Police work or Eharmony???

[NellieBly]

Recently, a friend left work at lunch to run errands. She has two small children and works full time and is busy. Immediately after pulling away from a stop light, a cop pulls her over. She was literally going five miles an hour and had done nothing wrong. The cop walks up to her car with a big smile on his face. She asked him why he pulled her over and he said, still smiling, that had seen her drive by a couple of times and she was "so tiny behind that wheel I couldn't tell if you were wearing your seat belt."

She assured him that she was and that her car beeps loudly if she doesn't wear it, which the officer said he was aware of because he had the same kind of car (some Ford Expedition or something). After chatting her up for a few minutes, he said he would let her off with a warning (for doing nothing!!!) if "you always promise to wear your seatbelt." Again with a big grin on his face.

My friend is extremely attractive. The cop was young and attractive, too. She felt strongly that he was hitting on her and it really made her uncomfortable. She is a married woman. She even noticed he sort of quit flirting when he saw her ring.

Unfortunately, she does not remember his name. Too bad, because this kind of conduct is unacceptable from our police department. They have way more important things to do than work on their love life while on the clock.

[tulsa_fan]

Boy, cops just can't win, huh?  They are either too rude, or when they are friendly, they are accused of flirting and hitting on someone.  Do you really assume everytime a man is smiling "really big" he's flirting?

I don't see anything wrong with that car stop or how he acted.  I really even doubt that the officer saw enough of her to think she was cute enough to pull over for just that reason.  Now, a open convertable, with a tank top, maybe, but a Expedition, not a man magnet car.

[cannon_fodder]

I have much angst towards cops too, I try to remember they are doing a tough job and that from time to time they will be prone to indiscretions.  However, since more often than not when I see a police car they are speeding, turning on their lights to run a red light, or pulling people over for nothing - its hard to quell my angst.

I have a video of a cop going 85+ down Highway 11 (you can read his ID and my speedometer in the video).  He was going back to the North Side cop shop - not sure why the hurry.  He did not have a siren on nor lights.  This happens so often I finally pulled out my video phone and took the little movie.  Not sure why, but it makes me feel better, even though whenever I bring it up everyone nods instead of calling bs.
--

My other negative experience (aside from their lack of driving as an example) was getting in an argument with a cop about the speed limit on Harvard between 31st and the BA.  He pulled me over for going 42 in a 35.  I pulled off onto the side street "Dr. Z" is on so as to not block the intersection of Harvard and 31st.  I saw the lights, pulled over, saw it was me and crept forward from in front of the Harvard Center and turned... maybe 150 feet.

I am always VERY polite with official regardless of their position.  Being a jerk gets you no where.  He first asked why I didnt pull over immediately, I explained that it was 4:00 on a Friday and that traffic was starting to pick up and would no doubt be hindered by closing one lane.  Apparently thinking of such things is somehow insulting to an officer.

He then told me that I was speeding - 42 in a 35. I explained that I was sure it was a 40, to wit I was told I was wrong.  I had to be adamant that it was 40 and told him I lived about 5 blocks from there and travel that road everywhere I go.  Its 40.

Nope, he didnt buy it.  He said for 1 mile on either side of the freeway it went to 35. So I told him perhaps he should go check the speed limit sign a couple blocks back... eventually he did.  He then came back and told me that my tag was expired because this year's tag was blue.  I explained that my tag, the green one, was good thru 2007 (this was in the fall of 2006) so it was still valid... it was just the new tag.

He went back and made some radio calls, ran my insurance, check my license... came back 10-15 minutes later and asked if he could search my car.  At this point I was not a happy man - I had a tee time to get to.  I told him he could not search my car under any circumstances.  He told me I was acting suspicious and when I asked "how's that?" (getting mad at this point) he said that my denial was suspicious because most people say its ok.

At that point I told him that denial of permission cannot be used as a basis for suspicion under numerous court rulings and departmental policies and that he had exceeded the reasonable time alloted for a simple traffic stop and further action would be viewed as harassment.  He then told me he was going to do a safety inspection of my vehicle - I told him he was going to do no such thing since I had already been there for 20+ minutes.  He wondered back to his patrol car - presumably to ask for permission to do the safety inspection and/or search.

He came back a few minutes later and told me he was going to let me go with a warning.  A WARNING?!!?!  At this point I was going to miss my tee time and my buddy who I was to pick up was no doubt wondering where the hell I was.  It had been at LEAST 25 minutes and I had done NOTHING wrong.  I was pissed, so I said something along the lines of "thanks for warning me about doing nothing wrong, in future meetings I will try and ensure that there is something you can invent to give me a ticket for."  Then drove off before he could respond.

Basically, he couldnt find a reason to ticket me, so he was pissed and kept trying.  

/venting.  Still makes me mad.  

Though getting pulled over for being hot is worse.  At least mine started out as an honest mistake.

[iplaw]

You should have just dropped your OBA card on the ground in front of him and you could have shaved about 15 minutes off that fiasco...not that I've done that before...

