# How could a police officer be this wrong? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 30, 2012, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-could-a-police-officer-be-this-wrong/626759 "2012-06-30T00:54:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 9
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2012, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-could-a-police-officer-be-this-wrong/626759/161 "2012-07-11T01:05:05Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > Well having been bitched at for calling over a car break in (IN PROGRESS) I was a little surprised that any dispatch system short of Mayberry RFD would want the call. > > In my case it was all I could do not to ask them if shooting them warranted a call-back or should I call waste management for curbside pickup. > > Yes I was a bit miffed at the dispatcher and/or the city’s policy. In addition to being _instructed_ to call 911 by an officer of that department, when I did call, I wasn’t reprimanded in the least bit for my call or told not to do so in the future. The call was handled professionally and promptly and without complaint. ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2012, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-could-a-police-officer-be-this-wrong/626759/162 "2012-07-11T01:19:20Z")
> [@Ambivalid](#): > > While I am still waiting on the sergeant’s return call to explain the exact protocol, I did confirm today with the gym staff that the man-or his car rather- **was** issued a ticket once already. This happened just about a week before my incident, and the gym-manager on-duty at the time witnessed the ticket being written and placed on the vehicle. So that pretty much confirms my initial suspicions. And in a bit of good news, the manager also told me that if this member gets a total of three rules violations, they have the right to terminate his membership. As of now, with the first ticket and now the failed-attempt at a second ticket, this man has two violations. So if he were to get a third: cya. The manager at this gym, luckily for me and other handicap members, really has no tolerance for such behavior. Oh, and **Ruby Slippers** is exactly right; my dependence on handicap parking spots has _nothing_ to do with the proximity to the entrance and everything to do with the extra space allotted on the sides so I have the necessary room to get my wheelchair in and out of my car. Without such space, I would either get blocked in when parking and be unable to get my chair out or get blocked out and be unable to get my chair in. ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2012, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-could-a-police-officer-be-this-wrong/626759/163 "2012-07-11T02:07:04Z")
> [@Ambivalid](#): > > So do I. But it came from the lips of a uniformed officer from the same department. I would have thought a non-emergency number would get first preference. Here in Montreal, after a certain hour the non-emergency police number is actually rerouted to 911. > [@Ambivalid](#): > > Look-I’m not trying to drag this needlessly on but once again: three threads in thirteen months. Am I not allowed to bring up these issues whatsoever? If I do am I automatically branded a “one-trick pony”? Because I don’t see how on earth that sort of sparse thread generation on a subject could possibly be considered “going over the same topics again and again”; especially when (as I’ve already noted) each specific thread was based on certain circumstances unique to the situations presented within it. Yeah, I remember when people used to talk about how much I and some of the other gay Dopers were one-trick ponies because we had occasion to mention being gay. When you’re a member of a majority, and therefore not accustomed to discussing that issue (because society is set up to accommodate that majority status), it sounds like the corresponding minority never shuts up about it because _any_ discussion of it in your vicinity is more than you’re used to. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2012, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-could-a-police-officer-be-this-wrong/626759/164 "2012-07-11T03:17:34Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > So the next time the neighbor’s guest park in **MY** driveway? > Cool! Not necessarily - back when our neighborhood had a lot of trouble with people parking inappropriately, we (the neighborhood association) could have had the cars towed, but we’d have been financially liable for any damages. In your case, check your local laws, inform the neighbors, put up a sign, before even considering having the trespassers towed. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2012, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-could-a-police-officer-be-this-wrong/626759/165 "2012-07-11T05:04:03Z")
> [@Ambivalid](#): > > Not really. 😉 Dammit! ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2012, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-could-a-police-officer-be-this-wrong/626759/166 "2012-07-11T20:33:49Z")
> [@SpoilerVirgin](#): > > It’s more in the sense of being really excited, as in “OMG, I’m spazzing out because I got tickets to the new Spider-Man movie.” It can also be used for minor mistakes, i.e. “I’m such a spaz, I forgot we were planning to meet at 3:00.” It absolutely does not have the derogatory connotation that it has in the UK. Those examples bear me out. The usage is derived from “spaz” meaning spastic, as in “out of control jerking around”, i.e. having spasms. It is, therefore, derogatory in the sense of making fun of people for their health condition. It has just become so embedded in the culture that the referent is lost and so the meaning is mild. Like saying “that sucks”. > [@Mama\_Zappa](#): > > Not necessarily - back when our neighborhood had a lot of trouble with people parking inappropriately, we (the neighborhood association) could have had the cars towed, but we’d have been financially liable for any damages. In your case, check your local laws, inform the neighbors, put up a sign, before even considering having the trespassers towed. Well of course you’re going to be financially liable for any damage, just like you can’t take a baseball bat to the car just because it is sitting in your driveway. I can’t speak to the legal necessity of posting a sign. Certainly it would assist you in any civil case that could be filed against you if said person did have a vehicle towed and had to pay impound fees, etc. I certainly would suggest checking local laws if considering it. ---
