No, Mr. Policeman YOU'RE wrong

[deacon]

And I stand by mine. In a felony stop (One where you have reason to believe you are dealing with a known felon) , unless they have change procedure, the gun is out but not pointed at the driver. A cop coming to the car of a man, who may or may not be armed, and may or may not be planning to shoot him before he drives away to avoid a chase, is asking to make his wife a widow, unless he takes every prudent precaution. If resting my hand on the butt of my gun, is what I consider prudent, and my department doesn't forbid it, I would do it no question and I have done it. I always had my hands close to my gun, when dealing with people, who had easy access to weapons. Not to do so is stupid in my opinion. Which as everyone knows is pretty worthless.

But i was not a career policeman either. I personally am not threatened by policemen ever. I don't do anything to make them think I might be Joe the ax murderer, so I'm not intimidated. About the worst thing I ever do is to ride in my wife's car without a seat belt. If they stop us, I will be very polite and take the ticket. If the police officer stops me on the illegal 3hp bike, I will be polite and take my ticket. If he stops me on my bumble bee bike, I will try to explain the law and ask him to call his sergeant before he writes the ticket. If all else fails, I will go to court and plead not guilty, but of course I am retired and it would give me something to do that day.

In general the law of this country falls over backwards to protect me from the police. Policemen, during the height of the civil unrest in this country, did not slaughter the public. In Ohio it was untrained national guardsmen who shot those kids. Yes now and then a cop makes a bad decision and a man dies at the hands of a cop. One who should not have been killed, but the number of policemen killed by citizens far, far exceeds the number killed by officers, ones who used bad judgment, or pure malice. So I would say in general, you are safer as a member of the public, from the police officer with his hand on the gun, than the officer who walks up all smiles is from you. Meaning you the general public. Like I always say it's just my opinion. As the herder said, it's based on my experiences and the people I have known and the few I have helped to bury over the years.

Bye the bye it is just his job to enforce the law, not to die for you. That is just a side benefit.

If I lived in Libya I would feel differently about the police I'm sure.

I have said enough, Sorry to disagree, but I do so respectfully and will continue to do so.

 

[leftywoody]

There is probably some animal reaction in play when you get I get pulled over . I'll call it the" Leave me alone reaction ." That, to me ,is close to the same feelings you get when a dentist comes up to you and has his hand on a hypodermic needle or a doctor at your side has his hand on a scalpel . I have had many repeated instances of both and now it just doesn't bother me so much . A cop pulling me over happens so infrequently that I just get a little anxious and just don't want to be there . If we all had this happen more often with no real bad results it, to me, would'nt seem like such a big issue .

 

["the prussian" Shop Dogs]

Decaon : thank you for your service, the country needs good cops .
I think however you are fighting the tide with a bucket. To often the average joe views police as the evil side of our goverment , not a fellow 9-5er.
Are there bad cops ? U bet, prob same ratio as jerks in any profession.
All you ever hear is the bad stuff. Why cuz it's way more fun to gossip over.
I have been stopped dozens of times ( on mb and in car ) some have been at gun point, some so casual i thought it was a joke. I have also had a cop who took busting me WAY to persnol (to the point were he knew my name ,add. And s.s.# by heart).
Long story short we all need to come to grips with the fact that we have way more in common with police then we do with the real threats to are comunity and freedom's.
you get to pick if your out there doing something wrong (or borderline ), the police don't . Do you want a country were we don't have cops? I don't.
Do some cops get a big ego or a little ptsd jumpy oh yea , but you try clocking in knowing theres thousands of scumbags out there better armed looking to do wrong. Not just some guys riding there bikes around .

 

["the prussian" Shop Dogs]

Sorry for the dislexic spelling of your handle , me no type so good

 

[deacon]

I think both of you are right.

I tell my wife, and I mean this seriously, "Honey if you are going to make a minor traffic mistake, do it on a cold rainy day."

Cops were recruited from the human race, none of us want to get out of a warm dry car to walk up to some idiot, who we don't know in the cold rain. Just to write them a ticket for rolling through a stop sign.

