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Cops...

8K views 70 replies 39 participants last post by  Mike Lawless 
#1 ·
Ya gotta love the cops! Went to the big blue Lowes stores this morning. I don't ride in the city much but I had a home repair to do and "she who must be obeyed" had the car at work. Came out of the store and was waiting to turn onto the expressway to take the quick way home when a city kitty pulls up in the lane next to me. I thought the worst! But no, he says "Hey! how do you like that Triumph? Said he had a Tiger. Talked for a couple minutes and zoomed away. Best encounter I've ever had with a cop.
 
#3 ·
Exactly. All the cop-hate going around has me fuming mad. I work for my local police dept, and while there is the occasional jerk, most of them are great guys.

To the OP; I'm glad you had a good run-in with an officer. I've been talked to at stop lights about my Triumph a lot, but never by a cop haha.
 
#4 ·
Only one cop ever got to me and he was out to get our family. We defended a couple of tickets he issued and he got mad. Pulled a bunch of us over and had the rest sit on a lawn while Brother Dear and I were in the back of the prowler and he flat out told us he was going to get us.

The rest of my encounters have been if not downright polite at least civil and I've been in the wrong every time.
 
#5 ·
My friend with the BMWs wife is a cop...so by default Ive met quite a few local police through her at house parties...etc...

It was funny when the police came looking for me...when I ripped the mirror off that guys car...and it was a officer I knew through her....:grin2:

I also have customers that are police...one of my favorites let me go one night when I got into a bar fight with a drunk meathead fireman...he always gets a discount...:wink2:

I had a State Trooper on his bike stop and talk to me about my bike at a rest area once...

The police have a rough thankless job and people like to paint them with a broad brush because of the few turds out there...

Blue Lives Matter....
 
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#9 ·
...
I also have customers that are police...one of my favorites let me go one night when I got into a bar fight with a drunk meathead fireman...he always gets a discount...:wink2:...
That comes pretty close to the definition of corruption.

Circumstances like that aren't uncommon and it's a prefect example of conditions that diminish the respectability of the authority.
 
#8 ·
When I lived in Montgomery Village NY (Orange County) I had a few friends that were police officers ...they were all a good lot. I have found over the years the majority have been good and their vocation was to serve and protect. Out of the 1.1 million police officers in the US only a small percentage are corrupt or substandard. We hear about the small percentage all the time but very rarely hear about the majority of honorable ones.


Total in England and Wales Police 128,351 and total population 56 million. Sir Robert Peele ...hence bobbies or peeler's
the lesser used name of the two. Total in US Police 1.1 million and a total population of 319 million. Really need to look at the big picture ... Coppers perhaps for their copper badges earlier on.
 
#10 ·
Wow, a cop love thread. Sorry, I don't have any good stories about cops to share.


Thought about it again. Nope, not a one.
 
#13 ·
I have a number of friends who are cops, and I think for the most part it's just like in the rest of life. Most of them are great people but some are a waste of air. The waste of air folks would be a waste of air in any profession. In my experience, a very few cops are in it for 'authority issues,' and the rest of the police force knows who they are, believe me.

I've had many great times with cops, and really only one bad one with a sheriff's deputy, which I reported. My car blew an intercooler hose, which makes your car basically not want to run. I blew a 'right turn only' instead of merging into traffic and pulled over. I got out to check out what was up with my car and a deputy has pulled up behind me. I think, b/c of my many great cop experiences, "great, he can help me." Instead, he's got his service weapon drawn and held at his side screaming at me to get back into the car. You have to picture me with my "Volvo for Life" tshirt on.. I'm sure I looked menacing. After explaining that I was in some distress b/c of a mechanical issue, he writes me a ticket for blowing the turn lane and leaves me on the side of the road. I happened to know his LT, so I reported it. The citation went away. :) That's the only bad run in I've ever had.

In the end, cops are out there doing a job that most people wouldn't or couldn't do. There's way more good ones than bad ones. And just b/c one may be a Dbag, doesn't mean they should be a target of hate or violence. If a cop breaks the law, they should have their day in court, not face mobs or a deranged person bent on destruction.
 
#16 ·
I've had both good and bad encounters with cops.

One night, driving home, I was pulled over after an intersection. Cop told me I had a taillight out. It was news to me, but I said, "OK". Then, he told me I hadn't used my blinker. This is a 4-way intersection where the numbered road makes a left turn, but I was going straight through to leave the numbered road. So I complained I was going straight through, no reason to use the blinker. He pushed the issue, said I should have used the right blinker because I wasn't following the numbered road. I was coming onto my own street, I go through that intersection hundreds of times each year, and I was going straight- not turning. So I stood my ground, and the argument got a little heated. Luckily he did finally disengage. My wife was with me, and I told her when we were heading down the street that damn taillight had better be out. And it was.

I know these guys have to make split second decisions, like whether to load a black guy in a van and beat him to death over a couple of hours while driving around Baltimore, but some of them really are ********.

