a) ignore his question and ask for his license and registration in order to dig a little deeper before turning him loose. (in this scenario he is NOT free to go since you now have his papers) b) answer that he was not breaking any laws but you simply wanted to speak with him and determine where he is going or where he has come from. If after finding you had no real cause to stop him he tells you to mind your own business and drives off.. do you follow?c) tell him he did something that is not easily verifiable or of which he may not even have been aware (lane change with no signal swerving etc.) and once you have determined that he is an upstanding citizen you send him on his way with a verbal warning d) a scenario I haven't covered here (feel free to share from you experiences).
" the being behind the mirrored shades is human." Unfortunately. Karl that's the problem. I'm going to give you the benefit of what little doubt remains in my mind and say that you are a good cop; that is one who does not abuse his authority. Not all cops are like you. David has thrown hypotheticals at you and you responded with hypotheticals. Let me give you my reality. Case 1: I was a Texas lawyer working with a team of four other lawyers to put together a petition to be filed Monday the last day before the statute of limitations barred our plaintiff from bringing suit. I had worked Friday and Saturday with a few hours sleep on the office floor. I was driving home Saturday night to sleep in my own bed before I returned to spend Sunday and Monday hammering out the last pages of the petition. I lived an hour from the office and a mile outside the city limits. At 1.30 a m. I crested the last rise before my home -- I could see my home half a mile away -- and BINGO! the car behind me lights up the Christmas tree lights. First thing I did was take my foot off the gas. I was coasting. I wondered what the hell I did to get a cop to flash me. I knew I was not speeding. Knowing what I knew as a lawyer. I decided to coast into my driveway. That way -- if the cop was on a power trip and hauled me in -- I would save the expense of paying for a tow and the impound fee. This annoyed Johnny Law who flashed me with his searchlight. I stopped in my driveway turned off my engine and stepped out of my car. I noted that the officer was a city cop (I lived outside a small town) and that he had not flashed any lights until we were beyond the city limits. Politely I asked the reason for the stop. 'You crossed the painted line back there,' he said. 'The center line?' 'No. The white line on the side.' 'I deny it.' FYI the road beyond the city limits had no shoulder. Had I crossed the 'white line on the side' I would have had wheels in the grass. Cop said. 'Look you give me attitude. I'll run you in right now.' Power tripping. Did I mention that I stood at least 6 inches taller than this cop? Makes a difference in what follows. Shorty was hiding behind his badge and fucking with me 'cause he thought he could. At the time there were two cop-stop laws: 1) Failure to Signal Lane Change and 2) Failure to Maintain Single Lane (what Shorty alleged I had done). The sole purpose of these laws was to give cops 'PROBABLE CAUSE' to stop a driver to check him for Driving Under the Influence. I call them cop-stop laws because that was -- and is -- their only purpose: to give the cops PC. Shorty asked me to take a field sobriety test. The penalty for failure to comply with such a request is automatic suspension of your driver's license. So I complied. Passed the fucking test. Shorty asked if he could search my car. I should have said. 'Fuck you. Get a warrant.' But I knew he would. Problem with that was that no judge would be available to sign such a warrant until Monday morning and the cop would 'detain' me and my vehicle until he got the warrant and ran the fucking search. Oh by the way did I mention that my brother-in-law was the local judge??? So I consented to the search. Shorty went through my car. I had a tin of Altoids in the change compartment of my Audi and Shorty unwrapped every damned one of them. During this sterling police performance an officer of the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) showed up. He and I had a polite and respectful discussion. Finally. Shorty wrote me a ticket for Failure to Maintain Single Lane and we parted company. It was 4 a m. Shorty wasted 2 and ½ hours of my life. I got notice of the court date and I went and requested a jury and subpoenaed the DPS officer. Prosecutor dismissed the case. But did not tell me beforehand. I had to lose a day and go to court prepared to chew a cop's ass to shreds before I found out.#Case 2: Another lawyer referred me a case of two misdemeanors: running a stop sign and failure to display a driver's license. Guy needed a lawyer to bail him out so I did. In Texas you bail the suspect you represent the suspect. I bailed him without meeting him. Sent him a representation letter with a court date and a warning: This letter is a contract and gives me the right to represent you; if you do not show up for court. I will plead you guilty. (That way the court releases the bond back to me.) Guy showed up for court. I asked him his story. He said. 'It wasn't me.' Well one charge was failure to display a driver's license so this was plausible. I said. 'Can you prove it?' Guy said. 'Yeah.' 'How?' 'I was not in the country the date the ticket was written. I was on a Caribbean cruise with my girlfriend.' Guy kept records. He had receipts ship boarding passes dated photos taken in Jamaica the date of the ticket. All at home. I thought. 'This should be dismissed.' I told the client to have a seat and wait until his case is called. When that happened we went out of the court room to talk with the city prosecutor. Prosecutor offered his standard deal. He had done this three dozen times before this morning. He did not even look up from his paperwork as he spoke. I said. 