|
So on the way to work this morning, heading down a busy 5 lane road at 45mph a cop heading the other way whips a U-Turn at full speed and after catching up a few blocks later pulls me over in the drive of my office. I ask what the problem is and he says I wasn't wearing my seat belt, which I was in fact wearing. He asks for my license and insurance and after running my info says he'll give me the benefit of the doubt and lets me go. It doesn't help that I'm a milk toast white guy with a spotless record. At first I was glad I got out without a ticket, then I have to wonder how the hell he would be able to see if I was or wasn't wearing my seat belt from 4 lanes away while going a combined 90mph. I've come to the conclusion that he just wanted to check me out because it's a small town (Azle, TX) that I'm new to. Have you ever been pulled over just to be checked out by the local fuzz and is this something that happens very often?
|
| # ? Nov 06, 2009 04:07 |
|
|
|
| # ? Nov 22, 2009 10:50 |
|
|
They're probably looking for a car or person matching your description. Either that or he was bored.
|
| # ? Nov 06, 2009 04:11 |
|
|
For several years my mom was dating this guy. During that time we often had police parking across from our home, and she'd regularly get pulled over for just about anything. My mom was averaging about two tickets a month sadly. I bought my first car from him, and was pulled over once by a cop who wanted to check the car for drugs. He told me I could either let him, or wait for a police dog. Being a kid back then I agreed, and then was let on my way. The sad thing is the rear end in a top hat went to prison owing my mother a great deal of cash. If I'd of known who he was I would have turned him in for the reward so loving fast. So you know any criminals? That would explain it. Otherwise the cop was just looking to do random searches. Liar fucked around with this message at Nov 06, 2009 around 04:18 |
| # ? Nov 06, 2009 04:15 |
|
|
Some cops are bored and/or dicks. If he says you weren't wearing your seatbelt but you were, it's your word against his. Who is a court going to believe, a cop or some guy? I've had similar things happen to me. I was riding with my mom in our non-descript 2002 Toyota Corolla, which I am pretty sure is the most bland, non-suspicious, middle class white person car you can drive. It was about 9pm, dark, nobody on the road. A cop drove past us going the other direction, my mom stopped at a 3 way intersection, and the cop who was about 2 blocks away flipped a bitch, turned his lights on and roared up to us at like 70mph (in a 35mph zone). He did the usual "You know why I pulled you over?" bullshit, and gave her a ticket for not coming to a complete stop at the stop line. Maybe his wife cheated on him and divorced him right before this happened. Maybe he got beat up a lot in high school. Maybe he was just a power tripping dick. Who knows. The majority of cops I have interacted with in my life have been raging pricks for little to no reason. Luckily though I have met a few chill cops who are good guys, and are legitimately trying to make the community a better place, and treat people fairly and with respect. It's because of those cops I've met that I don't have a "Yo dawg, gently caress da police!" attitude. I don't want the prick cops to ruin my perception of the whole bunch of them.
|
| # ? Nov 06, 2009 04:40 |
|
|
The word is "milquetoast", and I'm not sure it means what you think it means.
|
| # ? Nov 06, 2009 04:54 |
|
|
Liar posted:So you know any criminals? That would explain it. Otherwise the cop was just looking to do random searches. Yes, of the 6 guys who work for me now, 4 have done hard time and in fact one is on a work release program for the next 14 days. Oh hey, I'm also the new-guy boss trying to make 4 hardened convicts respect me - I smell sitcom!
|
| # ? Nov 06, 2009 04:57 |
|
|
Yep, in Texas, near the Louisiana border. I was driving with my brother to Florida from Colorado. The cops said I had passed over the white line on the side of the road, and I know I hadn't. I think they just saw out of state plates and tinted windows and were bored. They took me out of the car, patted me down, asked me a bunch of questions about where I was going, and asked me to open the trunk. They didn't search anything, just kind of glanced in the trunk. Then they let us go. I'm pretty convinced that they would have given me a ticket had I not cooperated, it kind of sucked.
