So, the police stole my buddies car trailer...

[bcoop]

What we have here is an analogy recognition failure.

Not really.

[Baron Von Crowder]

I got news for you guys, a lot of cities are doing this now days. We have a commercial vehicle lot that has all kinds of trailers in it. Big business. I have a trailer my brother bought new in Alabama that he gave me. Said he would have to look for the title. I said I would just register it as a home made. Been that way for 10 yrs. Guess that could cause me some shit

Ours was from out of state, and we didnt have the ability to tell what the vin was or if it ever had one. PD said it should have a sticker, since there isnt one etched in. We're just proper fucked, due to circumstance.

[Nash B.]

I wouldn't believe a word that comes out of the police chief's mouth about any of this because his department gets money from it. I do like him trying to blame the guy who is out taking his time to mentor young folks though. I guess if he can steal from a Cub Scout troop he'll do that next.

No really he "Moved to Florida" lol

exactly

Also if it is sold at auction, I believe they will be issued some paper work and a new VIN will be assigned to it.

so it's illegal for the guy the coach bought it from to possess and sell it, and its illegal for the coach to possess and sell it, but it's OK for the police to seize it and sell it, and since the police sold it, it's suddenly legal to possess? You don't see a problem with that bullshit? The coach didn't steal it, and the guy he bought it from might not have even stolen it (why would he register a trailer he stole?). It should go back to the coach

[Baron Von Crowder]

exactly
so it's illegal for the guy the coach bought it from to possess and sell it, and its illegal for the coach to possess and sell it, but it's OK for the police to seize it and sell it, and since the police sold it, it's suddenly legal to possess? You don't see a problem with that bullshit? The coach didn't steal it, and the guy he bought it from might not have even stolen it (why would he register a trailer he stole?). It should go back to the coach

I feel the same way. In our case, there isnt a way to prove it was or wasnt stolen. Shoot us a ticket, fine, whatever, have the assigned vin stamped in and send us on our way. Instead, the police get to keep (or sell, when they see fit to) something we owned outright.

[kingjason]

I feel the same way. In our case, there isnt a way to prove it was or wasnt stolen. Shoot us a ticket, fine, whatever, have the assigned vin stamped in and send us on our way. Instead, the police get to keep (or sell, when they see fit to) something we owned outright.

So anyone could then just steal a trailer and grind off the VIN. I mean if all your going to get is a ticket. Hey, I get it, it sucks, and a lot of people do it. Doesn't make it right. There is a shit load of stolen trailers out there and if you ever had a trailer stolen you wouldn't feel this way. Easy way to fix this. Do away with BS homemade trailer tags. Either get a builders VIN like a street rod, or bonded title. I have seen very few actual homemade trailers in my lifetime.

[bcoop]

So anyone could then just steal a trailer and grind off the VIN. I mean if all your going to get is a ticket. Hey, I get it, it sucks, and a lot of people do it. Doesn't make it right. There is a shit load of stolen trailers out there and if you ever had a trailer stolen you wouldn't feel this way. Easy way to fix this. Do away with BS homemade trailer tags. Either get a builders VIN like a street rod, or bonded title. I have seen very few actual homemade trailers in my lifetime.

You're missing the most key part of this entire deal. Illegal for DJ's friend to own. Illegal for the coach to own. Illegal for the guy the coach bought it from to own.... But the police can own it, use it for their purposes and then they can sell it and profit from allegedly stolen trailer they confiscated.


You're usually pretty level headed, but you're absolutely dead wrong on this.

[Baron Von Crowder]

So anyone could then just steal a trailer and grind off the VIN. I mean if all your going to get is a ticket. Hey, I get it, it sucks, and a lot of people do it. Doesn't make it right. There is a shit load of stolen trailers out there and if you ever had a trailer stolen you wouldn't feel this way. Easy way to fix this. Do away with BS homemade trailer tags. Either get a builders VIN like a street rod, or bonded title. I have seen very few actual homemade trailers in my lifetime.

20 years ago, it was cheaper to buy a trailer kit at the supply house, take it home and spend a weekend welding it up. I built a bunch of them at school, and got a donation to the FFA/VICA programs. They sure enough looked like a manufactured trailer, since they were the same as the welded up/assembled ones. How would you be able to tell?

I agree on the need for the law to change to eliminate this issue. What I dont agree with you about is that LEO's are ahead of the law here, and are profiting off the loopholes they have created/found.