'This one's special.' That got his attention. He looked at me. I asked my client to tell his story. When he finished. I said to the prosecutor. 'Dismissal or trial. Your choice.' Damned if he didn't call over the cop to look over my client. Cop looked hard at my client and I could see that there was no recognition in his eyes. He asked my client for his driver's license and compared the signature to the signature on the ticket. Cop said. 'The signatures are the same.' I looked at the signatures. I said. 'No they're not.' Cop said to prosecutor. 'It was him.' Oh did I mention that my client was Mexican-American and that the cop looked like the poster boy for the local chapter of John Birch? Prosecutor told my client that he would set the matter for trial and that he was free to leave. I told my client to take direction from me not the prosecutor and told him to go straight home gather his evidence and return to me at the courthouse. (I had other cases to attend to.) My client went home got his evidence and returned. Sure enough he had been in Jamaica the day the ticket was written. I provided copies of exculpatory documents to the prosecutor THAT DAY and asked him to dismiss. Prosecutor said he would show my evidence to his witness -- the cop -- and see if his witness would change his mind. (Yes this is gross nonfeasance by the prosecutor.) Four months later. I inquired at the prosecutor's office about the case. New prosecutor assigned. Who knew nothing about the exculpatory evidence. And could not find it. Two months later we went to trial. New prosecutor. Newer than last time. Had not seen the exculpatory evidence. Some consternation. Called in the original prosecutor. Who could not find the exculpatory evidence. More consternation. Asked me if I would show him my evidence. 'Sure,' I said. 'You'll see it along with the jury when my witnesses present it from the stand.' Case dismissed. Now on this day I really really wanted this case to go to trial. I had a prejudiced cop that I was going to skewer. I had already made an oral request to the court to have the bailiff standing ready to take the cop into custody for perjury. Twice I had tried to avoid trial and I was hot and gunning for blood. Here's my point. To cops and prosecutors it was just another day at the office. But to my client it was a day AWAY from the office. It was lost work lost income wasted time. Somebody needed to pay. I thought blood was the appropriate payment. Understand me: I have known good cops. My godfather was a cop and I loved that man. I still celebrate his memory every day. But cops are human and like all humans they are corrupted by power. A good citizen does not automatically comply with a cop's request because 'he has nothing to hide.' Scooter Libby did that. He is serving time in a federal penitentiary. My own experience with my godfather's cop buddies is that cops divide the world into cops and bad guys. You gotta be one or the other. I know I ain't a cop. Hmmm. FYI 180 years ago there were no cops. Look it up. That means that the Framers could not have thought about the abuses of power the police are prone to. And I believe they would have been horrified.
" the being behind the mirrored shades is human." Unfortunately. Karl that's the problem. I'm going to give you the benefit of what little doubt remains in my mind and say that you are a good cop; that is one who does not abuse his authority. Not all cops are like you. David has thrown hypotheticals at you and you responded with hypotheticals. Let me give you my reality. Case 1: I was a Texas lawyer working with a team of four other lawyers to put together a petition to be filed Monday the last day before the statute of limitations barred our plaintiff from bringing suit. I had worked Friday and Saturday with a few hours sleep on the office floor. I was driving home Saturday night to sleep in my own bed before I returned to spend Sunday and Monday hammering out the last pages of the petition. I lived an hour from the office and a mile outside the city limits. At 1.30 a m. I crested the last rise before my home -- I could see my home half a mile away -- and BINGO! the car behind me lights up the Christmas tree lights. First thing I did was take my foot off the gas. I was coasting. I wondered what the hell I did to get a cop to flash me. I knew I was not speeding. Knowing what I knew as a lawyer. I decided to coast into my driveway. That way -- if the cop was on a power trip and hauled me in -- I would save the expense of paying for a tow and the impound fee. This annoyed Johnny Law who flashed me with his searchlight. I stopped in my driveway turned off my engine and stepped out of my car. I noted that the officer was a city cop (I lived outside a small town) and that he had not flashed any lights until we were beyond the city limits. Politely I asked the reason for the stop. 'You crossed the painted line back there,' he said. 'The center line?' 'No. The white line on the side.' 'I deny it.' FYI the road beyond the city limits had no shoulder. Had I crossed the 'white line on the side' I would have had wheels in the grass. Cop said. 'Look you give me attitude. I'll run you in right now.' Power tripping. Did I mention that I stood at least 6 inches taller than this cop? Makes a difference in what follows. Shorty was hiding behind his badge and fucking with me 'cause he thought he could. At the time there were two cop-stop laws: 1) Failure to Signal Lane Change and 2) Failure to Maintain Single Lane (what Shorty alleged I had done). The sole purpose of these laws was to give cops 'PROBABLE CAUSE' to stop a driver to check him for Driving Under the Influence. I call them cop-stop laws because that was -- and is -- their only purpose: to give the cops PC. Shorty asked me to take a field sobriety test. The penalty for failure to comply with such a request is automatic suspension of your driver's license. So I complied. Passed the fucking test. Shorty asked if he could search my car. I should have said. 