In the light of the latest police atrocities in the US I thought i'd ask this.



I've had a couple of bad experiences with cops over the years, how about you ?

I am a white male, so I don't need to worry about such things. And that makes me mad! The only time I have ever had a bad experience with police is taking a picture of me in front of the Fresno and Madera county court houses. I am trying to go to every court house in the country. That was it. I got hassled for it. Not cuffs, no jail. Just "that's illegal" from the deputies.

This is supposed to be the land of freedom and equality but legal citizens are being shot in the back. That is sick. Why should a black man being killed be nothing? Especially from the people who claim to love life and love Jesus and love the Bible? Those same people say this is a "Christian" nation. Prove it. What is the greatest commandment?

So far in the states I haven't had any issues, though I'm weary. Being Latino in a conservative state (albeit, not close to the border) worries me that with this whole immigration debate a cop might pull me over just because he thinks I'm illegal.

The only bad experience was in Puerto Rico. If there's one thing that makes my blood boil is cops breaking the law and then giving us tickets for doing so. In Puerto Rico you can only be on the shoulder if you have an emergency (duh, that's what it's there), but people used to drive there when all lanes were in a traffic jam. A law was passed prohibiting anyone from driving there. I'm at a long line on a toll booth. I'm the next one to go in when this patrol vehicle pulls up to my right (on the shoulder) and wants me to let him through. I didn't. He had no sirens on so it's clear this wasn't an emergency (besides, by the time, vehicles with emergencies like ambulances and firetrucks had the right to use the express lane). I paid my toll and went on. A few miles up ahead, the same patrol vehicle pulls me over. He said he was concerned that the friend on the back didn't have his seatbelt on. When I lowered the window in the back, he showed that he had his seatbelt on after all. The cop hesitated, walked around my car, and then let me go. My guess is that he was looking for an excuse after not letting him go through the toll booth.

Quoting seb146 (Reply 1): What is the greatest commandment?

Love God above all else (and your neighbor as yourself)*

*Certain restrictions apply. Not applicable (but not limited) to blacks, non-christians, LGBT, communists, liberals, among others. For more details, check with your nearest priest to confirm if your beliefs, roots, background, nationality, sexual orientation or IQ make you worthy of God's love.

Yes, on one occasions a police officer misrepresented the true facts of an event in court. Luckily I had a skilled lawyer on my side, who dissected his statements to the point it was obvious he was either lying or making things up as he went along. I got acquitted.

The alleged crime, by the way, was a traffic offences. I had lost control over a vehicle coming round a turn, when the rear end broke out and I was spun 180 degrees around and into a bit of scaffolding. The police contested I had a) been driving recklessly, b) been over the speedlimit and c) had left the scene of an accident without making a report. Facts was that it was raining heavily, I was just starting having stopped for a red light and was thus driving rather slowly (witness came forward and testified that was true), a preceding vehicle had spilled oil (owner came forward and gave witness to that fact) and that I had indeed left the scene of the accident, but only to drive home (less than a kilometer) to report the accident on-line to my insurance company.

Not anything overtly dramatic in other words, but I've always known to be very sparse with my words when confronted by a police officer. Good thing about this place, however, is that the chance of getting shot by a copper is so remote it doesn't even register.

Not once. Why? I don't smart off to a cop, I don't run from a cop, and I don't do bad things that draw the attention of a cop. Death by cop while tragic, is going to persist so long as people fail to yield to authority. If people want to keep being stupid in their interactions with law enforcement then people will keep winding up dead. It really is that simple.

Come to think of it, the last time I got pulled over was for running a stop sign. I pulled over, got my ticket and moved on. That was almost 20 years ago. Regardless what people think, running is a bad idea. It's only going to lead to a less than desirable outcome. Smarting off isn't going to earn you brownie points either. Doesn't matter what color your skin is:

http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/news/58...8/taylor-lake-police-salt.html.csp

[Edited 2015-04-11 09:54:30]

Quoting Boeing717200 (Reply 4): Death by cop while tragic, is going to persist so long as people fail to yield to authority.

But sometimes 'authority' is not always in the right, to yield to. A good example would be Germanwings FO Lubitz, who passengers had trust and respect in being an 'authority' for their flight. If you get a bad cop (or cops) that are either psychotic or have a grudge against a certain demographic, do you just give up, and risk being beaten, falsely charged and jailed, or try to save your freedom (and possibly life), and run?




LD4

Quoting Skydrol (Reply 5):

That's not what's happening here though. People are getting into confrontations with officers resulting in their death. They aren't getting pulled over and shot because a bunch of rogue cops are on a killing spree or found a new sport.

[Edited 2015-04-11 10:28:13]

In a bit more than 10 years behind the wheel (and not driving much as everything is very close to home) I got pulled over 6 or 7 times, usually late at night and for "reckless driving", once for running a red light in front of an unmarked cop car (with 4 cops inside !). I only got yelled at, no ticket or anything, something I attribute to several factors that in reality shouldn't matter :

- being white
- not being dressed like a rapper
- talking a good French (not projects' slang) and not trying to defend myself when I was obviously at fault
- driving an apple green Citroën C3 and not a souped up old BMW or Merc with a big tail (that actually should matter as you can't do any significant modification on a car legally in France, unless you get the modifications approved by the authorities, which is pretty much impossible).


I should have been fined and lost points on my license in at least half of those cases.

I just acquired a BMW 320i E30 coupe so I might have less luck in the future, I'll have to be more careful.

on a scale of 1 to 10, I've had two that would probably come in at 1 or 2, so nothing serious.

Was stopped and questioned when I was spotting and taking photos from the roof of a hotel parking garage near ORD. The cop was certain I was using my camera and long lens to play peeping Tom into rooms at the hotel. Only the fact that I had a photo album full of airplane pictures with me finally convinced him otherwise. This was back in the days before digital so I couldn't just show him the preview screen on the back of the camera.

