PO'd at police

[MossRoad]

I know that we all fail to know and/or understand the details and workings of professions other than our own, but you'd be hard pressed to find more misinformation and mistaken beliefs about law enforcement anywhere in the world than in this thread. Unbelievable!

Are you saying most cops are not ticket quota collection machines? :laughing:

Around here you are hard pressed to find a cop that has time to pull anyone over for minor infractions.

The only times I have been pulled over by cops, I deserved it! :thumbsup:
Speeding. No ticket.
Speeding. 5 over. $20.00 ticket. I rolled my eyes at that one and payed it.
Speeding. No ticket.
Unkown speed (that was a good one). I was shutting down from a sub 120mph blast and the cops radar went wacky! He kept asking me if I knew how fast I was going and I kept saying no. He said he got me at 60 in a 40 and I smiled and said O.K. :laughing:
Headlight out. No ticket.
Improper display of license plate (back window of pickup truck). No ticket.
Speeding. No ticket.
No turn on red. No ticket.
Weaving. No ticket.
Running a red light (it was a close one. Wife was extremely pregnant and slamming brakes would have hurt her). No ticket.
No turn on red. No ticket. (that cop WAS a jerk, but I DID make the illegal turn).
Brake light out. No ticket.
Probably a couple more.

Point is.... I deserved to get the tickets I got and probably should have gotten more. I didn't whine about them, even the trivial one for 5 over because I deserved it.
Man up folks! :confused3:

 

[two_bit_score]

That's pretty much what the cop did... he could take his proof of insurance in with the ticket and it would have been nullified.

No, not really. The OP has to go to a lot of extra trouble waiting until the court gets the tcket and then setting up a time to go there and going through the 'process'. It's a big hassel for the OP and could have been handled as a warning ticket or as I said by the cop holding the ticket until a certian time to allow the OP to get his current card and provide it.

The cop took the routine way to handle it and make it as difficult on the OP as he could without going out of his way. Impounding the car and telling the OP to get a ride, if allowed in that state, would have ben too time consuming on the cop's part, probably.

Again, all could have been avoided if the OP had the card like he should have.

The cop could have cut him some slack and it would have been perfectly permissable. Why he didn't we can just guess.

 

[two_bit_score]

Are you saying most cops are not ticket quota collection machines? :laughing:

Around here you are hard pressed to find a cop that has time to pull anyone over for minor infractions.

The only times I have been pulled over by cops, I deserved it! :thumbsup:
Speeding. No ticket.
Speeding. 5 over. $20.00 ticket. I rolled my eyes at that one and payed it.
Speeding. No ticket.
Unkown speed (that was a good one). I was shutting down from a sub 120mph blast and the cops radar went wacky! He kept asking me if I knew how fast I was going and I kept saying no. He said he got me at 60 in a 40 and I smiled and said O.K. :laughing:
Headlight out. No ticket.
Improper display of license plate (back window of pickup truck). No ticket.
Speeding. No ticket.
No turn on red. No ticket.
Weaving. No ticket.
Running a red light (it was a close one. Wife was extremely pregnant and slamming brakes would have hurt her). No ticket.
No turn on red. No ticket. (that cop WAS a jerk, but I DID make the illegal turn).
Brake light out. No ticket.
Probably a couple more.

Point is.... I deserved to get the tickets I got and probably should have gotten more. I didn't whine about them, even the trivial one for 5 over because I deserved it.
Man up folks! :confused3:

Kinda sounds like what some people say when talking about children being 'corrected'..........I got 'whippings' when I was a kid but deserved them all............and they never hurt anyway..........and they never found out about ALL the stuff I did.

 

[Taylortractornut]

I drive a company truck and The seat belt is the same color of my coverall's I ve been pulled over a few times for no belt more or less they dont check y insurance. I got checked the other day by Barney Fife. He was new and had never seen a Fleet Vehicle Insurance Card. He was asking about the reason it didnt have any expiration date. I tried to explain I had to take a day off and go to the court house to take care of it. What made me hot was when I asked the officer to call the 24hour number for the card. he said they were probably closed. It really irked me to have to sit there for 45 minutes after a long day out in the sun.

 

[CinderSchnauzer]

At 144 posts and climbing, a good portion of this thread has turned into a window on what is wrong with much of society today.

Few people, it seems, are willing to take responsibility for their own actions!

Many are always be looking for someone else to blame for something over which they alone had complete control?

The cop shoulda, the cop coulda, why didn't he? Poor me!!

PO'd - you were the one driving with no seat belt and no proof of insurance - not the cop. There are lots of laws we may not agree with - doesn't mean we can ignore them with no consequence. Pay your fine - take the time off work that's necessary - learn a lesson - quit whining!!!!!!!!!