Now a pretty blond, on an eighty degree sunny day, yeah it's time for at least a warning.

 

[wdbtchr]

Gotta be 30 or more years ago I pulled up to a stop sign on my way to work in my shiny red, nearly new Jeep Commando. A cruiser came screaming up from my right with lights and siren and pulled in front of me. Two officers jumped out with guns drawn and ordered me to get out of the car and put my hands on the hood. I did. They asked for ID with their guns trained on me. I gave them my license. One officer took it back to the cruiser, and checked me out. finally he came back with his pistol holstered, and apologized profusely. I guess some one in red vehicle had robbed a gas station shortly before, and they were driving a red vehicle, but not a jeep. I actually felt sorry for the guy, and I said, yeah, I guess you got your job, and I got mine. He said, yeah, that's about it. By the way, what is your job. I said.....making your job a living hel l. Thought he was going to swallow his whistle.

 

[matthurd]

And I stand by mine. In a felony stop (One where you have reason to believe you are dealing with a known felon) , unless they have change procedure, the gun is out but not pointed at the driver. A cop coming to the car of a man, who may or may not be armed, and may or may not be planning to shoot him before he drives away to avoid a chase, is asking to make his wife a widow, unless he takes every prudent precaution. If resting my hand on the butt of my gun, is what I consider prudent, and my department doesn't forbid it, I would do it no question and I have done it. I always had my hands close to my gun, when dealing with people, who had easy access to weapons. Not to do so is stupid in my opinion. Which as everyone knows is pretty worthless.

if you know the guy you're pulling over has a history of violence or is indeed a felon, by all means proceed with caution. like i said before i have no problem if criminals feel a bit intimidated by law enforcement.

here's an example, silver toyota corollas are a pretty common car and color i'd say (3 of my friends have em in that color alone), so lets say a guy shot someone and fled the scene in a silver corolla, the police are on the look out for a silver corolla with the #123455, me n my friends are driving in his which is #654312, being in a rush and knowing they're looking for this type of car off hand, but not sure on the license plate #, they pull us over.

they can either walk up to the car ready to shoot someone if need be. or they can tell us to wait in our car with their megaphone, radio back to dispatch, find out that our numbers don't match up with what they are looking for, and feel a whole lot safer walking up to the window and explaining the situation.

i don't deal with guns on a regular basis, so yes a guy simply talking to me with his hand on his gun makes me feel uncomfortable. if a random guy walked up to me in the grocery store with his hand on his gun and started talking to me, would that be an awkward conversation? you betcha.

i see both sides of the argument, and like i said, in some cases i'm totally ok with your side of it, but for the most part i disagree on random stops it seems like an unnecessary precaution in most cases that would simply make me feel uncomfortable and put a bad taste in my mouth when dealing with police officers in the future.

 

[motorbiker]

Enough cops have been busted in Florida to make me know that some cops are gangsters. Heavy duty gangsters.

The person in that car pulling you over could be a gangster.

So treat him like a gangster with huge powers stepping to your car.

Yes sir, no sir, thank you sir. Cause you don't know.

 

[Goat Herder]

It seams to be human nature to go against of any kind of authority. I am a little curious why a bunch of police officers should be shot and or injured in the line of duty to make society feel better? Just saying..

Ever watch the show Cops? You can run into absolutely anything on a so called routine stop. If they are guarding their lives just a bit who could blame them.....

 

[Goat Herder]

Enough cops have been busted in Florida to make me know that some cops are gangsters. Heavy duty gangsters.

The person in that car pulling you over could be a gangster.

So treat him like a gangster with huge powers stepping to your car.

Yes sir, no sir, thank you sir. Cause you don't know.

You make a fair point especially in a place like Florida.

 

[motorbiker]

And if he is a gangster he has been up to some really bad stuff and is crazy.

Surely people are out to get him.

People in the hood that hate dope boys selling on their block will not call the cops on them because in the hood most everyone agrees cops are the ones running the dope business.

Mess with the cops and they can toss a little bag of dope in your car and mess your life up !

Yes sir, no sir, thank you sir.

