# 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:** 2
### Author:  [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)
#### Post date: [October 30, 2011, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-know-how-to-feel-about-this-cops-question/601263/21 "2011-10-30T12:54:27Z")
> [@TriPolar](#):
>
> \*\*Don’t know how to feel about this cop’s question… \*\*
>
> Sounds like you won this round. Maybe this jerk will change his attitude.
Considering the OP’s posting history here, are you sure you named the correct individual with the attitude?
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### Author:  [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/not_what_you_d_expect)
#### Post date: [October 30, 2011, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-know-how-to-feel-about-this-cops-question/601263/22 "2011-10-30T14:20:50Z")
Jamie, I hope you will take this in the spirit in which it is offered.
Not to be mean or cruel or anything, but the giant chip on your shoulder about your handicap, is making it difficult to see your handsome face.
I mean you complain about people abusing the parking spots and then when a cop tries to make sure that that isn’t what is happening, you complain about that too.
I’ll give you that his question may have been phrased awkwardly and I’ll take your word for it that he had attitude, but why would you expect him to be convinced simply by your waving a placard out the window. And again, given your obvious sensitivity about this topic, is it at least a little bit possible that he sensed attitude from you first? Maybe?
No offense intended, truly. Just a bit of advice from an old person who too often sees insult where none is intended and suspects that may be happening in the situation you have described.
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### Author:  [@Lacunae\_Matata](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lacunae_Matata)
#### Post date: [October 30, 2011, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-know-how-to-feel-about-this-cops-question/601263/23 "2011-10-30T14:39:28Z")
If the cop had really had a bad attitude, he could also have checked your window tint to make sure that it’s not too dark to be legal in that jurisdiction. Just saying.
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### Author:  [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)
#### Post date: [October 30, 2011, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-know-how-to-feel-about-this-cops-question/601263/24 "2011-10-30T15:00:26Z")
> [@Rick](#):
>
> Considering the OP’s posting history here, are you sure you named the correct individual with the attitude?
You mean the history where everyone attacked him, and instead of just lying down and taking it, he fought back? Then everybody treated him like he had a chip on his shoulder rather than realizing they caused it?
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### Author:  [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)
#### Post date: [October 30, 2011, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-know-how-to-feel-about-this-cops-question/601263/25 "2011-10-30T15:06:37Z")
> [@Ambivalid](#):
>
> First of all, _no_, I don’t think a person should ever have to “prove” to a cop that they are indeed disabled, beyond of course presenting a valid placard. He wasn’t asking for my ID, this wasn’t simple misunderstanding, he was convinced he had caught someone in the act of fraudulently using a valid placard. The tone of his voice communicated everything. And the suddenness with which it changed once he realized I was a paraplegic.
As I recall you started a thread where you expected a woman to prove she was handicapped and genuinely needed her placard to you.
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### Author:  [@ladyfoxfyre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ladyfoxfyre)
#### Post date: [October 30, 2011, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-know-how-to-feel-about-this-cops-question/601263/26 "2011-10-30T15:14:38Z")
It’s almost like, the exact same presumption you start out with every time you hassle somebody for being in the handicapped spot. Huh.
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### Author:  [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)
#### Post date: [October 30, 2011, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-know-how-to-feel-about-this-cops-question/601263/27 "2011-10-30T15:53:55Z")
> [@Ambivalid](#):
>
> He wasn’t asking for my ID, this wasn’t simple misunderstanding, he was convinced he had caught someone in the act of fraudulently using a valid placard. The tone of his voice communicated everything.
Well, of course he was. Or do you think most cops generally just go after people they are pretty sure AREN"T breaking the law?
And when he was pretty sure things were on the up and up he left you alone. Yeah, he probably could have handled it a bit better but good grief…
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### Author:  [@Lust4Life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lust4Life)
#### Post date: [October 30, 2011, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-know-how-to-feel-about-this-cops-question/601263/28 "2011-10-30T16:27:13Z")
., I used to work with a woman who had a legitemate disabled car sticker because her daughter had asthma.
And she abused that sticker like nobodys business.
You should be grateful that that cop was looking out for YOUR interests, if he hadn’t of been you might not have had a parking space to be in in the first place.
