Border Patrol WTF?

Was in Seattle for the holiday, decided to take a ride up to Bellingham on Friday. LFS Outdoor was having a great sale on fishing gear..all that good stuff. Anyhow, I digress.

Still have Rhode Island plates on my truck, same plates that have been on the truck since 2007, with valid registration.

Pull into the parking lot for the boat harbor, park the truck and walk down to check out the boats. Whilst parking, notice that there is a Border Patrol car parked behind me as I get out. Think nothing of it.

As I'm walking back from the docks, notice said Border Patrol Agent looking inside my truck, underneath - making notations. At about 15 feet of distance I acknowledge that I'm the owner of the truck, so he is aware that I'm not some random passerby approaching the vehicle.

Immediately, the Agent interprets me as a hostile threat. Hand him I.D., driver's license as well as my Dept. of Homeland Security-issued TWIC card (for my Captain's License). Repeated questioning, why am I here, did I meet anyone, where do I live, profession...

At this point in time, I'm shitting bricks. Maintaining a professional attitude, answering questions clearly, yes sir, no sir.

Three more Border Patrol vehicles arrive, as well as an un-marked F150. Agent asks me if there are any weapons in the vehicle, I give him an honest answer of, "Not to the best of my knowledge, sir - I am a commercial fisherman - there may be a knife in the truck that I forgot about.". This answer is interpreted as hostile. Truck is searched. No knives. This is in a parking lot of a crowded harbor, with kids and family's all around. I'm feeling like total scum at this point.

Agents repeatedly stated that the plates on the vehicle belonged to a "Honda". Which is impossible, due to the fact that I surrendered both the current registration and original registration with the identical plate number.

About 2 hours later I was told that I was free to go, although I "Should look into my license plates."

I did.

Contacted the RI State Police for clarification in the matter. Rhode Island issues both Passenger Vehicle plates and Combination Vehicle plates, with the type clearly marked in BOLD lettering on the plate itself.

I have a pickup, therefore I have COMBINATION plates. Yes, if you run my plate number as a Passenger Plate, a Honda is the owner.

I'm not bitching, haven't lost any respect for members of the LEO community, or anything like that. It's good to know that our country's enforcement is an active presence.

It's sad to think that of the 6 agents that were involved, none of them had the training or forethought to realize what type of plates were on the vehicle.

End rant.

 

thats crazy...I'd have been shitting bricks too. Glad to hear nothing actually happened though.

 

sounds like initially the dispatcher who typed in the plate made the mistake when running the numbers when that boarder patrol agent first called in it. dumbasses neeeds cross state training

 

i would have shitted my in my pants. lol

 

Do all states have combo plates like that? Maybe that's something they just haven't seen before and took all precautionary action as they should have. They don't know you and we're only doing their job so good for them! But sucks for you, I probly would've pee'd my los pantaloons and told them anything they wanted to hear!

 

There was probably a lot of drug deals and other illicit activity going on in that same zip code while you were being harassed.

 

2 hours later? wtf?

i mean, on the one hand, i'm glad they are so diligent.

on the other hand, hassling law abiding citizens who have done nothing wrong, and made to feel like "total scum" while they search your vehicle due to some mistake on their part?

i would be writing a letter to somebody in charge over at the local border patrol office.

 

Like I said, I'm glad that they are out there - and know that they were only following SOP. Still though, WTF.

 

Definitely not cool.

It's obviously not the reason for your ordeal, but you might want to check on WA and RI laws regarding relocation and vehicle registration. Your move from RI to WA probably required you to switch your license and registration to your new home. (IIRC, only Active Duty military can maintain out-of-state license/registration when they relocate to a new state.)

 

little ignorant on their part, and you were being completely cooperative, but it's hard to expect every leo to know all rules nationwide, but yeah judging by the tone of your post, i woulda been more pissed then you. good that you held your emotions

 

Sidearms tend to make you hold your emotions inside.

 

i think the faults on rhode island. come on, 100 people in a state and they issue the same license plate # to 2 vehicles? i mean come on, you cant expect law enforcement to know rules and by-laws of 50 states. you did good by not snapping and being cooperative.

 

LOL!

Having been born and raised in RI, I can assure you it's small in physical size but there are quite a few people (and cars) there. I left (courtesy of the USAF) over 20 years ago but, IIRC, the current population is well-over 1M people. That said, I do not understand the "need" to duplicate vehicle registration numbers either.

 

Roger, roger.

Again, I understand the Border Patrol's perspective.

Could have cared less about my TWIC. Would not accept it as ID.

 

You should of ran and see what would of happened lol nah man thats some freaky shit

 

License, registration, and proof of insurance is all they would have got from me. Registration would show the plates are correct, and even if they weren't they would have no justification to search my vehicle and question me about it. If they felt "unsafe" about the possibility of a knife or other weapon INSIDE the vehicle then I would stay outside until they were finished. All they were doing was fishing for something to charge you with, and luckily for you they came up empty. Let them figure out the plate issue for themselves.

 

Just wondering why you let them search your vehicle without just cause and your first question should have been "What is the problem officer?" It's likely that when they let you go it's because someone discovered their mistake with the license plate and rather than admit an error and say they were sorry for the inconvienience they just let you go like they are doing you a favour.

 

Personal opinion ICE is out of control and I am retired from a Sheriff dept. They have access to the federal data base and can tell you every thing you have ever done that involved law enforcement (so does any police dept.) don’t know your back ground but if any thing trips their trigger they are off and running. I cross into Canada a lot and the Canadians are just as pleasant as one could ask but coming back is another story. All of this started with homeland security and has gone down hill ever since they need to be better trained and I think in order to fill the ranks they hired people right and left. If some thing bugs them you are immediately guilty and that is some thing that really bugs me. I too have been stopped coming back and had every thing removed from my car and put on the pavement while I stand there with a passport, license, police card and any other piece of paper work I have and they still called the PD where I work to make sure I was who I said I was. The only thing I can suggest is to just smile sweetly and answer their questions exactly as they are asked and offer nothing more breath deep and go on your way.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6bVa6jn4rpE