|
| # ? Nov 06, 2009 05:11 |
|
|
Megabass posted:He asks for my license and insurance and after running my info says he'll give me the benefit of the doubt and lets me go. I love it when they do this. Oh no you caught me driving the speed limit in a jetta, exactly the profile for somebody wanted on interstate warrants
|
| # ? Nov 06, 2009 05:19 |
|
|
My mate got done after they introduced some new seatbelt laws in my state. He had a black shirt on and they couldn't see his seatbelt properly. Pretty jewish effort by that cop. He tried to write a letter of complaint which got denied. Another time I caught a train home with a friend after we'd been drinking in town and we went and sat in his car in the station carpark to listen to some radio and chill. Then some cops pulled up next to us so we thought they were going to try do him for something like possesion of a vehicle while drunk, so he chucked his keys in the back seat. They ask us to get out the car and the cop comes over to me, grabs my arm and says to his radio "I've got the guy in the green shirt. Please advise." I'm all like "What the gently caress? I didn't do anything!" Cop replies "Were you running on the train tracks just before?" To which I said "Hell no! Why? Did the guy have a green shirt on?" Then they let me go and drove off. (USER WAS PUT ON PROBATION FOR THIS POST)
|
| # ? Nov 06, 2009 05:23 |
|
|
I had POS Lumina that had been in several accidents filled with fast food wrappers and I was tired and unshaven. I was going 40 in a 35 and the cop pulled me over. Even I admit that I looked like a pothead, even though I'd never smoked in my entire life. My plates were a month overdue. Warning, right? No, he was within his rights to impound my car, and he did it in order to search my car. He said, "sit over there and wait for a minute," indicating that I shouldn't leave until he was finished with the search. I'm glad I could pay $400 in impound/ticket fees to satisfy his curiosity.
|
| # ? Nov 06, 2009 05:47 |
|
|
TheManWithNoName posted:They took me out of the car, patted me down, asked me a bunch of questions about where I was going, and asked me to open the trunk. They didn't search anything, just kind of glanced in the trunk. Then they let us go. No, actually you waived your rights and they proceeded to search your trunk, just not very thoroughly.
|
| # ? Nov 06, 2009 07:19 |
|
|
Most likely either your car matched the description on a bolo or he was fishing for warrants/drugs. A ton of criminals on the run (I'm talking guys with warrants, I'm not calling people with contraband criminals on the run) are captured through traffic stops. My friends and I got stopped a while back cause we looked suspicious. Me and 3 of my friends were out driving around at like 3am trying to get home after getting lost. We were going like 5 over and passed a gas station that had 4 squad cars sitting. All of them pulled us over and at least 4 cops were walking around the car with their flashlights looking around inside for anything in plain view. One cop asked us things like where we were coming from and what we were doing out there, neither of which had good (but truthful) answers. We refused a search when asked and got sent on our way with a warning. Our guess is that the police just assumed that 4 white dudes crammed in a little car coming from a bad part of town at 3am saying "we were just out driving cause we were bored" probably had drugs on them. Just make sure that if you do get pulled over like that, just deny any consent to search even if you have nothing incriminating in the car. Sure they can still say "I smell something" of something along those lines but it's much easier to get that suppressed in court than you saying "sure, search my car". Also, if a cop does pull a "I smell something" don't fight him on it on the side of the road, you'll just make your situation worse, save it for court. dotti posted:The majority of cops I have interacted with in my life have been raging pricks for little to no reason. Luckily though I have met a few chill cops who are good guys, and are legitimately trying to make the community a better place, and treat people fairly and with respect. It's because of those cops I've met that I don't have a "Yo dawg, gently caress da police!" attitude. I don't want the prick cops to ruin my perception of the whole bunch of them. Scruff McGruff fucked around with this message at Nov 06, 2009 around 07:41 |
| # ? Nov 06, 2009 07:24 |
|
|
Liar posted:He told me I could either let him, or wait for a police dog. It needs to get there in the time normally used to do whatever they do for that infraction and move on.
|
| # ? Nov 06, 2009 07:24 |
|
|
Scruff McGruff posted:Also, if a cop does pull a "I smell something" don't fight him on it on the side of the road, you'll just make your situation worse, save it for court. Woah, this isn't right. You should definitely say something along the lines of "I don't smell anything officer". Don't drag it out, but maintain that position, you have nothing to lose.