There could have been an able bodied assehole sat in the spot.
Then no doubt you’ve have complained that the police weren’t doing their job, and you were put to inconvenience etc.
Cops HAVE to be suspicious by nature, otherwise they can end up dead cops.
They do a thankless job at the best of times on top of laying their lives on the line on a daily basis.
And then you complain because he was trying to look after handicapped peoples rights.
You should be thanking him not bitching about him.
It would serve you right if your local police dept.decided not bother enforcing what are after all YOUR rights anymore because when they do all they get is a kick in the head from the people that they’re trying to help.
Its like moaning that the Fire Dept. made your favourite carpet wet when they were putting out your house fire.
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### Author:  [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)
#### Post date: [October 30, 2011, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-know-how-to-feel-about-this-cops-question/601263/29 "2011-10-30T17:24:07Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#):
>
> I’m guessing it was a combination of the tinted windows, the sports car and the fact that from the waist up you really don’t look handicapped.
Definitely, most chairborn drive vans [in general - I drive a jetta and have mrAru get the chair out of the trunk as needed if it isn’t a crutch sort of day.] The cop probably figured that anybody in a sports car isnt handicapped :dubious::rolleyes:
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### Author:  [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)
#### Post date: [October 30, 2011, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-know-how-to-feel-about-this-cops-question/601263/30 "2011-10-30T17:26:21Z")
> [@aruvqan](#):
>
> Definitely, most chairborn drive vans [in general - I drive a jetta and have mrAru get the chair out of the trunk as needed if it isn’t a crutch sort of day.] The cop probably figured that anybody in a sports car isnt handicapped :dubious::rolleyes:
I read that as “in general - I drive a jetta and have mrAru get out of the trunk.” :eek:
My aunt (in her 70’s) has one of [these](http://www.pridemobility.com/silverstar/images/models/Caddy--beauty.jpg) mounted on the back of her cars. It’s very easy to use, but it involves being able to hobble around to the back of your car under your own power or having someone with you. Hulluva a lot easier then trying to get a chair out of your trunk (or so I would imagine). The obvious downside being that if she gets caught in the rain without a tarp, it gets soaked. But she has no way of getting a chair in and out of the trunk on her own and she lives alone.
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### Author:  [@Alice\_The\_Goon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alice_The_Goon)
#### Post date: [October 30, 2011, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-know-how-to-feel-about-this-cops-question/601263/31 "2011-10-30T18:08:44Z")
Is this the Meijer’s Thrifty Acres in Flint, with the playground in the middle with the huge plaster animals to play on? If so, this is a shout out. I fondly recall spending many of my parents’ shopping trips playing there.
As to your point, meh. I’ve heard of \*you \*doing worse when you thought the spot was being used illegally.
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### Author:  [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)
#### Post date: [October 30, 2011, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-know-how-to-feel-about-this-cops-question/601263/32 "2011-10-30T18:21:52Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#):
>
> And I do understand what Jaime is saying, I just think he’s over reacting a bit about it.
Quelle surprise!
ETA: Whoops, sorry, forgot the rule about foreign languages. Whatta surprise!
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### Author:  [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)
#### Post date: [October 30, 2011, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-know-how-to-feel-about-this-cops-question/601263/33 "2011-10-30T18:44:51Z")
You shouldn’t have to justify yourself to the cops. The nature of your disability is not a cop’s business, only that you have a legitimate placard.
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### Author:  [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)
#### Post date: [October 30, 2011, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-know-how-to-feel-about-this-cops-question/601263/34 "2011-10-30T18:47:01Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#):
>
> Another thing, when he asked you why you were handicapped, I’m guessing that he was expecting an answer along the lines of “It’s my mom’s/grandma’s handicapped sign” since that’s probably the answer he get’s 90% of the time and he’s probably a bit annoyed by now. On top of that he was probably ready to write an easy ticket and give some kid a mini lecture on why they aren’t allowed to use handicapped spot just because they have a sign and was a bit let down when he couldn’t.
