The blue lights flashed behind me and I thought, hmm. What was I doing? Speeding? No. Blinker? No. Hmm wonder what was the reason? I pulled into a bank parking lot and he pulled behind and blocked me. I felt anxious. I fumbled for my phone (in my purse so that wasn’t the reason). I looked for my license, my insurance card.
My mind flashed to Daunte Wright. Should I put my hands out the window where the officer could see them? Or on the dashboard. Of course not, I’m white.
Officer Blue, a large black man walked up to my window. “Hello,” he said. “ The reason I stopped you today is your tag is suspended by the state.”
“What? Why? I’ve never heard of that.” I told him I have car insurance and a current tag. He asked for my license and said he’d be back in a minute. Again, my thoughts drifted to Daunte while I waited. He must have been scared. Aren’t we all a little scared when cops pull us over? I pulled out my insurance card, it was expired. But I know I’m current on my insurance. I fumbled for my phone and took a photo of the squad card. Why did I do that? I went to the Geico app, what’s my log in and PW? I couldn’t remember. Oh God, here he comes…
Officer Blue says, “Your current on your car insurance and tag is good for 2021, but you have a state tag fine outstanding for the suspension.”
“What does that even mean?” I ask.
“It means at some time your car insurance lapsed and they notified the state to suspend your tag,” he says.
I go on, “I’ve not been notified of suspension. I’m sure there’s a fine. How do I pay the fine? How much is the fine? Can I pay it online?” Officer Blue explains that I have to go down to the Dekalb Tag Office and pay the fine.
“Oh and by the way, here’s your ticket for a suspended tag. I gave you until July for a court date to get this settled. That’ll give you plenty of time,” he says.
“Thank you,” I say.
I take the ticket and the Officer wishes me well and I’m on my way. Driving home, I thought I’m lucky and privileged. I reflected. I had no idea I had a suspension.
What if I were black person with a suspension, would the Officer have been so accommodating? Would he have asked me to get out of the car? What if I were poor and didn’t have the money for all of the above, but I needed to drive to work to pay the bills? Would I drive with a suspended tag? Probably.
Daunte Wright got stopped for an expired tag and an air freshener hanging on the rear view mirror. There was a warrant for his failure to appear for the expired tag. He also had a misdemeanor for carrying an unlicensed gun. Did he have the money for the tag, the car insurance, the emission inspection, the fines? Maybe not. Did he panic? Probably.
How many citizens are incarcerated because they can’t pay fines or cash bail. In Dekalb County, about 300,000 out of the 514,000 are in jail because they can’t pay fines for misdemeanors. If you can’t pay the fines, judges have the option to put you on probation and give you a payment plan. Sounds convenient, right? But our probation system is outsourced to a private company who wants to make a little money of your fine. So your $135 traffic fine is now a $287.00 fine. Can you imagine going on probation for not paying a traffic ticket? Our probation rate is 4 times the national average with more than 500,000 Georgians on probation…we’re the nation’s probation kingpin.
What if you can’t make your payment plan while on probation? Well, you go to jail. Jailing the poor is our modern day debtor’s prison and you and I, the taxpayers are paying for it. There’s got to be a better way of dealing with this. Maybe jail was on Daunte’s mind…debts owed, warrants and being arrested.
I’m lucky and privileged that whatever my fine amount, I can pay it. Lucky that I have money for a tag, money for an emission inspection. Lucky that I can pay for my car insurance. Lucky that I can take the time off to go to the DeKalb Tag office, take a number and wait for my turn to deal with this. Lucky that I can pay the ticket.
I’ve been listening to the Chauvin trial online. It made we weep when George Floyd called out for his momma while dying. Daunte Wright was on the phone with his momma when the cops drug him out of the car. When we’re in trouble we want our family, we want help. First thing I did after my interaction today was tell my husband. If my momma were alive I would have called her too.
Yesterday I drove to the tag office, paid my fine of $128. Once back at the office I logged onto
Decaturpayment.com to pay my traffic ticket Officer Blue gave me...
it was $1100 and I’d have to go to court to pay it. I called Geico and they are making it go away. I have two Honda Civics and Geico cancelled the wrong Civic insurance policy. So they’ve updated the records in the DMV system.
I am lucky... but if I were poor, how in the world would I pay this ticket? It’s astounding.