'Fuck you. Get a warrant.' But I knew he would. Problem with that was that no judge would be available to sign such a warrant until Monday morning and the cop would 'detain' me and my vehicle until he got the warrant and ran the fucking search. Oh by the way did I mention that my brother-in-law was the local judge??? So I consented to the search. Shorty went through my car. I had a tin of Altoids in the change compartment of my Audi and Shorty unwrapped every damned one of them. During this sterling police performance an officer of the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) showed up. He and I had a polite and respectful discussion. Finally. Shorty wrote me a ticket for Failure to Maintain Single Lane and we parted company. It was 4 a m. Shorty wasted 2 and ½ hours of my life. I got notice of the court date and I went and requested a jury and subpoenaed the DPS officer. Prosecutor dismissed the case. But did not tell me beforehand. I had to lose a day and go to court prepared to chew a cop's ass to shreds before I found out.#Case 2: Another lawyer referred me a case of two misdemeanors: running a stop sign and failure to display a driver's license. Guy needed a lawyer to bail him out so I did. In Texas you bail the suspect you represent the suspect. I bailed him without meeting him. Sent him a representation letter with a court date and a warning: This letter is a contract and gives me the right to represent you; if you do not show up for court. I will plead you guilty. (That way the court releases the bond back to me.) Guy showed up for court. I asked him his story. He said. 'It wasn't me.' Well one charge was failure to display a driver's license so this was plausible. I said. 'Can you prove it?' Guy said. 'Yeah.' 'How?' 'I was not in the country the date the ticket was written. I was on a Caribbean cruise with my girlfriend.' Guy kept records. He had receipts ship boarding passes dated photos taken in Jamaica the date of the ticket. All at home. I thought. 'This should be dismissed.' I told the client to have a seat and wait until his case is called. When that happened we went out of the court room to talk with the city prosecutor. Prosecutor offered his standard deal. He had done this three dozen times before this morning. He did not even look up from his paperwork as he spoke. I said. 'This one's special.' That got his attention. He looked at me. I asked my client to tell his story. When he finished. I said to the prosecutor. 'Dismissal or trial. Your choice.' Damned if he didn't call over the cop to look over my client. Cop looked hard at my client and I could see that there was no recognition in his eyes. He asked my client for his driver's license and compared the signature to the signature on the ticket. Cop said. 'The signatures are the same.' I looked at the signatures. I said. 'No they're not.' Cop said to prosecutor. 'It was him.' Oh did I mention that my client was Mexican-American and that the cop looked like the poster boy for the local chapter of John Birch? Prosecutor told my client that he would set the matter for trial and that he was free to leave. I told my client to take direction from me not the prosecutor and told him to go straight home gather his evidence and return to me at the courthouse. (I had other cases to attend to.) My client went home got his evidence and returned. Sure enough he had been in Jamaica the day the ticket was written. I provided copies of exculpatory documents to the prosecutor THAT DAY and asked him to dismiss. Prosecutor said he would show my evidence to his witness -- the cop -- and see if his witness would change his mind. (Yes this is gross nonfeasance by the prosecutor.) Four months later. I inquired at the prosecutor's office about the case. New prosecutor assigned. Who knew nothing about the exculpatory evidence. And could not find it. Two months later we went to trial. New prosecutor. Newer than last time. Had not seen the exculpatory evidence. Some consternation. Called in the original prosecutor. Who could not find the exculpatory evidence. More consternation. Asked me if I would show him my evidence. 'Sure,' I said. 'You'll see it along with the jury when my witnesses present it from the stand.' Case dismissed. Now on this day I really really wanted this case to go to trial. I had a prejudiced cop that I was going to skewer. I had already made an oral request to the court to have the bailiff standing ready to take the cop into custody for perjury. Twice I had tried to avoid trial and I was hot and gunning for blood. Here's my point. To cops and prosecutors it was just another day at the office. But to my client it was a day AWAY from the office. It was lost work lost income wasted time. Somebody needed to pay. I thought blood was the appropriate payment. Understand me: I have known good cops. My godfather was a cop and I loved that man. I still celebrate his memory every day. But cops are human and like all humans they are corrupted by power. A good citizen does not automatically comply with a cop's request because 'he has nothing to hide.' Scooter Libby did that. He is serving time in a federal penitentiary. My own experience with my godfather's cop buddies is that cops divide the world into cops and bad guys. You gotta be one or the other. I know I ain't a cop. Hmmm. FYI 180 years ago there were no cops. Look it up. That means that the Framers could not have thought about the abuses of power the police are prone to. And I believe they would have been horrified.