The other time was a traffic stop where the officer was clearly in the wrong but absolutely insisted she was not which resulted in me having to waste time going back to the scene, taking photos, having to take a half day off work to go to court only to have the judge dismiss the case in about five seconds. I did get some great satisfaction in hearing the judge dress down the officer in open court though. Almost made it worth it  

I've never had a bad experience, just a guy with a smart mouth.

Got a ticket last year for speeding in Minnesota.
Cop pulled me over "Where are you headed today son?"
Me: "Back to school in Grand Forks."
Cop: "What do you study?"
Me: "Aviation"
Cop "Trying to see if you can get your car to fly?"

I was mad and laughing at the same time. Can't complain. I was hauling butt and he shaved 8 MPH off my ticket because I was polite.

If you are respectful and courteous you shouldn't have a bad experience. Especially if you were breaking the law. He's just doing his job. There are always going to be bad cops. But to tag them all as bad is just not good.
Pat

Quoting seb146 (Reply 1): I am a white male, so I don't need to worry about such things.

Unequivocal nonsense. Proven false by Santa Barbara Sheriffs just last week. Even in the 70's, one thing you did not want to do was take a certain elevator ride with pissed off Seattle cops. Race was not a factor in that equation. Nor was race a factor when I've been targeted by police for bs traffic stops. This whole police vs black has been blown up to mythical proportions.

Quoting B777LRF (Reply 3): Yes, on one occasions a police officer misrepresented the true facts of an event in court. Luckily I had a skilled lawyer on my side, who dissected his statements to the point it was obvious he was either lying or making things up as he went along. I got acquitted.

That was the proper way to handle an unfair situation with the police: Have your day in court to prove your innocence rather than try to fight it on the spot where there is 0% chance you will win.

Quoting Skydrol (Reply 5): If you get a bad cop (or cops) that are either psychotic or have a grudge against a certain demographic, do you just give up, and risk being beaten, falsely charged and jailed, or try to save your freedom (and possibly life), and run?

Can you share with us a single instance of the police stopping someone for the express purpose of killing them?

Quoting Boeing717200 (Reply 4): Death by cop while tragic, is going to persist so long as people fail to yield to authority. If people want to keep being stupid in their interactions with law enforcement then people will keep winding up dead. It really is that simple.

Sort of an interesting post, considering this:

Quoting Boeing717200 (Reply 21): I'll keep my guns thank you very much. A tyrannical government might one day, I don't know, start taking people from their homes and burn them in an incinerator because of their beliefs. Or, maybe just bomb their neighbors into the Stone Age for no apparent reason so that 70 years later their grandchildren with no sense of history can sit on an Internet forum and lament about how some other country across the ocean has some crazy gun laws.

Quoting Boeing717200 (Reply 31): I'm talking about people being stripped of their rights by a tyrannical government and being killed for their beliefs and the right of a people to put up a fight.

So can we put up a fight, or not?

There had been a street party on my street in NYC and they closed off the street when the party was over. I was on my way home from work (wearing scrubs and a white coat, no less). Got off the subway and turned the corner onto my street and a NYPD officer shoved me. Hard. I was a 29yo competitive swimmer in excellent shape and I almost fell on my butt.

"You can't go on this street. It's closed."
"I live here, officer."
"Prove it!"

Now, I have not committed any crime. I am trying to go to my home. There is no emergency and no crime or arrest in process. The police have no right to stop me from going home or demand my ID, but I decided not to fight. I showed it to him and he let me pass.

I took down his badge number and filed a complaint about having been attacked just for walking around a corner with the NYPD and of course I never heard about it again.

Quoting jetblueguy22 (Reply 9): Got a ticket last year for speeding in Minnesota. Cop pulled me over "Where are you headed today son?" Me: "Back to school in Grand Forks." Cop: "What do you study?" Me: "Aviation" Cop "Trying to see if you can get your car to fly?"

That's actually hillarious.   

Worst thing to happen was being screamed at in two separate and unrelated incidents. Really small potato in other words.

Neither case was warranted. In the first the officer had run out of patience after hearing BS stories from people all day about how they should be allowed to park where they couldn't, so he was a bit short on patience when I had my own story (since it wasn't immediately obvious I could). In the end, he let me finish, agreed I could and apologized. End of story.

In the second case, I honestly have no idea why. That case ended with a bogus ticket for failing to yield that the officer didn't show up to defend in court.

Quoting vikkyvik (Reply 12): So can we put up a fight, or not?

Let me help you answer your own question with a few key definitions
Cop = good old white boy from the neighborhood;
Government = faceless zombies in Washington led by a black socialist who is reportedly a secret Muslim.

Quoting seb146 (Reply 1): I am a white male, so I don't need to worry about such things

Quoting Boeing717200 (Reply 4): Not once. Why? I don't smart off to a cop, I don't run from a cop, and I don't do bad things that draw the attention of a cop.

For me, my answer to the thread is no because of a mixture of these two

Quoting Boeing717200 (Reply 4): Death by cop while tragic, is going to persist so long as people fail to yield to authority. If people want to keep being stupid in their interactions with law enforcement then people will keep winding up dead. It really is that simple.

You are justifying deadly force for instances where deadly force is not authorized? Then you go on to complain about tyrannical governments? Just because you do something wrong regarding a cop doesn't mean you can get shot and it be your fault. I don't know why it's so hard for people to understand that. If you are guilty of punching someone and then you flee, you're guilty of punching someone and fleeing. If you punch someone and flee and get shot and killed by a cop, you are still guilty of punching someone and fleeing. Getting shot shouldn't even be inserted into the equation unless you are using/threatening deadly force to someone

Quoting Skydrol (Reply 5): But sometimes 'authority' is not always in the right, to yield to.

