Questions cops ask

And as for the questions there's different questions for different situations if I thought you were drunk I might ask where you are heading and if you say such and such town but your heading in the other direction then something might be up. There's always a reason for the questions. Sometimes it might just be general chit chat.

This is a little off topic, but I hate the f'ing Police SUV with speed cameras all over it. They set up a little yard sign on the opposite side of the road than the speed trap car that says " camera enforcement ahead" ( its barely readable). So you're driving through your neighborhood and see what looks like a yard sale sign, "hmm i wonder if there are any good deals at that yard sale, wait that signs says camera something er other ahead, oh crap whats that odd vehicle covered in cameras with a cop sitting in it?" A month later a $125 ticket comes in the mail! It's such a bullshiz tactic to drum up money! How is that even legal???

Im my experience, if you get pulled over you are already deep into it.. It's a slow night and they are just fishing..
The best one I ever got was "well if you didn't do anything wrong why would you pull over?" Really?? Sorry next time I'll swerve into the flashing lights I guess?
I worked afternoons and would often stay late for overtime, so heading home at 2-3AM was a regular thing, completely drained and ready for bed.. A regular stop on the way home was a Tim Horton's (I'm Canadian) guess who was always there?lol They saw me every night but at least once a week they felt the need to bust my balls over some petty BS.. "Lisence and registration?" I laughed my ass off when I read the earlier post I have many 'Licenses' and many 'registered' items. I once asked which he wanted, and the reply was "don't be smart"... OK here's my license to trap red squirrels and the registration for my .22 pellet rifle(while that existed??)
Here denying the right to search a vehicle can be probable cause.. go figure...They best thing I ever learned was to ask for take down all the names and badge#'s of the officers on scene.. and that was the only time I opened my mouth..

Somewhat of a shame because I saw a lot at those hours in my disgusting neighborhood, but rather then offering tips I was more worried about possibly Incriminating myself in some unrelated matter, and losing another 2-3 hrs of sleep..

Edit: Ive always had the utmost respect for those who protect our streets. They only got me once 0.081BAC Son of a B****! (Refusing a sample is also incriminating) But I gave him the respect he deserved and shook his hand when all was said and done.. It's the rookies with something to prove that you have to watch out for..

Billy-Klubb said:

except the time they had27 of us marching with our hands interlocked over our heads. but even then they thought it was funny when we started singing the old Micky Mouse Club song.:rockin:

Click to expand...

Had you and your 26 buddies just laid waste to Hue City?

pickles said:

This is a little off topic, but I hate the f'ing Police SUV with speed cameras all over it. They set up a little yard sign on the opposite side of the road than the speed trap car that says " camera enforcement ahead" ( its barely readable). So you're driving through your neighborhood and see what looks like a yard sale sign, "hmm i wonder if there are any good deals at that yard sale, wait that signs says camera something er other ahead, oh crap whats that odd vehicle covered in cameras with a cop sitting in it?" A month later a $125 ticket comes in the mail! It's such a bullshiz tactic to drum up money! How is that even legal???

Click to expand...

So just to make sure I understand. You're mad that you got a caught breaking the law?

Just realized how much drugs you could hide in the battery compartment of that prius. Take the batteries out and fill it with coke, that prius would fly

geim32 said:

This is coming from a cop.

Did it ever occur to you whether it be a "ticky tac law" or a serious crime it is not the cops fault you obviously did something wrong. If the cops weren't pulling people over you would complain about their pay and how they don't do anything. Instead were out trying to earn our "bloated paychecks and pensions" which in my state i put 10% of my paycheck into my pension. As for the guy who said it isn't his fault he had to drive drunk that's ridiculous. Did someone hold a gun to your head your lucky you weren't arrested. For every 100 card we pull over you might find 10 of them with drugs and another 4 or 5 with weapons and that's are job right? To keep everyone safe? There is always gonna be a few bad cops just like there are a few bad people in every line of work but the majority of us took this job to help people.

Click to expand...

I respect you and will say you have a honest hard job. And I try and make things easy for you guys and comply all the time.

But I am going to say that interactions with the police have changed over the last 40 years from when I was a kid. I am not going to blame the police for that change nor blame the kids for the change but as a society it seems as if the day of the friendly cop has ended more or less. I wish I knew why those times have changed and I really wish we could go back to them.

I was hoping a cop would chime in on this thread just so I could see the opposing view.

My view on that is a little bit of both sides. 1. Is its a lot more dangerous now days you never know what is going to happen at anytime especially a car stop. Most people don't realize it because most people are good people but imagine walking up to a car in the middle of the night not knowing who's in the car or if there are any weapons. 2. My other opinion is the way kids r raised these days I never talked back to a cop or any adult at that rate. You have no idea kids don't have any respect for us they tell us to F off on a daily basis.

