Quote:
Originally Posted by Merlin_83
Very interesting post!
So a couple of things: I try to as much as possible respect and honor LEO, I'm over 45 so some of it is maturity and situational awareness of all persons.
For context to my question below, here is some background story.
When I first got my M3 (7 years ago) - on an early Sunday morning, dry day and warm out, no other cars present. I was traveling in a 40 MPH speed zone, for just a second I blipped the throttle and almost instantly reached 80 MPH. This was literally for 3 seconds, then slowed back down to 42-43 MPH.
I get almost a mile away and a cruiser has his lights and siren on. I pull over and the officer thanked me for slowing down. Said, sir, "you could have easily outrun me", I said I didn't know he was in pursuit. He was hiding way back up in an awkward place for him to get out, so it took him a while to catch up. He sees my plate, and here in Oregon you can pay extra and have the money go to police and fireman organizations. And yes you get a little picture of police and fireman and on the plate, it says Honoring their Service. Sure I got it in hopes it could provide some leniency for just such a situation. The cop was nice and I was polite, in the end though gave me a ticket.
I was pissed afterward since the speeding was such a short moment. I hired an attorney, which turned out to be stupid since when I met with the attorney at court he presented me with a printout. He said so here's your driving record going back 15-20 years. He said, there's not one violation on it. And I said I know I always have tried to be a very safe and alert driver. The judge said to go to Saturday driving school and after one year of no moving violations, it will be expunged from your record. That was 7 years ago and I have maintained a perfect record.
My question and comments are:
Why did the cop not just warn me and let me go versus citing me?  I'm sure he ran a records check and understood my record to be stellar.
This situation is exactly why people don't like cops. Had he warned me, I would have acknowledged this and as demonstrated not done it again. 
Also, by and large - the police and Sherrif deputies here in my county are young, arrogant and come off like bullies. This is not just my observation, but many other people I know. And I am not a minority, I can only imagine how they feel.
I feel sorry for cops, they often deal with many people on their worst day. The pay is meager, benefits are likely very good. But life/family balance must be very challenging.
When I was a kid I remember a lot of older cops being really good guys, and now it seems like many are in the line of work for the opportunity to be in the ultimate position of power and hassle people, and then enforce the laws at their discretion.
Cheers,
Merlin |
You're assuming quite a bit about many things. While I understand your frustration, you sound entitled. An officer doesn't have to warn anybody, and can choose to cite EVERYBODY. His reason for pulling you over was justified, and you noted that he was nice/cordial. How was that "
hassling" or a power play? His/her job is to enforce traffic law(s). That's part of what we're paid to do (...
and my base pay is a six figure number, so not meager by any means, and I'm not even at top step yet; overtime only sweetens the deal). You mention enforcing laws at our discretion, but that only seems to work for you when you are the one who benefits. Had he just given you a verbal warning, you wouldn't have had any issue(s) with the Officer/Deputy exercising his or her latitude. Why the double standard?!?
In any case, any time somebody is held accountable, we become bullies, power hungry people who were nerds in high school, dumb high school jocks or any/every other ridiculous stereotype. Being disliked, but expected to fix everybody's problems comes with the territory.