   While cops aren't always right, they do have authority you must yield to. Fight off their dickish attitude or poor reasoning in court. Just because the cop accuses you of something you completely didn't do and the cop is being a douchebag doesn't mean you can flee. Unfortunately, you'll have to argue it in court. If people could just walk away from cops when they "think" they are innocent, well, you see how that is a problem

(Of course I say the above paragraph using common sense. If you are being shaken down for money or the cop is on a rampage and undoubtedly using excessive force and your life is in danger, then don't give the money to the cop or go ahead and flee vs die.)

To answer those posters who will say "skin color doesn't matter", or "I'm white so I don't have to worry about cops mistreating me", in my experiences, that has not proven to be the case.

Here in Chicago, I live in a very safe neighborhood with a low crime rate compared to some parts of our city which have been considered to be warzones. We have a huge problem with gang violence here, and some of it is very near to the border of my neighborhood, so I'm not entirely unfamiliar with it.

A high school friend of mine and I decided to meet up for drinks one summer night a couple of years back, and unlike me he happens to be black. He fell on hard times due to him having horrible work ethics, and an aversion to authority, but by this point I had got him a job with a retailer I used to be a manager with while I was in college, yet he still relied on government subsidized housing for a place to live. That being the case he had an apartment right in the middle of gang controlled territory, which meant I was always on alert on his block, because here and there gunshots would ring out without warning.

This night in particular I drove him back to his apartment after a couple beers and two games of pool, and all of the sudden as I turned onto his street my car was lit up with a spotlight and the car next to me squaked the deep CPD siren tone. I looked over and there was a squad car parked next to me. The officers sat in the car and rolled down their window, and they began to yell at me (I already had my windows down since it was warm and we smoked cigarettes back then).

The cop at the wheel yelled "Did you just pick it up, or did you not score it yet?"

I had no clue what he meant, so I respectfully responded "I'm about to drop him off at his place."

He responded "So you have the dope on you then?"

I answered "No, neither of us have any dope."

He looked at my friend and said "You must be a shitty drug dealer if you're all out of dope."

I explained to him my friend Gary doesn't sell drugs, and he and I are friends from High School.

He asked my friend "Why the hell do you live in this area if you don't sling dope?"

He said "I have been bad at saving money, I guess."

They then told him he should try and work harder to find a better apartment in a nicer area, and told me to "stay the fuck out" of that neighborhood, whether my friend Gary needs a ride again, or not. My brother who is a white former Marine has also been stopped for being white at an intersection as he was passing through a predominantly black neighborhood. They also accused him of being there to buy drugs. He was so angry that the police stopped him for being white, that he began to yell and swear at them, told them they were failures, and said that they were violating his constitutional rights. They then arrested him for disorderly conduct and interfering with a police investigation. I had to come bail him out of their district lock up, and he was fuming for the entire ride home.

So here in Chicago, you can be pulled over for driving while being white, and harrased for your skin color, but blacks and latinos by far have it much worse. The point I'm making is that much of what is causing this distrust of the police is that their tactics and methods of law enforcement are questionable at best, but are downright illegal in some instances.

Best,

OMP777X

I was in NYC visiting a friend, and we were across the Hudson River or East River taking pictures of the NYC skyline. We climbed over a downed fence to get better pictures, plus I had to piss really bad. A few minutes later my friend sees a light pointing at us, and tells me to put away my camera. A cop approaches us and tells us we are trespassing. The cop had a true New York accent, but he didn't appear to be in a good mood. He asked for our IDs, but I didn't have mine because my friend lives in a dorm (where I was staying) and for some reason there is a policy that visitors must leave their ID at the front desk before leaving the building. The cop didn't think it was a legitimate excuse, so I showed him my college ID, but that didn't satisfy him either. Thankfully he decided to let me go, but my friend had to show up in court. Though he was considering sending me to court as well, because he asked how long I was staying and when my next visit would be.

I have a friend who is a lawyer and he has warned me, "When dealing with cops, you'll NEVER win. Do what they say, when they say it and the don't tell them anything unless they ask for it. If you have a problem with them, worry about it later. If they have their attention on you for any reason you never want to argue a point with them. They always take the easiest way for them, which could end up being very bad for you." And I heard this around 1985 or so.

Example:
One time back in the early 90's one of my neighbors was having a loud party at 2am on a week night. It kept me awake.
I went over to talk the the homeowner and politely asked him to turn it down. He refused. Eventually, I called the cops.
Cops arrived, neighbor turned down music. Cops came to tell me they were going to talk to the loud music guy. Then they came back and said they music wasn't that loud in the first place (he turned it down when he saw them arrive). Then they told ME that if I call and complain one more time (I only called them once) they were going to arrest ME and take me to jail for disturbing the police and trying to file a false report. When they left the music was turned back up again.

What really happened? The cops thought it was a nuisance call and they didn't want to be bothered with it. So by threatening me they could assure themselves of a nice quiet evening without having to do any work. In other words they didn't do what was right by law, they did what was easy for them to do.

Another case:

A guy coming home drunk from a bar ran a red light, t-boned another car and it killed the driver of the car he t-boned.
During the examination of the accident, the police found a large cache of Cocaine and Pot in the trunk of the car that got hit. What happened? They told the drunk driver to go home immediately and not to discuss the accident with anyone. That was the last thing he heard from the police.

What happened? Instead of charging the drunk driver with a DUI, they took a drug bust instead because a drug bust looks better on their record than a DUI charge does. And the only witness to the accident was dead.

Quoting vikkyvik (Reply 12):

Quoting DeltaMD90 (Reply 16):

Logic fail. A cop pulling your over a busted tail light, speeding or running a stop light isn't a tyrant.

Quoting Boeing717200 (Reply 20): Logic fail. A cop pulling your over a busted tail light, speeding or running a stop light isn't a tyrant.

I am not even sure how you pulled that out of what I said (probably would have been better if you actually quoted something) but I stand by what I said, if you flee, even if you are guilty of something (hey, fleeing is a crime itself) and you are NOT using deadly force or are assumed to use deadly force, then you don't deserve death.

