Personally from my experiences, which I will get into in a moment, I believe that there are 2-3% of Cops in my area which are good and the others...Well, let's just say that they are not on my good list.

My encounters with the police in my area were pretty bad and I was supposed to work "with" them, I worked for mall security as my previous job, on the same side. One of the examples is if an incident happened and I wanted to press charges on the individual the police officers that responded would actually talk the security officers not to press charges on the idiot/s and lied to our faces countless times regarding incident info(we need to know what happened to incidents on our property to keep a record for the corporate offices). What happens is the same idiot/s comes back next week and toys with the security guards knowing that nothing is going to happen to them. The police department in that area is just plain lazy and dirty scum for doing that.

On the time I have been pulled over for illegal exhaust, tinted front windows and "suspicious" activity(apparently for having my front windows tinted)...I was asked to step out of the vehicle and sit on the curb while they the officer waited for his backup to arrive to watch me. When his backup arrived the officer started going through my car and turned it upside down. I started asking questions(politely) to what they were looking for in particular. The officer that was watching me advised me to keep my mouth shut or he will make sure that they add on speeding as another offense. First, these words were from his backup officer who did not pull me over in the first place. Second, I know for a fact that I wasn't speeding to a point to get pulled over...I clearly remembered I never went over 38 mph in a 35 mph zone(I was just cruisin'). Anyways, after all that searching...I received 2 fix it tickets, Tinted front windows and aftermarket exhaust, had my dignity and morals stripped along with having to stay by another 5-10 minutes to clean my car up after they turned it into a pigsty.

Third reason is that I always see cops turn their lights and siren on to run red lights and do illegal u turns and then afterwords turn them off like its no big deal. I actually heard on the radio that ,in New York, one officer did something like that and crashed into vehicle and put the woman that was driving the vehicle in a wheelchair. Now that woman and her family is suing the whole department. That's just abusing the power...seriously, do they really need to do that.

On to the 2-3% that are good...I have a neighbor which is a CHP motorcycle officer and he is one of the coolest guys around. Compliments me on my car all the time.

The first time I got pulled over for speeding, 80 in a 65 on the highway, I was 19 years old heading home from a 10 hour shift working security. It was a little after 10pm. I first pulled over in the emergency lane median(remember it was my first time being pulled over, I was very nervous and very very tired from working). He then got on his loud horn and told me to accelerate and change lanes all the way to the right and pull over on the right edge of the freeway. I proceeded and pull over in the "right" place this time. The officer approached and asked where I was heading and why I was going 80mph. I explained that story of my work shift and told him I was so tired I must have not been paying attention to the speed but just wanted to get home and first thing got to bed. He took a long hard look at me, my license and insurance card. Then looked in the back seat and saw the security uniform that was back there I was taking home to to get washed and told me to be careful and slow down a bit and let me go with a warning.

Sorry for the long post but you asked for my opinion there you have it with undeniable reasoning!!!

Just to add...I love the new cellphone law. Whenever I drive its my "getaway" from all the day to day nuisances and answering the cellphone foils that whole cruise. Driving my S is my nirvana...Why would I wanna spoil that with a distraction!!!

Plus too many idiots love to do those "slowly drifting into another lane and then the 'ole quick jerk back to reality". Whenever I pull up to look at the driver, they're on the phone...I just shake my head and make sure they see me doing it. Been thinking about signaling them that there's a cop pulling up behind them just to see how fast they put that cellphone away.

 

I'm glad I got to hear your side of the story. This was a touching story to me and of course I try my best to understand. But your just one of the thousands of law enforcers out there.. Many of them are just plain dicks, regardless of what your story might be I'm sorry to be rude but I understand they need to enforce laws and things but on my side of the story (this doesn't relate to cars).

Well I look like a typical teenager and when I was in high school there was a cop that watched over the school. Everyone called him Frozone because he looked like Frozone from The Incredibles. Anyways, my school is filled with a Asians and most of them smoke cigarettes (lots of girls) Well whenever I walk out of school to go get something to eat at a free period or just go get something from my car (since there is no parking inside school since is packed) I always got stopped by the cop and I was checked for any types of drugs / cigarettes or anything illegal (Always me facing the his hood leaning against the hood ). No matter how many times I told him I never smoked a single cigarette. Everytime I went out he was a dick to me (a bit racist). Just because I'm the typical Asian high school student he assumed I was on something. After a few times of going through this I was sick of it and didn't go out at all anymore and I felt like he ruined the "having a car in high school" experience for me.

A cop pulled over my girlfriend with extremely light tints and charged her for a fix-it ticket. Which is bull. If I took a picture of her car you wouldn't even think it was tinted.

All I heard at school was how a drunk or high friend of mine got away from a law enforcer while he was driving under the influence. I feel like cops do their jobs only half the time.

Do cops have the right to surround a group of people (my friends and I) just because we were hanging out at a parking lot before we all split to go home and then after pretty much forcefully check our cars and take away things like paintball guns, bee bee guns, cigarettes (from 18 year olds without their ID's), diet pills..? I think not. Cops are just unfair (where I live anyway) every single time I encoutered one.

