# Don't know how to feel about this cop's question...
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-know-how-to-feel-about-this-cops-question/601263
**Category:** The BBQ Pit
**Created:** [October 30, 2011, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-know-how-to-feel-about-this-cops-question/601263 "2011-10-30T06:02:45Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 14
### Author:  [@ladyfoxfyre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ladyfoxfyre)
#### Post date: [November 1, 2011, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-know-how-to-feel-about-this-cops-question/601263/261 "2011-11-01T20:33:38Z")
> [@CannyDan](#):
>
> Instead I said “Jumped about a 60 pound tarpon, out near Dildo Key Bank earlier today, but lost it. Not much else.” And he said – without even seeing my license – “Sounds good. Have a great day!”
Dildo Key sounds like a really beautiful place.
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### Author:  [@ballardfam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ballardfam)
#### Post date: [November 1, 2011, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-know-how-to-feel-about-this-cops-question/601263/262 "2011-11-01T20:33:59Z")
> [@Capitaine\_Zombie](#):
>
> I dont really understand what Jamie gets out of these threads. He always ends up being roasted by anyone and everyone, will not learn anything, and then start another thread in the exact same vein.
Maybe it’s a game. And he wins by winding people up. Or else he wins by “explaining” the situation to meet every reasonable objection (in his mind). Or maybe he truly believes **he** is “educating” the masses here. Or he may just really get satisfaction from confrontation without resolution. Some people do. I think there’s got to be an emotional payout from the process rather than the resolution.
I don’t think I’ve ever been on a board that didn’t have one or more of the species. Sometimes amusing, occasionally aggravating and, on occasion, provide a springboard to interesting posts and nicely placed insults. I think they add to the culture even when annoying as individuals.
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### Author:  [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)
#### Post date: [November 1, 2011, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-know-how-to-feel-about-this-cops-question/601263/263 "2011-11-01T20:36:45Z")
> [@Damuri\_Ajashi](#):
>
> See post 42.
Are you suggesting that I had the option of not answering? Or that the cop was acting simply to speed things up? If I hadn’t answered, it would have made the situation a decidedly hostile one. And the cop was simply _sure_ he had a bust, he wasn’t trying to save any time. And the amount of time saved would have been negligable I’m sure anyway.
And I only wanted to discuss the way this officer went about enforcing this law. Why is that _so_ unacceptable here? (I’m not suggesting you **Damuri** , are being unaccepting, just in general here on the board).
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### Author:  [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)
#### Post date: [November 1, 2011, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-know-how-to-feel-about-this-cops-question/601263/264 "2011-11-01T20:39:26Z")
> [@CannyDan](#):
>
> You didn’t ask me directly but I’ll answer anyway. Yes. Simply yes.
>
> You’re parked in a handicapped spot, for crissake. It makes perfect sense to inquire about your handicap. If you are so hypersensitive to casual public notice of your handicap as to take offense at such as this, either get some intensive therapy or stay sequestered at home. Or at least stay the hell away from handicapped parking spots.
>
> I was out on my boat once when a wildlife officer “lit me up”. I wasn’t fishing or anything else at the moment, just cruising from one place to another. He might legitimately have said “Can I see your fishing license?” But he didn’t. Instead he said “Catch anything today?”
>
> Same thing. An officer inquiring into a person’s activities, intending to elicit a response that he would use as the basis for deciding whether or not to continue his investigation or to drop it.
>
> Had I answered “Gee, of course I haven’t caught anything, I’m not fishing, and anyway I left my license at home on the desk, and that cooler is full of just beer and lunch, no fish, no sir, no fish at all…” things might have gone differently.
>
> Instead I said “Jumped about a 60 pound tarpon, out near Dildo Key Bank earlier today, but lost it. Not much else.” And he said – without even seeing my license – “Sounds good. Have a great day!”
>
> So I guess if I was you I’d have come home incensed and steaming about his intrusion into my personal affairs and my embarrassment about being shown to be a failure as a fisherman and all. But I didn’t because – thank Og!! – I am not you (on so many levels).
What?! What sort of comparison is that?! You didn’t really answer my question at all. The officer had every answer to his validation questions found in my legal documents; which I possess _exactly for_ situations just like this.
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### Author:  [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)
#### Post date: [November 1, 2011, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-know-how-to-feel-about-this-cops-question/601263/265 "2011-11-01T20:39:32Z")
> [@Ambivalid](#):
>
> One more thing: as I was sitting there, in the handicap parking spot, with my valid placard hanging from my rearview mirror, this police officer, upon approaching my rolled down window and engaging me in dialogue; as an on-duty, experienced police officer, _should have noticed_ my huge spinner-knob and hand-controls that were plainly obvious on my steering wheel. They cannot be missed by someone standing right outside the driver’s window looking inside (or at least _shouldn’t_ be missed by someone like a cop looking to ascertain whether or not I am truly disabled).
Could a person without a disability drive that car? He should have asked for your ID.
BTW, I think you are entirely jsutified in blocking people in for illegally parking in handicap spots, just recognize that one day you may block in a handicap person and you will can go to jail for that.