Can you at least agree with that?

Or should cops just use deadly force willy nilly? That, ironically, is something I see tyrannical governments doing, something you complained about in a post, and IDK how you equate tyrannical governments with pulling people over for busted light bulbs

Quoting Boeing717200 (Reply 20): Logic fail. A cop pulling your over a busted tail light, speeding or running a stop light isn't a tyrant.

One could make the case that he in fact is a tyrant if he shoots at you 8 times while you're running away.

Quoting DeltaMD90 (Reply 21):

I wasn't actually quoting you. I think I may have bumped the quote thingy and not noticed it. Gotta love the interwebs.

Anyway, I'm not justifying deadly force. I'm simply stating that if people continue to do stupid things, doing such things will continue to have disasterous results, like what happened in South Carolina.

Quoting Boeing717200 (Reply 23): Anyway, I'm not justifying deadly force. I'm simply stating that if people continue to do stupid things, doing such things will continue to have disasterous results, like what happened in South Carolina.

Well I can't say I disagree with that, I just don't know why you're driving that point home. If you are trying to argue that we should respect the work and sacrifice (good) cops go through and have a fair amount of respect for authority and not to crap on officers when they simply do their jobs, I'm with you on that. It just seems like you're downplaying the whole thing... if they're are guilty and wrong they are guilty and wrong regardless if they run or not

Quoting vikkyvik (Reply 22):

Your making far too much out of my statement.

Quoting DeltaMD90 (Reply 24):

I'm not downplaying anything. I'm making an observation.

Quoting Max Q (Thread starter): Ever Had A Bad Experience With Cops?

Thinking about it, yes, every time I have had to contact police. Twice.

First time was many years ago when I was a small boy, likely 12-13 years old. I loved to "mountain bike" in a forest even if I certainly had no mountain bike, but rather an old, rusty child bike taken over gradually from my two older Brothers.

One day in the forest I saw a brand new VW Beetle. Coming closer I noticed that it had a bent bumper because it had been driven onto a tree, and then a broken window in the left door.

I drove to the nearest village, where there was a phone boot, and called #1448, the police phone number.

- I said "Hello, my name is Preben Norholm, I think I have found a stolen car".
- How old are you?
- told my age - I think I have found...
- Your birthday?
- Birthday - I'm convinced I have found...
- Where do you live?
- ....
- What's the name of your father?
- ...
Telephone operater: "Please one more coin" (25øre = 4 US cent). I put in one more coin - my daily income was DKK 1.83 = 28 US cent for delivering newspapers.
- ...
- Where does your father work?
- ...
- What were you doing in the forest?
- ... - "Now please listen, I have no more 25øre coins, the car is placed...
Operator: "please one more coin".
- I shouted "But I have no more coins, please let me....".
The telephone operator finally accepted to keep the line open, and I got the message through to the police officer.

Only years later did I realize that police was convinced that I was a car thief.

Next time was many years later. I was walking late evening in the city and saw a man who had big problems, obviously badly intoxicated and coundn't stand on his feet.

Coming back same way ten minutes later he was still there, and I had a closer look. There was blood all over, some facial injuries, I coundn't see how bad it was. But it was cold, and having him twisting in the mud all night would't be healthy.

Shortly later a car stopped, a lady stepped out and asked if I was helping the man. I told her that I just passed by, but thought that the man needed help. She told me that she and her husband (who remained in he car) had seen him driving the other way, and decided to have a closer look, since she was a nurse at a hospital.

We looked at the man, and decided that I called an ambulance on my cell phone.

I told them the situation and where it was, near an intersection of two streets and named the streets.
- What's the house number?
- No idea, It's at the intersection....
- If you can't give us a house number, then we cannot put it the computer and the GPS.
- I got very angry and told that I know exactly where the ambulance is parked, and I take a taxi to there if...

That settled things, and five minutes later the ambulance arrived. I explained the situation to the rescue people.
- They asked: Did you drive over him?

They kept looking very suspeciously at me, until I had clearly explained that I was a pedestrian, was totally unrelated to this hospital nurse, and I could guarantee that she had not driven over him.

It all boils down to: I learned at school many years ago that police are my friends, etc. But:

Be very careful when you contact them for helping other people. You get involved in ways you didn't imagine. I dare not think about how much more difficult my situation had been in the latter event, if I had been in my car instead of walking on foot.

And the first situation - the stolen VW Beetle: How much work did police do behind my back to find out that I was not a car thief?

[Edited 2015-04-11 20:08:33]

Not really but they are like bees, you leave them alone they tend to leave you alone

I lived in Houston for many years. On Edloe St. Saturday. I had spent the afternoon having a six pack. At around 7pm a friend of mine asked me to meet him in a bar. 9-10 blocks. So I had to cross the River Oaks neighborhood...

So, I go. Enter the bar. My friend was not there, had two Martinis. I leave, go back home, must have been 9PM.

So I ran through a light that was flashing red. And sure enough, a patrol car gets right behind me. In River Oaks. Now, I am white, blond, had a nice, new car. German. But there was no way the officer did not detect my breath. It was a DUI for sure.

So he very calmly explained why he stopped me, asked me how much I had drank, license, registration, etc.

Next he says: "Are you going home, now? Straight home? Not going out again?" Yes, officer, that´s where I´m headed.

He gave me a ticket for running the light, and sent me on my way.

Would the outcome have been different if it was not River Oaks, not a German car, not a white, blond guy? I don´t even wish to go there. But, it was a DUI for sure. He let me go, I was lucky.

****Disclaimer: Yes, I was 22. Immature. Should never have been driving. It was reckless, dangerous and stupid. I know, I learned my lesson.

