What has been Your Experience with The Police?

[Shooby]

Have you had interactions with the Police? If so, what was your experience.  I have had a speeding ticket here or there or the parking meter ran out.    And, they were politie.

  However, one time, DH and I had just returned from a week long vacation at Outer Banks. At 3:00 am we were both sound asleep and heard someone furiously pounding on our front door. It was pretty frightening. Dh went down and it was the Police. And, he said there was a 911 call that supposedly came from our house. Now, we had just returned from the beach and went straight to bed. And, this was before we had kids. Dh explained that No, that was not us and we don't know what they are talking about but the Cop seemed to have some kind of attitude that we put in a prank call or something. Bizarre.

[cael]

I work with cops on a semi-regular basis and they are all for the most part good guys/gals. I will say one of them did something to a former coworker (who didn't go anywhere with it) that I considered to be sexual harassment, and I got pissed because no one bothered to do anything about it or see that it was a problem, but it wasn't my issue. He's fine to me, but the first time he slaps my ass "playfully" you bet your ass I'll be making a scene and going to the police union about it, because no. I've been pulled over twice, once by a state trooper who was nice to me (being young and a girl probably helped me - got a warning), and once by a Lynn cop (for those of you who know Lynn... lol), and he was to the point, polite, and zipped off quick after giving me a warning - I'm sure he had better things to do than pull over white girls in station wagons for running a stop sign when merging onto a busy road.

I witnessed an assault when I was 19 and cops took my statement - they were fine. I've never personally had a bad interaction with a cop. DH says the cops in his old town in NJ are awful - but a) they have nothing to do, and b) DH did hang out with stoners, soooo.... He actually got arrested and kept in lock up for a night once (his buddies and him had pot in the car - his dad was not happy) and he did say the cops were nice to him during it and he couldn't really complain, except about his own stupidity.

[Virgil Showlion]

I witnessed a police takedown of a criminal on an arrest warrant a few years ago. It had the whole down-on-the-ground-hands-cuffed-behind-your-back COPS vogue to it.

I have some extended family members serving in the RCMP.

Other than that, my only interaction with the police has been some "Please look in on..." calls to police stations concerning situations I felt warranted attention, and a (comical, in retrospect) incident from decades ago when my sister accidentally punched in the silent "panic code" to our home alarm. The police showed up to investigate. I was sleeping upstairs at the time, and it took quite a while to sort the situation out. Police are instructed to treat the people who meet them at the door to either be criminals or homeowners under duress, hence it wasn't as simple as "Whoops. Never mind."  The officers had to search the entire house, and one kept an eye on me while I was trying not to fall asleep on our front walkway.

Aside from these incidents, I can say without an ounce of regret that my interaction with police has been limited to occasionally walking past them in the street.

[Deleted]

I think 'the police' is a large, not homogenous, group. 

My stepfather is a good guy. Retired state. He does have some biases which sometimes mke me cringe at his having had powers of authority. And he foes say he'd never cop today, what with all the constant video accountability... 

The guys who pull me over for speeding are generally friendly  

with th the exception of the local guy who did abuse power to the point he was let go and the position ended (even he I didn't have an issue with, but the issues were widely known).

[AgeOfEnlightenmentSCP]

I have had two warnings, and three speeding tickets- which I properly earned- in my life. However, one time I got pulled over just after coming through an intersection for running a red light that I didn't run. It wasn't like I pushed the yellow- it wasn't even a close one. The officer was just flat out wrong. His first statement to me is that the speed limit was 35 and his radar showed I was going 41. I didn't say anything, just handed over my license. He came back with a ticket for running the red light, which I just barely noticed before I signed it. I handed it back to him and stated to him that there must be some mistake- you said I was speeding, but this says I ran the red light. He said, you just ran that light. I signed the ticket, and waited for a court date.

I put on my best suit, went to court. When I got to ask the officer questions, I clarified to the officer and to the judge that I was not, NOT accusing anyone of lying, but that I needed to clarify a few things. I asked the officer if he recalls stating that the radar showed my speed. He said he didn't remember talking to me about my speed, but that he would concede he "might have"? I then said, we all see things all the time which we can misinterpret. Isn't it possible that you were looking at your radar, and not at the intersection. When you looked up, and saw my vehicle coming your way AFTER the intersection, that the light had changed in the meantime and you saw my vehicle, a red light, and made the snap decision that I ran the light? He said, no- I saw you run the light. I said, well I it's clear we're all here because that's what you thought you saw, but I think the truth is you were looking at your radar- and since you did tell me what my speed was, you could not have been looking both places at the same time.