When I encounter a cop, I try to be as neutral as possible till I know whether I've got a good one or a bad one. My impression among younger cops is that most are bad, while older ones are mostly good.

-Ed
 
#19 ·
My international experience with police -

1) British Police:
Q G'day mate, could you tell me where "X" is please?"
A "Certainly Sir, turn right here..."

2) Australian Police:
Q G'day mate, could you tell me where "X" is please?"
A "No worries, turn ...."

3) German Police:
Q "Könnten Sie mir bitte sagen wo..." (Could you please tell me where...)
A "Ja, kein Problem, biegen Sie hier rechts ab...." (No worries, turn right here...)

4) Hong Kong Police:
Q "Can you tell me where....?"
A Yes Sir, turn left here...."

5) American Police:
Q Q "G'day mate, could you tell me where X is please?"
A "I'm not your mate, and do I look like a street directory?"

...but yeah, there's good and bad wherever you go.
 
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#20 ·
I live in an area where crime is virtually non-existent and, due to the wealth of the area, the police departments are well funded and very well staffed. What that means is that they spend their days driving around "fundraising" by issuing traffic violation after traffic violation. I've had my fair share of run-ins with them, and all but one ended up coming off as a self serving douches. Zero tolerance ticket writing policy, no matter the reason. Exceeding 35mph on a 1/2 mile 8% decline that you'd have to otherwise ride your brakes HARD to prevent? Nope, that'll be $200 please. Of course they spend 8 hours a day at the bottom of the hill picking people off one after another.

Oh, and my favorite local policy. You can go into court and "plead down" your moving violation by LITERALLY BRIBING the city by paying double the fine. Suddenly my 10mph over the limit ticket is downgraded to a parking ticket for the low low price of $300.

Also my local area is almost universally white, or at least the inhabitants are. But if you go into the local traffic court, 99% of the people sitting there waiting for the judge to accept their double fine bribes is a minority. Last time I was in court, there were at least 150 people there, and I was one of only three caucasians in attendance, save the judge and the reps from the prosecutors office. I've never seen a more obvious case of race profiling in my life.

This is the kind of opportunistic and borderline harrassment crap that makes people dislike the police. Yes, I'm well aware that most cops are nice guys outside of their uniforms, but I'm also aware that a lot of municipalities have policies that, intentionally or not, make people despise, or even fear, their police force. "Protect and to serve" has instead become "Extort and intimidate".
 
#21 ·
There's a revenue trap near me, too. Cemetary on one side, farm field on the other, straight line road, inexplicably posted at 30 and until just recently the sign was completely blocked by tree branches. Until you know about it, you are subject to seeing a cop blasting out of the cemetary to bag you. We don't get the racial profiling here though- too few blacks in New Hampshire.

-Ed
 
#26 · (Edited)
All Kinds

I spent 32 years with a municipal department and truly loved doing the job, retiring well over 16 years ago now. Policing in the late 60's and early 70's was no piece of cake with social issues of that time period, Vietnam, the Civil Rights movement, burning draft cards and bras. (The bra thing didn't bother me that bad.) During my service I believe I may have helped some people, saved a few from the ultimate fate, and took some very bad people out of society where did not belong under any circumstances. Like any profession there are good and bad, but I will say this about those out there serving today. What we went through in those earlier days was a piece of cake compared to moral and social values of today's society, particularly in larger cities here in the US. May the good Lord watch over every one of them...........
 
#31 ·
Being a PO is a tough and thankless job, and the majority of officers are good guys (and gals), but that job takes it's toll. I am a firefighter in a fairly rough city of about 90K people and we interact with PD a lot. A friend from the PD once told me "after a while, the only people you deal with are sh*theads and other cops and after a while, you tend to put everyone into one of those catagories". It's hard to deal with the BS that they do day after day and not become damaged by that.

Also, the I believe the rapidly escalating militarization of police departments since 9/11 is not helping. These young cops are being trained to see citizens as a soldier would see "the enemy". Just look at how Boston handled the Marathon bomber situation. Gross violation of civil rights and complete lack of accountability by everyone from Homeland Security to the local meter maids. Cops shot other cops, put dozens of rounds into some guys house, lit up the boat that the bomber was hiding in even though he was not firing on them.... etc. It's this double standard ... we're the cops so we can do whatever the hell we want....that pisses people off. They are doing a tough job, but they need to obey the same laws that we do.
 
#32 · (Edited)
Before you continue, I am the most law abiding person there is --- I drive almost exclusively the right lane, doing the speed limit,...except to pass, etc.

And as a bonus at least in Canada --- the right lane is the driving lane, and the left lane is the passing lane. ***Stay right except to pass***

To the story.

Was coming home from shopping one Saturday morning, doing 60 KPH,...until the 80 KPH sign and I sped up. I get pulled over.

The cop say, "Can I see your license and registration?"

I ask, "What am I being stopped for?"