An experience from Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan in 2013:

One Sunday afternoon we went with a local friend to a large outdoor market called the Osh Bazaar. There isn’t much for tourists to do in Bishkek, as it’s a relatively small city and it has few historical monuments or attractions. An online city guide recommended the Osh Bazaar however, because it’s a vibrant, colourful market where you can get a feel for local life. That week I suggested it to my fellow language school buddy (an American who was fluent in Russian, there to study Kyrgyz - I was studying Russian). He agreed it sounded good, so he asked our host family how to get there, as we had no idea where to find it.

They burst out laughing, and then their laughter turned to bewilderment. He later translated what they had said, and it was basically “that market sells #@%$”. They couldn’t believe that we wanted to visit, and went as far as refusing to tell us how to get there as they didn’t want us to go. We were left intrigued as to just how bad the market could be, so we decided to go anyway and asked our local friend to take us.

When we got there, we unfortunately encountered some corrupt policemen. The market was full of locals and us two white guys stood out like sore thumbs – the two policemen immediately pounced on us and asked to see our passports. There’s no legal requirement to carry your passport with you in Kyrgyzstan, but the police often use it to scam naïve foreigners.

Our Kyrgyz friend tried to intervene, but they shouted at him and forcefully pushed him out of the way, so he stood back for fear of getting in trouble. My American friend had a photocopy of his passport in his wallet, but I had nothing. The police spoke no English except for repeating “passport, passport”, so I decided it was best to ignore them whilst my friend handled it by speaking Russian with them. They were satisfied with his photocopy, but after he told them I didn’t have my passport (or a photocopy) on me, they grinned and asked me to show the contents of all my pockets.

The best thing about the situation was that as he translated their demands from Russian to English, he added sarcasm like “they want to see what’s in your pockets, so you should pull out a grenade and blow them up”. It was hilarious as they couldn’t understand anything he told me in English. I took out my phone, some loose coins and my wallet. They wanted to look inside my wallet and I watched them very carefully, as I had read stories of police swiping out credit cards when “inspecting” wallets.

Miraculously though, they didn’t demand any money (despite me having the same amount of cash on me as they earn in a month there). Being with a Kyrgyz friend and having one of us Westerners speak Russian seemed to scare the police off luckily, and we weren’t the easy targets they first saw. My friend didn’t directly tell them so, but he hinted that he had links to the American embassy staff there and they seemed to be scared by it.

Quoting Boeing717200 (Reply 20): Logic fail. A cop pulling your over a busted tail light, speeding or running a stop light isn't a tyrant.

I had that happen to me years ago coming home from the airport. A cop pulled me over and told me that I had a tail light out. I went to the back of the car and saw the tail light on and told the officer I maintain my car really well and I can assure him that the tail light was not out as he said it was.

The cops attitude changed completely. No more mr. nice guy. He then wanted to search my car, he called in my drivers license and wanted to know how many outstanding warrants I had. Fortunately there was nothing in the car, I had no warrants, never have and I was on the way home from work. But he was looking for something and the "tail light out" was just an excuse to pull me over and get access to my car. After grumbling and telling me that he just knew I was up to no good he let me go. He said next time I won't be so lucky. Whatever that means. I never saw or heard from him ever again.

Quoting Boeing717200 (Reply 4): Death by cop while tragic, is going to persist so long as people fail to yield to authority.

Some people actually try for death by cop. And, death by cop happens sometimes even when people do yield to authority.

Quoting mham001 (Reply 10): Even in the 70's, one thing you did not want to do was take a certain elevator ride with pissed off Seattle cops.

What does that mean/ reference to?

I had a gun pulled out on me by a cop while spotting at LAX once. He pulled up behind us and I was sitting with my camera around my neck and my hands in my pocket (no planes on approachl) as he approached he called out and I turned around with my hands in my pockets and he must have been thinking I had something in my pocket that could harm him. More daunting than bad experience but it taught me to think and act carefully around the Police.

I got pulled over by a cop who claimed I was going at a speed I wasn't. I asked to see the radar gun and he showed me. I immediately noticed that the timestamp did not match the current time, so was from a previous motorist. The good part of the experience was that it was another officer who told me (as he wrote me a speeding ticket) to always check the radar gun personally as often the cops either dont have one in the car or are trying to hit traffic revenue quotas by using old radar readings. So he showed me what to look for.

Back in 2011 when we won the World Champions in Ice Hockey I has arrested just because I was ting my shoes next to police car. Spent the next 6 hours in the jail. I filed a complaint and it went all the way to court and they found that my arrest was unnecessary. So I got small compensation from the Government. But the process took long long time ..

back in Switzerland in the old days... many times, arrogant wanna be's. Since i moved to Canada? never ever. Always stopped when I got pulled over, never tried to run... just simple answer the questions they ask you...


cheerios

Quoting DocLightning (Reply 13): The police have no right to stop me from going home or demand my ID,

Sure they do. As part of public safety, they can and often do restrict access to all or 'residents only'. I have seen it several times after natural disasters.

Quoting elite (Reply 32): What does that mean/ reference to?

That I knew of people who made the Seattle police angry and did not fare well during the elevator ride to the jail.

Quoting aerorobnz (Reply 33): More daunting than bad experience but it taught me to think and act carefully around the Police.

Not blaming you, but it's something we should warn people about. Removing bad cops for a minute, it must be hard and nerve racking for the good cops out there that constantly approach strangers all the time. While these good cops aren't going to blast people away at the slightest suspicion, it's something they always have to think about.

I do my best to try and not make fast moves around cops or imitate any action that could be perceived as harm. I don't do it because I fear cops or I'm bowing to some eternal authority, I do it because they have a tough job and they shouldn't have to be as scared as they often are.

Maybe it's just the cops I've known, but they won't draw as often as I am hearing. If they were suspicious and alerted, they'll reach for their gun, but won't draw it. I think that's a good way to show that you are startled and alert and to warn the citizen that they are (probably inadvertently) making the officer suspicious without drawing the gun and traumatizing the citizen

When I lived in Portland, I was followed all the time. I never knew why.

