So I got pulled over...

Re: long fingernails...

Sometimes a "Coke Nail" for use in drug consumption.

Othertimes, nails (or just one nail) is grown long as a sign of relative wealth and psuedo-bourgeoisie status. Workers can't have long nails - they'll chip, break, get torn off, or cause problems when they get in the way. Having long nails or a long nail in some cultures (or even subcultures) is a visual sign that "I don't have to work with my hands."

Of course, that second story could just be a convenient cover for the first?
 
Still haven't been pulled over and I've been driving for 12 years. I must have an intimidating aura.

Oh and crap, I probably just jinxed myself.
 
Try this one next time.
You: "So officer, if I called you an a-hole, I'd be in trouble, wouldn't I?"
LEO: "Yes you would!"
You: "But what if I just thought you were an a-hole, would that be ok?"
LEO: "I guess"
You: "Well I think you're an a-hole!"
 
Technically I don't drive.

One story I can tell is when I was 17 and had a learner's permit.
We were driving down the country back roads in the winter. It was after a band practice and we had a case of beer in the back seat of the car. That was pretty common for this area back in those days.
'76 it was.

So, I take a wide turn and out of no where a cop is behind us, lights flashing.

After stopping I guess he had been trying to stop me for about a half mile.
But the mirror wasn't set up for me, ya know, I'm just learning how to drive, so I didn't see him behind me.

We both step out, I show my permit, and he's explaining that my last turn was really bad, again I explain I'm just learning.

The other officer asks my buddy what's the case of beer in the back seat?
He sais, "Oh, well just having a little Christmas Cheer officer' , ya know, saying it in the worst way possible with a big drunken smile on his face.

Well, that was it for him, in a bad way. Just a little bit of roughing up there.

I ended up fine. No problems, no fines. My buddy got the crappy end of the stick that night though.

Yeah, in Canada, it's kind of 'Yes Sir, No Sir, Thank You for the fine Sir."
Up here we learned that at a pretty young age.

They can be really really good here though. If your not an idiot. I'm sure like anywhere else.
 
steev'sHVX said:
oh yea and the us has a crappy legal system. I knowww we dont get our fingers chopped off but i did sit in jury duty yesterday for 7 hrs. came back from our lunch and then got released. completely pointless. waisted everyones day who was there which a lot without pay. not to mention how lawyers and judges workout cases its redic!
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You must have waited with one of my fiends... what a coincidence... he told me the same story...
 
Long finger nail hah. Representing high status in some countries, meaning the person does not have to do manual labour.
 
Another time I got pulled over was outside of Syracuse, New York.

I was planning on making an upcoming right turn and needed to get in the right lane. A police officer was cruising beside me on the right so I turned on my blinker and slowed down in order to change lanes behind him. As I slowed down, he did as well. The car behind me was preventing me from going even slower so I sped up a bit in an attempt to get ahead of him and change lanes in front of him. However, as I sped up, so did he.

This happened again as I slowed down again and sped up once more. Finally, with little time left to get in the lane, I started to slow down and, as I saw that he was doing the same, I quickly sped up and got in the lane in front of him just before the turn.

Flashers. He walked up to my window.

I said, "Are you aware that you were blocking me from changing lanes? Were you playing some sort of game? Every time I slowed down, you did as well, and every time I sped up, so did you."

He took my license and returned to his car. When he returned he said he would let me go with the warning not to change lanes too soon before a turn.

...

That reminds me of another time I was pulled over and given a warning. Again, in Israel. I had made a right turn and used my blinker in order to change to the left lane.

The officer said I had changed lanes too quickly after having made the turn.

"What is the law?" I asked. "One hundred meters? Two hundred?"

"The important thing," he responded, "is that you don't do it too quickly. Have a good day."
 
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OldCorpse said:
A tip. If a cop (in the U.S.) asks you "Do you know why I stopped you?" - it's a trick. The trick is to get you to admit something. F.ex. if you say, "I guess I was speeding" or whatever, you're cooked, because if you then later go to court to fight the ticket, the cop can say "he admitted fault" and that's that, game over. So don't do it.