He says speeding,..and he clocked me doing 58 KPH. Tells me the speed limit is 50 KPH.

I say, the speed limit is 60. He says, license and registration. I say what for, I am under the speed limit and point to the sign in the opposite direction saying,....60KHP. Speed limit is the same in both directions.

Says he needs my license and registration. I say I wasn't speeding. Seconds later another showed up,...said the same thing,...wasted more of my time going over the same stuff.

Finally the second says to keep my speed down and I can go on my way,....would have been nice if they acknowledged their mistake, but hey,...my ice cream didn't totally melt.

They never saw my ID either.

This is mild to me. In 30 years of driving I have been pulled over about 10 times. About 5 times for speeding, which I got off twice because the cop was nice, twice for surveillance stuff happening and I was in the area,..and about 3 times where the cop was a total douche, and had he not been a cop, I would have kicked the teeth out of his head,...for being a douche.

So there you go.
 
#33 ·
I have a couple questions I would like answered. Maybe some cops can answer them.

We always hear the rhetoric that 99% of cops are great guys doing a great job and have the utmost integrity. When one cop is charged/convicted of a crime like illegal shooting, beating, theft, drug dealing, etc. why is it that we don't see the other 99 cops coming out and denouncing this behaviour? What we always see is every cop defending the guy and squirrelly union reps talking blatant nonsense. If the rest of the cops care about the integrity of their office, why don't they act like it? Where I live there is one and only one cop trying to change this. He's the police chief. And what does he receive as his reward for trying to clean up the police force? Every Democratic mayoral candidate has said he/she would remove him from his post after being elected.

Secondly, when an ordinary citizen is murdered, one or two detectives are assigned to the case and do the best they can with limited time and resources. However, when a cop is shot the entire state stops what it is doing and dedicates limitless resources to the capture of those responsible. Why is this the case? Is the cop's life more important than that of any other citizen. It seems like a slap in the face to those families affected by tragedy who aren't related to cops.

Someone must have a reasonable explanation for these things. Please enlighten me.

db
 
#34 ·
I have a couple questions I would like answered. Maybe some cops can answer them.

Is the cop's life more important than that of any other citizen. It seems like a slap in the face to those families affected by tragedy who aren't related to cops.

Someone must have a reasonable explanation for these things. Please enlighten me.

db

First I am not a Officer nor am I related to any that I know of. I have, in my life, known one of the MOST corrupt cops in the country and a some of the most honest. What was just said IS NOT AN EXAGGERATION.


I am about 75 miles South of where a Cop was killed a few days ago. The authorities are going nuts looking for those that killed him. WHY? The bad guys killed a guy carrying a gun. Think what they would do to you, your wife or your kids without thinking twice.


As far as your local election if you and your fellow citizens elect a candidate that removes a good Chief of Police for no valid reason.
Well I guess you will get what you deserve. I hope you will enjoy living in Potterville.


K
 
#37 ·
Friday night I passed by a state patrol car that was parked on the shoulder of the freeway (hwy 94 heading out of town on Labor Day weekend). He was parked behind another vehicle. As I passed, I saw the officer on his hands and knees changing a tire for the driver.
 
#39 ·
Public servants, be they Firemen, policemen, local government, etc. are out there doing the job we hired them to do Because it isn't practical for us to do as individuals.

They are people who have bad days like the rest of us, or maybe they become cynical and hardened by the experiences we give them.

I'm white upper middle class and live in a suburb of a large city and the only contact I have with police is when they come to my assistance. Partly because I follow rules to avoid confrontation and out of respect for everyone else.

don't get your undies in a bunch if you get nicked for an infraction that you hired them to enforce. Unless some LEO is showing a clear pattern of abuse, don't second guess his motives - give him the freedom to do his job.

And yes, the militarization of law enforcement needs to be addressed. Somehow the balance between enforcing laws and waging war has been skewed.
 
#42 ·
I have always had good interactions with the police for the past 40 years. But I wear safety gear and here 95% of the bikers I see have no helmets, armored jackets etc. I have even had motor cops comment about how many riders don't wear helmets.
 
#44 ·
...got stopped by a cop outside of Presque Isle, Me...that's waaaaay up there, I was doing
60 in a 45. He came up to me and asked me if I knew why he stopped me. I looked at him
and said honestly, "yes sir, I am guilty of speeding." He smirked, took my license, and walked
back to the cruizer where he found I had a spotless record. He came back and smiled and
said, "Here's your license, no ticket, do you know how good it is to hear someone admit
their guilt?" :)

Those cops with bad attitudes are just like you and I when we have a bad day....when our
coworkers have to endure our grumpy-pants.
 
#45 ·
i had to look to see where that was. I spent the summer and fall of 1966 at the Haystack School in Bar Harbor, that was a great time. i still have a nice scar on my elbow where i burned it on a forge. I met some friends there and hung around until Thnksgiving. Beautiful Country!
 
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