**Author:** ![StarvingButStrong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/starvingbutstrong/32/335_2.png) [@StarvingButStrong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StarvingButStrong)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2012, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-could-a-police-officer-be-this-wrong/626759/167 "2012-07-11T20:41:23Z")
Of course, if the car was _stolen_ it wouldn’t be your responsibiity. (What? Doesn’t everyone have a half-dozen friends from the old days who know how to hotwire cares?) ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2012, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-could-a-police-officer-be-this-wrong/626759/168 "2012-07-11T20:43:20Z")
I started to hotwire a care once then realized I didn’t. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2012, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-could-a-police-officer-be-this-wrong/626759/169 "2012-07-11T23:31:27Z")
> [@billfish678](#): > > Bejeezus. What kind of crime ridden city do you live in? The one where Batman is doing most of the work? I’ve had mixed results calling 911. I suspect that if they review the transcripts on a regular basis then my (bad experience) call probably got someone’s ass chewed off. I suppose it’s like any other job, there are morons in the mix and I happened to get one of them that day. I would expect the policy of using 911 be limited to events that require immediate attention. ---
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2012, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-could-a-police-officer-be-this-wrong/626759/170 "2012-07-12T16:28:49Z")
I called 911 once after I saw a non-handicapped-placarded car was in a handicapp spot. Then they started bitching me out for misuse of 911. So my roommate called 911 to tell them I was being harassed by 911. ---
**Author:** ![tapu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@tapu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tapu)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2012, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-could-a-police-officer-be-this-wrong/626759/171 "2012-07-12T18:03:03Z")
> [@billfish678](#): > > I started to hotwire a care once then realized I didn’t. Did you call 911? ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2012, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-could-a-police-officer-be-this-wrong/626759/172 "2012-07-15T04:07:30Z")
> [@SpoilerVirgin](#): > > It’s more in the sense of being really excited, as in “OMG, I’m spazzing out because I got tickets to the new Spider-Man movie.” It can also be used for minor mistakes, i.e. “I’m such a spaz, I forgot we were planning to meet at 3:00.” It absolutely does not have the derogatory connotation that it has in the UK. As a native Californian, I confess that I heard and used the word all the time before the [Tiger Woods incident](http://www.usatoday.com/sports/golf/pga/2006-04-12-woods-apology_x.htm) without ever knowing that it had a derogatory meaning elsewhere. Since that time, I have avoided the word, and have explained the issue to several people when I heard them using it. And it’s nowhere near a California-only thing. And I’ve known people to whom the medical term would apply who use the term and have no problem with me using it, to the point I thought it has moved on, like moron or idiot have. ---
**Author:** ![Nametag](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nametag/32/406_2.png) [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2012, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-could-a-police-officer-be-this-wrong/626759/173 "2012-07-15T17:00:37Z")
That’s funny, because I also grew up in California, and I knew damn well why that kid in first grade (1969) was called a “spaz,” and it wasn’t because he was uncool, nerdy, or merely uncoordinated. It was because he got around on crutches, and did so with the jerky, exaggerated movements that (I later learned) are a hallmark of spastic cerebral palsy. Calling someone a spaz because of marginally unusual behavior is definitely an insult, and so labeling anyone – truly spastic or not – is offensive because it reduces the hardship of CP to a punch line. Not that I exactly get offended by it, myself. It just causes me to subtract humanity points from the speaker; there are far worse epithets, and actions, as they say, speak louder than words. People who lose a lot of points, I’ll avoid; people who lose enough more than that – well, I may stop thinking they have rights. OK, there aren’t really any points; I just have a gut-level cumulative reaction to how much of an asshole someone is. Saying “spaz” is trivial in the great scheme of things, but it can tarnish a person of otherwise gleaming virtue. It’s unlikely to be the deciding factor in my finding someone irredeemable, but it’s not neutral either. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2012, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-could-a-police-officer-be-this-wrong/626759/174 "2012-07-15T17:44:59Z")