The judge thought I sounded reasonable and the ticket was dismissed. I actually got interviewed by Bruce Dold from one of the Chicago papers (Sun Times, I think) who was there and astonished that someone actually got out of a traffic ticket. Turns out, he was doing an investigative piece on the Western Springs, IL police department habit of writing an astonishing number of questionable tickets along that same route.

[gooddecisions]

Some friends and I were playing a nice pick up game of flag football on a county-owned public soccer field. A cop came and bullied us to stop. He looked through our coolers too, but they just had Gatorade. In the cop's defense, there was a sign that said reseeding and to stay off the grass, but we weren't actually playing on that part of the field. He was jerk to us.

A cop was hanging out off-duty with some mutual friends. He was wasted and waving his gun around at a public outside-free concert. He was also a jerk and really could have hurt someone

An undercover patrol car sped up behind me on my bumper and my reaction was to speed up to get him off my bumper (of course, not knowing it was a cop), that put me closer to the car in front of me and the next thing I know I have a ticket for reckless driving. He was jerk too.

I got busted for streaking a football field at night when there was no game. He let me put my clothes back on and gave me a ride home. He was not jerk. But, he was a campus police, so I'm not sure if he was a real cop.

 

[billisonboard]

The ones I shot were very pissed off. I was hiding in a darkened  building. They did a night goggles room by room search but missed me hiding under a big piece of sheet metal. Once they moved on, thinking the room was secure, I slide out and shot three of them in the back. 

The ones that captured my buddy and me in our hideaway trailer were quite pleased with themselves.

It was a great experience participating in a SWAT training.  

And to be honest, I missed when I shot but the guys knew that if they had been dealing with someone who had shot a pistol before that it won't have been paintball splatters on the walls around them. 

[ArchietheDragon]

My experiences have been mostly good.   Had the "200 pound bullet" speech from one when I was young and driving fast.   My wife had one bad experience during a moving violation where she felt the cop was verbally abusing her when the kids were in the car.  She was very close to filing a report on him, but didn't really know what that entailed, so she didn't.

[wyouser]

"what has been your experience with the police?  No matter where you are, they "all" have those pretty multi-colored flashing lights

[Chocolate Lover]

Not too horrible, but nothing I'd file as pleasant.  There haven't been any power tripping ones messing with me but a couple did mess with guys I was a passenger of. One did the tailgate thing in an unmarked SUV and only hit his lights when he couldn't keep up with my show off BF who was outrunning him.   to both of them. Another must've had previous dealing with my XH and decided to not only pull him over but search the dang car. One pulled my DH over when the car in front of us slowed down, then we were following too close.
They've all been polite enough but really?


My mom got pulled over once and talked so much (for 30 minutes) that he sent her on her way.

[Anne_in_VA]

All of my interactions have been good.  When we had a break-in at our house last year the cop who came was really nice, but he gave us some bad information.  I later mentioned it to a friend whose husband is fairly high up in our local precinct and she said the guy was wrong.  Glad I didn't take his advice.

[Tiny]

I've gotten speeding tickets over the years (which I deserved as I WAS speeding) and I got one ticket for 'rolling' thru a 'stoptional' stop sign - because the cop was behind me. don't get me started about the quantity of stop signs in my neighborhood. In all instances, the cops were polite - although I really hate the "do you know how fast you were going?" question... um, well no, but probably more than the stated speed?

For me a ticket is more of an inconvenince than earth shattering. As far as I can tell they've never effected my insurance rates (I get some sort of ticket - parking or speeding about every 4-5 years).

The officiers who came around when the garages on our block were broken into where all really professional, calm, polite. I'm sure the cop who dealt with me and my garage thought I was bat shit crazy - cause I was truly upset that someone might have stolen some irreplaceable home made things that basically look like scrap metal - in order to sell them for scrap metal - I've got a homemade 'rotisserie' and grill/smoker thing and then there the parts from an antique still and some other metal weights that get used for tailgating(keeps the tent from flying away) and parts for a homemade flag pole (also metal). I didn't really care about my car or lawnmower or other odds and ends - just the 'junk metal' stuff that looked like trash. Yep, cop probably thought I was crazy.

