I agree being respectful and polite helps, and do refrain from being belligerent, but looking at what I experienced, there comes a point in a traffic stop where it’s better to start focusing on your legal rights rather than full cooperation. Do everything legally required such as showing ID, but no more. The field sobriety tests are a waste of time because they only serve the officer’s intent to establish “probable cause”, and I “failed” the field sobriety tests even though I was sober at the time as later proven by blood tests. I also wouldn’t answer roadside questions after it’s apparent they intend to arrest me. After it becomes obvious they want to arrest you, it’s better to remain silent even if innocent. You don’t have to prove your innocence to the police officer, save it for the jury.
I don’t think it’s you being lucky. It is my belief from my experience that the overwhelming majority (as in 99%) of cops are “reasonable”. You have to be seriously un-lucky to encounter an “unreasonable” cop.
I have had interactions with police in a dozen US states, North, South, Midwest, East and West, ranging from being arrested for driving on suspended license (in my defense I didn’t know it was suspended) to being stopped for driving a jalopy in the posh Kenilworth, IL while sporting a “white afro”. Not once have I gotten anything other than reasonable treatment. Out of dozens of my friends, not one ever related to me any incident with police that would be classified as unreasonable. Not all policemen were gentlemanly and unfailingly polite, but there was nothing unreasonable in the treatment.
Of course, it helps that I was compliant with their requests/orders and didn’t attempt to run away.
You’re implying I wasn’t compliant or attempted to flee? I had a clean record and have a clean record to this day (passed background checks for my current job and my car insurance premium is low). I’ve had other encounters with officers without any issues, such as an officer gave me a ride to the repair shop when my car broke down on the highway on a cold night.
The night I was arrested, I couldn’t have been any more compliant than I was, but that didn’t help me any that night. As stated previously, full compliance is no guarantee of reasonable treatment. I did have long hair at the time. One thing that definitely helps is not being black or not having long hair if you’re a male to avoid being profiled.
As I said, you were unlucky. There is that 1%. But there always is that 1%.
failing a sobriety test when you’re sober? That’s a bad thing. It’s an easy test. You can’t fault an officer for that. It’s on you.
Bullshit. My friends and I had an encounter back when I was 17 that was beyond unreasonable and ended up with two rookie cops fired and a veteran cop suspended.
Long story short. My friend Mike, who happened. to be a shitty driver, cut off a car. The car pulled up next to us and the guys inside started yelling ‘Pull over!’ while flashing a badge out the window. Since it wasn’t a cop car Mike look off. A chase ensued until Mike took a left too fast and pulled the left front tire off the rim.
Two guys got out of the car, both rookie cops. They searched the car then radioed for backup, but called for a specific officer by name. Having been arrested before I knew that wasn’t right. Anyway, Mr. Patrolman shows up, they give us a hard time for a bit and let us go. Once we realized that they were real cops, we cooperated.
We went and got Mikes dad since we were all under 18. We went to the nearest statiion and filed a report.
After an investigation, both rookie cops were fired. The patrol officer was suspended and sent for more training.
Instead of fighting in a situation we could not win, we waited and resolved the issue in a place where we could, and did, win.
Since then I always cooperate and if there is a problem file a complaint later.
Slee
You mean allegedly failing a sobriety test. You weren’t there.
{bolding mine}
If you read my posts, you’d notice I advise always being polite and not belligerent or “fighting”, but once it’s apparent they wish to arrest, there’s no reason to answer roadside questions, especially if they’re yelling “bullshit” or such, other than legally required information such as ID. You were minors and not arrested even though your friend cut off a cop car through poor driving, so it’s not a comparable situation. My lawyer advised me only to provide one’s ID and submit to breathalyzer or blood tests, but I guess you know more than my lawyer.
There’s a difference between being assertive and aggressive.
Here’s the thing… I KNOW I have no intention of harming a police officer. I also know a police officer who stops me for a traffic violation or questioning does NOT know that. So I keep my hands in plain view. If he asks for my ID, I tell him it’s in my wallet and with my hand still in plain view, I point to my right rear pocket and wait for him to nod or tell me to go ahead to take out my wallet. And yeah, for the simple identification part, I try to be co-operative. And for a traffic thing, if I’m out and out wrong, well, why argue? A couple of times, instead of ticketing me, they just said don’t do it again.
And the time it was a suspicious thing? I was an OTR driver visiting some friends. I had permission to park my tractor (with a sleeper) in a small lot about a half mile away across a main street. I had made it to the lot when a patrol car drove up and asked me for some ID. One of the cops said there had been some break ins. Now, it was dark and around 1 am, so I didn’t think it was unreasonable to question why I was where I was then. So while one officer ran my license, I explained to the other officer “I’m a driver, that’s my truck, and hanging off this belt loop (pointing that is, my hands were in PLAIN view) is a key that’ll unlock the truck. And there’s plenty of forms in that truck with a signature on them that matches the one on my license.” They gave my license back and wished me a good night.
I drove less than a mile with my car lights off shortly after dusk, and wouldn’t have contested a traffic ticket for that. And there was some degree of circumstantial suspicion of drug use because I had long hair, bloodshot eyes, was driving a beater and living in a less affluent motel, although there’s some degree of profiling involved in these things, and I did mention wearing contact lenses and working the graveyard shift the previous night. But are people with clean records going to be arrested and jailed on drug charges due to long hair, bloodshot eyes, living in a low-rent area of town and such? As far as I know, this is a rare occurrence, and they would have to arrest sizable populations en masse in certain urban areas and regions of the country, if this were so.