" the being behind the mirrored shades is human." Unfortunately. Karl that's the problem. I'm going to give you the benefit of what little doubt remains in my mind and say that you are a good cop; that is one who does not abuse his authority. Not all cops are like you. David has thrown hypotheticals at you and you responded with hypotheticals. Let me give you my reality. Case 1: I was a Texas lawyer working with a team of four other lawyers to put together a petition to be filed Monday the last day before the statute of limitations barred our plaintiff from bringing suit. I had worked Friday and Saturday with a few hours sleep on the office floor. I was driving home Saturday night to sleep in my own bed before I returned to spend Sunday and Monday hammering out the last pages of the petition. I lived an hour from the office and a mile outside the city limits. At 1.30 a m. I crested the last rise before my home -- I could see my home half a mile away -- and BINGO! the car behind me lights up the Christmas tree lights. First thing I did was take my foot off the gas. I was coasting. I wondered what the hell I did to get a cop to flash me. I knew I was not speeding. Knowing what I knew as a lawyer. I decided to coast into my driveway. That way -- if the cop was on a power trip and hauled me in -- I would save the expense of paying for a tow and the impound fee. This annoyed Johnny Law who flashed me with his searchlight. I stopped in my driveway turned off my engine and stepped out of my car. I noted that the officer was a city cop (I lived outside a small town) and that he had not flashed any lights until we were beyond the city limits. Politely I asked the reason for the stop. 'You crossed the painted line back there,' he said. 'The center line?' 'No. The white line on the side.' 'I deny it.' FYI the road beyond the city limits had no shoulder. Had I crossed the 'white line on the side' I would have had wheels in the grass. Cop said. 'Look you give me attitude. I'll run you in right now.' Power tripping. Did I mention that I stood at least 6 inches taller than this cop? Makes a difference in what follows. Shorty was hiding behind his badge and fucking with me 'cause he thought he could. At the time there were two cop-stop laws: 1) Failure to Signal Lane Change and 2) Failure to Maintain Single Lane (what Shorty alleged I had done). The sole purpose of these laws was to give cops 'PROBABLE CAUSE' to stop a driver to check him for Driving Under the Influence. I call them cop-stop laws because that was -- and is -- their only purpose: to give the cops PC. Shorty asked me to take a field sobriety test. The penalty for failure to comply with such a request is automatic suspension of your driver's license. So I complied. Passed the fucking test. Shorty asked if he could search my car. I should have said. 'Fuck you. Get a warrant.' But I knew he would. Problem with that was that no judge would be available to sign such a warrant until Monday morning and the cop would 'detain' me and my vehicle until he got the warrant and ran the fucking search. Oh by the way did I mention that my brother-in-law was the local judge??? So I consented to the search. Shorty went through my car. I had a tin of Altoids in the change compartment of my Audi and Shorty unwrapped every damned one of them. During this sterling police performance an officer of the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) showed up. He and I had a polite and respectful discussion. Finally. Shorty wrote me a ticket for Failure to Maintain Single Lane and we parted company. It was 4 a m. Shorty wasted 2 and ½ hours of my life. I got notice of the court date and I went and requested a jury and subpoenaed the DPS officer. Prosecutor dismissed the case. But did not tell me beforehand. I had to lose a day and go to court prepared to chew a cop's ass to shreds before I found out.#Case 2: Another lawyer referred me a case of two misdemeanors: running a stop sign and failure to display a driver's license. Guy needed a lawyer to bail him out so I did. In Texas you bail the suspect you represent the suspect. I bailed him without meeting him. Sent him a representation letter with a court date and a warning: This letter is a contract and gives me the right to represent you; if you do not show up for court. I will plead you guilty. (That way the court releases the bond back to me.) Guy showed up for court. I asked him his story. He said. 'It wasn't me.' Well one charge was failure to display a driver's license so this was plausible. I said. 'Can you prove it?' Guy said. 'Yeah.' 'How?' 'I was not in the country the date the ticket was written. I was on a Caribbean cruise with my girlfriend.' Guy kept records. He had receipts ship boarding passes dated photos taken in Jamaica the date of the ticket. All at home. I thought. 'This should be dismissed.' I told the client to have a seat and wait until his case is called. When that happened we went out of the court room to talk with the city prosecutor. Prosecutor offered his standard deal. He had done this three dozen times before this morning. He did not even look up from his paperwork as he spoke. I said. 'This one's special.' That got his attention. He looked at me. I asked my client to tell his story. When he finished. I said to the prosecutor. 'Dismissal or trial. Your choice.' Damned if he didn't call over the cop to look over my client. Cop looked hard at my client and I could see that there was no recognition in his eyes. He asked my client for his driver's license and compared the signature to the signature on the ticket. Cop said. 'The signatures are the same.' I looked at the signatures. I said. 'No they're not.' Cop said to prosecutor. 