AND BTW, Ive had a trailer stolen, along with quite a few other things, including my truck, guns, etc. Shit comes up missing frequently when your dad is slinging dope out of the house. So please dont tell me how to feel about this.

[Nash B.]

So anyone could then just steal a trailer and grind off the VIN. I mean if all your going to get is a ticket. Hey, I get it, it sucks, and a lot of people do it. Doesn't make it right. There is a shit load of stolen trailers out there and if you ever had a trailer stolen you wouldn't feel this way.

my dad had one of his trailers stolen and filed a report. It turned up a few weeks later but the police refused to do anything about it. I guess recovering stolen trailers isn't such a good business when they can't profit from it

[Ruffdaddy]

You're missing the most key part of this entire deal. Illegal for DJ's friend to own. Illegal for the coach to own. Illegal for the guy the coach bought it from to own.... But the police can own it, use it for their purposes and then they can sell it and profit from allegedly stolen trailer they confiscated.


You're usually pretty level headed, but you're absolutely dead wrong on this.

This exactly. The fact that cops feel they are entitled to these things is one of the growing reasons theyre losing public support.

You cant tell me with any bit of honesty that allowing cops to profit from this stiff is right.

[kingjason]

You're missing the most key part of this entire deal. Illegal for DJ's friend to own. Illegal for the coach to own. Illegal for the guy the coach bought it from to own.... But the police can own it, use it for their purposes and then they can sell it and profit from allegedly stolen trailer they confiscated.


You're usually pretty level headed, but you're absolutely dead wrong on this.

Oh I get why your up in arms about it, and I understand that point of view, I just think your missing the first harmful action. Buying damn near anything that goes down the road with no VIN should be a red flag to anyone. Use to be a legit deal when people were honest. So the PD finds it was stolen, the registered owner doesn't want it, then they sell it at auction (one example). I see no issues with that, for all I know the guy that possessed it stole it. Damn lucky they didn't file charges on these guys for possession of stolen property. My point of view comes from people stealing trailers left and right and just throwing home made tags on them. Or buying a trailer now days from some one with no title. When I was looking for a trailer a while back I don't know how many times I would call and some dip shit would tell me he had no title and to just go get a home made tag. I just bought a new one. I realize there are 52 examples of people that can build home made trailers, but there are 152000 out there on the road that are stolen (Not exact numbers).

[kingjason]

my dad had one of his trailers stolen and filed a report. It turned up a few weeks later but the police refused to do anything about it. I guess recovering stolen trailers isn't such a good business when they can't profit from it

Not true, that is chicken shit. Did they catch someone with it?

[kingjason]

This exactly. The fact that cops feel they are entitled to these things is one of the growing reasons theyre losing public support.

You cant tell me with any bit of honesty that allowing cops to profit from this stiff is right.

Personally I could care less if they just destroyed the trailer. However that's not what a lot of them do. We don't mess with them to much, unless it is something big and obvious. My uncle use to build warehouses and built many a nice trailer to haul his Harley. Only trailers I will screw with is big box trailers that are name brand.

[Baron Von Crowder]

FWIW, I agree that there should be an assigned VIN on homebuilt trailers, to eliminate this issue. I also think that the state should be more involved in keeping up with trailers... my MSO was handed right back to me on my ski trailer when I registered it. The only record of it is through registrations.

As far as the PD proffiting, that should not be allowed to happen. When the police are for-proffit, they can give up the tax money that comes in from our taxes. One or the other. Destroy the trailer if you want, but dont make a dime on serving and protecting us...

[Ruffdaddy]

Personally I could care less if they just destroyed the trailer. However that's not what a lot of them do. We don't mess with them to much, unless it is something big and obvious. My uncle use to build warehouses and built many a nice trailer to haul his Harley. Only trailers I will screw with is big box trailers that are name brand.

Exactly, either it goes to nobody or the cops shouldnt touch it in the first place.

[bcoop]

This exactly. The fact that cops feel they are entitled to these things is one of the growing reasons theyre losing public support.

You cant tell me with any bit of honesty that allowing cops to profit from this stiff is right.

I believe civil asset forfeiture laws will be a big campaign topic in the next 3-4 election cycles. I really hope so, anyways. And I hope legislators have enough sense to research the issue, research the abuses, and address them legislatively before some Joe Q Public goes on a killdozer rampage again. The time for reform is now.