I got pulled over last night on the way home from work, no front license plate.
When I pulled over I got my CCW permit and my drivers license out, CCW on top. When the officer approached I handed him both forms of I.D. and he seemed suprised by the CCW and asked if I was carrying.
My question is, do police not run the plates of the car they pull over before they approach the driver? In Ohio, where I reside, your CCW is tied to your license plate in the system.
Thanks
In Virginia if the officer runs the Virginia issued plate before getting out and talking to you it’ll show that the registered owner of the vehicle has a VA CHP.
I don’t think a Virginia officer will see any other states permits if running an out-of-state plate but I’ve been wrong before and it kinda felt like this. 
I just assumed, Ha!, that the officer would use every tool at his disposal to get as much info on me before approaching my car for his own safety.
It is not tied in here in Arkansas. When I run my wifes tag, it doesnt show she has a CCW.
So, it might not have told him.
~D
In TN it is tied to your D/L not your tag, so I won’t know until I run the D/L number.
same here…only with DL
Its legal down there to do that?, the state guys I talk to said its illegal to run plates for no reason/personal reasons in Va.
Not bashing or anything, just asking 
it was actually done to verify a change in vehicle when we did a trade in.
Yes it is illegal for personal reasons.
To answer your question no an officer does not usually run your plate before stopping you. The only way I will run someones plates before stopping them is if I am running plates while I am patrolling. Normally I run a persons DL/ID before running the tags. Now what you see while watching police shows is the officer calling the plate into dispatch. This is done incase there is a problem with the stop/person. To answer the other question your permit can be tied to your plates and/or your DL, it is usually both. I’ll give you an example of a stop.
Me: 213
Dispatch: 213
Me: busy traffic Atlantic and Myers VA plate KEU-5467.
Matt
In Ohio, if the car was in your name, it would have come up if the dispatcher ran the plate the officer called in. For whatever reason, the dispatcher also may not have relayed that info to the officer. (I’ve had that happen a couple of times).
Here its tied to your DL.
Interesting ?: will other states be able to see that if they run your DL? Possibly with RealID coming on line, but I can’t say for certain.
Varies state to state?
Officer Safety considerations vary from state to state, just as much as it varies from individual officer to officer.
In my neck of the woods, calling in the plate before making a traffic stop is SOP – even though many traffic officers from various locales often violate this principle, as they claim to not want to “burden” dispatch with the number of traffic stops the officer might make in a given shift.
Still, this is bad Officer Safety practice, regardless of the justification or the jurisdiction. At the very least, we would want to have the description and license plate of the vehicle – after we learn the officer was shot or killed. Sometimes, the first bullet does the trick, which happened in Sacramento County just about two years ago.
Further, CCW information is not attached to DMV registrations in CA, either. It will not be until we run the individual driver that certain records such as “guns registered to” will be revealed.
A good dispatcher will automatically start running the registered owner and advise the officer of the results even before contact is made, but it is not reasonable to assume this will occur on every stop.
In California, we tend to be pretty conscious of this stuff, since we have so many lawyers per capita and so much case law comes out of this state. Our Police Academies are almost 6 months long, compared to other states. That’s what happens when we live and work in “occupied” territory.
I hope that helps.
I’m trying to make the connection between him SEEMING surprised to you that you handed him a CCW and the assumption that he didn’t run your license plate.
CCW info is on the Drivers License (Dept. of revenue) database in MO.
That’s my understanding here in Ohio.
In my experience, a dispatcher “abridging” operator or registrant info is highly unlikely with OSHP, unlikely with county and hit-and-miss with municipals. Which one pinched you, hp35?
in our state the CCW’s are linked to the owner’s plates, and it will show. Most of the time though on traffic stops we give location, plates, vehicle description, then are out the door. Agree, there is valuable information that can be learned from running the plates prior to approaching the vehicle, but as most of us know it’s not the legal CCW folks that cause the problems.
Lumpy196,
in answer to your question it was a feeling I got and his reaction. I guess you would have had to have been there. I just don’t think he had a clue I could have been armed. I have been pulled over before, by OSHP and it felt like 5 mins. passed before the officer made it to my car. During this relaxing interlude I assumed the officer would have been gathering every bit of info on me before approaching.
I was driving through Grandview Heights, suburb of Columbus, so it was local PD.
Noted.
I got pulled over about six months ago in Culpeper - missed the 35MPH sign getting off of route 29 into town. Totally my fault - just missed the sign.
I slowed down, pulled into convenience store parking lot to avoid blocking traffic. My wife was terrified that if I didn’t tell the guy I was carrying I’d go to jail (I’ve had this conversation with her before). To make a long story short, he was polite and professional, I was polite and just admitted my mistake, and I received a verbal warning. Did he know I had a CCW permit? No idea. He didn’t ask, I didn’t say anything. I’m sure he must have run our plates.
As far as getting pulled over goes, it was a good experience.