'It was him.' Oh did I mention that my client was Mexican-American and that the cop looked like the poster boy for the local chapter of John Birch? Prosecutor told my client that he would set the matter for trial and that he was free to leave. I told my client to take direction from me not the prosecutor and told him to go straight home gather his evidence and return to me at the courthouse. (I had other cases to attend to.) My client went home got his evidence and returned. Sure enough he had been in Jamaica the day the ticket was written. I provided copies of exculpatory documents to the prosecutor THAT DAY and asked him to dismiss. Prosecutor said he would show my evidence to his witness -- the cop -- and see if his witness would change his mind. (Yes this is gross nonfeasance by the prosecutor.) Four months later. I inquired at the prosecutor's office about the case. New prosecutor assigned. Who knew nothing about the exculpatory evidence. And could not find it. Two months later we went to trial. New prosecutor. Newer than last time. Had not seen the exculpatory evidence. Some consternation. Called in the original prosecutor. Who could not find the exculpatory evidence. More consternation. Asked me if I would show him my evidence. 'Sure,' I said. 'You'll see it along with the jury when my witnesses present it from the stand.' Case dismissed. Now on this day I really really wanted this case to go to trial. I had a prejudiced cop that I was going to skewer. I had already made an oral request to the court to have the bailiff standing ready to take the cop into custody for perjury. Twice I had tried to avoid trial and I was hot and gunning for blood. Here's my point. To cops and prosecutors it was just another day at the office. But to my client it was a day AWAY from the office. It was lost work lost income wasted time. Somebody needed to pay. I thought blood was the appropriate payment. Understand me: I have known good cops. My godfather was a cop and I loved that man. I still celebrate his memory every day. But cops are human and like all humans they are corrupted by power. A good citizen does not automatically comply with a cop's request because 'he has nothing to hide.' Scooter Libby did that. He is serving time in a federal penitentiary. My own experience with my godfather's cop buddies is that cops divide the world into cops and bad guys. You gotta be one or the other. I know I ain't a cop. Hmmm. FYI 180 years ago there were no cops. Look it up. That means that the Framers could not have thought about the abuses of power the police are prone to. And I believe they would have been horrified.
Sorry as someone from "the other side" (ie: living in the merkaz) I think you're being a bit paranoid. I think tensions were running very high during disengagement many ugly things happened. I think for legitimate security reasons (you conveniently left out the nails and oil spewed on the roads burning tires etc courtesy of settler demonstrations) but I don't think the tensions are anywhere near they were before. Honestly unless you're trying to retake Chomesh. I don't think the police really care all that much about you.
" the being behind the mirrored shades is human." Unfortunately. Karl that's the problem. I'm going to give you the benefit of what little doubt remains in my mind and say that you are a good cop; that is one who does not abuse his authority. Not all cops are like you. David has thrown hypotheticals at you and you responded with hypotheticals. Let me give you my reality. Case 1: I was a Texas lawyer working with a team of four other lawyers to put together a petition to be filed Monday the last day before the statute of limitations barred our plaintiff from bringing suit. I had worked Friday and Saturday with a few hours sleep on the office floor. I was driving home Saturday night to sleep in my own bed before I returned to spend Sunday and Monday hammering out the last pages of the petition. I lived an hour from the office and a mile outside the city limits. At 1.30 a m. I crested the last rise before my home -- I could see my home half a mile away -- and BINGO! the car behind me lights up the Christmas tree lights. First thing I did was take my foot off the gas. I was coasting. I wondered what the hell I did to get a cop to flash me. I knew I was not speeding. Knowing what I knew as a lawyer. I decided to coast into my driveway. That way -- if the cop was on a power trip and hauled me in -- I would save the expense of paying for a tow and the impound fee. This annoyed Johnny Law who flashed me with his searchlight. I stopped in my driveway turned off my engine and stepped out of my car. I noted that the officer was a city cop (I lived outside a small town) and that he had not flashed any lights until we were beyond the city limits. Politely I asked the reason for the stop. 'You crossed the painted line back there,' he said. 'The center line?' 'No. The white line on the side.' 'I deny it.' FYI the road beyond the city limits had no shoulder. Had I crossed the 'white line on the side' I would have had wheels in the grass. Cop said. 'Look you give me attitude. I'll run you in right now.' Power tripping. Did I mention that I stood at least 6 inches taller than this cop? Makes a difference in what follows. Shorty was hiding behind his badge and fucking with me 'cause he thought he could. At the time there were two cop-stop laws: 1) Failure to Signal Lane Change and 2) Failure to Maintain Single Lane (what Shorty alleged I had done). The sole purpose of these laws was to give cops 'PROBABLE CAUSE' to stop a driver to check him for Driving Under the Influence. I call them cop-stop laws because that was -- and is -- their only purpose: to give the cops PC. Shorty asked me to take a field sobriety test. The penalty for failure to comply with such a request is automatic suspension of your driver's license. So I complied. Passed the fucking test. Shorty asked if he could search my car. I should have said. 