Cops -- to serve and protect?

[Greenday]

Blas, no one was attacking you. They were just saying that a lot of drug busts were the result of routine stops for very minor things. For example, having an inspection sticker that is overdue THREE years. That is blatant disregard of the law. It doesn't mean that person disregards ALL laws, but it means that person at least has disregard for some laws.

[blas87]

I obey all laws, I thank you very much. And I can understand routine traffic stops sometimes end up being drug busts and DUI arrests, however, I do not want to be mixed into that stereotype. I am just a poor kid with a piece of crap car and without the means to fix it. If I can rig it, I will. I dare you to catch me blowing a red light or speeding on the freeway.

My accident.....that wasn't disregard for the law, it was the result of a massive SUV blocking everyone's view and no one knowing when they could go, and he stopped and I went. Oops.

[the_std]

The fact that some criminals drive POS cars does not mean that people who drive POS cars are criminals, blas, and no one is claiming the latter. But a busted tail-light is illegal. Yes, it sucks mightily that you can't afford to fix it, but that doesn't stop it being illegal. However, no one is saying that you're in line with the criminals who vandalize and steal and all of those lovely things. It's just that people who drive POS cars are more likely to have other criminal infractions under their belt. It doesn't include everyone and it's not meant to include everyone. Pulling people over for brake lights/speeding/etcetera is just response to a trend that helps the police catch the people who are criminals.

[Boozy]

The cops will continue to pull you over as long as you drive a car with busted taillights (or whatever crap your pile of tin has decided to pull on you this week). I feel your pain, blas. I've been there.

But you can certainly expect them to be respectful of you and your rights when they do pull you over.

[blas87]

I just don't like the idea that I could be stereotyped as a bad person just because I have a pile of crap car. I think there's a lot of working class people like me who just have the worst possible automotive luck and are stuck driving around with "battle wounds" on our cars and whatnot.

[protege]

Again, Blas...nobody here is trying to do that. I've had some POS cars myself. However, it *is* illegal to have a broken light. As anal-retentive as the cops are in my area, they're pretty lenient over things like that. They might pull you over, and might even give you a ticket. However, if you can prove that you've had the light fixed, they'll rescind it.

BTW, is it something like this light, Blas? Until you get it, put some clear red tape over the damage.

In fact, when I still had my Mazda, I had a state trooper pull me over. Why, you ask? For not displaying the inspection stickers on my windshield. About a month prior, some idiot threw a rock at my car as I was driving home from work. Ended up with a crack, right in my line of sight. Instant safety inspection failure in other words. I had no choice but to get that fixed. The shop then cut out the glass piece with my stickers on it, which I kept inside the car. It sucked, because every time I'd turn...the damn thing slid around the dashboard. Sick of that, I kept it on the back seat. Anyway, the trooper let me go with a warning to get new stickers. Pointless, considering that I'd have to get the car re-inspected in less than two weeks later...

[blas87]

My light isn't busted, it's duct taped into the tail light casing because it falls out if I go over a big enough bump or pothole.

I understand it's illegal, and if I had the extra cash, I'd have a brand new windshield and would have gotten a different tail light casing months ago. As soon I have the extra cash to spare, I will go to the junkyard and get a new casing. For now, food in my tummy and making it to and from work is a little more important than how my car looks. And considering how many other people are driving around like that...

My tail light is fine right now, it's just that when it falls out of it's casing, it doesn't work and my left turn signal freaks out and blinks really fast.

I really don't want to fix my windshield, considering it's hundreds of dollars and with my luck, the next day a semi will probably kick another rock right at my windshield.

[crazylegs]

I just don't like the idea that I could be stereotyped as a bad person just because I have a pile of crap car.

They're not.

It's all down to averages.

The person who lets the big things slide will let the smaller ones slide too.

No-one is saying you're a bad person, no-one is suggesting your a criminal.

Criminals on the other hand don't care and will generally have more than one light out, it's only once the plates are run through the system that that will be confirmed.