|
| # ? Nov 06, 2009 07:38 |
|
|
My friend and I were checking to see if there was a parking spot available at the train station for later in the day (there are very few spots) on our way to doing something else. An unmarked police car saw us, and called it in, and as we left the station parking area another cop came and pulled us over, asking what we were doing at the train station. Apparently there are a lot of break-ins at the train station, and we explained that we were only looking for a spot for later, which the cop simply did not wish to believe. The cop that called us in eventually arrived at the scene, and insisted that one of us had gotten out of the car, which neither of us had done. Luckily my buddy knew the cop that pulled us over in the marked car (not due to previous run-ins with the law), so he let us go.
|
| # ? Nov 06, 2009 07:42 |
|
|
yatagan posted:Woah, this isn't right. You should definitely say something along the lines of "I don't smell anything officer". Don't drag it out, but maintain that position, you have nothing to lose. That's fair, I meant more along the lines of trying to physically keep the officer out of your car. Massasoit posted:My friend and I were checking to see if there was a parking spot available at the train station for later in the day (there are very few spots) on our way to doing something else. An unmarked police car saw us, and called it in, and as we left the station parking area another cop came and pulled us over, asking what we were doing at the train station. Scruff McGruff fucked around with this message at Nov 06, 2009 around 07:53 |
| # ? Nov 06, 2009 07:42 |
|
|
Back in high school when I was working at pizza hut as a deliver driver, the local police would frequently tail my truck and keep their distance attempting to catch me speeding to my next delivery customer. It really pissed me off too, as I actually was in a really big rush some nights when the other drivers would call in and i was running a triple on my own attempting to make good time and rack up some decent tip money without having the customer mad at me for bringing them cold food. One of the worst parts was everybody outside of work that I told thought I was being paranoid, while my co-workers all agreed and had been pulled over before when not noticing them following their car. It's like as soon as they see the big PIZZA HUT triangle on the top of a vehicle they instantly go,"Yeah, they're going to speed on the job and I need to round off the night with another ticket before clocking out to make quota. Let's follow this kid and gently caress up his day and get him in trouble with his boss just for kicks." Luckily my store manager was the coolest dude i've ever worked under and was great and bullshitting about his drivers speeding on the job to the cops whenever they came in for the lunch buffet.
|
| # ? Nov 06, 2009 07:49 |
|
|
Story from the UK: After playing pool with a few buddies, went back to the car at around 5pm, got in and drove off. Within minutes we had 3 police cars surround us, one of them bumping into the side of the car, and I being the driver was dragged out of the car and restrained. Turned out that a woman in the same car park had had her car broken into minutes before, and had seen us leave and reported us to the police. She had a CD player and some discs stolen, which just so happened to be what my friend had under his jacket, but how they knew this from seeing him inside the car is a mystery. (it was the mid 90's so ipods didn't exist and if you wanted portable music you needed to carry your cd collection round with you). We spent 2 hours at the police station after this, trying to explain to the police that there is no way that we were doing anything wrong, and that it was doubtful a 30+ woman would have a collection of CD's including Napalm Death, Bolt thrower and Morbid angel. When they finally let us go, they warned us about looking suspicious in future, and refused to pay for the damage to my car. (apparently I tried to ram them while going sideways). This isn't a hate the police rant, as most of them I've encountered have been decent enough guys, but the police force at the small village I came from were all cunts, bitter about the fact they would never get to work in a city. For a more positive story, when I moved to the city, and got attacked while riding public transport, I managed to flee, and saw a police car parked right over the road. The guy had finished his shift, but went in pursuit of the bus with me in the back of the car, arrested the 3 guys and spent the rest of the evening with me documenting everything even though he could have gone home and passed the job onto someone else.
|
| # ? Nov 06, 2009 12:07 |
|
|
Happened to me in a small town in Texas. I recently made a trip out to Sno's BBQ, supposedly the best BBQ in Texas (Coopers is better fyi!), which is in this really tiny town. One of my friends notices a riding lawn mower with a shotgun holster on it and simply MUST take a photograph of it. So I park along the side of the road and he gets out and runs over to the mower. Meanwhile a cop drives through the intersection just a block away and we can see him looking at us. After he passes through the intersection, he stops, goes into reverse, backs through the intersection and turns down the street to come towards us. My friend takes his photo of the mower and runs back to the car and jumps in. The cop simply glares at us as he slowly, very slowly passes by and continues on his way. Life in Texas: BBQ, riding lawn mowers with shotgun holsters, and good ol' boy cops. 