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### Author:  [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)
#### Post date: [November 1, 2011, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-know-how-to-feel-about-this-cops-question/601263/266 "2011-11-01T20:41:11Z")
> [@Ambivalid](#):
>
> Are you suggesting that I had the option of not answering? Or that the cop was acting simply to speed things up? If I hadn’t answered, it would have made the situation a decidedly hostile one.
Cue Ronald Regean debate voice:
Now there you go again, just making stuff up.
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### Author:  [@Capitaine\_Zombie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capitaine_Zombie)
#### Post date: [November 1, 2011, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-know-how-to-feel-about-this-cops-question/601263/267 "2011-11-01T20:42:07Z")
> [@Living\_Well\_Is\_Best\_Revenge](#):
>
> It’s a form of trolling in my opinion, a way to get attention. He knows exactly how these threads will turn out.
Hey, I rather like you **Living Well Is Best Revenge** but I think **ballardfam** ’s post is more accurate.
Nice post **ballardfam** , you’re right, as useless and irritating as Jamie proves himself to be time and again; at least he gets roasted in amusing ways.
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### Author:  [@CannyDan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CannyDan)
#### Post date: [November 1, 2011, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-know-how-to-feel-about-this-cops-question/601263/268 "2011-11-01T20:47:24Z")
> [@ladyfoxfyre](#):
>
> Dildo Key sounds like a really beautiful place.
[hijack] You’d be surprised. Google Earth will “fly to” it, or navigate to 25° 3’35.46"N 80°53’7.25"W. It is certainly more picturesque than Dead Terrapin Key (nearby) or the ever popular Catfish Key. [/hijack]
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### Author:  [@aux203](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aux203)
#### Post date: [November 1, 2011, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-know-how-to-feel-about-this-cops-question/601263/269 "2011-11-01T20:49:52Z")
> [@Ambivalid](#):
>
> So tell me your opinion as to the nature of a cop questioning the terms of a person’s disability who is parked in handicapped parking with an up-to-date-placard hanging from the rearview? Do you think that is acceptable when all necessary information can be obtained from a person’s license? Yes or No?
Yes. Thought I made that obvious.
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### Author:  [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)
#### Post date: [November 1, 2011, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-know-how-to-feel-about-this-cops-question/601263/270 "2011-11-01T20:54:32Z")
> [@Ambivalid](#):
>
> Are you suggesting that I had the option of not answering? Or that the cop was acting simply to speed things up? If I hadn’t answered, it would have made the situation a decidedly hostile one. And the cop was simply _sure_ he had a bust, he wasn’t trying to save any time. And the amount of time saved would have been negligable I’m sure anyway.
>
> And I only wanted to discuss the way this officer went about enforcing this law. Why is that _so_ unacceptable here? (I’m not suggesting you **Damuri** , are being unaccepting, just in general here on the board).
Yep, I am suggesting that you didn’t have to answer the question if you didn’t want to. I generally think that cops hassling folks who don’t seem to need handicap hangtags is not a terrible thing. I’m sorry if that means that young guys like you in sportscars get hassled more than old folks in minivans but I think you would agree that it is a fair trade if it kept all the assholes from parking in handicap spots.
I recently went to the rennaisance fair in Maryland and about half the folks in the handicap parking spots did not have handicap tags and I saw one family unloading from a van with handicap plates and noone had to use the attached wheelchair ramp (or even a cane), they were just borrowing grandma’s van so they could park in a handicap space. Noone seemed to care.
BTW, its not that they are unaccepting, its that you made a HUGE splash when you first arrived on the scene and you made a pretty lasting negative first impression. Now I personally think you were justified in blocking in that guy at the health club and the health club (as dangerous as it was) and I think the health club handled things horribly but the whole thing about the wheelchair in the airplanes was a bit over the top it sounde a bit whiny and self entitled.
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### Author:  [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)
#### Post date: [November 1, 2011, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-know-how-to-feel-about-this-cops-question/601263/271 "2011-11-01T20:54:44Z")
C’mon. We all know that the cop’s mistake was in stopping Ambivalid on the road. The preferred method, the one and only correct method, of course, is to block him in, even if that means obstructing other motorists.
I’m still wondering why there’s been no threatening to sue the cop, the police department, and the city over this incident. Like Chick, Ambivalid’s seems to be losing his panache. The implication that the cop could somehow read the parking placard (which, AFAIK, is not supposed to be hanging from the rear-view mirror while the vehicle is in motion) and the driver license while said license is inside a wallet is a nifty touch, though.
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### Author:  [@ladyfoxfyre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ladyfoxfyre)
#### Post date: [November 1, 2011, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-know-how-to-feel-about-this-cops-question/601263/272 "2011-11-01T20:59:58Z")
> [@CannyDan](#):
>
> [hijack] You’d be surprised. Google Earth will “fly to” it, or navigate to 25° 3’35.46"N 80°53’7.25"W. It is certainly more picturesque than Dead Terrapin Key (nearby) or the ever popular Catfish Key. [/hijack]
Just out of curiosity, it’s not in the same vicinity as Strapon Canyon or Anal Beads Creek, is it?
