety tests by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration are the heel-to-toe [also called “walk and turn”]; one-leg stand; and the horizontal gaze nystagmus (the officer attempts to judge the angle at which the eye begins to jerk).
New Jersey law states that a person is guilty of drunk driving if he or she operates a motor vehicle with a blood alcohol concentration of 0.08 percent or greater.