[cannon_fodder]

quote:Originally posted by iplaw

You should have just dropped your OBA card on the ground in front of him and you could have shaved about 15 minutes off that fiasco...not that I've done that before...

Or added to it indefinitely.  I always fear getting into the "where do you work" discussion because there was a chance he had filed bankruptcy and I acted as the bad guy, or been sued by one of my firms, or we defended someone he sued.  Or... he just hates smart assed young attorney's who think they know everything. I probably would. []

[grahambino]

and you wonder why 3 cops show up to a 2 car non-injury wreck on riverside drive.
or why i saw two cops tearing down utica sirens blaring at ~50mph, not even slowing down at the intersection of 3rd and utica only to have them pass me near 15th and utica about 3 mins later.  that must have been extremely urgent.

your friend should have got his badge number and name.  which is probably a good idea, in any dealings with law enforcement.

so, you dont see anything wrong with getting pulled over for no reason...the 'if youre not doing anything wrong' arguement is not a valid one.  you should be able to operate your motor vehicle within the law without fear of intimidation and harassment from law enforcement.  
people demand you get tough on crime by hiring more cops, more cops = situations CF & NB described.  they dont have better things to do a lot of the time, apparently.  who polices the police?

[iplaw]

This whole situation could be solved immediately if the city made the PD patrol North Tulsa and 61st and Peoria for 95% of their shifts.  Wasting time on traffic enforcement is a joke when a large part of the city is melting down and no one seems to care as long as these guys can bring home the bacon and write tickets.

I think it would be good to start a citizens group that did just what CF did.  Document these guys bending the rules...or are these just the perks of being in the PD?

[cannon_fodder]

I'll see if I can upload the video somehow.  Should be able to bluetooth it from my phone to my PDA and them upload to my PC and then to my website and FINALLY, post it.

[Keith]

I think there's a certain element of people who are attracted to the law enforcement field.  These people are the guys who were always the ones being bullied back when they were in grade school, or they were the bullies themselves. And I've actually known of several guys I went to high school with who totally fit this profile and went on to become police officers.  

The kids who were bullied want to be cops so that they can take out their anger on the rest of the world, and the bullies, who were always mean little control freaks anyway, they just want to be cops so that they can carry on their hateful ways.   Just my theory.  

I'm not saying all cops are like this.  I've met some great people who work in law enforcement.
But your experience on Harvard, now that's just flat out ridiculous.

[NellieBly]

quote:Originally posted by tulsa_fan

Boy, cops just can't win, huh?  They are either too rude, or when they are friendly, they are accused of flirting and hitting on someone.  Do you really assume everytime a man is smiling "really big" he's flirting?

I don't see anything wrong with that car stop or how he acted.  I really even doubt that the officer saw enough of her to think she was cute enough to pull over for just that reason.  Now, a open convertable, with a tank top, maybe, but a Expedition, not a man magnet car.

[NellieBly]

quote:Originally posted by tulsa_fan

Boy, cops just can't win, huh?  They are either too rude, or when they are friendly, they are accused of flirting and hitting on someone.  Do you really assume everytime a man is smiling "really big" he's flirting?

I don't see anything wrong with that car stop or how he acted.  I really even doubt that the officer saw enough of her to think she was cute enough to pull over for just that reason.  Now, a open convertable, with a tank top, maybe, but a Expedition, not a man magnet car.

He told her he had seen her drive by a couple of times and he absolutely pulled her over for nothing. If she feels like he is flirting then he was. She's not stupid and she knows flirting when she sees it. This situation took it past just friendly. A warning for what -- give me a break. He needs to be doing his job not trolling for hot chicks.

[Conan71]

quote:Originally posted by NellieBly

quote:Originally posted by tulsa_fan

Boy, cops just can't win, huh?  They are either too rude, or when they are friendly, they are accused of flirting and hitting on someone.  Do you really assume everytime a man is smiling "really big" he's flirting?

I don't see anything wrong with that car stop or how he acted.  I really even doubt that the officer saw enough of her to think she was cute enough to pull over for just that reason.  Now, a open convertable, with a tank top, maybe, but a Expedition, not a man magnet car.

He told her he had seen her drive by a couple of times and he absolutely pulled her over for nothing. If she feels like he is flirting then he was. She's not stupid and she knows flirting when she sees it. This situation took it past just friendly. A warning for what -- give me a break. He needs to be doing his job not trolling for hot chicks.

Sounds like something out of Super Troopers.

MEOW!!!

[NellieBly]

It was unprofessional at the very least and sexual harassment at the most. Just the fact that she felt uncomfortable during this traffic stop says it all. Police should not intimidate innocent people.

[DM]

What find interesting is that everyone in this story has to be extremely attractive. And IMO if a cop is going to take the time to pull her over just to flirt with her, he is not going to care if she is wearing a ring or not.

[cannon_fodder]

What's more, thinking someone might be breaking a law isnt a reason to pull them over.  If he couldnt tell, which at face value he could not, then he had no business pulling her over.

A cop can't tell as I drive by if my license is valid - still can't pull me over.