 

[deacon]

Okay I have banged around this forum for a couple of years I think and I have never told this story or any other cop story

My last week on the job is indicative of why I think the way I do, so maybe it is worth telling. Three things happened my last week as a cop. First: It was my first night of the midnight shift rotation about about two AM, when I got a radio call to go to the hospital. A woman had been admitted after being involved in a particularly violent domestic dispute. I took her statement, so that we could obtain an arrest warrant for her boyfriend. She was a mess bandages everywhere. She was pretty much incoherent, but I finally got everything from her. She even signed the statement before she fell asleep.

So off I go for the warrant, the magistrate signed off on it, and I went to pick up the boyfriend, who happened to live in a downtown apartment. Since he was obviously violent, I met a second officer at his apartment. We took him into custody. He was a little drunk, when he told us that he would be out before our shift ended.

"The judge will extend my probation so what," he said to me.

"You really a tough guy beating up on a 90 pound woman." I said it just like some macho idiot cop.

Then of course he said the obvious. "If I didn't have the cuff on and you didn't have that gun i would show you how tough I am."

Just like in the movies, I got stupid. I took off his cuffs, handed my gun to the other officer, then before he could draw back to swing at me I pushed his butt down the stairs. That was stupid. I could have gone to jail, had the downstairs tenant an eighty year old woman not "seen" the whole thing. She was as sick of him as I was, but she had lived with his BS for a lot longer, so she lied for me.

Indecent two the very next night. I was on a streak.

It was dark at original sin behind an already closed bar. I pulled my car down the alley to make sure the bar was locked up and everybody was gone. Sure as heck there were two guys making a drug exchange.

The clean cut college boy and the thug both ran. I chased the thug. When he tripped over a garbage can, I pulled him to his feet. He reached for a lump in his pocket. I thought it was a gun,

I tried to pull my pistol but it got stuck in the cheap holster they used at the time. It was also a wheel gun which are notoriously hard to clear the holster. It turned out the thug was trying to dump the pills. I'm not sure, but if that pistol had cleared the leather. I might have killed him. My mind set was the seven yard range drill, pull the gun, level the gun, pull the trigger.

The next day I asked the prosecutor what would have happened. He said, "Best case, you would have done ten years involuntary manslaughter." I knew they were getting tough all over on officer involved shootings.

Final thing happened two nights later still. We did seven days on three or four off in those days. So I'm assigned the downtown patrol, which is why I caught both of those before mentioned calls. They had a man with a gun call go out ten blocks outside my patrol area. There was no one to back up the officer, so I left my beat and drove there against orders. I got caught and they were going to write me a reprimand for it. I quit instead. The reason was that could have been me with no backup on a man with a gun call.

So between a excessive force, I could have gotten... The ten year manslaughter charge I might have gotten...and a reprimand I was going to definitely get, I decide that the job was just to darn rough for me. So yeah I have a lot of respect for the guys who can put up with that crap and I give them the benefit of the doubt whenever I can, but I also know they are recruited from the human race and are not super men.

Now please forget I told those stories I'm not that guy anymore.

 

[motorbiker]

Here is a cop story. One of my friends mom got a ticket from a trooper.

He is a sheriff dep and so is his brother.

He was so mad and claimed that troopers mom would get a ticket !

Yes sir , no sir, thank you sir !

 

[deacon]

After I left the department a highway patrol officer gave a cop a ticket for drunk driving. The local cops swore no highway patrolman would ever get backup in that town again.

I learned first hand to never date another cops ex-wife. It clouds there judgment when you call for help. remember they recruit from the human race.

 

[Tsbrunell]

Hahaha, stupid pigs! I hate all cops! Just got pulled over about 2 hours ago on my motorbike...

"What is that???"-- the cop asked while beaming two lights in my face, i wanted to say 'what does it look like dumbass??'

"It's only 49cc, which is legal according to the MVA site, i just checked yesterday on their site..."-- i said

"well, it's against the law to ride that"--- WTF! what if i had a license, would it still be illegal???

But even so, i politely said "oh, sorry sir, i forgot bikes are supposed to be on the sidewalk..." i said as i pulled it up on the sidewalk

"No, it's illegal, you just can't ride it. How did you get it?"