I've never had a bad experience with the police.... but then I've never really felt that I was being unjustly dealt with. I also rarely feel the need to be beligerent when someone "tells me what to do" and I feel like I'm being 'dis-respected'. Someone being a jerk is their problem, not mine. Which I think are the things that get people into deeper trouble...

[Deleted]

Jan 2, 2015 9:15:15 GMT -5 cael said:

I work with cops on a semi-regular basis and they are all for the most part good guys/gals. I will say one of them did something to a former coworker (who didn't go anywhere with it) that I considered to be sexual harassment, and I got pissed because no one bothered to do anything about it or see that it was a problem, but it wasn't my issue. He's fine to me, but the first time he slaps my ass "playfully" you bet your ass I'll be making a scene and going to the police union about it, because no. I've been pulled over twice, once by a state trooper who was nice to me (being young and a girl probably helped me - got a warning), and once by a Lynn cop (for those of you who know Lynn... lol), and he was to the point, polite, and zipped off quick after giving me a warning - I'm sure he had better things to do than pull over white girls in station wagons for running a stop sign when merging onto a busy road.

I witnessed an assault when I was 19 and cops took my statement - they were fine. I've never personally had a bad interaction with a cop. DH says the cops in his old town in NJ are awful - but a) they have nothing to do, and b) DH did hang out with stoners, soooo.... He actually got arrested and kept in lock up for a night once (his buddies and him had pot in the car - his dad was not happy) and he did say the cops were nice to him during it and he couldn't really complain, except about his own stupidity.

(for those of you who know Lynn... lol) Gee, I wonder who would know about that? Lynn cops don't bother me. Last time I dealt with them was a couple years ago when some numbnut speeding around a corner on his motorcycle decided to use the back of my car to stop himself. I was babysitting my cousin's kids at the time and all of a sudden we heard screeching and a crash. Car was fine, oddly enough. Motorcycle and the guy riding it, not so much.

A former chief lived across the street from me when I grew up. His moron son became a cop but I don't think he is one anymore. Thank God. Same with a former mayor. His idiot son shot his wife "accidentally" when cleaning his gun. I don't think he's a cop anymore either. For the record, these guys were idiots before they were cops, not because of it. I grew up with them so it makes me incredibly biased.

I like the cops in Wakefield though. I have a magical last name that gets me out of tickets due to a cousin being a cop. Only got pulled over once anyway.
cael - do tell me which busy road it was. There are so many.

[lynnerself]

I've been stopped a few times for speeding or not completely stopping. Always the officers have been polite.

The most interesting interaction is when a high speed pursuit ended up in a lot where our car was parked. (We were in a restaurant.)To stop the fleeing car, the police T-boned it into my SUV, pushing it clear into the car next to it

The cops were nice and the  city paid to repair the damage.  But my SUV was only 6 month old!

[Deleted]

All of my interactions with the REAL police have been great (well... except for actually getting the well deserved ticket or two... but that's their job, and I WAS speeding at the time).

There was one time with a "Forestry Agent" once however where he went over the line... WAAAAAAAYYYYYY over it. Parked behind me (after following me into the mall parking lot, I worked in the mall at the time, was late for work, and WAS speeding a little bit), pointed his gun at me, "arrested me" (including cuffing me), and took me (in his "Forestry Service" truck) to the local police station... where they told him to take me back to my car and for him to apologize to me.


With the exception of "Forestry Service" asshole,  I've always been polite and helpful with anything they needed withing reason (they've never asked for anything unreasonable, so no need to deny anything... yet). "Forestry Service" asshole didn't give me a chance to be polite.

[Abby Normal]

I havent had too much, a speeding ticket.  My biggest interaction was for a party we threw in college.  We lived in a "just off campus" dorm.  We threw a floor party ( everyone opens their rooms and serves a particular drink).  Charged admission and made a fortune (true YM fashion).  Were on the second floor. Every time the cops came-  all the guests moved to the upper floors.  They came 5 times that night before the party ended.

Once things settled down, they came back around to give us the lecture.  One of them was younger and pretty cool, the other was the proverbial ass.  Of course, the younger one did come back a few days later and ask me out.  