Q: "Do you know why I stopped you?"

A: "I have no idea, officer, why don't you tell me".

Never talk to cops. Ever. Give your name and address, and documents they ask for and cooperate in physical actions. Otherwise remain silent. Anything - anything you say can and will be used against you - even if you have not been mirandized. Don't chat with cops. A cop is not your friend. Emphatically - he is not your friend - he's a potentially lethal weapon. You must remain extremely cautious.

I never tire of linking to this explanation of why you must remain silent at all times, no matter how much you wish to talk.
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Ugh... that guy makes me want to bash my head against the wall... :kali:
 
I got pulled over when I was 17 for speeding, got a ticket for over a hundred bucks....that stopped me quickly from speeding again.

Police in Japan are interesting. I was questioned one night and didnt have my japanese issued "foreigners card" with me. Yes, all foreigners in Japan are issued with an ID card. So these 4 police who question me, whilst Im standing at a taxi rank waiting for a taxi to turn up. And then they say I must go to the police station which is about 5 minutes away by car. They lead me to thier police vehicle and I ask them if Im under arrest. They say no. So I say whilst Im happy to go to the police station, if Im not under arrest Im not getting in a police vehicle. Anyway, two of them agreed to let me walk there, whilst they followed on foot. Was a nice night for a walk.
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I went to visit my buddy in Japan last summer. The first thing he said to me was...."Keep your passport on you anytime we go out, you give up a lot of rights if you don't have it on you".

Their very suspicious of foreigners (not necessarily the people) but the police and the government. He's told me some of the stuff he's had to go through to get a work visa and a pernament residence card and it's pretty crazy. Really don't like foreigners working there. That being said when we were going through customs to get into the country I forgot the address of where we were staying so I just wrote down (Chiba) which I later found out is just a large district of Tokyo, the customs agent asked for the address and I said something like "Ahh I don't know"......stamped my passport and let us through.
 
One of the absolute dumbest thing I ever said. Pulled over by a Texas cop years ago on a roadtrip:

"What do you think you're doing?"
"Just trying to get out of this state as fast as possible, officer."

Yup, there's your admission of guilt. (and stupidity)
 
On my first visit in the US (about 20 years ago) I got pulled over (speeding of course - I´m a German).

Classic cop as I knew him from US TV series.
Khaki uniform, scout heat, mustache, mirror glasses.

In Germany it´s no problem if you get out of the car - in the US... bad idea (but I did not know better). It was sheer luck that he didn´t shoot my head of.

After he saw my German drivers license all was fine, he had German ancestors and so he feels somehow related to a German guy - or something like that.
I got away with a warning. Phew!

Best "pulled over" was here in Germany.
I do some WWII GI reenactment sometimes. A friend got a Willys Jeep and we where heading towards Belgium to a parade called "Tanks in Town".
We had 4 Persons in the Jeep, all dressed up like WWII GIs including colts, several Garants, a BAR and a 35mm machine gun mounted at the outside of the Jeep.

I have to say that the German weapon laws are extremely strict.
Actually there is only one law:

You shall not have a weapon. Period.
(But there are some exceptions for hunters and the like)

Than they saw us with all that gear - and they where not amused.

Bottom line, thou technically we had no guns or life ammo at all (all decoration), we spend the night on the police station. When they released us at 4:30 in the morning, they had to admit that they where wrong, but the parade was over.

Frank
 
High school.
Party hopping.
A teen-aged Callaghan.
Car full of girls.
Flashing blue lights.
A cop, two years past retirement.
Dammit.

"Son, whatcha been drinking tonight?"
"Not a thing, sir."
"Whatcha been smokin' then?"
"Sir, I don't do that."
(looks at girls one-by-one)
"Why don't you step out of the car?"
"Sure."
(Cal does so)
(beat)
"Now come back with me to my car."
(Cal heads for the back door)
"No, up front. With me..."
(Cal obliges)
(beat)
"Son..."
(beat)
(an eternity)
"Son...be honest. You were trying to get a little p*ssy, weren't you?"
(let's roll with that)
"Yes sir! You got my number! That's exactly what I was doing."
"Ah-huh. Well...next time keep your hand on the wheel, and out of the coochie."
"Yes sir!!"


