I just finished watching an episode of COPS on my lunch break and came away from it pretty pissed off. This police officer was following a car which was traveling a little too fast and swerved just slightly as he was watching. Let me emphasize that this guy was driving a little fast, nothing that anyone else hasn’t done at some point.
Next thing I know the dude is pulled over, yanked out of the car, and basically bad mouthed and bullied from the moment he was pulled over…for speeding. He was handcuffed (too tightly), forced to sit in the cold on the ground without a shirt on. The victim was very calm and collected and asked the officer to calm down a number of times. This was met with an attitude which I will paraphrase: “Kiss my ass and I may let you go.” It was infuriating. The guy handled it with aplomb…I would have flipped out, completely flipped. He did absolutely nothing to warrant that kind of treatment which is usually reserved for someone who runs from the cops. You could see the officer getting angry because after searching his car he couldn’t find anything, there were no outstanding warrants, and all of his info was legit. They never even bothered showing the rest of the action, we are left to assume he was let go after being harassed this way. But the thing that simply floored me is that they showed all this right on Fox…am I to think this is normal and accepted behavior? I’ve been pulled over a number of times in my life for similar offences and was never treated like that. If I was I would certainly have made a huge deal out of it. So why is it that the Fox network, the police department, and I assume the general public simply drink that stuff in without so much as a peep? Just seeing it made my blood boil.
Perhaps not everyone interpreted it that way? I’ll usually give the officer the benefit of the doubt, but obviously there are a few loose cannons out there. Not much to argue, since I haven’t seen the clip, but if I had your username, I might stay clear of the fuzz.
Flipping out in that situation will usually get you in more trouble. Abner Louma resisted arrest and look at what happened to him. You are best advised to get Ghandi on them.
I know, thats what scares me. I never want to be in that position, but the cops attitude was so infuriating that I don’t know if I could control myself.
I should also mention that there are plenty of idiots out there that deserve to get that treatment, but this dude was not one of them.
Cops are humans, and they make mistakes. The best thing we can do is bring awareness to these matters. the situation described is certainly scary, but I would guess that they are few and far between. There isn’t really much you can do, so I wouldn’t stress about it. I have a friend that is convinced that cops will be the shit out of him for jaywalking (“I don’t understand being a black man in America”), but I’ve never seen someone beat up who was totally calm and collected and offered zero resistence. If you get a bad cop who is a total dick, flipping out, or even mouthing off, may push him just far enough to shove his nightstick where the sun don’t shine. It sucks, but that’s the way it works.
I called in a bad accident the other day when driving on 85 near Charlotte- it had just occured, and it was seriously going to fuck up traffic all around.
So I called 911 and reported it and the lady could not figure out where I meant, despite my telling her 1/4 of a mile past exit #29, near Belmont (or whatever, I can’t recall now). She’s like “where’s that?” I said “Uh, on your major INTERSTATE!” Jesus, H! So she connects me to the highway patrol. Officer bug up his ass answers and I repeat the information to him. He says RUDELY “Well, we already know about it- the dispatcher should have told you”, completely exasperated. Well, I{m sure he was frustrated at her, but Goddamnit, I was trying to be a good person and report a problem to the fucking highway patrol- pardon the fuck out of ME for interrupting your day, asshole!
I said that (in a nice way). Basically “Well, sorry to have bothered you, but I thought the people in the crash might appreciate it being reported and I don’t have ESP so I didn’t realize it was already done. Have a nice day”
Asshole. I understand that cops have a very stressful job, I really do, but damnit- is it so hard to be fucking CIVIL?
Frankly I’m leery about trying to help out. I once got screamed at and threatened with arrest by a cop at an accident site when I pulled over and offered my services as a physician until paramedics arrived. Now if cops are already at an accident site, I won’t volunteer to assist.
I’ve been treated very rudely by police officers on a couple different occasions. One of those times was in my own home, when I asked that some questioning stop and the officer leave. He became extremely nasty, insulted my cats (huh?), called me a loser, threatened to come back with warrents, etc. etc. I got a strong impression that he was just trying to push any button he could in order to get me to react, which would have justified further action or an arrest on his part.
On the other hand, I’ve also been helped out by very friendly and helpful cops on a number of occasions. I had one who treated me so kindly at an accident scene that I went from sobbing to lauging within minutes. In those stressful moments, I wanted to marry that man. So I just try to remember that. There’s good eggs and bad eggs out there, and cops are no exception. If you run into a bad one your best bet is to just keep your head on straight and not give them an excuse to make things worse. On top of that KNOW YOUR RIGHTS. There’s a specific set of things that a cop can and cannot do in different situations (unfortunately, the “can” list is rapidly growing under the guise of national security). By being aware, you could really help keep yourself from getting into a sticky situation.
A friend of mine was rear-ended last week. She was stopped, waiting for the car in front of her to turn left into a driveway - the woman who hit her didn’t even slow down.
As soon as the cop found out my friend was deaf, he avoided her. Didn’t take any kind of statement from her - asked her one question, realized she was deaf, walked away and talked to the other two people. My other friend was interpreting for her, so its not even like he would have had to write his questions down. (Not that his actions would have been excusable if there were no one there to interpret…)
I guess being civil isn’t one of their job duties.
This isn’t necessarily true. I once saw this movie where the cop used to be human, but wasn’t anymore. He was badass robot. I think he probably would have broken the speeder’s arm or something. If movies have taught me anything, it is to watch out for robot cops.
In many episodes of COPS, etc, the suspect’s civil rights are seriously violated. So much so, that I am surprised they show it. Remember, even criminal scum has civil rights.
It says right on thier car door “to protect and serve” so next time you are pulled over say “hey pig, check my oil!, and bring me a glass of water”, I’ll bet they really like that.
As far as being “polite”, check out what a cop earns fresh out of the academy and think about the pressure they operate under.
I know my rights on the side of the road, I have the right to shut up, I have the right to bleed.
Years ago a friend and I were leaving my girlfriend’s house around 11 PM. As I was leaving her parents came home, and I stopped in the driveway to say hello to them. After my friend and I left the house we were pulled over about a block away. The police officer got out of the car and in a very loud voice told us to put our hands where he could see them. He then walked up to my truck and asked us why were in such a hurry to leave the house we just came from. I told him that it was my girlfriend’s house and then asked what the problem was. He asked for I.D., which we gave to him. My friend was on leave from the Army and all he had was his military I.D. The cop looked at it, asked where he was stationed, and then asked if he (my friend) wanted to go back there that night. I again asked the officer what the problem was. The officer looked gave me a pissed off look and then asked us to step out of the truck. He then searched the truck, found nothing and told us to be on our way. Once again I asked the officer what the problem was, and he told us that my girlfriend’s brother had broken into a house earlier that night and they were waiting for him. They thought it was suspicious that we left her house just as her parents came home, despite the fact that I stopped to talk to them. Since it was obvious that we were clean he told us to get going. I told him I wanted an apology for the search of my truck and for the rude way he treated us. He responded, “If you don’t like it, file a fucking complaint.”
I did file a complaint but it never received a response.
So I just try to remember that. There’s good eggs and bad eggs out there, and cops are no exception. If you run into a bad one your best bet is to just keep your head on straight and not give them an excuse to make things worse. On top of that KNOW YOUR RIGHTS. There’s a specific set of things that a cop can and cannot do in different situations (unfortunately, the “can” list is rapidly growing under the guise of national security). By being aware, you could really help keep yourself from getting into a sticky situation.