 

[dave1949]

I know that we all fail to know and/or understand the details and workings of professions other than our own, but you'd be hard pressed to find more misinformation and mistaken beliefs about law enforcement anywhere in the world than in this thread. Unbelievable!

Why would that be true Bird? I am not questioning your experience, but if misinformation is so common, how does that come to be?

With the probable exception of MossRoad, who seems to have regular contact with the traffic police , most of us don't. The few times we have contact with the traffic police, it is hard not to feel like we are at a distinct disadvantage. I don't think that bothers policemen in general. I think most people can sense that and they do resent it.

I once received a bogus speeding ticket. Nothing I could say made a whit of difference to the LEO. In Maine, that is as good as judged guilty, there is no recourse other than trying show the radar gun wasn't calibrated or some such thing. I was stopped once for a burnt out headlight, the LEO asked why I wasn't wearing my seatbelt. I told him it had been a very long day and I just didn't have on. I could have lied and said I just took it off to get my registration when out when I pulled over. He could not have proved otherwise. In actuality, I think he was just getting me to admit it wasn't on. So I incriminate myself and pay the ticket for the seatbelt. Honesty was no part of that from the LEO. I must have had 'sucker' stamped on my forehead that evening.

These things are not the end of the world, but they do accumulate into an attitude of mistrust and possibly dislike. It's easy for me to conclude the LEO is there to pass out tickets, not make driving safer.
Dave.

 

[two_bit_score]

I know that we all fail to know and/or understand the details and workings of professions other than our own, but you'd be hard pressed to find more misinformation and mistaken beliefs about law enforcement anywhere in the world than in this thread. Unbelievable!

That's a broad brush you use there, Bird. Are you sure it's not seen through 'rose colored glasses'?

 

[CCWKen]

I may not be the sharpest barb on the wire but I do know this; if you don't break the law, you won't have a problem with police. Most state laws say you have to carry current proof of insurance. My company sends me three copies--One for the wallet, one for the vehicle and a spare. They're also readily available online. And they come about a month or two in advance of renewal! If you (the OP) don't have time to update your paper work, why should it be the fault of the officer? His task is to finish the contact as soon as possible and get back to work. It's not his job to verify your insurance. It's YOUR job.

As a side note: Texas just started linking insurance to vehicle tags. They can tell in a second if the vehicle is covered. All they have to do is key-in the tag number. Which they do quite frequenly just sitting in traffic not just at contact stops.

 

[MossRoad]

With the probable exception of MossRoad, who seems to have regular contact with the traffic police , most of us don't.

That fine resume' took 32 years to accumulate. :thumbsup:

 

[MossRoad]

As a side note: Texas just started linking insurance to vehicle tags. They can tell in a second if the vehicle is covered. All they have to do is key-in the tag number. Which they do quite frequenly just sitting in traffic not just at contact stops.

Speaking of license plates... have you seen these cameras that are mounted to a vehicle, and the vehicle drives up and down the rows in the mall parking lots and it reads the plates and passes it through a database to find cars that haven't been plated, insured, safety inspected, or reported stolen, etc....? I can't remember where I read about them, but man, you better have your i's dotted and t's crossed!

 

[Pops15]

Speaking of license plates... have you seen these cameras that are mounted to a vehicle, and the vehicle drives up and down the rows in the mall parking lots and it reads the plates and passes it through a database to find cars that haven't been plated, insured, safety inspected, or reported stolen, etc....? I can't remember where I read about them, but man, you better have your i's dotted and t's crossed!

Hmm, cops driving around on private property looking for reasons to cite people (raise revenue). As far as I'm concerned there are far more important things for the police to be doing.

My BIL was an officer in a small town. He did indeed have quotas to fill but they didn't call them quotas.
Most of the officers around here are good people, but one town in particular has a bunch of Barney Fife types. I've worked for a bunch of cops from other departments. They poke fun at the officers from the one department suggesting that they spend more time trying to solve some serious crimes (like a couple of unsolved murders!!!!) rather than meeting their ticket quotas.
I have a friend that's a judge and a customer thats a judge, and another customer thats a retired judge. They all talk about the overload of cases waiting to be heard. I suspect that all three would have been upset with the officer the OP encountered for not using discretion.

 

[Pops15]

I may not be the sharpest barb on the wire but I do know this; if you don't break the law, you won't have a problem with police. Most state laws say you have to carry current proof of insurance. My company sends me three copies--One for the wallet, one for the vehicle and a spare. They're also readily available online. And they come about a month or two in advance of renewal! If you (the OP) don't have time to update your paper work, why should it be the fault of the officer? His task is to finish the contact as soon as possible and get back to work. It's not his job to verify your insurance. It's YOUR job.