True story.
 
"Son, whatcha been drinking tonight?"
"Not a thing, sir."
"Whatcha been smokin' then?"
"Sir, I don't do that."
(looks at girls one-by-one)
"Why don't you step out of the car?"
"Sure."
(Cal does so)
(beat)
"Now come back with me to my car."
(Cal heads for the back door)
"No, up front. With me..."
(Cal obliges)
(beat)
"Son..."
(beat)
(an eternity)
"Son...be honest. You were trying to get a little p*ssy, weren't you?"
(let's roll with that)
"Yes sir! You got my number! That's exactly what I was doing."
"Ah-huh. Well...next time keep your hand on the wheel, and out of the coochie."
"Yes sir!!"
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hahahaha, thats hilarious.
 
I've had some incredibly lame run-ins with cops.

I was filming a friend skateboard outside our middle school on a weekend (we were ~14 yo at the time). A cop showed up and said we weren't supposed to be there. He said there was no problem as long as we left, so we left. As we're walking away, he pulls up to us and tells us that he's going to give each of us rides to our houses. We hop in, and he drops us all off at our individual houses.

We weren't done hanging out, so we called each other up and got rides from our parents back to one friend's house. I still don't know what the cop was thinking... slow day I guess.

I really hate filming skateboarders now. When a cop shows up, they all try to run away. That leaves me with my gear, having to talk my way out of it. I usually call the skaters idiots and get on the officer's good side.
 
Here's my story:

2002. I was married for 8 months, at 25 years old, then suddenly decided that it wasn't for me, and i bailed on my wife. I was a rock star upstart on a mission to be famous, after playing drums since i was 7 years old.

I prefered to live in my 1999 Ford Explorer for a few months, with my drums. So i did that. But i had long since developed a taste for booze, as it helped me with these kinds of decisions, or so i thought.

One night, (around 2am) as i was drinking from a 12 pack while driving, i pulled over in a neighborhood and called a friend because i wanted to sleep somewhere else but my car. A Cop pulled up behind me and turned on his lights. I immediately reached my hand into the 12 pack to determine how many beers i had, and i felt only one. "11 beers...sh*t...ok, ok...i can do this..." is what i thought.

Cop came up and asked for my info....then 4 more units showed up...holy crap...not good.

I felt like i was on tv...i was drunk as hell, but felt rather lucid.

Female cop came up to my passenger window and i rolled it down...she said "why you driving around so late?"

i explained (lied, sort of...i never intended on seeing my wife again) "my wife and i are newlyweds, and things aren't going well...we had a fight...i'm just out driving to blow off a little steam" (meanwhile, the almost empty 12-pack is sitting on the passenger seat with a jacket covering it, and the officer is leaning into the car)...not sure how the cops couldnt smell the alcohol.

then, things got better....the female cop then asked me "do you have any kids?" i said no (i didn't at the time). Then she said something like "Yeah, i'm glad, because you just got married, that would be so sad..."...she sympathized with me....and continued to sympathize with me and give me advice and stuff.

all the while i'm thinking...."i've had 11 beers, and i have to poo."

The other cop returned with my license/reg, and because i had never been pulled over before (miracle in itself)....they all told me to get right home and have a good night.

Did i drink that last beer afterwards? Hell yes. I went back to the parking lot i chose to live in and slept for 14 hours.

4 years later, i got my first DUI. And 2 months after that, i got my 2nd.

Fast forward to now.

I'm still married to my wife, and i have 2 amazing daughters (4 year old, and a 3 week old)

Whew...too many close calls...this was just one.
 
I don’t know if I’m the only cop who lurks here, but I’ve been one for 6+ years. SWAT, Training Officer, Crash Investigator, etc.

Anyway, most of us will be the first ones to tell you some of our peers have a crappy attitude. However, like was pointed out already, most of us are just trying to do the job so we can feed our families and honestly try not to f*** with decent people.