Two times were particularly obnoxious. Once, I was making a right turn from a minor street onto a major boulevard. It was late, after work. I had not been drinking or anything. In fact, I had just gone to the store. WinCo at 2AM is so much easier to navigate. As I pulled onto the boulevard, a county car pulled me over because he didn't see me stop. I went to court to contest it but he never showed up, so it was dismissed.

The second time, the cop followed me for a few miles and into the parking lot of my apartment. I stayed in the car with my hands in view until he left. No contact or anything. Freaked me right out!

I avoid the police at all costs. I never know if they are having a bad day and are looking for someone to take it out on.

I also know some people live in a fantasy world where all police are noble and honorable. Yes, some are. But, some are just looking to power trip. Every time is a craps shoot. Am I getting pulled over by the honorable officer or the one who's trigger finger is itching?

EDIT:

I forgot about one other run-in with the law. Eastern Idaho. The Mormon part. Conservative in many senses. My brosband has a card to legally posses marijuana issued by the state of California. He had not even smoked in the car. As we were driving through a construction zone at just under the posted construction zone speed limit, a county sheriff pulled us over. The SUV in front of us, with Idaho plates, was driving well over the construction zone limit. The difference between a speeding SUV in a construction zone and us? California plates. The officer said he could smell pot when he pulled us over and called for back up. Pure power trip.

[Edited 2015-04-12 20:05:35]

Quoting DeltaMD90 (Reply 37): While these good cops aren't going to blast people away at the slightest suspicion, it's something they always have to think about.

It is a different mindset altogether. I called the cops on my neighbors a few years back because their garage door had remained open for over 24 hours and they didn't answer their phone or door bell. I had walked back and forth in front of the garage door several times to go from their house to mine, so I was at first surprised at how the officers handled it.

Two squad cars arrived and both parked in front of my house. The officers walked up my driveway then cut across the lawn to my neighbor's garage door, hand on their gun. They were basically staying as much as possible out of any potential line of fire from the garage, something that had not occurred to me once when i walked back and forth.

Quoting aerorobnz (Reply 33): I got pulled over by a cop who claimed I was going at a speed I wasn't. I asked to see the radar gun and he showed me. I immediately noticed that the timestamp did not match the current time, so was from a previous motorist.

What did the cop say in response to that?

Quoting elite (Reply 40): What did the cop say in response to that?

"The radar need recalibrating, so I will let you off this time" or something to that effect. *read* "Oops you caught me.

I lived a couple blocks from Lincoln Park in 1968. The Chicago Police had no problem using their clubs on hippies. I had long hair, but outside of that, not much hippie appearance at the age of 11.

My daughter and a friend were stopped at a sobriety checkpoint after returning from a movie in 2000. The San Bernardino sheriff deputies singled them out for a "where's the pot" inquisition. My daughter at age 17 consented to a search of her (my) vehicle which came up clean and nothing was planted by the deputies, but they got really aggressive for a couple of good students coming home from a movie at 10:30PM. Yes I know good students can drink and smoke pot, but this time it wasn't involved, and I think if they had been more average looking, they would have got less attention.

Quoting seb146 (Reply 1):

Quoting einsteinboricua (Reply 2):

no one took the Christian bashing bait you guys tried to set

It's quite remarkable to me what a problem this is, people are posting from all over the world
with negative, sometimes scary experiences with cops.


It's not just a few 'bad apples' i've had a few bad experiences, my last was when I was pulled over for exceeding the speed limit.


I was very co-operative and polite but the cop didn't even tell me why he had pulled me over, when I asked he said 'one more word and i'll arrest you'


'What for' I said, his answer was 'i'll find a reason'


Lucky i'm white, they get away with this all the time.

Forgive me, for this is about to be a long damn post.

I will start right off the bat with this statement regarding my general view of many city/county/state policemen: The (TRUE) primary function of highway patrol, county constables, (also sheriff's deputies) code enforcement, traffic control, etc, is ancillary revenue generation. I do not believe that cops should be "lying in wait," often times either outright obstructing traffic (just sitting in a left turn lane with no lights on, or literally just stopped in the right lane, or worse; illegally parked on some private citizen's property--we don't quarter troops here anymore, not since that war with Britain) praying on citizens, waiting for them to go by speeding a little, or not signaling, or whatever true victimless crime you want to come up with. Here (in Texas) that has become less of a problem with advents such as not having ticket quotas, determining that red light cameras aren't really okay (another fun topic for another day. If you get a red light ticket anywhere in the state of Texas, tear it up and forget about it. It's an optional request for revenue by the city that issued you it to you. And by the city, I mean their contract company, Lockheed Martin.) and other such recent protections.

...But I digress. I respect police officers, their authority, and the other essential functions they provide, when they provide them. I always treat every LEO I encounter with respect, dignity, and compassion, just as I would anyone else I'd meet in public. That's just human decency, and my mothers' teachings. Despite my general distrust and disenchantment with the worst parts of their profession, they do deserve respect where respect is due.

I have had more than several encounters with city, county, and state level law enforcement officers. All but one of them have been completely fine. All but a couple of them I've walked away with a warning, or even just some information on a situation. The payable citations I have received have been for moving violations, and I was in fact breaking the law during those occurrences, and have no problem admitting that, and didn't have an issue with paying the fine. (Again, I'm not so cool with predatory revenue generation, but 86 in the 60 is probably a little fast, and you don't have to be hiding behind a bush with a radar gun to figure out someone is speeding big time in that situation.)

With all that being said, here was my one super enjoyable, awesome encounter with a not-so-friendly Texas DPS/State Trooper.

