# Creepy Cop **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [June 27, 2009, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creepy-cop/501135 "2009-06-27T02:35:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2009, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creepy-cop/501135/41 "2009-06-28T18:35:48Z")
> [@Rand\_Rover](#): > > I’m no Randroid, pal. Shows you haven’t been around here very long (some people pillory me for liking Rand, some pillory me for not liking her enough). Is that what you really believe ? Oh sweety. People don’t pillory you for your philosophy or opinions. People dislike you because you’re a dick. A dick by any other creed would smell as rancid. ---
**Author:** ![dragonlady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/5f8ce5/32.png) [@dragonlady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dragonlady)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2009, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creepy-cop/501135/42 "2009-06-28T18:43:57Z")
I know the argument is pretty much over. At least the original one. But a cop following anyone THAT closely could hardly be using them for perv bait. Or waiting around to see if a previously detected possible perv would resurface. And referring to pre-teens as “cuties” doesn’t squick me out nearly as much as cops trolling the public pool. I can identify attractive humans without a sexual interest, and I assume most reasonable adults can too. Inappropriate doesn’t make them unattractive. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2009, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creepy-cop/501135/43 "2009-06-28T19:17:40Z")
I thought the cute thing was odd. Like, would it be somehow less odd if they were following ugly girls? ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2009, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creepy-cop/501135/44 "2009-06-28T20:48:47Z")
Sometimes they have a cute younger sister. ---
**Author:** ![Rubystreak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Rubystreak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rubystreak)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2009, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creepy-cop/501135/45 "2009-06-28T22:54:06Z")
> [@dragonlady](#): > > But a cop following anyone THAT closely could hardly be using them for perv bait. Or waiting around to see if a previously detected possible perv would resurface. How effective is this method if there’s a freaking COP CAR right next to the kids? ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2009, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creepy-cop/501135/46 "2009-06-29T00:58:21Z")
> [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > I thought the cute thing was odd. No, it was merely a description, used to show that he wasn’t following junior gangstas carrying burglary tools. Who might also be cute–I’m heading to Grandpa age and little kids are ALL getting “cute,” in the same way as all puppies are cute. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2009, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creepy-cop/501135/47 "2009-06-29T01:00:34Z")
> [@Rubystreak](#): > > How effective is this method if there’s a freaking COP CAR right next to the kids? Well, it could be a show of force. We do tend to attract some odd ones. But it still felt creepy. Almost as creepy as sane people agreeing with **RandRover**. :eek: ETA: I am a father of three daughters. My default reaction is “That’s creepy.” ---
**Author:** ![Casserole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b77776/32.png) [@Casserole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Casserole)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2009, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creepy-cop/501135/48 "2009-06-29T01:54:56Z")
Sorry to be tardy to the party, but here’s my take on another possibility, albeit, unlikely. In Canada, there have been documented cases\* of police escorts following children from school to home due to some crime they have committed. Perhaps they threw a juice box out of a window, and it hit a car, causing the driver to lose control and hit a tree - it happens. In that case, it may explain why the cop is there (legally required), and the child’s lie (because the child may have been embarrassed, and lied?). - No cite. I heard about this while I was a kid on a school bus, so it’s all anecdotal… but hey, the bus driver was very insistent that was true. Perhaps he just wanted us to be quiet. P.S. Rand Rover - you’re a poster child for kicking someone while they’re down. It doesn’t look good on you. ---
**Author:** ![vandal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/858c86/32.png) [@vandal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vandal)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2009, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creepy-cop/501135/49 "2009-06-29T02:10:57Z")
> [@pkbites](#): > > Why do I know we’re not going to get this? Because it didn’t really happen. ---
**Author:** ![buttonjockey308](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bcef8e/32.png) [@buttonjockey308](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buttonjockey308)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2009, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creepy-cop/501135/50 "2009-06-29T03:18:15Z")
> [@Hal\_Briston](#): > > …is kinda ludicrous, unless you happen to live in the same neighborhood. Well, from the hint dropped by Missy and with a little research I believe it’s the willow springs area south westish of Chicago which in the 70’s through the late 80’s was one of those little places that the Chicago outfit still had tentacles. Diane Masters was killed and her body put in the trunk of a car and dumped in a local waterway by the then police chief Michael Corbitt who was an outfit bagman. Suffice it to say that there was plenty of attention paid by the feds the state and even laughingly enough Cook County to the Willow Springs PD after this scumbag was at the helm. I think DZ may be taking a little dramatic license with the facts here, as well as jumping to a conclusion, unless of course he’s able to produce a credible cite. ---
**Author:** ![Rubystreak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Rubystreak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rubystreak)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2009, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creepy-cop/501135/51 "2009-06-29T03:55:03Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > Well, it could be a show of force. We do tend to attract some odd ones. A show of force is not the same as a cop somehow allegedly using children for perv bait while standing next to them. If it was a show of force, then he was protecting them. Big difference. ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2009, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creepy-cop/501135/52 "2009-06-29T05:20:50Z")
> [@vandal](#): > > Because it didn’t really happen. Oh, the police following the girls may have happened. But the OP isn’t going to give a location because it will be easy for us to find out if all that crooked shit regarding the local police force happened. The OP disparaged the fuck out of that department and has yet to identify which department it is. This is where my bullshit detector is beeping. ---