I know that I see a lot of people using handicapped spaces (with and without the special plates or hangtags) who don’t seem to need them. Now, they could have an “invisible” handicap. Or they could be like my brother-in-law, who borrowed my husband’s car for a week, and delighted in using my hangtag which I kept in the glovebox. He thought it was great to be able to park in a handicapped spot, and told us that “it wouldn’t hurt me none.” I told him that yes, he COULD get a fine for misusing a hangtag, and if I had my hangtag revoked because of misuse, it would hurt him PLENTY.
Nowadays, of course, I keep the hangtag in my purse, even though it’s not as convenient. My car has handicapped plates on it, so I generally don’t have to worry about digging out the hangtag.
So I imagine that the cop WAS expecting to be able to write a ticket for misuse of a hangtag. And I happen to think that cops SHOULD be on the lookout for such misuse.
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### Author:  [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)
#### Post date: [October 30, 2011, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-know-how-to-feel-about-this-cops-question/601263/35 "2011-10-30T18:50:43Z")
> [@jsgoddess](#):
>
> You shouldn’t have to justify yourself to the cops. The nature of your disability is not a cop’s business, only that you have a legitimate placard.
Thank you. If the cop was concerned about possible fraudulent use, he could have asked for my I.D. There was _no_ need for, “O.K., come on now, how are _you_ disabled?”
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### Author:  [@Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Attack_from_the_3rd_dimension)
#### Post date: [October 30, 2011, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-know-how-to-feel-about-this-cops-question/601263/36 "2011-10-30T18:50:54Z")
> [@Mosier](#):
>
> It sounds like he was indeed suspicious that you were using a valid handicap parking permit fraudulently. Once he confirmed you were in fact disabled, he walked away. Sounds reasonable to me. Of course I wasn’t there to see his attitude or anything.
Cop sees hot car in handicapped spot.
Cop lights it up.
Cop sees young muscular dude in car, dude shows placard.
Cop attempts to confirm that it is his placard - he should have said “let me see your ID” and confirmed the placard is his, but instead he used the possibly faster, and certainly more classic ‘baffling question technique’, the equivalent of “what’s your sign” when talking to someone with possible false ID. You respond calmly and indicated the wheelchair - if it had been someone else’s chair you might have crumpled under the interrogation.
Cop pushes off.
This sounds pretty close to what you’ve wanted to have happen.
By the way, seen any good movies lately?
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### Author:  [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)
#### Post date: [October 30, 2011, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-know-how-to-feel-about-this-cops-question/601263/37 "2011-10-30T18:52:55Z")
The cop can go fuck himself. Unless he moonlights as a physician (actually, even then) he isn’t in a place to determine whether you deserve your placard.
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### Author:  [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)
#### Post date: [October 30, 2011, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-know-how-to-feel-about-this-cops-question/601263/38 "2011-10-30T18:53:32Z")
> [@Lynn\_Bodoni](#):
>
> So I imagine that the cop WAS expecting to be able to write a ticket for misuse of a hangtag. And I happen to think that cops SHOULD be on the lookout for such misuse.
And it probably was a bit of a let down for the cop. Like walking up to a car at an expired meter only to find out that the person is still in there but digging around for change.
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### Author:  [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)
#### Post date: [October 30, 2011, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-know-how-to-feel-about-this-cops-question/601263/39 "2011-10-30T18:55:06Z")
And when I asked the young lady if she was in fact disabled (at the PF gym), that was _only after_ I witnessed her get out of her car, basically run into the gym, ambulate problem-free in the gym, work out and even _run on a tread mill_ inside the gym, without any trace of disability. And this is at a place of physical activity. The two situations are _not_ comparable.
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### Author:  [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)
#### Post date: [October 30, 2011, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-know-how-to-feel-about-this-cops-question/601263/40 "2011-10-30T18:57:02Z")
> [@Ambivalid](#):
>
> And when I asked the young lady if she was in fact disabled (at the PF gym), that was _only after_ I witnessed her get out of her car, basically run into the gym, ambulate problem-free in the gym, work out and even _run on a tread mill_ inside the gym, without any trace of disability. And this is at a place of physical activity. The two situations are _not_ comparable.
Actually, they are. The only difference is that your actions were even douchier than the cop’s because you have no authority at all.
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