What about someone like me who has never heard the word used in connection with any kind of disability, disorder,or disease but only with respect to someone who is behaving in an amped up manner? ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2012, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-could-a-police-officer-be-this-wrong/626759/175 "2012-07-15T18:37:25Z")
This may be a generational thing. The term originated from spastic cerebral palsy, but has been around forever. In the meantime, in the US at least, “spastic” as a descriptor has dropped out of use. Ergo, there probably is a generation of kids who have only heard it and used it in the general sense. Just like many of us were unaware that the word “gypped” like “that guy gypped me out of my money” is a slur against gypsies. I had only ever heard the word used in that sense, and never had any connection to gypsies with it. It took someone pointing it out here a few years ago before I learned that. That’s why I asked the question above. ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2012, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-could-a-police-officer-be-this-wrong/626759/176 "2012-07-27T03:09:21Z")
**Bump for a related post…** I swear I don’t make this stuff up…I had a really weird experience at my gym today. As I was coming out to my car after working out, I see a shiny new Cadillac parked in the handicapped spot right next to the one I was parked in. Since it was next to mine (and because it was such a nice car, I had a hunch) I quickly glanced to check for the permit as I passed it to get to my own car. Sure enough; no placard or license plate I.D. Just a second or two after this, an older man who I frequently said ‘hello’ to when working out in the gym came walking out to the parking lot. As he neared, he saw me sitting outside next to my car, looking at the illegally parked Caddy. I asked him if it was his car. He said no and asked me what the problem was. I said, “Oh, it’s just parked illegally.” What came out of this guy’s mouth next really caught me offguard, to say the least. He stared at me intently for a second or two before his eyes narrowed and he proclaimed, “You know, you’re gonna get kicked out of here, too if you go on keep acting like a dick.” ?!?! And then he was off. He didn’t respond when I called after him in total bemusement and confusion. “Huh?” “What did I do?” But he didn’t even turn his head. I’m so bad. ---
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2012, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-could-a-police-officer-be-this-wrong/626759/177 "2012-07-27T03:21:33Z")
> [@Ambivalid](#): > > **Bump for a related post…** > I swear I don’t make this stuff up…I had a really weird experience at my gym today. As I was coming out to my car after working out, I see a shiny new Cadillac parked in the handicapped spot right next to the one I was parked in. Since it was next to mine (and because it was such a nice car, I had a hunch) I quickly glanced to check for the permit as I passed it to get to my own car. Sure enough; no placard or license plate I.D. > > Just a second or two after this, an older man who I frequently said ‘hello’ to when working out in the gym came walking out to the parking lot. As he neared, he saw me sitting outside next to my car, looking at the illegally parked Caddy. I asked him if it was his car. He said no and asked me what the problem was. I said, “Oh, it’s just parked illegally.” What came out of this guy’s mouth next really caught me offguard, to say the least. > > He stared at me intently for a second or two before his eyes narrowed and he proclaimed, “You know, you’re gonna get kicked out of here, too if you go on keep acting like a dick.” ?!?! And then he was off. He didn’t respond when I called after him in total bemusement and confusion. “Huh?” “What did I do?” But he didn’t even turn his head. > > I’m so bad. If this is true, I’d guess there is a lot you aren’t telling us. By saying “too” he is either aware you have been given the boot from other gyms, or someone else has been given the shove from this gym for acting like a dick. Either way, he doesn’t care much for your behaviour. ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2012, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-could-a-police-officer-be-this-wrong/626759/178 "2012-07-27T03:31:50Z")
> [@Cicero](#): > > If this is true, I’d guess there is a lot you aren’t telling us. That’s why I prefaced this post with “I swear I don’t make this stuff up”; because there _isn’t_ anything I haven’t told the board. If anything, I’ve been overly-personal here. I’m witholding nothing and that is what made this such a bizarre incident. I was doing nothing but _observing_ a car which was parked right next to my own. ---
**Author:** ![voltaire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voltaire/32/313_2.png) [@voltaire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/voltaire)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2012, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-could-a-police-officer-be-this-wrong/626759/179 "2012-07-27T03:52:37Z")
It sounds more to me like that guy is friends with the Mercedes guy and has heard that your complaints have put his membership in danger. Or maybe he _is_ the Mercedes guy… ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2012, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-could-a-police-officer-be-this-wrong/626759/180 "2012-07-27T04:23:32Z")
I got a question for you , **Ambivalid**. You say that what he said caught you off guard, but thinking it over don’t you think it has the ring of truth? Do you at this point have any actual confusion and bemusement? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-could-a-police-officer-be-this-wrong/626759.md?page=8) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-could-a-police-officer-be-this-wrong/626759.md?page=10)