As a side note: Texas just started linking insurance to vehicle tags. They can tell in a second if the vehicle is covered. All they have to do is key-in the tag number. Which they do quite frequenly just sitting in traffic not just at contact stops.

I got ticketed for not having a city sticker. I don't live in the city nor do I need a city sticker to do business in the city. The ticket was dismissed but it cost me allot of time that I could have been working. It was just a cop looking for ticky-tack stuff to fill his quota.

As for the insurance cards. I get ONE for each truck and trailer. The page with the cards is usually stapled to the back of my policy. Awhile back I got thinking that I didn't remember getting a new card with my last policy. I checked the glove box and found all my old cards going back to when I bought the truck in '04, but not the current card. I checked my desk, file cabinets, etc. I finally found the card. The page with the cards was in the middle rather than the back of the policy! I get a new policy once a year. The mid year cards are mailed separately. One year the insurance company didn't issue the new cards. I had made some changes to my coverage and they somehow failed to mail the new cards. My agent investigated why I hadn't gotten the new cards then printed new cards for me.

 

[two_bit_score]

>>>As a side note: Texas just started linking insurance to vehicle tags. They can tell in a second if the vehicle is covered. All they have to do is key-in the tag number. Which they do quite frequenly just sitting in traffic not just at contact stops.<<<

Sad thing is there are some 'featherlegged' cops who will misuse that technology and will spot a unregistered or uninsured vehicle at a mall parking lot and actually set up on that vehicle to stop it when it hits the street while letting several stolens or felony wanted vehicles go by.

 

[Pops15]

I know that we all fail to know and/or understand the details and workings of professions other than our own, but you'd be hard pressed to find more misinformation and mistaken beliefs about law enforcement anywhere in the world than in this thread. Unbelievable!

Please enlighten us.

I built a house for an officer, built room additions for two others, and I've done major remodeling for at least three others. I also have a BIL that is a retired officer. I had a neighbor that was a retired officer. My oldest son's first baseball coach was an officer, and my son had a good friend who's father was an officer. I have a good friend who is a judge, and I have two judges for customers. Another officer worked part time for my Dad for over ten years. In addition two guys I went to school with are now officers. The father of one of my friends when I was in school was the Chief of Police in the town where I grew up. The police I know, work or worked for the smallest of rural department all the way to the Illinois State Police. Some are/were beat cops, some detectives. Some are/were on special task forces. In other words they represent a pretty good cross section. I've talked with these people away from their work and most are very candid about how their respective departments operate. I think I have a pretty good understanding of their profession (and I'm glad I'm not in part of it). Having said that, I think most of what's been posted is true.....someplace. Maybe not everyplace, but someplace.

 

[mmurphy]

Speaking of license plates... have you seen these cameras that are mounted to a vehicle, and the vehicle drives up and down the rows in the mall parking lots and it reads the plates and passes it through a database to find cars that haven't been plated, insured, safety inspected, or reported stolen, etc....? I can't remember where I read about them, but man, you better have your i's dotted and t's crossed!

I bet they are looking for illegals, or better yet terrorists called average American citizens.:laughing:
I think we truly are a country devided. Nanny states versus freedom.

 

[Bedlam]

Here is a link... YouTube - ALPR Licence Plate Reader 2 - Featured on Hacked Gadgets
When you park take your plate off. (wing nuts)

 

[/pine]

I know that we all fail to know and/or understand the details and workings of professions other than our own, but you'd be hard pressed to find more misinformation and mistaken beliefs about law enforcement anywhere in the world than in this thread. Unbelievable!

The biggest problem with many "local" police departments is the total lack of "professionalism"...

Sorry, but just going through (graduating from) a regional police academy hardly makes one a "professional"...just because an individual chooses law enforcement as a "profession" does not make them a professional...

 

[dave1949]

Here is a link... YouTube - ALPR Licence Plate Reader 2 - Featured on Hacked Gadgets
When you park take your plate off. (wing nuts)

Where will it all end? Take your plate off and your auto may get towed or reported as an abondoned vehicle.

Dave.

 

[tallyho8]

Here is a link... YouTube - ALPR Licence Plate Reader 2 - Featured on Hacked Gadgets
When you park take your plate off. (wing nuts)

Yes, if you are a criminal you can take your plates off but then you will get stopped for no plates.

The link above clearly states that the cameras are used to search for license plates that fall into 4 databases:
1. wanted felony vehicles
2. local wanted vehicles
3. stolen vehicles
4. lost or stolen license plates.

I WANT the police to catch these criminals and am very happy that they have this technology available to them.

If you don't want the police to catch these criminals then I won't feel bad if your car is the next one to get stolen.

There is no mention of them using these cameras for minor offenses such as no safety inspection or no insurance.