Yes, it is true. Never let it be said that our Nation's capital is soft on crime. There have been recent cases of forgetful folks being arrested and sent to jail for driving a car with expired tags. Usually this is a minor infraction taken care of with a warning or ticket, but a few officers are taking the law to the limit and arresting people for the violation.

The law in D.C. actually allows for the arrest and jail time for letting your car tags expire, but it usually is just met with a fine. However, it seems that some officers are actually arresting and jailing people for this infraction. That's why AAA has gotten involved asking for an investigation into the matter. They are asking the D.C. council to review their policy on the matter.

The law grabbed the attention of the the AAA organization when, last year, a mother was arrested and jailed because of an expired tag. The mother had a 3 year old in the car with her, was picking up her other child from school when she was pulled over. The officer arrested the mother and told her that unless she could find someone to watch her children they would go to social services. She found a teacher that watched her children while she was hauled off to jail.

In most cases a person is pulled over and given a ticket and fined $100 if the tag has been expired less than 30 days. This sounds reasonable to me but to be fair here the law is written that it is illegal to drive a car with expired tags and is punishable by up to a $1000 fine and/or jail time up to 30 days.

Really though, aren't there more relevant criminals to go after than just the forgetful. D.C. has one of the highest crime and murder rates in the nation and the police are jailing people who forgot to renew their car tags?

And apparently it just depends on what officer pulls you over, most give you the standard warning or ticket, if you're the unlucky person of the day though and get just the right officer you will go to jail!!

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