|
| # ? Nov 06, 2009 12:18 |
|
|
Does it count if you enter a closed park after hours to search for house keys  My friend and I were into geocaching a few years ago, and basically tried to knock off all the listed locations in our town. Since they were grouped in a lot of parks, one of our favorite things was going later in the day and night to find these things with flashlights and whatnot. On one of those visits my friend managed to lose his house keys, so we had to drive back to the park to search (he later found them in his loving backpack). As we are walking back down the trails, with big gently caress-off 4 D-cell maglites lighting our way, we see some people coming towards us. In a little over 10 seconds, 3-4 squad cars came flying into the park lights blazing. Turns out that afterhours drugs/sex was popular at that park, so they had a loving sting going at that location. In our case the cops had a good laugh about it, as I was explaining the geocaching ways, our multiple GPS receivers, showing off our array of huge flashlights and other things. No warning besides being told the park actually closed like 2 hours previous at sundown. No backpacks searched, no car searched, nothing. Just two teenagers with more flashlights than the local cops
|
| # ? Nov 06, 2009 16:29 |
|
|
I was wheeling in the Ocala National Forest very late one night. I was doing a pretty good speed down the dirt roads. Out of nowhere, blue lights behind me. It was a policeman or park ranger or something. He asked what I was doing. "Wheeling" I said. I looked pretty suspicious, I must admit. He asked if he could search my truck. I said, "sure." He pulled some stuff from behind my seats. Camping gear, tools, etc. He about lost his poo poo when he saw my huge handheld spotlight. I went from suspicious college kid to illegal deer poacher. He then FULLY searched my truck looking for guns, for an hour or so. He didn't find any, so he let me go.
|
| # ? Nov 06, 2009 17:12 |
|
|
I try to back law enforcement as much as I can but it really angers me to see them parked talking to each other. When I was growing up the law was always on the move. I remember everything from speed enforcement to plain jane walking the beat. It seem like in recent times I see more police officers waiting to respond then proactively protecting what they can when they can. The law is in place to PROTECT and SERVE.
|
| # ? Nov 06, 2009 17:50 |
|
|
I was pulled over twice in a period of 30-45 seconds while driving back from class during college. I had a headlight out and it was a Friday night and I'm guessing the police were looking for any reason to pull over cars in search for drunk drivers (which is understandable for a college town on a Fri night). No tickets or anything (and the second cop who pulled me over didn't know that I had been pulled over once before), just told I need to fix it.
|
| # ? Nov 06, 2009 17:51 |
|
|
I was trying to enter a night club once. The police was on guard that night, because of some crazy guy with a knife being around town at that time. I told them to check my butt for a knife, so they startet tapping it to search for my dangerous weapon of death.
|
| # ? Nov 06, 2009 18:05 |
|
|
clearly not a horse posted:I was trying to enter a night club once. The police was on guard that night, because of some crazy guy with a knife being around town at that time. I told them to check my butt for a knife, so they startet tapping it to search for my dangerous weapon of death. Okay, that seems perfectly reasonable. And your avatar is fitting.
|
| # ? Nov 06, 2009 18:45 |
|
|
nm posted:For the record, they can't actually hold you to wait for the dog. A dog sniff may not be a search but holding you and the car for the dog is a seizure. Could you clarify on this? I'm curious, does that mean that they cannot bring the dog until AFTER you've been arrested?
|
| # ? Nov 07, 2009 01:47 |
|
|
I was walking around downtown and it was hot, so I stopped into a convenience store and got one of those Stewart's cream sodas. I was walking around, sweating a bit, drinking my cream soda, and just chilling out, when a cop pulled over and bleeped his siren. He beckoned me over to the car, and I obliged. "What are you drinking there?" he asked. "Cream soda" I said showing him the label. He laughed. "Oh, OK. I thought it was a beer." "Ha." I laughed, too. "It does sort of look like one, doesn't it?" Such is the extent of my being checked out by police. Pretty boring, really.
