Cop pulls people over for minor traffic violation like one taillight out. Okay, in and of itself, if absolutely no other crime is being committed in the city that day. Start slow burn.
But then instead of just saying, taillight’s out and giving a ticket the cop asks, “Where you going?” Like it is any of his business where the guy is going! The burning rage starts.
Then the Catch-22, “Mind if I search your car?” You know there is no correct answer to this one. No means yes and yes means yes.
Then there is the cop at the door scene where the cops ask the guy to come to the door. They can’t come in without a warrant so they try to trick the guy to coming out. If he comes to the door they grab him and pull him outside.
Those are just a few examples of how that show raises my ire.
It’s the criminals who protect our rights. Joe Lawabider never limited police powers.
This isn’t in The Pit because I’m not here on an obscene rant.
Want to know, does this show put anyone else into a rage?
Anyway, I’ll repeat just doing a poll. Don’t want horror stories with cops. I used to dine in a bar/sandwich shop about the time cops the show came on and cops the people came in so I know not everyone reacts the same to that show.
I don’t watch it for a completely different reason: It highlights how phenomenally stupid a large segment of the American population is. It makes me angry to see people who say they don’t want trouble, then immediately do six different things that are guaranteed to get them into trouble, right in front of the officers and the TV camera. It pisses me off when someone drives like an idiot, risking the lives of everyone on the road in an attempt to get away from the cops, when they aren’t even wanted for anything worse than an improper lane change and everyone knows that almost no one successfully gets away after a high-speed chase. It annoys me no end that these morons want the police to protect them from everyone else, but think the police should never expect any sort of respect or courtesy in return.
Actually most of the time the people on the show dig themselves a hole. The cops just go along.
{QUOTE]Then the Catch-22, “Mind if I search your car?” You know there is no correct answer to this one. No means yes and yes means yes.
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Nope, it doesn’t work that way. If a cop asks to search your car and you say ‘No’ the cop cannot search your car unless a)there is probable cause (like the cop sees a gun on your seat) or b)the cop gets a search warrant. What happens most of the time on COPS is that the person the Cop pulled over doesn’t know the rules. Since they don’t know the rules they allow the cops to search the car when they didn’t have to. (Note, I went through this a couple of times. Finally a friend of mine gave me a card that listed my rights on it. When the cop would ask if he could search my car I would say ‘No’ and hand him the card. I never had anything illegal in the car but I don’t want a cop pawing through my stuff)
Anyway, what annoys me about the show is that sometimes the cops over react. It doesn’t happen often but when it does it pisses me off.
Nope, it doesn’t work that way. If a cop asks to search your car and you say ‘No’ the cop cannot search your car unless a)there is probable cause (like the cop sees a gun on your seat) **
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I am perfectly within my rights to have a non concealed weapon on my seat. This is what sucks. That is not probable cause.
Yeah, that’s how it’s supposed to work if you say “no” when they ask to search your car, but that just makes them suspicious, which then becomes “probable cause”.
Or there’s the five magic words of any police report regarding a vehicle search, “I thought I smelled marijuana” (or alcohol).
Don’t get me wrong though, I’m not a cop hater or anything. I’ve only gotten one ticket ever, and my complaint about that was the guy was either a dumbass or a jerk, because he could not answer even basic questions like “who can I call for more information about this court date on the ticket”.
In CA you can have the weapon unloaded on your seat, but the bullets will need to be in the trunk.
I get mixed when I watch COPS. I get ashamed of humanity in general, when some inbred no teeth sheep loving redneck acts like a total idiot. It makes the rest of us sheep lovers look bad…
The VAST MAJORITY of the time, the cops are in the right. I hate it, because I’ve been on the wrong end of it a lot of times, but I’m willing to get pulled over once in a while.
If you pay attention, most times people would have no problems if they would just follow the directions of the police and not try to second guess what’s going to happen. The fast and hard rule, no matter what you’re doing when you get in a confrontation with the police, is to STFU and do what they tell you until they ask you what’s going on (and they will, it’s their job).
Cops ask where we’re going to find out if we’re nervous. If we are, they will start questioning us. Just be calm… it does no harm to tell the cop you were out looking for the all night porn and enema shop, they could care less.
I hate it when they cuff someone and say “This is for our protection as well as yours”. I have no problem with the “This is for our protection” part; it’s honest and direct. But when they add the “as well as yours” part, I just think “what a dick”. They really don’t believe they’re doing the detainee any favors, do they?
Off duty police officers must get pulled over occasionally. I wonder if they request handcuffs for themselves for their own protection. Of course not.
This has been addressed elsewhere on these boards, but let me assure you that refusal to consent to a search can never become the basis for probable cause. In fact, even suspicious behavior is not probable cause. Probable cause is the reasonable belief that a crime was probably committed.
With regard to smelling marijuana, it’s true that an officer that smells it, or claims to, has probable cause to search. But if he’s lying, as your comment suggests, then he’s not going to be able to keep that tactic up for long. Eventually, he’ll find something that isn’t marijuana, and there will be a suppression hearfing. He’ll testify that he smelled marijuana, made the search, and uncovered the machine guns, let’s say. The defense attorney will ask where the marijuana was, and he’ll say they found none. The defense attorney will then explore how often this particular cop has smelled marijuana in the past and come up empty-handed for marijuana after a search. If the answer is more than a few, there’s a good chance the judge will supress the evidence.
So it’s not a tactic that can be used safely by the cops.
Wasn’t there a cops cartoon with some really wierd cops like this guy with extendable arms? And the bad guy was an insane scientist with a red light beeping on his head? Did a cartoon like that even EXIST?
So I don’t give a CRAP… if I get stopped and searched since I have nothing to hide. AND I AM willing to be inconvenienced in such a way, IF DOING SUCH STOPS and SEARCHES gets unregistered fire arms outta the hands of doped up fucks.
Exactly. I don’t watch that mess anymore. I respect the law so I don’t have to get mixed up in that shit. Someone once said “Life is about choices.” There ya go.