'Fuck you. Get a warrant.' But I knew he would. Problem with that was that no judge would be available to sign such a warrant until Monday morning and the cop would 'detain' me and my vehicle until he got the warrant and ran the fucking search. Oh by the way did I mention that my brother-in-law was the local judge??? So I consented to the search. Shorty went through my car. I had a tin of Altoids in the change compartment of my Audi and Shorty unwrapped every damned one of them. During this sterling police performance an officer of the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) showed up. He and I had a polite and respectful discussion. Finally. Shorty wrote me a ticket for Failure to Maintain Single Lane and we parted company. It was 4 a m. Shorty wasted 2 and ½ hours of my life. I got notice of the court date and I went and requested a jury and subpoenaed the DPS officer. Prosecutor dismissed the case. But did not tell me beforehand. I had to lose a day and go to court prepared to chew a cop's ass to shreds before I found out. #Case 2: Another lawyer referred me a case of two misdemeanors: running a stop sign and failure to display a driver's license. Guy needed a lawyer to bail him out so I did. In Texas you bail the suspect you represent the suspect. I bailed him without meeting him. Sent him a representation letter with a court date and a warning: This letter is a contract and gives me the right to represent you; if you do not show up for court. I will plead you guilty. (That way the court releases the bond back to me.) Guy showed up for court. I asked him his story. He said. 'It wasn't me.' Well one charge was failure to display a driver's license so this was plausible. I said. 'Can you prove it?' Guy said. 'Yeah.' 'How?' 'I was not in the country the date the ticket was written. I was on a Caribbean cruise with my girlfriend.' Guy kept records. He had receipts ship boarding passes dated photos taken in Jamaica the date of the ticket. All at home. I thought. 'This should be dismissed.' I told the client to have a seat and wait until his case is called. When that happened we went out of the court room to talk with the city prosecutor. Prosecutor offered his standard deal. He had done this three dozen times before this morning. He did not even look up from his paperwork as he spoke. I said. 'This one's special.' That got his attention. He looked at me. I asked my client to tell his story. When he finished. I said to the prosecutor. 'Dismissal or trial. Your choice.' Damned if he didn't call over the cop to look over my client. Cop looked hard at my client and I could see that there was no recognition in his eyes. He asked my client for his driver's license and compared the signature to the signature on the ticket. Cop said. 'The signatures are the same.' I looked at the signatures. I said. 'No they're not.' Cop said to prosecutor. 'It was him.' Oh did I mention that my client was Mexican-American and that the cop looked like the poster boy for the local chapter of John Birch? Prosecutor told my client that he would set the matter for trial and that he was free to leave. I told my client to take direction from me not the prosecutor and told him to go straight home gather his evidence and return to me at the courthouse. (I had other cases to attend to.) My client went home got his evidence and returned. Sure enough he had been in Jamaica the day the ticket was written. I provided copies of exculpatory documents to the prosecutor THAT DAY and asked him to dismiss. Prosecutor said he would show my evidence to his witness -- the cop -- and see if his witness would change his mind. (Yes this is gross nonfeasance by the prosecutor.) Four months later. I inquired at the prosecutor's office about the case. New prosecutor assigned. Who knew nothing about the exculpatory evidence. And could not find it. Two months later we went to trial. New prosecutor. Newer than last time. Had not seen the exculpatory evidence. Some consternation. Called in the original prosecutor. Who could not find the exculpatory evidence. More consternation. Asked me if I would show him my evidence. 'Sure,' I said. 'You'll see it along with the jury when my witnesses present it from the stand.' Case dismissed. Now on this day I really really wanted this case to go to trial. I had a prejudiced cop that I was going to skewer. I had already made an oral request to the court to have the bailiff standing ready to take the cop into custody for perjury. Twice I had tried to avoid trial and I was hot and gunning for blood. Here's my point. To cops and prosecutors it was just another day at the office. But to my client it was a day AWAY from the office. It was lost work lost income wasted time. Somebody needed to pay. I thought blood was the appropriate payment. Understand me: I have known good cops. My godfather was a cop and I loved that man. I still celebrate his memory every day. But cops are human and like all humans they are corrupted by power. A good citizen does not automatically comply with a cop's request because 'he has nothing to hide.' Scooter Libby did that. He is serving time in a federal penitentiary. My own experience with my godfather's cop buddies is that cops divide the world into cops and bad guys. You gotta be one or the other. I know I ain't a cop. Hmmm. FYI 180 years ago there were no cops. Look it up. That means that the Framers could not have thought about the abuses of power the police are prone to. And I believe they would have been horrified.
