Yesterday, while driving towards the Aiea offramp from the airport, a motorcycle cop came out of nowhere and pulled me over. He asked me for my recon paperwork to make sure that my “wing” is included in my permit. I told him that my 2004 Subaru Impreza WRX STI come stock with the wing in question. He blurted out, “So you’re telling me that Subaru made a wing for their cars that will obstruct your view?” So I just responded, that I am telling him the truth. He told me that my recon is not valid because of the wing and that I have a carbon fiber trunk, and was going to confiscate my recon and take off the sticker. At this point, although I know that he is wrong, I didn’t want to aggravate him and issue me more tickets. I was still very composed and respectful despite the abuse. Obviously, he is loving his power trip oblivious to the fact that I had a very important dinner meeting that I needed to attend to and I already had a very long day.

So, he went back to his motorcycle and in my rearview mirror I saw him talking with someone on the radio. Apparently, I guess someone had enlightened him about why STI’s have wings because he came back and told me that he is NOT taking away my recon permit, but since he wrote the ticket already for “Illegal Recon” he wrote in the comments: Carbon fiber trunk after recon. He did not mention anything about the "wing issue that he originally pulled me over for. He told me that I just needed to update my recon and fight this ticket and that the judge will just drop it. At this time, he also said, I think your tint is illegal but I told him that I just got my safety check at Goodyear and I saw them using a tintmeter and logged my reading in the safety check. He took out his shades and said, “Oh yes, it looks legal”. Frustrated and irritated, and running late for my dinner meeting, I just signed it because I know that I am fighting this $70 ticket big time.

The reason why I am posting this is not to create hatred towards HPD but to create awareness about how flawed this Reconstruction Permit is here in Hawaii. I have a lot of respect for our men and women in blue, but some of these rotten apples are spoiling it for everyone. I will be writing a letter not only to the judge, but to the Police Commissioner and also send a copy to my State Representative.

UPDATE: I called the Recon Office this morning and I asked if I needed to update my recon for a carbon fiber trunk and I was told that I DO NOT need to. I was almost insisting to come in but they told me to just tell the judge that I called them up and most definitely the ticket will be dismissed.

 

sorry about that ted, i hope you get things taken care of. once, a cop thought my wing was aftermarket as well.

 

That's messed up! Now you gotta take time off of work to go and get that issue taken care of. He could have just voided out the ticket since he knew that it was gonna get dismissed.

I had a cop on foot patrol pull me over in Waikiki once when I had my '74 Corolla SR5. He looked over my recon paper and told me that he had to give me a ticket for my Auto Meter Tach. I was like wth?!? are you serious?? I asked him to show me where it said anything about instruments on the recon. Nothing! He also tried to tag me for my wheels. Stating that it was different from what I had on the recon sheet. I had widened SR5 steels on the back and stock ones on the front. I tried explaining to him that the wheels were stock but he didn't wanna hear it. I told him to look at the center cap that had the 'Toyota' emblem on it. He didn't know what to say after that. All he had to say was "Stay out of trouble & have a good night". I was kinda upset that he pulled me over and tried his hardest to give me a ticket for stupid stuff but, I couldn't help but laugh at his ignorance.

I admit that many officers don't know what some cars come with stock. If they're gonna give someone a ticket for something, they could at least be sure that the violation they're citing them for is legit.

 

don't worry jimi, this is an easy one. i think going back to stock or going to a different car platform is becoming more of a reality to me.....



















nah, maybe not!

 

I think it was a good thing that you were able to keep your composure & be cool about the whole thing... even though you knew he was wrong the whole time. I didn't think the CF hood was a recon item. What a pain though, having to go through all the hassles. Can you just submit a written letter or are you planning on contesting it & explaining it to the judge?

And another thing... this is really just b/c he already started to write the citation? Are they not allowed to discard the citation due to an error in judgement?

 

Another reason why recon laws are just retarded. Do you really expect these police officers to take time off from eating donuts to learn what comes stock in every performance car?

Now you're gonna have to waste your time going to court to fight it.

Remember, cops can't ever be wrong. Too bad I can't write a ticket to them for stupidity.

 

i thought i did a very thorough research about recon requirements and i was positive at that time that i did not have anything "illegal" with my mods. but i did not want to argue with him because he looks like a rookie cop to me and obviously don't know what he is talking about.
I am planning on writing a letter to the judge to contest this ticket since my schedule at work is very tight. And yes, he told me that "since I'm a very cool guy, I will not take away your recon permit, but I need you to sign this ticket."

 

carry a copy of the recon laws next time lol... CF is not a required recon item but you can list it on your recon paperwork however make sure you rip off the label that says off road use if it does have it

 

Back in 99 when I first bought my 2.5rs, I used to work in Waikiki. I got pulled over at Hilton Hawaiian Village, and the officer was giving me grief about the factory wing despite me telling him it was stock. It got to the point that he called for back up and i then had 4 officers eyeballing and scoping my wing.

Finally, after 30mins, one officer asked me to open the trunk to see if they could "determine if I modified my trunk lid to mount the supposed stock wing", I popped it and lo-and-behold, I still had the factory brochure in the trunk that I forgot about. They all took turns reading it and finally let me go, after talking to me about the car and taking pictures of themselves next to it! WTF?!?! Needless to say, I stashed the brochure under my drivers seat after that.

Ahh, the good ol' days..lol..

 

good idea, i took mine out a few weeks ago while cleaning but its going right back in!

 

Woah Ted!! Meng at least he diddent tag ya for other stuff.......like "loud exhaust". Lately those guys been beating that area to DEATH.

 

Yeah ted, i hear ya. I've been followed for miles, then pulled over, only to be told that my rear wing on my wagon is illegal, and also rear stickers are illegal. I was upset, told him the wing is stock, and he said i was being a smartass, and was gonna take me in. I also said about rear stickers, what about all those people with trucks and suv's with the large in memory of type stickers blocking view. All i have is the small colin mcrae memoriam sticker.
He had the nerve to say who was that, one of your ricer friends who died street racing? I almost lost it, and told him he needs to respect the deceased, and shut his mouth. He said he was gonna take me in for talking back to a cop. I told him to take me in, but first call it in, so they know what i'm being brought in for. Just then his sargent pulls up, and asks if he needs help. But the cop said no, and the sargent chastized him for bothering me, and apologized. I drove off quite upset, but thesde things happen here. It's called profiling, and i'm sure many cops enforce it.

 

recon is bs.

we're the only island with it and thats messed up.

if we jump on the superferry to maui we should be all good cause theres no recon there.

FCK RECON!!!!!!!

 

HPD at its finest.

 

yeah, that's why i just played cool since i know that he was out on a mission...yeah, i've been seeing a lot of cars being pulled over between the hickam AFB and pearl city lately. there are like 10 bike cops in this area almost everyday during the rush hours. i can see them watching the carpool lane and speeders on the other side, but now i know that anyone's fair game. what a way to waste taxpayers money.