"I can't ride it at all?? it's just a pedal assist bike i built with a chinese engine." i said

"you BUILT that!?? Do you have any clue how fast you were going???"

"to be honest sir....i have no clue, it felt like maybe 15mph..." i said, even tho i knew i was doing around 20

"Well, you were going 20 in a 15 zone..." he said

So then he wrote me a citation and said "i'm gonna let you ride it home, but your getting a citation...you can keep it now, but next time they're going to take it away."

.........

OK, firstly, does anybody know what's going to happen now? Will i have to pay a fine?

Secondly, i was going 5 OVER! wtf you waste of airspace...



I am so sick of this s***, where i live is a cozy tiny little town of nice people, with a massive police department. YES, i'm always courteous and polite to the cops, but it's getting old!

 

[moonshiner]

well i respect the police , cause they have a job i wouldn't do for love or money ,yes we are all just human and subject to mistakes , if you have a reason to fear for your life like this car or suspect matches the description of a triple homicide by all means draw your gun and proceed with caution , but in my small town and surrounding counties i see the felony stop procedure being highly abused , and i have seen the police escalate something into something it was not, just to make their arrest quota while avoiding doing anything about actual crime and hardened criminals , the majority of cops are good people i have had several that were good friends ,shooting range ,barbecue , patio parties and such , the problem where i live is they only hire bad ones , that are from somewhere else , have been fired , suspended , and reprimanded for previous misconduct , i want to generaly trust all of them , but i don't, i want to feel safe when they stop me , but i don't , when i filed a complaint against a officer one time ,the mayor of the town asked me just what kind of officers did i think he should have hired , i told old Bob we needed more Andy taylor's and less Barney fifes...

 

[Lance Portnoff]

I have a honda 50 cc 4 stroke that is mostly quiet when i see police i pedal and shut the engine down

 

[Nashville Kat]

The issues sometimes aren't so much with the cops as with the whole legal system- you need to think political and diolague-even take it the media

There's a lot of people who have found they can make money putting other people through all sorts of legal stuff constantly

we're innundated by it on televison- courtroom scenes, real or imagined, all day long, Law and Order style drama shows, "Cops", local news- a growing "law and order" community that needs to feed itself to stay in business has made it's own concerns and routines more and more a part of our daily lives-while it takes our time and money often with an excuse of extracting more labor out of the rest of society. When we dwell on such circumstances, those circumstances eventually become our dream, our unfortunate reality sometimes.

Politicians who say they are anti-government still seem ready to kill over being in power. Then they have total disdain for programs that may help poorer people, while they keep approving more spending on this kind of dream- a nightmare that never has had much success.

Start supporting politicians who aren't so much in favor of "getting tough" all the time. Ours is meant to be a "Government, by the people, for the people". Let the media know your concerns with the growing legal systems, by writing letters and dialoging on the internet.

Other nations have access to cheap transportation- here the legalistic and insurance concerns have appointed themselves foremen- using transportation as a further whip to beat more labor out of people who already are stressed to the limit. And they are dividing society along lines of allegiance to their growing imposition.

 

[torcity]

Last night was great: as I am pulling into my driveway a cop pulls up and stops me. Apparantly it is the law here (Toronto, Ontario, Canada) that you are required to have a light and bell on bicycles... You would assume that they wouldn't sell a bike without a light and bell if that was the law, would they sell a car without headlights and a horn?

So one of them started writing me up for those tickets, as the other got out and told me he was going to search me as I "am under investigation". I told him respectfully that I wouldn't be searched as the scenario definitely does not call for it. He looks really pissed off and says to stop giving him lip, he then proceeds to asks me if I have proof of ownership, I tell him "no, it's a bicycle", so of course he is threatening me as this point when he says "how do I know you didn't just steal it", so I respond "I could tell you the size of every single bolt on that bike, just name it" lol, a little smoothing over and they let me go without searching me....but with $140!!!! dollars in tickets!!! Ontario sucks....

 

[DuctTapedGoat]

Aren't motored bikes illegal as heck in Canada now? Pretty recent if I recall.