" the being behind the mirrored shades is human." Unfortunately. Karl that's the problem. I'm going to give you the benefit of what little doubt remains in my mind and say that you are a good cop; that is one who does not abuse his authority. Not all cops are like you. David has thrown hypotheticals at you and you responded with hypotheticals. Let me give you my reality. Case 1: I was a Texas lawyer working with a team of four other lawyers to put together a petition to be filed Monday the last day before the statute of limitations barred our plaintiff from bringing suit. I had worked Friday and Saturday with a few hours sleep on the office floor. I was driving home Saturday night to sleep in my own bed before I returned to spend Sunday and Monday hammering out the last pages of the petition. I lived an hour from the office and a mile outside the city limits. At 1.30 a m. I crested the last rise before my home -- I could see my home half a mile away -- and BINGO! the car behind me lights up the Christmas tree lights. First thing I did was take my foot off the gas. I was coasting. I wondered what the hell I did to get a cop to flash me. I knew I was not speeding. Knowing what I knew as a lawyer. I decided to coast into my driveway. That way -- if the cop was on a power trip and hauled me in -- I would save the expense of paying for a tow and the impound fee. This annoyed Johnny Law who flashed me with his searchlight. I stopped in my driveway turned off my engine and stepped out of my car. I noted that the officer was a city cop (I lived outside a small town) and that he had not flashed any lights until we were beyond the city limits. Politely I asked the reason for the stop. 'You crossed the painted line back there,' he said. 'The center line?' 'No. The white line on the side.' 'I deny it.' FYI the road beyond the city limits had no shoulder. Had I crossed the 'white line on the side' I would have had wheels in the grass. Cop said. 'Look you give me attitude. I'll run you in right now.' Power tripping. Did I mention that I stood at least 6 inches taller than this cop? Makes a difference in what follows. Shorty was hiding behind his badge and fucking with me 'cause he thought he could. At the time there were two cop-stop laws: 1) Failure to Signal Lane Change and 2) Failure to Maintain Single Lane (what Shorty alleged I had done). The sole purpose of these laws was to give cops 'PROBABLE CAUSE' to stop a driver to check him for Driving Under the Influence. I call them cop-stop laws because that was -- and is -- their only purpose: to give the cops PC. Shorty asked me to take a field sobriety test. The penalty for failure to comply with such a request is automatic suspension of your driver's license. So I complied. Passed the fucking test. Shorty asked if he could search my car. I should have said. 'Fuck you. Get a warrant.' But I knew he would. Problem with that was that no judge would be available to sign such a warrant until Monday morning and the cop would 'detain' me and my vehicle until he got the warrant and ran the fucking search. Oh by the way did I mention that my brother-in-law was the local judge??? So I consented to the search. Shorty went through my car. I had a tin of Altoids in the change compartment of my Audi and Shorty unwrapped every damned one of them. During this sterling police performance an officer of the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) showed up. He and I had a polite and respectful discussion. Finally. Shorty wrote me a ticket for Failure to Maintain Single Lane and we parted company. It was 4 a m. Shorty wasted 2 and ½ hours of my life. I got notice of the court date and I went and requested a jury and subpoenaed the DPS officer. Prosecutor dismissed the case. But did not tell me beforehand. I had to lose a day and go to court prepared to chew a cop's ass to shreds before I found out. #Case 2: Another lawyer referred me a case of two misdemeanors: running a stop sign and failure to display a driver's license. Guy needed a lawyer to bail him out so I did. In Texas you bail the suspect you represent the suspect. I bailed him without meeting him. Sent him a representation letter with a court date and a warning: This letter is a contract and gives me the right to represent you; if you do not show up for court. I will plead you guilty. (That way the court releases the bond back to me.) Guy showed up for court. I asked him his story. He said. 'It wasn't me.' Well one charge was failure to display a driver's license so this was plausible. I said. 'Can you prove it?' Guy said. 'Yeah.' 'How?' 'I was not in the country the date the ticket was written. I was on a Caribbean cruise with my girlfriend.' Guy kept records. He had receipts ship boarding passes dated photos taken in Jamaica the date of the ticket. All at home. I thought. 'This should be dismissed.' I told the client to have a seat and wait until his case is called. When that happened we went out of the court room to talk with the city prosecutor. Prosecutor offered his standard deal. He had done this three dozen times before this morning. He did not even look up from his paperwork as he spoke. I said. 