If you’ve had a bad experience with a cop, I’m sorry. I have had bad experiences with them as well.

Understand there are huge differences in cop culture between the east and west coasts just as there are with every agency. City guys are different from county guys who are different from state guys. Then there’s the Fed boys…

Example: the city I live in but do not work in has a big emphasis on their guys stopping and citing for traffic violations ($$$), however, my bosses aren’t impressed with traffic cops and instead want us to focus on serious crimes like car theft, burglary, etc. I could write 100 traffic citations and my boss would ride my ass for being lazy. But, when I dig a little and recover stolen property or bust a car thief, I get tons of praise.

One last thing to remember when dealing with an attitudinal cop: you most likely don’t know what he/she was dealing with immediately before contacting you. Last year, I had to handle a case where a cute little angel named Izzy drowned in a bathtub. The very next call I had to handle was a loud party complaint. I know I was probably very curt because I just wanted to go hug my kids, not deal with a bunch of loud idiots disturbing their neighbors.

Most of us are normal people trying to do the best job we can.

Patrick
 
Jordan, is your stop going to be a scene in a film???

Batutta said:
All I'll say is that if you're my shade in the US, you don't say anything to the cops other than 'yes, sir' for fear of getting Rodney King'd.
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Is that where the phrase "A Batutta kicking" comes from?

OldCorpse said:
We have an adversarial legal system, by design, a result of careful thought by our founding fathers. As a result, our cops are like armed bombs ready to go off - be very, very careful. See the link I gave for an in depth explanation by a legal constitutional scholar. I know nothing about Australian laws, maybe I would chat with cops there too, but here, it's a specific situation. No right or wrong, it's just the way it is. For the record, I happen to think the U.S. has a very, very good legal system (not perfect, just better than 99% out there).
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Both US law and Australian (and all Commonwealth) law are derived from English Common Law. Much in American law has changed since (in situations like search warrants, a judge must sign the warrant in the US), but that was the origin.

Out of my close to dozen stops (mostly speeding, I used to go to Traffic School a lot, but have since slowed down), my only story was driving to my Mom's for Christmas, with my heavily medicated cat. She had a tranquilizer in her for the 8 hr drive.
She had been yowling in her carrier (that gets old quicker than a crying baby), so I took her out and put her in my lap.

A State Trooper stops me for doing 92 (guilty as charged, I was). It was night, he would have worn mirrored shades had it been day.
I roll the window down 3 inches (because the cat's in my lap) put my hands on the wheel, and wait.
Trooper walks up, says "Sir, could you roll the window down, please?"
I said, "I'd be glad to, sir, but I have a cat in my lap"
He says "Excuse me?"
"I have a cat in my lap" and point down "Meoooooooow!!!" she says, right on cue.
He laughs, ask me for license/registration, walks back to his car.
"Damn" I think, here comes a $250 ticket.
Trooper comes back, says "You were going 92, but I'll write you up for 79, that's less than 10 over the limit."
I thanked him, thanked my cat, finished the trip, went to Traffic School- no points.

OK, it's not as good a pu$$y story as Callaghan's, but it's all I have...
 
Most of us are normal people trying to do the best job we can.

Absolutely. That's why you shouldn't give a cop any attitude. Obey whatever physical orders he gives you, identify yourself immediately upon asking, give whatever papers you should (if you're driving) etc. Be polite, don't act threatening, keep your hands visible and so on.

On the other hand, you shouldn't chat and try to buddy up or worse, be hostile and try to tell the cop how to do his job. They ain't your buddies. You never know what kind of cop you may encounter, so behave professionally, do what the laws say, and shut the heck up - always remember, a cop has the power to destroy your life.

As a cop you can understand that - after all, you as a cop have no idea what kind of a person you are stopping. What if it's some psycho? You must take precautions, you approach safely and so on.

In other words it goes both ways. Be professional with a cop - he's doing a job. And as a cop you're professional with the public, not a "warm and fuzzy".

It's how our system is set up, and we should respect that. It's when people don't respect that, that trouble results.
 
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