|
| # ? Nov 07, 2009 01:57 |
|
|
One time I was walking home from a friends house carrying an LCBO (government run liquor store) bag. I had only had like 2 beers and was just strolling home listening to tunes at about midnight. Cop rolls up next to me, asks me where I'm going to/coming from, name, DOB etc. To give the impression of nothing to hide, I tell him. He runs my name and sees that 2 weeks prior I had been busted with some friends (but not charged) for joint possession of marijuana. He remarked that I had been busted with alot of weed, to which I replied "It was joint posession, it wasn't all mine." His reply: "That's what they all say." drat. After some more chit-chat he sent me on my way. If I recall correctly, I told him I was university-bound and he backed off a fair bit after that. Fortunately he didn't search me otherwise there would have been another bust. Whew.
|
| # ? Nov 07, 2009 02:41 |
|
|
In the US, if the police stop you (except when you're driving), the best course of action is to ask them if they are "detaining" you. They can only detain you if they have reasonable cause to suspect you're committing a crime. If they say they aren't you are free to walk away without supplying any information. This is something I wish I had known back when I was living in the suburbs, where walking past 12 pm is evidently enough reason to get stopped by the police.
|
| # ? Nov 07, 2009 02:54 |
|
|
Wicker Man posted:Could you clarify on this? I'm curious, does that mean that they cannot bring the dog until AFTER you've been arrested? The idea is that if the dog isn't nearby, they can't lawfully detain you for the amount of time it takes to ring up the K9 unit and drive it over. If they have the dog on the scene (or within a short period of time, I don't know specifically) they can use it to search your car since you aren't being detained.
|
| # ? Nov 07, 2009 03:04 |
|
|
extra innings lovin posted:The idea is that if the dog isn't nearby, they can't lawfully detain you for the amount of time it takes to ring up the K9 unit and drive it over. If they have the dog on the scene (or within a short period of time, I don't know specifically) they can use it to search your car since you aren't being detained. And there is precedent to toss dog sniffs if the officer just takes too long to write the ticket without obviously holding just for the dog (just delaying).
|
| # ? Nov 07, 2009 03:36 |
|
|
Yeah, the idea is that they can't hold you any longer than it would take to write the ticket. Basically, they can call for a K9 for a sniff but if it doesn't get there before the traffic stop would reasonably be concluded then they have to let you go. If they hold you extra long just so the dog can get there then the sniff will be tossed. But again, if the dog gets there in a "reasonable" amount of time then the sniff is fine, it doesn't already have to be there with the cop when he pulls you over.
|
| # ? Nov 07, 2009 04:07 |
|
|
Im in Australia, just a few days ago i was driving to the gym. I really wanted to catch a set of green lights, so i powered around this corner music blaring making an enthusiastic 'YEEAAAHHHH' face, but sitting at the intersection was a cop car who im fairly sure saw my yeah face. They eventually caught up to me, tailgated me for a while then pulled me over as i indicated to turn. First thing they asked me was if i had any previous activity with cops. i told them about the time i was in a car park conducting suspicious activity ( i was getting some ripe tobacco hits out of a bong, no weed on me). Then they asked if i had any bongs in the car (they were in my boot) i said no and then offered if they wanted to search my car, one said yes then the other said we wont bother. THEN they asked for my license, asked if i had been drinking (lots of beers on the back seat). Finished up with telling me to have a nice night and i went off on my way. I have a pretty stoner looking car, hate to think im some sort of target now.
|
| # ? Nov 07, 2009 04:53 |
|
|
When I was just out of high school, I had a beater car that was totally frankensteined. Lowered, the roof had been sawed off, different color fenders, missing trim, etc. I'd been pulled over once or twice in a couple years, always for speeding and I always deserved it. Otherwise I was a very clean living kid. never drank, never did drugs, I was high on life and so were my friends. I dented my trunk lid at one point so I replaced it with a junkyard one, only I was planning to paint it so I didn't install the handle, which had the license plate lights in it. In one month I got pulled over 6 or 7 times for not having license plate lights. Every time, the officers jumped into questions and accusations, grilling me about where I was going or where I'd been, did I have insurance, demanding the ID of all my passengers, step out of the car, what kind of car is it, one opened with HOW MUCH HAVE YOU HAD TO DRINK TONIGHT? just because there were 4 people in the car. Most of the time, the officer turned to leave and never told me why he pulled me over in the first place, I had to ask. Being pulled over twice a week for bullshit reasons got old fast. I put the handle back on and went back to my less-than-once-a-year-with-just-cause police interactions. I did spot a cop parked (engine running) with a headlight out shortly after that, and I pulled up and told him in the condescending cop tone I'd just experienced repeatedly that he better get that fixed. He just looked at me like  and didn't respond, but I enjoyed the poo poo out of it.
