My plumber does not carry a gun. At least, he doesn’t pull me over by the side of the road with one stapped to his hip.
And I do think that any-one who WANTS to carry a gun and tell people what to do is the last person we should allow to do so. Of course, I haven’t been mugged recently.
Having said that, I will say that all the police I have had professional contact with have been decent to me since I turned 35.
Of course, I am fair skinned and drive a respectable but not expensive car.
Damn, now I have to ask:
what IS a sock puppet, in this context?
I will say that the first time I got pulled over without a dog in the car and did not get a ticket, I felt worse than the first time I got ‘ma’am’ d. (And I was still annoyed that some kid a decade younger than me told me to be more careful.)
A sock puppet is a second user name adopted by the same poster in order to make that poster look good. Make sense? Just think the teacher in South Park with Mr. Hand.
When I read the OP, I figured CP had eaten his stash just before posting.
White, male, and courteous to every cop I meet. Never had an problem with them when out of town, rather the opposite. Local sherriff’s deputies and the cops in most of the towns around here are fine in my experience, YMMV.
But Florence cops and local state troopers are a whole other matter. I’m about as upright, honest, and bland a citizen as you’ll find; and they still make me nervous when I see them - even the ones I know personally. They fit every bad stereotype you have about cops. Nasty when they don’t have to be, suspicious of all minorities, pulling people they know over for no reason just to mess with them, demanding and arrogant when off duty, a little too eager to play with the cuffs or demonstrate some holding technique for the hell of it, etc.
I have to say that cops in GA made me think twice about unfavorable opinion of the police. In my experience, the ratio of asshole:nice cops in Pittsburgh was way, WAY in favor of the asshole cops. Granted, it’s only one persons experience, and it was only a handful of assholes, maybe 6 or 7. But, when you’re getting to be 24, 25 years old and over 80% of the cops you’ve had encounters with are arrogant, insulting, and on a power trip, it can taint your perspective a little bit.
When I came down to GA, and got a speeding ticket, I was amazed that I was treated with respect – I got a “good evening, sir”, some genuinely nice chit-chat and a “thanks, take care”. I was so shocked I didn’t even mind getting the ticket.
I’m willing to accept that I just had a stretch of bad luck with the specific cops I ran into in Pittsburgh. Or, j66 may be onto something with cops treating you with more respect as you get older.