You may find (whilst out and about) that Police may take a little more interest in you because your car is (technically) faulty, however once they've run your plates and found everything else is ok (as it works over here, I don't know about the USA) they'll probably leave you alone.

I don't know how much information the US computer systems have on the vehicle but over here if I check the Number Plate I can find out the following information.

Who owns the car
Their Address
Who is insured to drive the car
The insureds address
What the car is insured for (Business, Domestic, Pleasure, Commute, Social)
When the MOT (annual safety inspection) expires
When the VEL (car tax) expires

All this information (plus a little more on occasion) is stored on one system so I can be behind a car for about 20 seconds at which point I can determine if it is of interest. If all of the above is hunky dorey then most people won't tug a car just for one brake light. They may for both (in fact they probably will, it's just not safe) but for one, you probably won't.

Police Officers are human, they have exactly the same pressures in their life that you do (especially with the lack of a pay rise they've have over here) so understand that a light cluster may not be on the top of your to do list, but if one does pull you over for it and 'suggests' it gets looked at please do so; there will be a record of it somewhere and if the same officer pulls you for it a month later they won't be so lenient the next time.

[Shangri-laschild]

It's amazing to see how some busts are portrayed in the media and then to hear how things actually went down. Yes, some of you have witnessed bad cops in person who actually were being asses. I've worked with one or two cops that were the kind that give the rest of them a bad name. It honestly does suck that there are so many bad cops out there.

I have found though that, from having worked in a police department, I've started to get that "I wonder what the other side of the story is" doubt that we get sometimes on CS when we hear about someone claiming to have been the perfect customer and in reality, we know that they were causing a whole lot of shit. No, the cases aren't always like that, but I think some of them are. The "victim" claiming that the big bad cops came and kneed them to the floor when they weren't doing anything. Then you find out later, that in fact, they had been.

I'm not trying to defend the bad officers at all or deny them being out there. I just don't think all the reports are telling the whole story.

[Flyndaran]

First let me start off by saying that my father, the greatest man I've ever known, died in the line of duty as a police officer.
You may think that I'm about to defend the police, but I'm not.
To give a partial life story of growing up with a cop dad.
I was born in Gold Beach, Oregon.

The department sharpshooter killed two unarmed men, one of whom was
in the outhouse at the time. Nothing ever came of the investigation.
The reporter researching the department disappeared after mentioning
all the unresolved issues not the least of which were all the unidentified bodies and itinerants/hippies abused and how the public was too scared to talk to my sergeant father at all!

We moved to Estacada, Oregon.

Not long after we found the bug that the D.E.A. denied planting, the
undercover D.E.A. agent identified himself to my dad.
The department was so corrupt that we moved rather quickly.
The level of drug selling went further up than simply the police
chief. But as my mom told me under confidence, I can't say anything
more on that.
The city actually disbanded the department to fall under county jurisdiction.

We moved to Oakridge, Oregon.

While my family and others had issues with the minor corruption of
the police chief, it was his supposed friend that made us move.
After the chief brought him in and while still recovering from a
heart attack, this "friend" made it his life's mission to discredit
and demolish the chief. It culminated in his getting the police to
quit en masse forcing the city to fire the chief, and putting guess
who in charge.
This level of Brutus style traitorship did not sit so well with my
father.

We moved to Pendleton, Oregon onto the Umatilla reservation.
There were packs of feral dogs that periodically terrorized the
people and pets. My father shot one that happened to be owned by a
native american. He riled up the locals so much as to get my father
fired.
This was the one move that didn't involve police corruption, just
wussiness and political expediency.

We moved to Myrtle Point, Oregon where he was struck by a drunk driver while directing traffic around a separate auto collision.

I can't at the moment remember which department had the problem with officers sleeping with underage assistants.

Sorry for the length.

[Boozy]

Sorry about your dad, Flyndaran. He sounded like a really good man.

[Flyndaran]

Sorry about your dad, Flyndaran. He sounded like a really good man.

He was, though it makes it difficult to talk about his unwavering honor, kindness, and general likeable character. People just assume that I'm overly biased keeping a child-like adoration of my father.
I always said that you know he was a good cop and great man by how those he arrested gave me their condolences.

