Almost Got a ticket last night

[igo]

Amazing story. Way to stick it to the man

[garys_1k]

He probl'y thought you were drunk. They look for too-slow driving as a sign of being overly cautious, likely for a reason.

I wouldn't have gone off on him like that but you did good.

[RH77]

I've learned lately that there are 2 major divisions of officers in most areas these days (also a lengthy tale, as is my style )...

1) Traffic (mostly speeding), and
2) Patrol

Traffic assignments are fairly straightforward -- speed traps, driving the roads, clocking vehicle speeds and catching blatantly unsafe operation.

The second is "Patrol". This is generally the group that shows up to 911 calls, assists other officers, and cruises around for crime prevention and detection.

When a patrol officer pulls someone over, it's generally "for cause" to look for drugs, DUIs, weapons, warrants, mismatched plates to the vehicle, etc -- they perform this by observing "unusual" behavior or conditions: head/tail light out, slower driving, etc. -- and generally happens "between assigned calls".

This is likely what happened, Trik. It's too bad the officer was rude -- you didn't deserve that kind of treatment. The "cause for suspicion" failed on his part, and it sounded like he took it personally -- hoping to make a big bust or something.

However, I've learned that it goes sour quickly with any question of authority. I know it's hard, but you just have to answer the questions with respect, and if it doesn't go well, have your day in court and/or file a complaint. Police dash cameras protect the rights of both the officer and the suspect, so that could be used as evidence. It sounded like a "procedure" to run up behind someone quickly -- DUIs generally freak or act strangely. The speed was apparently cause for concern. I know hypermilers feel like a target lately, and that can get personal too.

I had an odd instance (not as bad) -- failure to display a front plate. I was doing 55-60 in a 65, saw the lights as he had someone pulled-over, I merged left (per State Law and safety/courtesy), and then all of the sudden he's on my bumper and flipped on the lights. I had no idea what the deal was. I got questioned about everything on the car: SG, Weather radios and antennas, the head unit was loose, so it appeared stolen (but the bracket's busted), etc. He told me about the plate, which finally ended the whole "discussion". I had the front plate in the hatch, so I got it out, presented it, and left with a "warning". It seems after that, I had the Police behind me about 5 times in the next 2 weeks. Maybe a similar car was involved in a crime, who knows.

I've worked with Sheriff Deputies, State Patrol, and local Police as a Medic, and the range is "human" -- there are nice guys, and jerks too.

RH77

[Arminius]

Being an officer is not an easy job and I have a lot of respect for them, so I'm not going to bash the profession. I have, however, had two really bad experiences with officers which left very lasting bad impressions. The 20 good following experiences with officers did not repair the damage done by the two egomaniacs. It's too bad a couple of goofballs have to ruin it for everyone.

Frankly, I think that officers will eventually get used to the slow drivers.

[cfg83]

ttoyoda -

Originally Posted by ttoyoda

trikkonceptz
I don't mean you any disrespect, but I have to disagree with what you did. It would have been very easy for the cop to put meth in your car, or just shoot you. Poking at a cop is like poking at a rattlesnake. It may be amusing, but it can be fatal.
Making a complaint thru channels is a good idea.

Yeah, I wouldn't do what Trik did. I always assume that the cop that pulls me over is the 5% bad cop that the judicial system assumes will be telling the truth in court. I also assume he/she might have just had a really bad incident prior to me, and is ready to take it out on me.

But Trik is still a Hero to me because he risked a world of hurt in a situation where he was justified. It was a calculated risk on his part, but still a risk. As he states, if he was in a different state/county, he probably would have behaved differently.

Hmmmmm, thought for food. I wonder what the cop did to the next alleged perp? Did he learn from Trik or did he just "take it out" on the person?

CarloSW2

[justpassntime]

Great story way to go!

Here's my favorite cop story.

I was in Charleston SC on a bright summers day many years ago. The street was a four lane with a center turn lane with traffic lights. The through lanes were red and the turn lane green. I attempted to turn into the turn lane when a police car came up from behind and cut me off. I had absolutely no choice but to run the red light. Immediately the police car slid in behind me a turned on the lights. I pulled over into a empty parking lot and here come five more back up police cars. A young female police officer came up to my vehicle and asked the usual stupid question "Do you know why I pulled you over?" I responded with "Maybe it had something to do with the red light." She says "That is exactly why. Do you always drive like that?" Then I returned "Only when I get cut off from a turn lane I was signaling for and get cut off by a speeding police car." She stood with a dumbfounded look on her face, the other police officers started laughing. She slammed her ticket book and stormed away and got into her car. Another officer came still laughing and told me I was free to go. The officers were still standing there laughing when I drove off.

I was so hilarious the way it happened. I guess maybe to really appreciate it you had to be there, unless of course you were the female officer, then maybe it wasn't so funny.

[SuperTrooper]

Just last night I was headed home from my second job at about midnight. Rt 93 was practically empty so I decided to practice a little P&G. I'd noticed a car in the left lane kind of staying with me, but since I was 3 lanes over I thought nothing of it. All of a sudden the car swoops over and starts to tailgate me while I was on a pulse up to the speed limit. He rode my bumper at 65 mph up to where the lanes reduce from 4 to 3 (about 3 miles), then flipped on his blues and pulled me over. Got me out and checked me over for DUI and explained "erratic" driving is often a sign of DUI. I explained about P&G and he was clearly interested. It seems Mass state troopers have been briefed on the AAA position on hypermiling practices. He let me go but warned me to expect similar treatment any time I'm observed doing P&G late at night or driving "too slow". He also warned me about tailgating trucks (guilty) and high exit ramp speeds (also guilty). All in all a very professional encounter.

[Bigs]

Great story! I'm happy you didn't let Mr Power Trip get all over ya. In court, you could have gotten that ticket waived off for sure. Not like you were slowing down a ton of traffic.

A$$ holes like that piss me off.

[trikkonceptz]

After a lengthy discussion with one of my family attorneys, he dropped this knowledge on me.

He says that the way we drive, (Safe and under speed), does mimic that of drunk drivers, the differnece being that we do not swerve all over the place. He advised me to be a bit more tolerant of law enforcement because they operate under suspicion at all times. He did not condone the treatment I recieved, just asked that I be more patient when approached at night by police until this becomes more mainstream.

I agree with the advice just not the profiling .. oh well what will cops do when a larger percentage of the populations begins to slow down ..

[Arminius]

This is why you need a sticker on the car that explains your speed. Seriously.