**Author:** ![ashman165](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e8cbc/32.png) [@ashman165](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ashman165)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2009, 10:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creepy-cop/501135/53 "2009-06-29T10:54:34Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > ETA: I am a father of three daughters. My default reaction is “That’s creepy.” Well, this just goes to show that even “science” types are capable of having their batshit crazy biases like anyone else. How you’re aware that you have a default reaction (several, actually) that something is creepy, but not aware that you might have been jumping the gun belies any sound reasoning. I used to be a police officer before becoming a mathematician. I can think of many _very excellent_ reasons to follow young cute girls (or young ugly ones, or old fat ones, or young fat ones, or nearly retarded ones) in my cruiser. That you can’t imagine any scenario which would lend itself to that in some proper way and argue thus that it must be creepy shows only that you see nothing wrong with an argument from incredulity: I can’t imagine any reason why a police officer would follow girls if he had a reason to arrest (or whatever), thus there can’t be a good reason. It’s pervy behavior! QED! And are we really expected to take your word on your police department? I’m certainly game to be shown wrong here, but I’m unaware of any department which has had _several_ of its chiefs jailed for anything. Even the most corrupt department in the US (read the only with a permanent FBI detachment assigned to keep it in check) hasn’t had that problem. If your local city were truly that corrupt, headlines would be made. The media love this. The FBI love this. While it could be true that said officer is a creep, it’s more likely that he isn’t. And that the police don’t stop everyone along the way to anything to explain themselves isn’t evidence. It’s like a cop using his lights to blow a red light and then turning them off. To the passerby, it looks like he just wanted to get through the intersection without having to be bothered by the rules mere mortals must obey. In reality, it’s usually because he’s responding to something which is nearby for which lights and/or a siren could well prove a bad idea. Your estimation of what he was doing, colored by your prejudice (to which you gleefully admit) amounts to nothing. It isn’t even an anecdote. It’s rank speculation based on nothing more than claptrap. I hope your work in science doesn’t suffer from this most serious malady. ---
**Author:** ![Dissonance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/85f322/32.png) [@Dissonance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dissonance)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2009, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creepy-cop/501135/54 "2009-06-29T17:36:12Z")
> [@Rand\_Rover](#): > > I’m no Randroid, pal. Shows you haven’t been around here very long (some people pillory me for liking Rand, some pillory me for not liking her enough). Funny, I pillory you for not having a basic understanding of Rand in the first place. Oh, that and being a dick. Gotten around to actually reading any of Rand yet? ---
**Author:** ![Rand\_Rover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/db5fbb/32.png) [@Rand\_Rover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rand_Rover)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2009, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creepy-cop/501135/55 "2009-06-29T18:08:27Z")
> [@Dissonance](#): > > Funny, I pillory you for not having a basic understanding of Rand in the first place. Oh, that and being a dick. > > Gotten around to actually reading any of Rand yet? Well, I hereby pillory you for not understanding that someone can like certain of an author’s ideas without accepting every jot and tittle of an author’s work as absolute gospel. If you think I have made some glaring logic error by accepting certain parts and not others, then that reflects more on your ability to understand the author’s work than it does on mine. ---
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2009, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creepy-cop/501135/56 "2009-06-29T18:26:53Z")
People, people, focus. This thread is supposed to turn into another “Rand Rover is a jackass” thread. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Fight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/90ced4/32.png) [@Cat\_Fight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Fight)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2009, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creepy-cop/501135/57 "2009-06-29T19:56:15Z")
> [@ashman165](#): > > I can think of many _very excellent_ reasons to follow young cute girls (or young ugly ones, or old fat ones, or young fat ones, or nearly retarded ones) in my cruiser. I’m not saying I don’t believe you (despite having been hit on by cops in my early teens), but could you provide a few examples? ---
**Author:** ![buttonjockey308](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bcef8e/32.png) [@buttonjockey308](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buttonjockey308)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2009, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creepy-cop/501135/58 "2009-06-29T22:38:42Z")
> [@Cat\_Fight](#): > > I’m not saying I don’t believe you (despite having been hit on by cops in my early teens), but could you provide a few examples? If he won’t, I will. [ul] “There are two teenage girls reported by a shopkeeper as having just stolen a -whatever- last seen going north, description to follow”[/ul] [ul] [li]“Passerby reports grey van following two teenage girls walking northbound on main, doesn’t look like the girls see him”[/li][/ul] [ul] [li]“report of several teenage girls vandalizing a -whatever- we’re getting descriptions from the callers”[/li][/ul] [ul] [li]“report of two female runaways from a grouphome, the descriptions are…”[/li][/ul] I’m not saying it’s impossible the cop was being pervy, I just think it’s the zebras instead of horses that Dropzone is seeing. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2009, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creepy-cop/501135/59 "2009-06-29T22:40:27Z")
Don’t you guys defending the probably innocent cop realize that prejudice against the police is the “in” thing? ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2009, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creepy-cop/501135/60 "2009-06-29T22:41:05Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > To save myself from the generally-obvious results of questioning why the police do anything. I will say you do not live where the cops cannot be trusted. In my town, we once had the entire department fired for corruption. And then most were hired back. We have had a couple Chiefs jailed. The assumption that a police officer is “just doing his job” does not fall naturally on our tongues. Thus, if a cop is acting like a predator, one assumes he is a predator. OTOH, it can be assumed he is also crooked, like much of the rest of the force, and will fuck you up BAD if you complain. And yet, unless I’ve missed something, you’ve yet to identify which police department this is. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creepy-cop/501135.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creepy-cop/501135.md?page=4)