# What the heck were you \*thinking\*, "Officer Friendly" **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 3, 2012, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-were-you-thinking-officer-friendly/611693 "2012-02-03T22:54:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![2gigch1](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/2gigch1/32/3313_2.png) [@2gigch1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/2gigch1)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2012, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-were-you-thinking-officer-friendly/611693/21 "2012-02-04T12:52:30Z")
Perhaps he was a PC man. ---
**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:** [February 4, 2012, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-were-you-thinking-officer-friendly/611693/22 "2012-02-04T15:24:43Z")
You just don’t know how radar units work. The Genesis models that we had were on all the time if you use them in moving mode. You don’t turn them on and off he wasn’t screwing with you he was just driving down the road. ---
**Author:** ![scratch\_llll](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9fc348/32.png) [@scratch\_llll](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scratch_llll)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2012, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-were-you-thinking-officer-friendly/611693/23 "2012-02-04T17:06:09Z")
But he said that the radar WAS going off intermittently at one point directly behind him. What I don’t understand was why he didn’t just unplug it. I drive eight to ten hours a day and often unplug mine in those instances. ---
**Author:** ![lawbuff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/13edae/32.png) [@lawbuff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lawbuff)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2012, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-were-you-thinking-officer-friendly/611693/24 "2012-02-04T17:18:14Z")
> [@rachelellogram](#): > > Driving under the speed limit, especially on a low-limit road, is also a red flag. He may have suspected you were driving stoned. When high on marijuana, many people are actually overly cautious (to compensate for any potential impairment) and tend to drive more slowly and carefully than they do while sober. I know that the times I’ve driven high (not recently, as I don’t use anymore), I noticed myself driving under the limit more often than at or above it. Once I heard that driving under the limit was a red flag, I used cruise control to make sure I didn’t deviate more than 1 or 2 mph from the speed limit in either direction. I was pulled over once. The Trooper said I was weaving, PLUS, I was going 55 in a 65 zone. Now, I knew he was looking at the “totality of the circumstances” in order to make a Terry stop. While driving under the limit in and of itself is not a crime, as the minimum on an interstate is 40, he combined that with weaving. I may have crossed the center or fog line once, but was it was not like my ball joints were bad, ha! I turned on my dome light, turned off the car and with window down kept my hands on the wheel until approached, something a DUI person would not do. After he checked me out, I was free to leave. ---
**Author:** ![lawbuff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/13edae/32.png) [@lawbuff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lawbuff)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2012, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-were-you-thinking-officer-friendly/611693/25 "2012-02-04T17:22:49Z")
> [@purplehorseshoe](#): > > - Driver with both hands on the wheel and doing just under the speed limit but also laughing occasionally and bopping away to the radio? Some cities in Ohio have what is known as a Full Time and Attention Ordinance. Depending on how much they were “bopping”, side to side, up and down, etc., the officer could at least use that to form a basis for a Terry stop, as the driver is not giving his driving his FTA. If a woman is putting on makeup while driving, as one example, is she giving her driving her FTA? ---
**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:** [February 4, 2012, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-were-you-thinking-officer-friendly/611693/26 "2012-02-04T17:32:56Z")
> [@scratch\_llll](#): > > But he said that the radar WAS going off intermittently at one point directly behind him. > > What I don’t understand was why he didn’t just unplug it. I drive eight to ten hours a day and often unplug mine in those instances. Yes that was his perception. ---
**Author:** ![MacTech](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MacTech](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacTech)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2012, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-were-you-thinking-officer-friendly/611693/27 "2012-02-05T00:16:16Z")
> [@drewtwo99](#): > > I second or third or whatever that he noticed your radar detector and wanted to annoy the hell out of you. > > I also believe whole-heartedly that 1) Radar detectors should NOT be illegal and 2) only lead-footed speeders use them > > I hope the brap-BRAP at level 9 annoyed you for a while 😃 Nope, didn’t annoy me, after about 10 seconds of full alert I tapped the mute button and ignored it until I turned off to my home road > [@galen\_ubal](#): > > Noticed your radar detector and/or annoyed at you for going so slowly. Either way, suspicious of you in general. Possibly rightfully so, as the amount of attention you were paying to your detector comes off the amount of attention you were paying to your driving. 😉 as stated above, once muted, the alerts were mere background noise I don’t intentionally speed either and I’m so boring that the dead are more interesting than me, no drugs, illicit merchandise or hookers, dead, undead, alive or otherwise either.… ---
**Author:** ![carnut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnut/32/3531_2.png) [@carnut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnut)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2012, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-were-you-thinking-officer-friendly/611693/28 "2012-02-05T00:39:12Z")
My brother had a cop who liked to play that game with him. He was young and drove a beater car. The cop pulled him over for a turn-signal light. Pulled him over for a loud exhaust. Followed him home from work at least twice a week (he worked graveyard shift). Finally, Tim just drove himself over to the police station (followed by his black and white shadow) and walked inside to register a complaint. And then two weeks later my brother got a deserved DUI from another cop. :smack: To the OP: IMO, the cop was trying to get on your nerves. But that doesn’t mean he might not have a good reason to do so. ---
**Author:** ![armedmonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@armedmonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/armedmonkey)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2012, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-were-you-thinking-officer-friendly/611693/29 "2012-02-05T01:24:34Z")
> [@MacTech](#): > > alerted me to a threat ahead…\<\\> > > One signal, Ka band, signal strength of three and rising…\<\\> > > Bogey Counter shows one threat\<\\> > > takes up station on my six \<\\> Hey, **Maverick** , is this before or after you and **Iceman** played half-naked volleyball on the beach? I’m picturing Anthony Edwards trying to bail out the passenger side window, but smacking his head because he forgot to roll it down [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-were-you-thinking-officer-friendly/611693.md?page=1)