[Dreamstalker]

I grew up respecting cops (my grandfather was a state trooper and one of the best guys there in his time), many times I'd considered going into law enforcement but dropped the idea as too risky. I've also run into a few bad ones. The cops in Montpelier were awesome, Brookline eh...here are two of the worst:

--there used to be a small Asian guy with a serious Napoleon complex who would hassle highschoolers just because he could. Haven't seen him in quite a few years.

--one night shortly after moving to MA my mom and I were driving home through town. At that time her car was still registered in RI, which in addition to the windshield sticker only required an inspection sticker on one license plate (I believe it was the rear) at the time. We get pulled over by a burly black cop who then started screaming at my mom ("don't you know MA cars need stickers on both plates?" etc...we didn't have MA plates then and were well within the grace-period before we had to switch over). He was completely out of control, we both thought he was going to draw his gun. Bastidge didn't let either of us get a look at his badge number. He hasn't been seen at all recently either.

Yes, there are bad cops (power-abusers and the like), but also good ones who try to make up for the former.

[Sylvia727]

I was raised to respect police officers, just like firefighters, paramedics, and social workers. I was taught that we (Americans) live in a great country that balances respect for our rights with concern for our safety. And I still believe this, in the abstract. In general, I think our civil servants try to serve the community.

But when I was in high school, I decided to get out of an abusive situation. I went to cops, social workers, lawyers, GALS. And the great legal system of the US of A screwed me over. The GAL assigned to me in my parents' divorce broke some 7 or 8 of the GAL guidelines- I know, because I looked them up. She actually recommended that I- at the time, 17 years old- be legally ordered to meet with my abuser because my absence was causing HIM emotional distress. Fortunately, I'd had the foresight to tell multiple police officers about the abuse. And every one of them "lost" the report I thought I'd filed. One of them even offered to testify on behalf of my abuser. Another filed a complaint of child abuse against the non-abusive parent. I kid you not, the person who attacked me on a daily basis my entire life had no paperwork whatsoever, despite my many attempts, and the person who protected me from him as best she could was reported to the state for child abuse. Their excuse was that I was a child, and therefore lying, while my abuser was an adult, and therefore telling the truth. It still makes me sick to think about. To this day, nothing ever came to my abuser. I got away from him, but he's still out there, and he has other children.

I don't like cops. In the general, they may protect and serve. But when I interact with cops, I'm polite, distant, and firm. They may not search anything of mine without a warrant; I won't tell them anything without a subpeona. I've learned my lesson- the cops can and will screw you over, and no one's looking out for me but me. I don't like that my first reaction to a cop is fear and contempt. I think that's a criminal's response, and I'm sure the cop does too. But I'm not going to let anyone take advantage of me again. I'm through with that.

[RecoveringKinkoid]

Check this out. It's a clip (actually, a small series of clips) of a talk by a cop and a lawyer telling you why you should never talk to cops.

You should not even say "No" if they ask you if you committed a crime. This clip blew me away. The slickness and ease in which you could be set up to take a fall took my breath. Seriously. I made my husband watch them right away. I wanted to send it every person I know.

Think you are made of teflon? think that if you just keep your nose clean you are safe? Think again.

Watch the clip. Then watch the others (they'll show up in the cue, you know how You Tube works.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8z7NC5sgik

EDIT: Good friend of mine damn near got put away for being an accessory to murder one. All the poor bastard did was give a crying woman a lift home one night from the pancake house. He actually got freaking ARRESTED and put in jail for a bit, something like two years later. Why? He talked to cops. She had murdered someone. My friend didn't know. He talked to cops shortly thereafter. TWO YEARS LATER they talked to him again. (I may not have my details right, this was back in the 80's) Some details changed in his story. So they booked him on some sort of suspicion charge. We were all ready to go to court and testify "Yes, Your Honor he really IS that stupid!" It worked out, but it took quite a bit out of him, his peace, and his life.

So, moral of story? Don't fucking talk to cops.