|
| # ? Nov 07, 2009 06:46 |
|
|
I have only been pulled over once, and it was a terrible experience. A cop started following me as soon as I turned onto a main road leaving my house, and he continued to follow me turn by turn across town (about 20 minutes) as I was on my way to a night class at college. Then he turns his brights on, and keeps following me for a few more minutes. Finally he pulls me over, leaves his brights on, turns his spotlight on me, and shines his flashlight in my eyes. He starts yelling at me about how I stole the plates for my car, and how I stole the decal for my plate. He is like berating me, and not letting me speak at all. Finally, I am able to show him my registration showing all is in order.  I guess you didn't steal the plate, but you sure did steal that decal. No, I just renewed last week, as you can see from the receipt. It shows you paid for it on 10/30/05, but that the decal expires on 10/31/05. Well, obviously that is a typo, since you can see that the decal serial number on my plate matches the one on on my registration receipt and the decal is for 2006. *Mumbles something, goes back to his car for about 25 minutes and comes back*He hands me a $200 ticket for illegal plates and expired registration. I try to argue with him, but he is having none of it. I go the next day to the DMV, they apologize for the typo, and said they unfortunately can make mistakes, but have never heard of a cop giving a ticket for it before. They change my expiration date to 10/31/06, and I get a notarized letter from the DMV saying this was their mistake signed by the supervisor and the person who made the mistake in the first place. I bring it to the courthouse, and they can't dismiss the ticket. I can either pay it, or go to trial. I pick trial. There was no jury, but it was me, the prosecutor, the judge, and the rear end in a top hat cop. After the cop and prosecutor get done explaining how shady I am (23 year old full-time college student with not even a parking ticket on my record), the judge asks me to state my case. I hand her the note from the DMV, she hands it to the prosecutor, who looks it over nods, hands it back to the judge, and the judge says "case dismissed". I had to miss class and take off work that day just because he felt like being an rear end in a top hat.
|
| # ? Nov 07, 2009 09:15 |
|
|
LloydDobler posted:I did spot a cop parked (engine running) with a headlight out shortly after that, and I pulled up and told him in the condescending cop tone I'd just experienced repeatedly that he better get that fixed. He just looked at me like You have balls my friend. That would be fun as gently caress but I don't think I'd have the brass to do it. People have ended up on The Shitlist for less.
|
| # ? Nov 07, 2009 14:30 |
|
|
Surprised the "Stop giving cops a hard time!" crowd hasn't posted yet. Last month me and my friend were driving down a 2 way avenue. There was a cop car parked on the opposite side of the road and took off going the wrong way and almost hit my friends car. My friend screamed "What the gently caress are you doing?! You almost hit my car!". Needless to say we got pulled over and harassed. Everything in/on the car was legal. They asked for his paperwork and all that jazz. I don't think they ran his info, as they came right back and tossed it in the car and told us "You guys got tickets coming in the mail" and they peeled off. We called the district's supervisor to file a complaint. He refused to saying we were punk kids who were in the wrong. Whatever. It's really hard to respect cops when they pull that poo poo. On the same subject kinda, is it legal to install a camera in your car and record the conversation when being pulled over??
|
| # ? Nov 07, 2009 17:30 |
|
|
Don't take it personal. And I have to comment, to the posters who complain about Police not being proactive enough but in the same breath grumble about being pulled over.. One has to see the irony! I can only speak for UK POLICE, however, if I cause you to pull over providing you're polite and reasonable you'll immediately be on your way in a few minutes. It's the ones who want to get difficult or obstructive who will find a delay to their daily struggle.
|
| # ? Nov 07, 2009 17:35 |
|
|
OMGLOLetcetc posted:
Yes, but don't be surprised if a cop gives you a hard time.
|
| # ? Nov 07, 2009 17:55 |
|
|
Xandu posted:Yes, but don't be surprised if a cop gives you a hard time. Your statement suggests that I should inform the officer that he is being recorded? Which makes sense. I was thinking of getting a small decal saying something like "Audio Recording Device On Board" but can't seem to find any.
|
| # ? Nov 07, 2009 18:14 |
|
Rate Thread:
