Cops: Vultures of the Civil World

[psychohamster]

Just now I was driving home from IHOP (International House of Pancakes) with my girlfriend Erica and my friend Eric. It was about 1:30 at night and we were looking forward to getting home. I was about to turn down a road called Stall when i encountered a flashing red arrow light, now this means i have to stop and treat it as a stop sign. But, because there was no traffic for a mile or so either way, i only did a semi-stop. Then magically out of the mist appears a state trooper ready to do his country's justice! He flashes his lights at me and pulls me over, of course having the largest flashlight ever to burn out my retinas with. Now this trooper, I'll call him Baldy, goes over to my car and asks:

"Do you know what I pulled you over for, son?"

What kind of question is that? So i answer:

"Yes, I didn't stop, right officer?"

And he says:

"Is this your car? Do you know how to drive this car?"

And I think to myself, what a stupid ass question! But i just answer yes. He then goes back to the car for God knows how many minutes and looks up my records, records of what? No one knows....Then he makes me get out of the car to accept the 117 dollar ticket he has most generously made for me, thanks officer!

So now I have to take some 4 hour online course and pay the stupid ticket, and all for not completely stopping at a red arrow at 2 am. Are these officers really out to get us all for there personal gain? Give me your interesting stories of cops gone wrong.

[mr jones]

ah, the police have waay to much time on thier hands. I've lost count of how many time i got pulled over when i drove my old little battered fiesta. It was at least once a week. But not once did they find a single fault and i soon carried all documents (insurance mot and lience) everywhere in it.
The best is when they pulled me over at about 3-4 am becuase i 'apperead to be drunk'. they took me out questioned me bla bla bla, then asked if i would mind doing a breathilyser. i hadn;t had any alcohol so was fine with this. Execpt the police officer didnt have any in his car. The nearest one was about 20 miles away. He wanted to go home so said to me 'right, on your way then, just drive more carefully'.
a completle waste of time if you ask me.
Oh, and if you get pulled over and you have traffic cones and huuge road signs in the car they make you take them back to where you found them :(

[AngryPaul]

The nearest one was about 20 miles away. He wanted to go home so said to me 'right, on your way then, just drive more carefully'.
a completle waste of time if you ask me.Ah the wonders of the police valuing their time at home rather than testing people who they think are drunk.

Not saying Mr Jones was, just that if he thought you were drunk he should have done his job rather than just wagging his finger at you.

Although my uncle is a policeman I agree that their work areas are greatly mispriortised. They concentrate on catching people 3mph over the speed limit rather than the drug dealers I can blatantly point out on the streets. the police force needs to concentrate on [i]real[/]i crimes rather than collecting muneh for the goverment.

[Playbus]

I've only been pulled over by the police twice in the 7 years I've been driving.

Once for having bald tyres (thankfully this was before you got points on your licence for that) and the other one was because I was driving down a country lane at 2am with a car full of people. One of which was sitting on the parcel shelf playing a guitar. I was the only sober one in the car, hehee. But they didn't breathalyse me anyway.

And those are the only two times I've ever had to speak to a police officer at all.

As far as I remember anyway :)

[wyrd_fish]

Just now I was driving home from IHOP (International House of Pancakes) with my girlfriend Erica and my friend Eric. It was about 1:30 at night and we were looking forward to getting home. I was about to turn down a road called Stall when i encountered a flashing red arrow light, now this means i have to stop and treat it as a stop sign. But, because there was no traffic for a mile or so either way, i only did a semi-stop. Then magically out of the mist appears a state trooper ready to do his country's justice! He flashes his lights at me and pulls me over, of course having the largest flashlight ever to burn out my retinas with. Now this trooper, I'll call him Baldy, goes over to my car and asks:

"Do you know what I pulled you over for, son?"

What kind of question is that? So i answer:

"Yes, I didn't stop, right officer?"

And he says:

"Is this your car? Do you know how to drive this car?"

And I think to myself, what a stupid ass question! But i just answer yes. He then goes back to the car for God knows how many minutes and looks up my records, records of what? No one knows....Then he makes me get out of the car to accept the 117 dollar ticket he has most generously made for me, thanks officer!

So now I have to take some 4 hour online course and pay the stupid ticket, and all for not completely stopping at a red arrow at 2 am. Are these officers really out to get us all for there personal gain? Give me your interesting stories of cops gone wrong.

you broke the law, and got caught... quit whining...

although a one of my friends uncels(sp?) is a police man... and they used to play speeding ticket snooker and "how far away from your juasdiction can you get in one shift"... that stopped when one of them wrote off a car in paris!!!

