[QUOTE=Shecky]
Were you DWB? That seems to be a punishable offense of late.
My personal fave is when the local cops decide to search your car, for no good reason. Hasn’t happened since I was 19, though.
[/QUOTE]
Haha… I’ve had this happen to me twice.
First time (long story short), someone I was with decided to shop lift while I was doing legitimate shopping, and he got caught, so I went back, got his brother (since we were far away from his home, and I had no phone) and brought him back so he could handle the situation. On my way out, the cops decided to harrass me and block my car in. They said they wanted to search my car because they thought I might have other stolen merchandise in the car (complete BS). This was the conversation, pretty much word for word. Also note, I had two witnesses (my brother, and the brother of the idiot who decided to shoplift).
Officer Dickhead: May we open your trunk to look for stolen merchandise?
Me: No, you may not search my car.
ODH: Why not?
Me: Because I don’t have to let you.
ODH: We don’t need your permission. Who is this other person on your car registration? We can search with his permission too.
Me: That’s my dad.
ODH: [Calls my house] Hi, I’m Officer Dickhead. We have your son here and would like to search the car.
Dad: It’s my son’s car. What did he say?
ODH: He said no.
Dad: Then what makes you think I’d say anything different?
ODH: Do you have any idea who you’re talking to?
Dad: Do you?
ODH: Uh… [Click] Damn constitutionalists.
Me: Actually, I’m a libertarian.
ODH: Grumble… You can go now.
My dad gets massive thumbs up for intimidating the stupid policeman.
The second time, I was speeding a little bit (I was going about 50 in what I thought was a 45). The officer claimed it was a 35 (which, I found out as a drove away, wasn’t true). He insisted that he smelled marijuana smoke and he wanted to search my car. Note that I had three witnesses this time.
Officer Cumstain: I smell marijuana smoke.
Me: No, you do not smell marijuana smoke. I don’t smoke. I was just at a concert where people were smoking.
OCS: Well, I’m going to need to search your vehicle.
Me: I’d prefer if you did not. You do not have probable cause.
OCS: Please step out of the vehicle. [I step out of the vehicle] If you don’t let us search the vehicle, we will hold you here until we get the dogs, and we’ll tear your car apart until we find what we’re looking for.
Me: Well, now that my friends have heard you threaten me… go ahead, you won’t find anything.
OCS: [Proceeds to search my car, all he finds are a couple knives I happened to have in the glove compartment, but considering he was searching illegally and his stated reason was that he was looking for drugs and he didn’t find them, he can’t do anything about it, even if they were illegal, which they weren’t] What are these?
Me: Those are knives.
OCS: You cannot keep them in the glove box, that’s considered concealed.
Me: Actually, they’re perfectly legal to keep there because the blades are under 3 1/2". (This is true in Virginia)
OCS: [He returns the knives and I get back in the car] I’m going to let you off with a warning this time.
OCS doesn’t even bother to issue a “warning” slip like they’re suppose to, probably because he knew I could have gotten his badge number and gotten him fired.
I’ve had a few other run ins with incompetent cops. Another time one of my brother’s friends had an arrest warrant, unbeknownst to me. After arresting him, they wanted to search my house, and I asked for a search warrant. He stated that the arrest warrant allowed him to do so, and when I asked to see it, he assaulted me and barged his way into the house. Fortunately, my other brother and father were there within a few seconds, he let go of me, and tried to high-tail it out the front door. He refused to give his badge number (also illegal), though the officer in charge did yell at him in front of us.
Man… I think I’ve run into at least twice as many incompetent cops as I have competent ones.