At the time I was bouncing between El Paso and Fort Worth, TX for one of my aviation jobs. One particular group of days off I decided that instead of flying back home to Dallas, me and a buddy of mine would go hang out with my uncle and his family up in Amarillo, TX for the weekend. My normal car was back at home, so we just took his Maxima up there. The shortest way to drive from ELP to AMA is to actually cut through a big chunk of New Mexico. For those of you who have ever had to drive through New Mexico, I'm sorry. I have never quite found the Land of Enchantment. Or at least places like Hobbs, Clovis, Carlsbad, have all been somehow purposely left out of that "paradise."

So it's like 1900 or 2000 Texas time when we cross back into home turf on US 180 just east of Hobbs. I believe this is Gaines county, Home to the big city of Seminole. Another great place. Anyways, the actual speed limit goes back up to 75MPH, as is the new standard for open highway in Texas. (Yes some places are 80 and 85, but this was a little 2-lane US Highway in BFE.) I am driving the car at this point, and I set the cruise EXACTLY at 75. MAYBE it was at like, say, 75.2135, but in no way any higher than that. (Also note that this was recent enough that night speed limits had already been abolished. Another stupid law and way to get more money, but thankfully no more.) And as usual, a few miles into the state, we pass a state trooper illegally parked/trespassing on somebody's ranch driveway waiting for bad guys. I don't think anything of it until I see him whip out onto the road, speed up behind me, and throw on his lights. I am sure I probably looked over at my friend and said something along the lines of 'the hell does this guy want?

Being slightly confused, but heading the law, I promptly slow down and pull completely off the road. I don't like cops, but I certainly don't want them to get run over by some drunk farmer's F-250. Per my standard procedure, I roll down the window, and turn the car completely off and turn on the interior lights of the car. I'm not really afraid of dying, but I'd rather not be executed for scratching my knee or moving my hand like .25mm when talking to the officer. I also pull out my license and my buddy hands me the insurance paper for his car. The cop does whatever cops do in that forever 45 seconds after you stop and they haven't gotten out of their car yet, and then walks up all friendly like. He introduces himself and says he's with DPS and that the reason I am being stopped this evening is for me speed. I look him dead in the eye and politely inform him that unless the speed limit was lower than 75MPH, I wasn't aware in any way that I was breaking the speed limit. He replies that I was going well over the speed limit, but never tells me what the limit was (it was most definitely 75, I checked) nor does he mention what my alleged speed is. I don't dispute him and hand over my license and papers and he studies them for a second and asks if the car is mine, and of course I tell him no, the owner of the car is sitting next to me and that I have permission to be driving the car. The cop seems fine with this, hands me back the car's papers, and asks me if I have a firearm in the car. I reply yes, we have three, would you like to see (both) of our CHL's. The officer declines, but asks me to step outside of the car. This should have maybe been a small red flag, but I have been asked to exit my car before once they find out I have a gun. (Usually they also ask where it is and I tell them, and they say okay cool can you step outside the car to presumably separate me from my completely lawfully owned and registered weapon.) So I get out of the car and start to head over to the passenger side of the car because I assume he doesn't want to stand on the shoulder, but he asks me to get in the squad car. THIS is my first red flag. I remember saying something along the lines of "Uhh...like in the back?" He laughs and says no, just get into the front passenger seat, I don't want to stand outside. Ok. Fine. Weird, but fine. We get in his car, and I honestly don't think too much of it either because A) All my dealings with the DPS have been fine, and B) There is a huge rack of tactical firearms between the driver and passenger seats, and if he doesn't trust me, he wouldn't put me within arms reach of like 4 guns. So after he shuts his door he runs my license in his magical crystal ball computer and asks me the basic nonsense about if my address is right on my license, where I am headed, if I do any illegal drugs (like 5 cops have asked me this...I don't do drugs, but honestly do they think I'm stupid enough to answer that question truthfully if I do??) and then all my info comes back through the computer as fine/not a terrorist/not wanted, and whatever other useless little facts they keep in the database. He says well you seem like a good kid so I am going to let you off with a warning. I am very polite through this whole exchange and even though I know for a fact he is dead-ass lying about his accusation of me speeding, I pretend to be grateful to not be getting a real ticket for a law that I never broke. So I am thinking to myself that we are done here. I think I even reached for the door handle a little and he stops me and is like wait....I have some more questions. So give him a look like...uh okay what do you need to know? And he asks me why I am going to Amarillo...I think for the 2nd time, so I tell him (again) that we are going to see my family up there for the weekend. He nods and scratches his chin, and says, so how long have you known your friend. At this point I'm starting to get impatient and a little pissed. I say, awhile. He just looks at me for a second and says...you know there are a lot of drug problems in ELP. (I don't think I replied to that statement, just starred at him.) And continues on to say...And I think it's weird that you are traveling through this part of the state, and I need to know where you met your friend because I am trying to figure out if there is a crime going on here. ..

And that's when I go into shutdown/time-to-assert-my-rights mode.

I look at him and say, "Officer, you pulled me over for allegedly speeding. We have discussed and closed that issue. I have cooperated with you fully, and we have established that I have no other outstanding issues. What I am doing, where I am going, and who I am with are frankly not your business. At this point I need to know if I am being detained, or if I am free to go."

And of course they will never answer that question because they hate it. They don't want to admit to you that they have no reason to detain you other than to be an ass or pick on innocent people.

I think that really threw him off guard because yells in my face (all being recorded by the cabin cam, mind you) "LOOK WE CAN DO THIS THE EASY WAY OR THE HARD WAY! I CAN RUIN YOUR NIGHT. I WILL MAKE YOUR LIFE HELL." So I calmly repeat myself. "Officer am I free to go? Am I being detained?" He looks at me for a second and picks up his radio and says he has a situation and he needs backup ASAP. I think I actually smiled at this point because this guy was totally losing his cool and I am just sitting there wanting to leave. He acts all proud like "ooh now you're getting it, all 4 of the Gaines County cops are gonna come teach you a lesson" Then he says "I'm giving you one last chance. I think there is something going on and I need to search your car." And I flatly tell him no, you absolutely may not enter the vehicle, open any compartments or touch anything. I can't stop you from shining your light in the windows, but there is nothing there that would give you probably cause for anything else. There is a McDonalds bag in the back." He doesn't seem to like that answer, and I guess he decides maybe he can get somewhere with my friend, who by the way, is still sitting in the passenger seat thinking "Why the hell is taking so long."