Though I have far more unfair cop experiences I think I'll keep it at that.:/ Thats just my opinion though, but seems like your a nice guy I wish you next time (if I ever) get pulled over it will be by someone like you.

Thanks for sharing though.

 

Luder...thanks for the insight. It's good to know that there are some reasonable cops out there patrolling.

My luck has not been so good with being pulled over by a decent cop in the 8 times I've been pulled over in the last 28yrs of driving. a couple have been courteous when giving me a ticket that I deserved. Most have been unnecessarily rude whether I deserved the ticket or not.

But I've been pulled over 4 times where I absolutely was not doing anything wrong. Luckily only 2 ended in a ticket and one I took to court and won. In all 4 cases the officer was arrogant and the 2 that "let me off" acted as if they were doing me a favor. The important statistic is that 50% of the time that I've been pulled over, the officer was WRONG.

The other major irritation is utilizing officers for manning speed traps with the exception of highway patrol. To me the mission of the HWP primarily is traffic enforcement. But utilizing local police for the purpose of sitting looking for traffic violations is a waste of resources that are needed to prevent crime. To me, municipalities & counties should not be allowed to use speed traps for revenue generation.

Luder...I hope your example has an influence on your fellow officers. And perhaps one day you will be a supervisor where you can have a broader impact.

 

Just like any with any other profession their are some rotten eggs. It sucks when the rotten egg gives you a ticket instead of not holding the pickles . Most cops i have encountered are nice and im always respectful. Once i was pulled over for a 78 in a 75. This was on a turnpike and their weren't any cars on the road but me and the cop i suppose. He pulls me over and tells me how he could give me a 160$ for speeding but he just let me off. That was a little outrageous to me but i didnt act disrespectful in any way. In that situation it did seem like he didnt have anything better to do.

I try to keep it 4-5 over the limit on 45 and up roads and at the limit on anything below that. I have never gotten a ticket for anything but i have been pulled over 2 times once for a burnt out tag light and the other for going 3 over.

Their was a local track day and a c6 corvette and a cobra were pulled over about 1-2 miles from the gate of the track for going 10 over and the cop let them off. It was really early in the morning and their wasn't any one around so they weren't causing any real harm. The cop said he didn't want to ruin their day and let them off. I think he new the track was up their and that is ware they were headed.

i have a question for you. Do you pull over more sports cars or red cars than other types? If you see a sports car are you more likely to get him for speeding than the average car? I haven't ever believed this to be the case but i hear it all the time.

 

While in school i was repeatedly told we didnt have rights we werent adults and these "rights" we speak of are for adults.

We were not allowed to even defend ourselves. The school had cameras and even if they could see some one randomly attacking another person and that person just so happen to know how to fight both would get the same punishment. One could be a repeat offender and the other could have a blank slate not even so much as a detention in 10 years of school.

If you want to talk about some one who abuses their power go find a high school vice principle.

 

I've met both good cops and really horrible cops.
I've only gotten two tickets (so far) in my life and both were with my Camry. The first ticket I received, the officer began exclaiming he could have my car towed away because I turned left to enter a freeway when the light was literally yellow and turned red after I had already turned. I explained to him that if I had stopped, I would've had to hit the brakes extremely hard and the person behind me, who had also ran the light but wasn't ticketed, would've rear ended me. He said, "Well, you need to know there are consequences for your actions. Here's your damn ticket." He tossed the ticket at me and sped off on his stupid motorcycle. I thought all cops were a'holes at that point.
A few months after that incident, four guys got into a fist fight over a baseball cap with an "O" on it right next to my S2000. One guy slammed another against my car continuously, leaving a huge dent. I called the cops and they showed up 45 minutes later. Luckily, I had the dent repaired this past October through a SoCal meet called "Dent Day".
Hmm... I've met a lot of cops who are just straight out either lazy or a'holes. I could go into detail about the two idiotic cops who took their time coming to check on my car, but . Whatever. Thinking about it just pisses me off.

I met one really nice cop. The guy pulled me over last month for speeding 45 in a 35 mph construction zone. I didn't have insurance for my '04 Camry and he let me slide. I thought that was nice. I still got ticketed, but At least he didn't tow my car away because he actually had a legitimate reason to do so.

 

Actually, the same thing happened to me recently. There's a local highway that I drive on a lot that goes from 50 to 40 then back up to 50 and then 55. I get on that road when it's the 50 zone but another hundred feet, it drops to 40. Then about a 1/4 mile later, it goes back up to 50. Well, there was a cop sitting in a lot (there usually is one there) a few hundred feet before it goes back up to 50.

I was accelerating back up to 50 before the 50 zone and he pulls out and gives me a ticket even though I was already in the 50 zone. The worst part is that I saw the cop beforehand since there's usually one there but I didn't think anything of it since I wasn't going insanely fast and my V1 didn't go off. But before I know it, I saw him speeding up to me in the rearview mirror and knew I was done for. I know that technically I was wrong since I was going over 40 in the 40 zone before he visually approximated my speed (that has to be the only way since I don't think my V1's busted) but I honestly thought he would've given me a warning or at least a smaller fine, but no dice.