[Magpie]

ah, remember once when Mystical Parrot got mugged, the kind and lovely police told us it was our own fault for being outside after dark.

I know its a thankless job that on the whole keeps society still working, but there are times when you just want to le sigh.

[CloudNeroZ]

Yeah that was a complete waste of our time. You know they are just bored so thay have to do something.

[Sand-Man]

When you go to get into the turning lane there is a little area with diagonal stripes before it actually "officially starts" with the broken line and the arrows painted in the middle. It was around 5pm and traffic was heavy. We had just gotten the green light, so in my hurry to get out of the traffic jam I got into the turning lane just a little early barely going into the diagonal stripes. Low and behold there was a cop further back in the traffic that saw me and pulled me over. It's illegal you know to touch the pretty yellow stripes!

[SaxAPPEAL]

Its the fault of all the bloody buraurocracy (sp?). They have to hit targets of criminals caught, so they go for the easy ones. Also theres a lot more paperwork and stuff involved with catching druggies etc than speeders so the lazy ones go for the easy life. (i know i would!)

[renatzu]

Well it depends on what force you are talking about. Urban cops deserve respect, they really put their lives on the line every day and have to hunt after criminals who have committed serious crimes and are dangerous. Suburban cops, on the other hand, really have nothing to do. When the most serious offence is a group of teenagers making a lot of noise late at night, you tend to get bored and when you get bored you look for people to ticket.

[Gnome General]

Oh, and if you get pulled over and you have traffic cones and huuge road signs in the car they make you take them back to where you found them.
Heh.

First of all, many cops have ticket quotas that they have to meet, so if they can't find bigger offenses, they pull people over for silly little things. You can't really blame them for that.

Second of all, the laws are there for a reason. You may think that you can't possibly be harming anyone by going through a red light on a deserted road, or driving through the yellow stripes, but you never really know. An unseen car could come zooming through an intersection, and trying to squeeze out of a traffic jam could result in an accident, or an even bigger jam. The cops are just trying to enforce the laws that are made to protect everyone. If you choose to break these laws, you have to be willing to suffer the consequences.

Third of all, just because there are some cops watching the roads doesn't mean that nobody is trying to track down drug dealers and other criminals. It's a different type of cop. A lot of people get injured or killed on the road, and traffic cops are there to try to prevent such things from happening. Plus, the police department makes a lot of money from tickets.:p

[Minted]

Oh traffic police are great fun, I got pulled over tons of times in my Citroen ZX - I began to wonder if it was just because the car was white and easy to spot. I was at university and did a lot of driving late at night, leaving my friends flats at 2-3am and driving home (though only if alchohol wasn't involved). I got pulled almost everytime I did this and was almost always breathalised. The best one was when I left the car park at my friends flat and flipped my hazards on then off again as I couldn't wave back at them (was negotiating the junction) I was tailed by an unmarked police car and eventually pulled over, they thought the hazards were the car alarm going off (cos of course the siren for the car alarm had fallen out earlier) I was asked to drive to the police station while they checked all the details on the car. What made it more fun was that the car was registered to my Dad, and was also registered to my non-termtime address. Around an hour later they let me go. I was warned never to use my hazards when pulling out of a car park onto a deserted road at 2am ever again. Nice, real nice....

[Sand-Man]

Let me elaborate on my situation. I was on a 2 lane highway on a flat peice of road at a stop light. The turning lane is quite short and traffic often gets backed up from people waiting to turn. The striped area extends for a long period and there is no reason for anyone to be in that lane coming from the other direction. There is clear visibility and no reason to randomly swerve into it. It is also out of the turning path which eliminates any problems there. Ontop of this my tire barely went over the yellow line if not just touching it. It wasn't like I entered from the halfway point or even the 7/8 point. The reason why he pulled me over was he was one of the 2 "official" cops we have out here in rich redneckville and had nothing better to do(we don't have quotas).

Then today I get a reason to be even more pissed. Traffic was backed up at a train crossing. There is 2 lanes each way with a turning lane in the middle. Halfway through the two stoplights it changes from a left turning lane to a left turning lane for the opposing traffic (their left). I sat there patiently waiting so I could get into it when it changed into the proper turning lane. I saw 2 cars go around and just ignored them, thinking I hope they get pulled over. But to my suprise I watched a cop go around risking oncoming traffic merging into the lane as he took this "shortcut" also. I know cops can bend the rules like passing me hitting about 60mph while i was going 50ish in a 45mph, but doing something like that where you risk hitting other motorist just doesn't cut it.