Forum Discussion
spoon059
Sep 03, 2022Explorer II
20 years as a police officer...
Your tint is legal in Florida, but against the law in Maryland. A Maryland police officer can pull you over and write you a citation for the tint, its called reciprocity.
It has been my experience that if a judge learns that the tint was allowed in your home state, they will generally drop the charge. That is problematic for you to have to return to Maryland to fight the ticket though.
My suggestion is two fold.
1- Be courteous and considerate to the officer, and they will likely be courteous and considerate back to you. Conversely, act like a jerk to an officer and you shouldn't be at all surprised when they act like a jerk right back to you. In this circumstance, roll down ALL your windows so that an officer approaching your car can more easily see inside and quickly determine that you aren't a threat to them. Walking up to an unknown vehicle that first time and not being able to see inside will raise anxiety for any intelligent officer. Reducing that anxiety will go a long ways towards an amicable outcome for you!
2- If you are concerned about it, on top of being courteous and considerate, consider printing out the law from your home state declaring that the level of tint is lawful in your home state. There are 50 state with their own laws, I don't know every traffic law in my own state... let alone your state! If you tell me that your tint is legal at home and have paperwork to back it up (and followed point 1) then I am extremely likely to issue you a warning and be done with the stop.
Your tint is legal in Florida, but against the law in Maryland. A Maryland police officer can pull you over and write you a citation for the tint, its called reciprocity.
It has been my experience that if a judge learns that the tint was allowed in your home state, they will generally drop the charge. That is problematic for you to have to return to Maryland to fight the ticket though.
My suggestion is two fold.
1- Be courteous and considerate to the officer, and they will likely be courteous and considerate back to you. Conversely, act like a jerk to an officer and you shouldn't be at all surprised when they act like a jerk right back to you. In this circumstance, roll down ALL your windows so that an officer approaching your car can more easily see inside and quickly determine that you aren't a threat to them. Walking up to an unknown vehicle that first time and not being able to see inside will raise anxiety for any intelligent officer. Reducing that anxiety will go a long ways towards an amicable outcome for you!
2- If you are concerned about it, on top of being courteous and considerate, consider printing out the law from your home state declaring that the level of tint is lawful in your home state. There are 50 state with their own laws, I don't know every traffic law in my own state... let alone your state! If you tell me that your tint is legal at home and have paperwork to back it up (and followed point 1) then I am extremely likely to issue you a warning and be done with the stop.
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