 

i can't say i've ever personally had a bad experience with a police officer. however, i definitely feel that traffic enforcement is a broken system in our country once you get to the local level. sheriffs from small towns will set up speed traps for revenue, pull over out of state plates just because they know the person won't fight it... some towns have insane revenue from just speeding tickets, and i think that is really wrong.

highway though, and state highway patrol officers, i think you have a different story there. i go anywhere from 5-20+mph over the limit on the highway. i'm 25... so call that around 8 years of driving this way, no tickets yet. i pass officers all the time on the highway - i see them a mile away usually. i don't have a radar detector, i just pay attention to onramps/offramps/turn ins/bridges and slow down. i'm not pretending i'm superhuman or something, i'll get pulled over eventually and i'll deserve it i guess. but if there's one thing i like about highway enforcement it is this: the people who get caught are generally caught because they just plain weren't paying attention.

example: i had a friend caught speeding recently in FL. the limit is 70, she was ticketed for something above 85 if i recall. i asked her how fast she was going, she said 'i don't know.' i asked if she saw the cop, she said 'not until he was right behind me.' what does that tell me about her? it tells me she was paying 0 attention to her driving. she had no idea there was even a cop around her, no idea how fast she was going... that's a sign of a dangerous driver to me and even though she's a friend i hope she wakes up from that ticket. paying attention to the road and to your surroundings is the best way to prevent an accident in my opinion, so if a cop is right out in the open and you get caught, you deserved it not because you were speeding in my opinion but more because your eyes and/or mind were not on the road.

dunno where i was going with this post. from your attitude and posts on here luder, i'd say you're the good kind of officer and i hope it rubs off on your co-workers. i think the worst officers are local officers, especially in smaller towns. most horror stories from friends have involved that sort, and i'm noticing a lot of the stories in this thread are that way too.

 

I gather you are California Highway Patrol.
I have a sister, a brother in law, and a nephew in law enforcement, never got me out of a ticket but it did teach me about attitude and respect.

When i happen to get pulled over, whatever I have or have not done, I offer respect, always keep my seat belt on and hands on the wheel, i know what it is like to do a felony stop, and i know what so many local pd have a belly holster as well as a side arm. I am in the officer's hands, he can do whatever he wishes within reason and get away with it....most cops are good people that care, that is why they do this job...the bad ones usually get weeded out early. what they have to go through with post academy training and constant screening works as well as any profession.

Today's cops are a well trained breed... the older cops that go synical and are pissed...that is a thing that happens in any profession....the ones with attitude really take advantage and end up in hot water in the end. there are checks and balances.

My take on chp is that they have a massive job to do , that the freeways in southern cal and some of northern cal are simply out of control. people drive...speed, good to slow, change lanes without notice or regard to solid lines, and generally drive like they have another agenda other than driving. I see this every day, I cannot help seeing it.

one of the reasons i drive cars that perform is to get away from idiots out there....

I am glad I do not have to police it. What gets me is the bike cops, either local PD or CHP. They live to ticket. they are doing a political job and always fall back on the reasoning that they are saving lives by ticketing...that is a political issue, it brings local money into the system massively.

Where I live there is a stretch of highway 280 that is about 6 lanes, left alone people will do 75 mph on average. when the bike cops come out it is a ticket field day, lots of local revenue and yet what does it do?

people slow down, still drive any speed in any lane, and traffic gets backed up...there should be a strict law that anyone impeeding the flow of traffic in the far right lane should be ticketed. slower traffic needs to move over.

I have driven in europe where drivers are more taining and sophisticated in their approach to the road...you can drive all day long at 80 mph as slower traffic always moves over...I am all in favor of a freeway limit of 75 or 80 mph on some freeways, like the 70 mph (a real joke) on highway 5, SF to LA. Right now I have to look in my rear view all the time, that distracts me but it keeps me honest with who needs to pass...

You have a hard job and I have had experiences with being stopped and not being ticketed...i think that makes a hugh difference in attiude on everyone's part...warnings...

Any type of interaction with the PD/CHP which does not end in a ticket can be qualified as positive community relations....

I had an accident on highway 101 at rush hour at night in the rain...i was in the far left lane, pulled over...one officer responded...he stoped all lanes so i could pull over to the right, took the report, made sure everyone was ok, called the tow truck and was a real hero in my book doing his job....i called and found his supervisor to tell him that, the man was shocked i would give him positive feedback...the officer did his job well and his supervisor needed to know.

far as letting that kid go....what if you gave him a ticket instead of a warning, you think that would have slowed him down????...probably not...some people need to experience things to learn them and you can't always be right, i would let that one go with the knowledge that someday you will let someone go and it will make a difference in a positive way as well....

 

One more more thought, you drive the freeways at speed durring work, so it is very hard to observe the speed limit on off hours...and if you are stopped you can get out of any ticket within reason.

that makes you different and your attitude about observance of the speed limit when you feel like putting your foot down different that the rest of us.