I'd consider myself relatively Libertarian. Unfortunately the cop that night found out that my friend is the extreme of that political believe. My friend had already figured out something was amiss when the cop childishly stomped up to the car (I was just sitting in the passenger of the squad car watching) and told him to get out. I couldn't hear exactly what my buddy said at the time, but it was essentially, "Am I being detained, am I free to go." The cop finally told him to get out of the car because he wanted him away from the weapons, and my friend did cooperate once the cop told him the reason, but the cop very quickly figured out he was going to get nowhere with my friend, and that a "I'm bored, so let's search your car with absolutely no probable cause" game wasn't going to work.

By this time all 2 of the cops within like 100 miles had shown up and they had a pow-wow about how they were going to handle these (us) two non-cooperative, law-abiding, informed-of-their-rights, military, white, male, never-had-been-convicted-of-anything-but-speeding, gentlemen they were now illegally detaining. Finally I guess they decided they didn't want to wait around long enough for a K9 unit to show up (so they could make it bark and tear apart the car and find nothing, but not be responsible for any damages) and sniff out the car for our so-called drugs or whatever they "thought" we were trafficking. A different cop came over, told me I could get out of the cop car, and that we were free to go.

I think I maybe responded "ok."

That ordeal ended up wasting 2 hours of my life. Now you could say "Well you should have just answered the cop's questions, and he'd have let you go." But here's the thing, People, where do we as citizens draw that line? From the moment he gave me the warning and pretty much wrapped up the ONLY REASON he had told me he had stopped me for, that should have been it. I am sorry, but originating from ELP does not give one probable cause for suspected drug trafficking. You have to stand up for your rights. And the worst part was, I wasn't even doing anything wrong. And I wasn't ever rude to the cop, I just got tired of playing his game after about 20 minutes.

So since that time, I now have a camera in my car that always films the interior, exterior, and I have an app on my phone that will record video and upload it as it records, so if this ever happens again, I will have more than just "my word against theirs." Because that's not good enough.


Okay /rant. If you have made it this far, I am sorry for wasting the last 30 minutes of your life.

[Edited 2015-04-13 01:22:26]

Quoting boilergo (Reply 44): Finally I guess they decided they didn't want to wait around long enough for a K9 unit to show up (so they could make it bark and tear apart the car and find nothing, but not be responsible for any damages) and sniff out the car for our so-called drugs or whatever they "thought" we were trafficking.

Not that they didn't want to, but it is illegal to do so. Anything the dog could have found would have been tossed in court.

Quoting boilergo (Reply 44): Okay /rant. If you have made it this far, I am sorry for wasting the last 30 minutes of your life.

Sounds like your usual aggressive cop BS.



I think you handled it extremely well,keeping your cool and staying calm is not easy in that situation, even when you know you're in the right cops have a way of making you feel guilty or they can just make it up.


They've got away with it a lot in the past, I hope that video will help cut this down.

Quoting KPDX (Reply 14): That's actually hillarious.

My last experience is 10 years ago. On a way to a business meeting in my private car my cellphone rang. I picked it and didnt see that I was entering a speed restricted zone on the motorway. I was going at a leisurely 130 kph when suddenly a unmarked policecar pulled me over which apparently had been following me for some time.
The officer in civilian clothes (quite normal for German autobahn police) walked up to me and asked if I knew why I had been stopped. By then using the cellphone while driving had just been forbidden by law but I didnt really know, so I said "no, not really". Then he said to me: Well, I didnt like that you where going 30 kph too fast, and my colleague in the car there didnt like that you where at the phone at that time".

Longer ago, I was returning from a carnival weekend break and was driving about 170 kph when I approached a sign showing a 100 kph limit. I took my foot off the throttle, but going downhill it took some hundred meters for the car too slown down even to 150. I didnt feel to step on the brakes, the motorway was wide and there was no heavy traffic. Suddenly a policecar pulled me over. The officer said that I was going much too fast, so fast indeed I would loose my license for a month. I said that I just had passed that sign and they cant expect me to hit the brakes so hard going downhill to reach that low speed. He said that I had obviously missed another sign 1 km before that. That was obviously the case but I didnt know. Then the (high-ranked) cop said: "Ok, today is carnival, so thats 50% off". That happened 20 years ago when the police didnt have speed cameras in the car and no computers. Nowadays "50% off" would likely be impossible.

Personally I have had only good (and rare) experiences with the police, but even in Germany, not being a white European or a Japanese for example means that you could be treated otherwise. Blacks are controlled more often than whites, and some police are more rude to them. I have witnessed that with my own eyes.

Quoting mham001 (Reply 10): This whole police vs black has been blown up to mythical proportions.

You have to agree though that there seems to be more action against non-whites than whites. There's a notable example on YouTube on how people perceive a white male "trying to steal a car" and how people perceive a black male.

The mentality needs to change, however. Why is it that we never hear of cases against white people? If a white person ran away, would they have been shot? Would they have even been pulled over?

Quoting Beardown91737 (Reply 42): no one took the Christian bashing bait you guys tried to set

Looks like you did or else you wouldn't have referenced it  

Quoting einsteinboricua (Reply 48): The mentality needs to change, however. Why is it that we never hear of cases against white people? If a white person ran away, would they have been shot? Would they have even been pulled over?

Yes, it happens all the time. In fact, more whites are killed by police every year than blacks, by nearly 2:1. Granted, the population is 6:1, but the numbers pretty much correlate with felonious behavior. It is actually more of a poverty thing, nobody talks about poor whites, but they vastly outnumber poor blacks.