When they asked me where I lived, I told them the motel and they responded that there had been some big drug arrests there recently. It was a large motel, and I had just moved to the area recently and moved out of an apartment due to a bad roommate situation so it was all I could afford and I don’t think the guilt by association was appropriate.
You can’t be arrested for allegedly failing a sobriety test. Either you failed it or you didn’t. At that point you should have the choice of blowing into breathalyzer. If you refused that then it’s a trip downtown for a blood test.
What were your results.
It doesn’t seem as though you’ve read my previous posts. I wasn’t given the choice roadside of blowing into a breathalyzer, probably because they guessed I wasn’t intoxicated, so it wasn’t a matter of refusal but rather never being given the option. The motorcycle cop told me I had to be on drugs to drive “at least 5 miles” with my car lights off even before I stepped out of my car, but the distance driven was actually less than a mile, which I verified on a map afterwards, and I was driving on a well-lit road shortly after dusk. My lawyer told me most people just get a warning for that.
Then came the trip downtown for the blood test, which saved my bacon because the results were negative. That was acceptable if that’s all they wanted to do, just to double-check with my clean record, no prior arrests and all, but then they booked me into jail for 48 hours on probable cause. The probable cause consisted mainly of profiling, long hair, bloodshot eyes (explained I wore contacts and worked graveyard shift previous night), driving a beater, living in low-rent motel where they said there had been some drug busts. The case was dropped and never went to trial. However, for the first time in my life, after being released, I had blood in my feces and also a cough with blood in my mucus due to the poor conditions in prison. I wasn’t aware of bail bond agents at the time, or I’d have used my one call to get bailed out.
And yes, there’s such a thing as allegedly failing a field sobriety test. The word “alleged” means 1) accused of having done something wrong or illegal but not yet proven guilty, or 2) said to have happened but not yet proven. The officers said that I failed field sobriety tests but didn’t prove in court that I failed them, which would have been disputed had there been a trial. You’re like a jury of one if you somehow know that I failed them.
You allegedly failed a field sobriety test after driving your car without the lights on. No breathalizer was given. The officer saw fit to drag you back to the station for an expensive blood test and then spent the city’s money to put you in jail for 48 hrs. There is literally an ocean of distance between the end result and what you’re saying here. It’s not that I don’t believe you but somehow you managed to find one of the few police agencies on the planet without a dash cam and they were so incensed by your long hair that you spent 48 hrs in jail. It doesn’t add up. You keep talking about long hair like it’s even the tiniest measure of anything in this day and age.
Absolutely matters, do you really believe police don’t profile based on age, race, hair/facial hair, dress, apparent financial means etc etc.
I don’t care what police policy is or what they claim to the media, I mean actual encounters on the street and what leads to a stop or them to suspect they have a drug possession case.
And then different areas of the US are totally different, what police do in NYC might as well be a different country to what police do in the rural south.
I’ve had short hair most of my life, and never had anything happen like this before or since. You’re conveniently omitting their question about my place of residence, and bloodshot eyes which were explained. It was a motorcycle cop. Do police motorcycles have dash cams? If so, the film would have been used by my attorney in court. But it didn’t go to trial after blood test results. If all they wanted to do was take the blood test, fine, but the 48 hours in jail was a really unnecessary waste of taxpayer money, especially in light of my clean record and only having one prior traffic ticket. The officer said I had to be on drugs even before I got out of my car. He said their was no other explanation for driving with the car lights off. As I said, he asserted that I drove over five miles with my lights off, but I drove less than a mile.
Yeah, without a doubt, you are profiled based on your appearance outside of skin color. When I had long hair, I averaged 6-7 traffic stops a year for around 16 years. In the remaining 12, I’ve averaged less than 4. And I probably drive faster now than when I had long hair.
I answered “other”. Sometimes I’ll be less than cheerful. All the way to explaining “You can write that ticket, but you’re wrong on the law; so it won’t stick, even if you come to court.” I actually convinced him I was right. Now, he was a belligerent cop, and persisted to hassle me for about 30 minutes after that, but I left without any paperwork.
OTOH, I may not be pleasant, but I am polite. I also generally follow any reasonable request asked of me by a cop that I don’t think is going to infringe on my rights. For example, I don’t really think putting out my cigarette infringes on my rights, and I’m not sure I have a right to smoke while being pulled over. To be honest, I’m not interested enough in the subject to get into an argument over it, much less go to jail over it. So, I’ve probably extinguished 100+ cigarettes at the request of the cop.
I’d rather not wind up with a bullet to the cerebral cortex while the Officer is screaming " WHY ARE YOU GRABBING FOR MY GUN STOP GRABBING FOR MY GUN HE’S TRYING TO GRAB MY GUN LEAVE MY GUN ALONE !!! " as I sit behind the wheel, immobile.
So yes. I listen carefully. I maintain the body posture that minimizes threat. ( Hands on steering wheel no matter what, unless directly instructed to remove one. ). Eyes on Officer. No loud sounds. No sudden moves. No anger. No challenging. No questioning.
You don’t like it? Leave. This is what it is to encounter Law Enforcement in the United States of America.
I am a person of color and have been profiled by cops (in different states) on various occasions. Even had one try to frame me for possession (or would you call it entrapment? Don’t know the legal jargon).
In each case, I knew that if I tried to assert various rights–refuse a search, film the encounter, not respond to certain irrelevant questions–it would not have made an iota of difference that I was within my rights. I knew that it would only make my situation exponentially worse.
So I always comply, quickly and concisely, not out of any inherent respect for authority, but purely out of self-preservation.
If you put your hands on the steering wheel keep them palm open.