It seems like kids are raising kids now days. I think that's part of y the interactions are different. I work in a small town but I'm outside of a decent sized and high crime rate city. For the most part we do have the friendly cop where people know each other but again on the other side of things it's so much more dangerous then when I was a kid and I'm only 30 so I can't imagine how much different it would be to be a cop even longer ago.

geim32 said:

It seems like kids are raising kids now days. I think that's part of y the interactions are different. I work in a small town but I'm outside of a decent sized and high crime rate city. For the most part we do have the friendly cop where people know each other but again on the other side of things it's so much more dangerous then when I was a kid and I'm only 30 so I can't imagine how much different it would be to be a cop even longer ago.

Click to expand...

I can understand not knowing who is in the car and exercising a rather large amount of caution. The thing I do not understand is why pull someone over when they have done nothing wrong. This happens quite often to me simply because I am often out late at night and get pulled over for quite honestly no reason at all. If I swerved then yes I could see pulling me over but dang it angers me to have my time wasted on a officers assumption that since I am out late I must be up to no good.

Sigh I am venting and you have never pulled me over.

Thank you for your service and stay safe

Jukas said:

So just to make sure I understand. You're mad that you got a caught breaking the law?

Click to expand...

It's not that I got caught, but how I got caught. It's a shady tactic that has the sole purpose of making the most amount of money possible. The stop light cameras got banned here because lawyers fought the fact that you can't face your accuser. This little loophole claims that the cop in the camera vehicle is the accuser, which is bull.

Varmintman

The only thing I could tell you is like I said before not every person cop or not is a good person. I can honestly say I haven't and no one that I work with has ever pulled anyone over for no reason. It might have been one of those people or maybe you did swerve even just slightly that you didn't notice. I'm not saying you did or that u were drinking but I stopped someone who touched the yellow line slightly twice and when I pulled them over they were totally drunk like barely could stand drunk so maybe u did something small and it was late at night and the cop was just checking things out. I always say with things like that and when people complain about airline searches if ur not doing anything wrong then who cares I rather them look at things thoroughly then let something get through the cracks.

My Dad and I got pulled over 3 feet from my parent's driveway once in my Dad's 72 Monte. We had just worked on it and hadn't drove it yet that year, took it for a test drive and were almost home when he got us. Had the new license plates, but forgot to put them on. First he called us liars and said that according to the database we had not purchased the new tags. BS. Then he asked if we had been drinking. We both had one beer while working on the car and I figured he could smell it so I answered yes, I had a beer ( I was driving). He got all exicited then and pulled me out of the car for a breathalyzer. I blew a 0.0. He was pissed. He gave it to me again, I blew a 0.0. Then he calls me a liar again. I thought you said you'd been drinking. I did, I had one beer about an hour ago like I told you. So then he asks if my father had been drinking. Why in the hell does that matter? He wasn't driving. I told him he had drank as much as I had. He finally realized that there were no drinking charges in this stop and turned his attention back to the license plate stating that we had not obtained our new tags. I offered to produce them. He asked how. I pointed to my Dad's house right in front of us and said that they were laying on the dining room table and that he was more than welcome to come inside and look at them. He let us go with a warning and drove off with his tail tucked between his legs. It's one thing to serve and protect. It's another to get geniunely pissed when you discover that the person you pulled over is not doing anything worthy of arrest. Totally blows my mind. Sorry ABG but, FTP.

geim32 said:

This is coming from a cop.

As for the guy who said it isn't his fault he had to drive drunk that's ridiculous. Did someone hold a gun to your head your lucky you weren't arrested.

Click to expand...

I guess, yeah, I'm that "guy" and seriously lucky I did not go to jail that night. But, I was certain that if I did not move the vehicle away from the bad neighborhood, my life was in immediate danger. Didn't take a gun to my head to make me realize this.

Thanks to all the police officers out there, for protecting me when I needed protection. I am grateful.

geim32 said:

Varmintman

The only thing I could tell you is like I said before not every person cop or not is a good person. I can honestly say I haven't and no one that I work with has ever pulled anyone over for no reason. It might have been one of those people or maybe you did swerve even just slightly that you didn't notice. I'm not saying you did or that u were drinking but I stopped someone who touched the yellow line slightly twice and when I pulled them over they were totally drunk like barely could stand drunk so maybe u did something small and it was late at night and the cop was just checking things out. I always say with things like that and when people complain about airline searches if ur not doing anything wrong then who cares I rather them look at things thoroughly then let something get through the cracks.

Click to expand...

And that is true enough. And I suppose I let my anger get the best of me when you guys are simply doing a tough job.

On another kind of related note my wife and I are looking at buying a house that had what I think was a rather large pot growing operation. Grow rooms with humidity and vents everywhere. After we buy it I am going to invite the cops to bring their dog over and go through the place and give them a standing offer to stop by anytime.