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### Author:  [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)
#### Post date: [November 1, 2011, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-know-how-to-feel-about-this-cops-question/601263/273 "2011-11-01T21:00:05Z")
> [@Monty](#):
>
> C’mon. We all know that the cop’s mistake was in stopping Ambivalid on the road. The preferred method, the one and only correct method, of course, is to block him in, even if that means obstructing other motorists.
No, the correct method would have been for the cop to just see the placard hanging from the mirror and to just know that it was valid and belonging to the driver and keep going until he happened upon someone else using a handicapped spot illegally and hassle that guy instead.
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### Author:  [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)
#### Post date: [November 1, 2011, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-know-how-to-feel-about-this-cops-question/601263/274 "2011-11-01T21:01:26Z")
> [@Damuri\_Ajashi](#):
>
> I’m sorry if that means that young guys like you in sportscars get hassled more than old folks in minivans but I think you would agree that it is a fair trade if it kept all the assholes from parking in handicap spots.
You know there’s no way to keep _all_ the assholes from parking in handicap spots. Ambivalid does have a valid placard, after all.
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### Author:  [@CannyDan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CannyDan)
#### Post date: [November 1, 2011, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-know-how-to-feel-about-this-cops-question/601263/275 "2011-11-01T21:19:48Z")
> [@ladyfoxfyre](#):
>
> Just out of curiosity, it’s not in the same vicinity as Strapon Canyon or Anal Beads Creek, is it?
Well, it IS in the Florida Keys. And the Keys DOES include Key West. So, yeah, maybe in the same vicinity. 😃
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### Author:  [@CannyDan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CannyDan)
#### Post date: [November 1, 2011, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-know-how-to-feel-about-this-cops-question/601263/276 "2011-11-01T21:39:27Z")
> [@Ambivalid](#):
>
> What?! What sort of comparison is that?! You didn’t really answer my question at all. The officer had every answer to his validation questions found in my legal documents; which I possess _exactly for_ situations just like this.
Cripes, you really are an asshole. If I type really slowly, will you try to understand?
If I had given a “cronkie answer” my cop might have decided it was within “reasonable suspicion” to poke around a bit more. Then he might have turned up an undersized snapper or something. Or he might have uncovered _a thousand pounds of cocaine_, or _half a dozen illegal immigrants_, both of which are rather common here. Hell, I might have even possessed a valid fishing license the whole time.
The obvious crime isn’t necessarily the only crime, or the most important crime occurring, which is something that all cops are extremely well aware of.
In your case, waving the placard out the window could have been the act of someone desperate to have the cop go away before his buddies came running out of the store carrying the loot from their robbery. Instead it was just you, being you, which he swiftly determined to be of no further concern. After all, being a jackass still isn’t illegal. (Although I occasionally have hopes.)
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### Author:  [@GrandWino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrandWino)
#### Post date: [November 1, 2011, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-know-how-to-feel-about-this-cops-question/601263/277 "2011-11-01T21:46:31Z")
> [@CannyDan](#):
>
> Cripes, you really are an asshole. If I type really slowly, will you try to understand?
>
> If I had given a “cronkie answer” my cop might have decided it was within “reasonable suspicion” to poke around a bit more. Then he might have turned up an undersized snapper or something. Or he might have uncovered _a thousand pounds of cocaine_, or _half a dozen illegal immigrants_, both of which are rather common here. Hell, I might have even possessed a valid fishing license the whole time.
>
> The obvious crime isn’t necessarily the only crime, or the most important crime occurring, which is something that all cops are extremely well aware of.
>
> In your case, waving the placard out the window could have been the act of someone desperate to have the cop go away before his buddies came running out of the store carrying the loot from their robbery. Instead it was just you, being you, which he swiftly determined to be of no further concern. After all, being a jackass still isn’t illegal. (Although I occasionally have hopes.)
I agree 100%.
I’ve been on a couple of ride-alongs w/ a cop friend of mine, and he spent most of his time trying to find the bigger crime hiding within a small infraction. He’d specifically target cars with tail lights out because it could lead to who knows what else - and he’d never be accused of racial profiling or whatever because he had a valid reason to pull the car over in the first place.
Doesn’t Flint PD have enough problems without you giving them a shitty time, Jaime?
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### Author:  [@1010011010](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/1010011010)
#### Post date: [November 1, 2011, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-know-how-to-feel-about-this-cops-question/601263/278 "2011-11-01T21:53:52Z")
Good thing you had a disability that to cop approved.
Imagine if you had emphysema or something that limited your physical exertion or mobility but had no obvious external indications.
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### Author:  [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)
#### Post date: [November 1, 2011, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-know-how-to-feel-about-this-cops-question/601263/279 "2011-11-01T22:01:10Z")
Because what?
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### Author:  [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)
#### Post date: [November 1, 2011, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-know-how-to-feel-about-this-cops-question/601263/280 "2011-11-01T22:51:37Z")
I’m wondering if ol’ Ambi would recommend waving an object at a police officer during a traffic stop at night in an area that’s not well lit. Of course, he’ll recommend that if he does it then it’s okay and if he gets shot, then the cop was obviously out of control.
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