Well, I think you handled it well.
And you didn’t even need a 1920’s style death ray.
hansel,
Actually for me, it’d be a green wall of silence (military law enforcement, USAF SP.) Perception is everything, ya’ know? In another thread, I explained how my base had an agreement with Sumter City/County law enforcement on joint-jurisdiction and liason practices. About a month ago, I was part of a two car speed checkpoint (speedtrap, yea, but I can’t call it that, can I?) when a car goes by with green underpinning lights, huge crome rims, and a glass-pack muffler. Nothing illegal in my town, mind you, but enough to catch my attention. Seeing as it was ‘my turn,’ I hit the blues and pulled this guy. He pulls over, I get out and do the licence/registration/proof of insurance bit. White kid, 18 years old, dressed in a typical ‘urban’ fashion. Before I said ANYTHING about why I’d pulled him, he starts cursing about how there was no justification for the pull, he wasn’t speeding, and there was nothing in the car. BINGO!
I radio for the second car, staffed by Sherrif’s Deputy Cpl. Dave (will someone please clairfy if I can post last names on the board?) XXXXXXX, my ‘teammate,’ and he comes over. Since I had the authority to make the pull, but not search the vehicle, Dave did it, and came up with an open bottle of Jim Beam under the passenger’s seat, a Glock 17 (long slide, chambered for 9mm) two clips of Federal 135 grain +p+ hollowpoints (remember the ‘cop killer’ controversey about 5 years back? Same round) and six ounces of marajuana in the wheel well of his trunk.
My point? I’m up for the AF Commendation Medal because I had a feeling about something I saw. This cop, whether rookie or a 20 year beat officer, probably had a feeling when he saw the OP. He did what he felt was right, and let it go when (it seems) it was obvious that the OP wasn’t stoned. He did his job. If NinjaChick feels he was a dick, well, that’s just too damn bad (no disrespect meant to the OP, but that’s my feeling.) Its not like he followed you or anything.
Yeah, god knows that Camden commuter train is a regular hotbed for drug mules.
I have worked as a sherrif’s deputy and knew two other officers who would have pulled the same kind of stunt. Guess what. Nobody at the office liked either of them either. It is one thing to show up at a loud party that has made you drive out three times to tell them to shut it down, and then toss the place because you smell weed smoke and the people are wasting your time and pissing off the neighbors. It is quite another matter to roust some workin schmoe on a train who neither matches a warrant or is behaving in a manner that affects the other passengers.
As a rule any cop who looks for someone minding their own business, stoned or not, is either in a bad mood, in trouble at the shop, or is working on a force so overstaffed they have nothing better to do (or avoiding something more productive).
If someone is passed out on a train or a bus or in the park, you bump them up, ask them who they are, why they are there, ascertain their condition and if the community has a shelter try to steer them toward it or if it’s winter in a cold place and you are a kind soul toss them in the tank for the night. If some stoner is going from point a to point b you leave them alone. Cops like that are just one factor on why I would never work a big city.
As for “cop killer” bullets. Fuck, I kept hydra shok in my sidearm on the advise of my TO. Far as I know (thank god I never had to find out firsthand) hollowpoints do less damage to a vest than FMJ any day of the week. Since a cop is far more likely to have a vest than a citizen, it’s more than fair to call them “citizen killers”.
Oh, and if you do work for the kind of pricks that make you hassle random folks in need of allergy meds, there are much better ways to question them. How about a simple “Hi, I’m officer Lastname Here. I don’t mean to intrude, but you look a little out of it. Are you okay? Can I help you in any way?” Get them to talk to you in a friendly manner and you can a) find out their situation and b) if you do have to roust them it’s a better shot at them going in easy. Why make trouble for yourself?
The verdict: The cop that hassled her was either a rookie or a dick or both. Probably the same kind of prick who flops his shield when he gets pulled for speeding.
Not meaning to hijack (although I already did waaaayyyy back)
I’m jealous. The only choice we get is our standard 115grain 9x19 FMJ. I’d love to have some Remington Golden Saber 147gr BJHP’s, but alas, it’s illegal (Geneva convention and all.) To be honest, FMJ isn’t necessairly better or worse than JHP for penetration of kevlar. Depends on what grade. For the 9mm (the M9 in my case,) if I’m wearing IIIA, you ain’t gonna hurt me. If I’m wearing full grade ‘chicken plate’ (IIIA vest with 3mm of steel in it) you sure as hell ain’t going to get penetration no matter what load you have. Many cops, though, only wear II or IIA, which can be penetrated by either FMJ or JHP rounds with signifigant muzzle velocities. I’d rather be hit by a FMJ round than a JHP, because at least then there’s a chance of overpenetration and it exiting me without being distorted too badly. Ever see what HydraShok can do to a lump of 10% ballistic jelly? I’d rather have the FMJ hole in me.
As much as I like you, NinjaChick (that “stupid, slutty, horribly ignorant, repungant, disgusting excuse for the union of a sperm and an egg” comment was classic), I’ll have to side with fushj00mang on this one. The cop was just doing his job and while it wouldn’t have killed him to be a little nicer, it doesn’t sound like he was all that rude to you. And cops do meet bunches of really unpleasant people every day; it’s hard to maintain your politeness in the face of that.
You actually called a cop “asshole”, and got away with it?
Is this a different United States than the one I’m familiar with?
My opinion:
Both sides were within their rights: the cop’s entitled to look at people, be suspicious, ask questions, NinjaChick’s entitled to decline to answer them.