[zibazinski]

I've never had a problem. I taught DS and DD if they're stopped at night, roll down window, turn on overhead light and put both hands on the wheel. During the day, don't bother with the light. DS said it saved him a ticket one time because the cop asked him why he did this. He told him his mom told him to. Cop laughed and sent him on his way with a warning!

[mmhmm]

I've only had one problem, and that was years ago in Long Beach, CA. Most of my contact with the police has been through the hospital ER. The police were always very cooperative and helpful when called. I was stopped once for speeding and the officer was very polite and just sent me off with a warning.

[Peace Of Mind]

Great!  I got felt up and strip searched all in one night! 

Back in the 80's all interactions were great.  I'd either get let off with a warning if I was speeding or DH1 had forgotten to put our registration sticker on.  We had the cops called on us when we were having a big party and riding the boat on the lake at 1:00 a.m.  He was cool about it and told us to be careful and keep it down.  When Chow dogs were killing animals and getting loose they showed up immediately and chased them back home when they went after our cats and then DH1 when he was leaving for work.  They were great in that city.

Where I live now the cops suck ass.  Most are red necks and lazy.  We heard noises at 2:00 a.m. and heard kids throwing our chair by the front door down and other minor stuff.  When I called to report it (vacant house next door so I was concerned it was broken in to) they asked me if any damage was done.  Ummm.  It's 2:00 a.m. and pitch dark.  Isn't that your job to find that out?  I stayed up until 4:00 a.m. and they never sent anybody out.  Found out the next day our neighborhood was hit and cars were vandalized, eggs were thrown at houses, planters were broken... stuff like that.  Guess who's house they came to so they could see if our security cameras caught anything.  Assholes.  In the 10 years I've lived here it's always been like that.  They show up at the HOA annual meetings telling us how concerned they are keeping our community safe and to please call them so they can do their jobs and then treat you like crap and ignore your call and then want you to do the work for them.  If you report kids trying to kill the federally protected wildlife Bubba will say "Well, is the animal dead?"        I say "Wellll... I was kind of hoping we'd prevent that from happening by you showing up to talk to the little psychopath animal killers."  I'll bet after they kill a person they'll come knock on our door.    I'm hoping this town is just really unlucky and most cops around here aren't like that.  But I'll call my neighbor first now if it's something important.  He's a cop from another city.  But he's lazy too.  LOL!

[Malarky]

I've gotten one well deserved speeding ticket.  

I've been told to move it inside and keep it down at a party.  

I got a ride to the police station one night in the back of a cruiser, in college.  Disturbing the peace.  It was 4 am and they made us walk the two miles back to campus.  If one of my friends had not been belligerent, we would have been spoken to at the scene and sent on our way.

I once mouthed off to a border patrol agent at the Canadian border and had my car dismantled for my reward. Please note, I was the asshole, not him.  My 50 something self knows my 20 year old self should have just kept my mouth shut and answered his question.  Even at the time I wasn't pissed, I knew I was wrong. 

The cops in the town I work in have had my back for the past 30 years.  They know that we're mostly women working at the bakery and we go in to work between two and four am.  They always keep their eye on us.  They patrol the parking lot and the building.  If anything looks amiss, they will stay there and make sure we are safe.

And when I had a stalker, they waited 5 hours for me to return to my car that I had left in the work parking lot so he couldn't get me.  He was a housemate gone bad and I had to go back and get my stuff under police protection.  

I've never had a problem with my hometown cops.  A few have kids the same age as mine so we see each other at sporting events.  

I've made it clear to my kids.  DON'T EVER RESIST ARREST!!  You can always go back and sue if you are wrongfully arrested, but you can't undo it if they shoot you while you're resisting.

YMMV

[ՏՇԾԵԵʅՏɧ_LԹՏՏʅҼ]

Never a problem - when I got a traffic infraction (twice) it was of my own doing.

When DH and I were in our first home back in the 80's, there had been a bank robbery in a nearby neighborhood.

The armed robbers fled the scene and entered our neighborhood and busted into a home just over a block away and got themselves inside (with the family who were home at the time). The police cordoned off the area quickly and also had several other cruisers/officers in the immediate area. Some of the officers went door-to-door, advising people to stay indoors and away from the perimeter of the scene. This was also in the dead of winter, and the stand-off lasted into the night with negotiations back & forth, and trying to apprehend the criminals without any harm coming to the family being held, or shots fired.

It wasn't til morning when it was all over - with no lives lost or bullets flying.