Hoping they accept and I can move in with out worry

Oh, totally ef those red light cameras. Not because I run red lights or don't see the value in stopping people from running them.

But because
1. The ones here are not run by the police or the municipality. They are contracted from a commercial business. Cops should enforce laws, police should police, not corporations.
2. They malfunction all the time. I've been flashed on green and while stopped well behind the white line. Not a few times. A lot of times. A whole lot. Dozens. Sure, they get reviewed and I never got a ticket, but those reviews cost money. Even if they throw out the charge for faulty flashes, you know there's some build in on their pricing to cover some of that.
3. Too much room for abuse. They're supposed to be only for catching red light runners. Now, yes, I'm in public, and anyone can take pictures of things in public. Fine. But, they're supposed to be only for catching red light runners. Who says all those faulty flashes aren't covert surveillance? If they wanted to use them to survey traffic, they need to spell that out, not say one thing and do another. And maybe they aren't. I don't know. But it is in the realm of possibility.
4. If I have to choose between running a poorly timed red light on a wet road and skidding out of control, or being rear ended by an inattentive driver, I need the leeway to make that decision.

pickles said:

It's not that I got caught, but how I got caught. It's a shady tactic that has the sole purpose of making the most amount of money possible. The stop light cameras got banned here because lawyers fought the fact that you can't face your accuser. This little loophole claims that the cop in the camera vehicle is the accuser, which is bull.

Click to expand...

Again how is speeding/running a red light with photographic evidence completely unreasonable. The law is not that you should not speed when a cop is watching, it is don't speed. I New Zealand you have the right to argue the charges, you don't even have to go to court at first. request the photo, state your case in a letter, get a response. Hell a cop could give you a ticket for doing 80 in a 50 kmh zone when you weren't, and you would have less to stand on - he said / she said.

geim32 said:

It seems like kids are raising kids now days. I think that's part of y the interactions are different. I work in a small town but I'm outside of a decent sized and high crime rate city. For the most part we do have the friendly cop where people know each other but again on the other side of things it's so much more dangerous then when I was a kid and I'm only 30 so I can't imagine how much different it would be to be a cop even longer ago.

Click to expand...

I hope you mean kids as in their attitudes an not there actual age. I have seen a lot of "adults" that are far less responsable parents than "kids"

Zuljin said:

4. If I have to choose between running a poorly timed red light on a wet road and skidding out of control, or being rear ended by an inattentive driver, I need the leeway to make that decision.

Click to expand...

Do your lights not have orange, meaning "hey I'm about to turn red maybe you should think about stopping now" (not "quick get through before I turn red"
Second part is a little bit in the damned if you do damned if you don't pile

The problem with many redlight cameras is the light timing is adjusted to be unreasonably quick from yellow to red. There have been more than a few instances of the lights being timed faster than the legal Federal minimum delay. This is for no other reason than revenue. It creates unsafe conditions of people slamming on their brakes to avoid running a red light that is timed illegally.

Orange. Yellow. Amber. Yeah, we have them. And the joke here too is, green means go and yellow means go faster. But when the light is only yellow for an instant between green and red, that's a problem.

There's also malfunctioning lights. I sat at an intersection a few days ago, one I cross near everyday, and after four cycles, it still wasn't my turn. That was a malfunction. You bet I went as soon as it was safe.

And motorcycles. Some states have recognized the problem with various vehicle detection devices that don't trip for bikes and have made laws that you can go after so long if the light doesn't turn for you. If that's the case at a red light camera intersection, either it's a waste to have to review a picture that shouldn't have been taken or it's a waste to have to spend the resources to fight it, and still risk loosing.

I've been mailed 4 speeding tickets from a town 200 miles away that I have never even been to. Each time I had to send a letter from my employer that at the time of the incident, I was working and my car is on video in the parking lot.

I went into town one night at 2am to get some milk so my daughter could have it when she woke up. On the way back I was pulled over and the officer told me that I had crossed the center line 3 times. I politely pointed out that this whole road had just been repaved and the wasn't a center line yet!

Worst was one night I was driving back from a wedding rehearsal. I was the best man and the groom is a highway patrolman. I was in the right lane and coming up fast on a slow moving truck so I turn on my signal for a lane change. The car in the left lane about 20 feet back saw my signal and sped up to keep me from changing lanes. I foolishly sped up and changed lanes anyway. Turns out the a$$wipe who wouldn't let me in their lane was a CHP who ticketed me for reckless driving.

Airplanedoc said:

Had you and your 26 buddies just laid waste to Hue City?

Click to expand...

no, but that's why I started singing it. bwhaahahahaha!! and I also got out of 26 counts of contributing to minors. which was awesome because I didn't buy them any booze. the guy the got it was "fishing" for it all day and spoke up right away.