Neither side wins any points for politeness … however, this counts more against the cop than it does against NinjaChick. Treating law-abiding citizens with due courtesy is part of the cop’s job; he’s a public servant, and it’s in his (and other cops’) interest for said law-abiding citizens to respect and trust him.
Conclusion: moral victory to NinjaChick by a short head.
(Never hurts to be polite. I’ve been stopped by the police more times than I can easily remember, being polite helped every time. That, and I’m chronically law-abiding … )
I have a question of the law/procedure for your checkpoint. (Perhaps there’s some element of military law enforcement that I’m unaware of. Was this on base or in the community?)
My general understanding of the law is that you cannot pull a car over unless you have at least a reasonable suspicion that a crime/violation is being committed (a Terry stop). I believe that there are some limited exceptions for a checkpoint, but cars must be stopped by a systematic method, not just an officer’s suspicions. Further, you cannot generally search a vehicle without permission unless there is probable cause (I think).
You say that this car had “[n]othing illegal in this town.” Did something about the vehicle cause you to have a “reasonable suspicion” of crime/traffic violation under applicable law or was there some other basis for the stop and search that I’m missing?
Billdo’s thinking what I’m thinking… Did you really have a reason to stop that car? I’d really hate to think that some accessories of my legally equipped car could result in me being pulled over when I’ve been driving properly.
well i thought his behaviour was irrational, until you mentioned you’re a teen.
hell, my friends used to get arrested for no reason, just for standing on the sidewalk talking 
thats in Brooklyn, btw.
so, well, its part of being a teen
i am 22 now and cops dont pull me over all the time any more, even though i am driving with a broken headlamp for like a month now and back in the old day the fucker gave me a ticket for a missing a screw on my rear license plate
Eh, it could be worse. I woke up the other day to find a cop inside my house.
No. Really. Apparently he was looking for someone named “Geraldo.” The idiot who shares the apartment left the front door unlocked, so he opened it and was giving the place a good ol’ eye-search. Didn’t identify himself to me, either, just had a pretty shiny badge on his chest. Apparently, he was a corrections officer from some other town, not even supposed to be in my town without a local cop escort. (No, I’d never heard of this Geraldo person.)
I intend to make his life a bit of hell now. Wish I’d been awake enough to make his life a bit of hell then.
He asked you a couple questions then stopped after you told him to? God, what a fucking monster.
I don’t want to hijack this away from fush’s apparent (until he does a LOT of 'splaining) illegal stop and search (if the driver was convicted he has the worst lawyer EVER), but back to the OP:
Dear me, what the fuck sort of answer was he expecting? This is the sort of question for which there is no correct answer. “Yes,” and you get arrested. “No,” and the jerk continues as in the OP. “Fuck off, asshole,” and you risk getting roughed up AND arrested.
Not only is that stop and search so blatantly illegal that any competent lawyer could get the guy off, it seems to me that any good lawyer could also use it to get rid of that flagrantly unconstitutional little “arrangement” that fushj00mang has described elsewhere between his base and the local law enforcement. God knows it’s an example of why we don’t let the military play civilian cop in this country.
If the stop was on base, the search may have been legal. Military bases typically have signs posted at the entrances that indicate that federal regulations permit a search of any vehicle at any time, and entry on to base property constitutes consent to that search.
But since fushj00mang indicated he didn’t have the authority to search, I suspect that it was not on base.
And unless there are more details forthcoming, I’d say winning the suppression motion for that stop would be an easy task for a first-year law student.
- Rick
Bricker, see this post for a description of the way they run things in fushj00mang’s neck of the woods. I’d say it’s highly unlikely that he was on base.
I have questions as well, from this thread and the other, so I’ve started a new thread in GQ.
I am tempted to call bullshit on **Fush’s **whole story in that he refered to himself as an Air Force S.P.
Unless things have changed in the last twelve years, the S.P.'s (Security Police) main focus was base security, as in guard duty and such. Law enforcement and traffic were were under the L.E.'s (Law Enforcement) They were seperate branches of the base police. I was friends with a few S.P.'s in the Air Force while I was in, and they NEVER did traffic cop work or any such.
I bet he ain’t even a cop.
Meros, he was a regular Camden cop - that was what really sort of stunned me. If he’d been your typical Rent-a-Cop, I wouldn’t have been so pissed off, becuase their default setting is ‘incompetant and incoherent’.
fushj00mang, I don’t see your point. Fine, if he wanted to question me, he’s got the nice shiny badge. But firstly, the way he did it (as several other posters said) was completely inapprorpriate by any standard - it was downright rude, and there was absolutely no need for hostility. And also, I defintely suspect serious age bias: If I looked 27 instead of 17, he most likely would not have said anything to me. And yeah, he did stop questioning me, but he continued to stare at me. It was demeaning and embarrassing to be harrassed like that in front of a crowded train of strangers.
Coldfire, yep, I did call him an asshole to his face, which in retrospect, was really a stupid move. But there would have been no grounds to arrest me (is rudeness a crime?) and he probably (hopefully!) would have gotten in some trouble for roughing up a teenage girl. Not to mention I would have pressed charges for assault in an instant - not that I wouldn’t get a good deal of satisfcation from that.
Is that why there’s such an infamous Code of Silence that descends whenever cops are discovered to be taking bribes, dealing dope on the side, shaking down hookers, etc?