The population of my City (even though I'm in a more neighboring community now), is well over 1 million - and our police force are very professional, polite and incidents of police brutality or abuse of power are few and far between. I now live 20 km outside of City Limits.

I even got stopped in this little burg (which is policed by the RCMP) 2 yrs ago for having expired tags. The officer could have had my car towed & impounded on the spot, but he let me off with a fine, and allowed me to continue on my way home (with no side-trips) with the promise of not moving my vehicle once home, until the new tags were on my plates.

I got off pretty easy with a $75 ticket.

[msventoux]

Knock on wood, I've never gotten a speeding ticket or been pulled over. 

I really haven't had much interaction with the police.  I filed a report when a package delivered by UPS was stolen off of my porch, but that's about it. 

[ZaireinHD]

Hmmm..... lets see...

arrested twice / costly / loss of work
conflicting / inconsistent / confusing
frightening / scary / intimidation 
horrible / pain in the ass / waste of time / no good / unfair
no follow through / nothing resolved / too much red tape
arrogant / know it all / unfriendly (not that they have to be friendly) assholes
nice

[toomuchreality]

I got "pulled over" while sitting at the drive up window at McDonald's. I passed all their tests and let them search me/my car.
McDonald's employee called and said I was drunk (I complained about the food the night before). They asked where I was going (home to bed), and I had prescriptions in my purse, so I got a ticket for driving while possibly ill or fatigued. It stuck.

For  a few years I had trouble with a cop 'stalker'. That was a nightmare!

Most of my other experiences have been good/decent.

I have a few extended family members who are cops. I assume they are good ones!


Note: Officers at the city/county jail... Pretty much jerks. A few were nice. (I wasn't in jail!)

[Apple]

I've been hit by one, and beat up by another--involving hitting, kicking, etc.  But, to be fair, one was my dad and the other my older brother (so sibling fighting when we were kids).

I've only had a few interactions as an adult--pulled over for a bad tail light, once for speeding, called them when I got hit by a semi and was chasing the semi down the freeway to get him to pull over, stuff like that.  They've all been polite, no issues.

[weltschmerz]

I got a bunch of speeding tickets and they were always polite. Yes, I have a lead foot.

I was also pulled over on an Indian reservation and ended up dating a Mohawk peacekeeper, one of the most beautiful men I've ever met.

Does that count?

[zibazinski]

No, but it's a cool story. 

[cael]

@empressspunkles lol - I was merging onto the Lynnway after going straight through that intersection right after NSCC - you can turn left then right, or just go straight and there's a ramp? I looked left at the road as I merged, missing the stop sign that was there. I was honest with the cop and told him i was looking at traffic and didn't see the sign, figured I'd get a ticket. He just wrote me a warning and said to remember next time. I have remembered each time since then, lol!

[AgeOfEnlightenmentSCP]

Jan 2, 2015 9:54:51 GMT -5 gooddecisions said:

Some friends and I were playing a nice pick up game of flag football on a county-owned public soccer field. A cop came and bullied us to stop. He looked through our coolers too, but they just had Gatorade. In the cop's defense, there was a sign that said reseeding and to stay off the grass, but we weren't actually playing on that part of the field. He was jerk to us.

A cop was hanging out off-duty with some mutual friends. He was wasted and waving his gun around at a public outside-free concert. He was also a jerk and really could have hurt someone

An undercover patrol car sped up behind me on my bumper and my reaction was to speed up to get him off my bumper (of course, not knowing it was a cop), that put me closer to the car in front of me and the next thing I know I have a ticket for reckless driving. He was jerk too.

I got busted for streaking a football field at night when there was no game. He let me put my clothes back on and gave me a ride home. He was not jerk. But, he was a campus police, so I'm not sure if he was a real cop.

I carry- I'd have shot that bastard dead.

[AgeOfEnlightenmentSCP]

An undercover patrol car sped up behind me on my bumper and my reaction was to speed up to get him off my bumper (of course, not knowing it was a cop), that put me closer to the car in front of me and the next thing I know I have a ticket for reckless driving. He was jerk too.

Reminds me of a stop with a friend of mine who was driving. My friend brake-checked that asshole, and predictably got pulled over and was ticketed for reckless. He filed a counter complaint for tailgating, and threatening with a vehicle.

It worked. They dropped the ticket in exchange for him dropping his complaint.