'This one's special.' That got his attention. He looked at me. I asked my client to tell his story. When he finished. I said to the prosecutor. 'Dismissal or trial. Your choice.' Damned if he didn't call over the cop to look over my client. Cop looked hard at my client and I could see that there was no recognition in his eyes. He asked my client for his driver's license and compared the signature to the signature on the ticket. Cop said. 'The signatures are the same.' I looked at the signatures. I said. 'No they're not.' Cop said to prosecutor. 'It was him.' Oh did I mention that my client was Mexican-American and that the cop looked like the poster boy for the local chapter of John Birch? Prosecutor told my client that he would set the matter for trial and that he was free to leave. I told my client to take direction from me not the prosecutor and told him to go straight home gather his evidence and return to me at the courthouse. (I had other cases to attend to.) My client went home got his evidence and returned. Sure enough he had been in Jamaica the day the ticket was written. I provided copies of exculpatory documents to the prosecutor THAT DAY and asked him to dismiss. Prosecutor said he would show my evidence to his witness -- the cop -- and see if his witness would change his mind. (Yes this is gross nonfeasance by the prosecutor.) Four months later. I inquired at the prosecutor's office about the case. New prosecutor assigned. Who knew nothing about the exculpatory evidence. And could not find it. Two months later we went to trial. New prosecutor. Newer than last time. Had not seen the exculpatory evidence. Some consternation. Called in the original prosecutor. Who could not find the exculpatory evidence. More consternation. Asked me if I would show him my evidence. 'Sure,' I said. 'You'll see it along with the jury when my witnesses present it from the stand.' Case dismissed. Now on this day I really really wanted this case to go to trial. I had a prejudiced cop that I was going to skewer. I had already made an oral request to the court to have the bailiff standing ready to take the cop into custody for perjury. Twice I had tried to avoid trial and I was hot and gunning for blood. Here's my point. To cops and prosecutors it was just another day at the office. But to my client it was a day AWAY from the office. It was lost work lost income wasted time. Somebody needed to pay. I thought blood was the appropriate payment. Understand me: I have known good cops. My godfather was a cop and I loved that man. I still celebrate his memory every day. But cops are human and like all humans they are corrupted by power. A good citizen does not automatically comply with a cop's request because 'he has nothing to hide.' Scooter Libby did that. He is serving time in a federal penitentiary. My own experience with my godfather's cop buddies is that cops divide the world into cops and bad guys. You gotta be one or the other. I know I ain't a cop. Hmmm. FYI 180 years ago there were no cops. Look it up. That means that the Framers could not have thought about the abuses of power the police are prone to. And I believe they would have been horrified.
" the being behind the mirrored shades is human." Unfortunately. Karl that's the problem. I'm going to give you the benefit of what little doubt remains in my mind and say that you are a good cop; that is one who does not abuse his authority. Not all cops are like you. David has thrown hypotheticals at you and you responded with hypotheticals. Let me give you my reality. Case 1: I was a Texas lawyer working with a team of four other lawyers to put together a petition to be filed Monday the last day before the statute of limitations barred our plaintiff from bringing suit. I had worked Friday and Saturday with a few hours sleep on the office floor. I was driving home Saturday night to sleep in my own bed before I returned to spend Sunday and Monday hammering out the last pages of the petition. I lived an hour from the office and a mile outside the city limits. At 1.30 a m. I crested the last rise before my home -- I could see my home half a mile away -- and BINGO! the car behind me lights up the Christmas tree lights. First thing I did was take my foot off the gas. I was coasting. I wondered what the hell I did to get a cop to flash me. I knew I was not speeding. Knowing what I knew as a lawyer. I decided to coast into my driveway. That way -- if the cop was on a power trip and hauled me in -- I would save the expense of paying for a tow and the impound fee. This annoyed Johnny Law who flashed me with his searchlight. I stopped in my driveway turned off my engine and stepped out of my car. I noted that the officer was a city cop (I lived outside a small town) and that he had not flashed any lights until we were beyond the city limits. Politely I asked the reason for the stop. 'You crossed the painted line back there,' he said. 'The center line?' 'No. The white line on the side.' 'I deny it.' FYI the road beyond the city limits had no shoulder. Had I crossed the 'white line on the side' I would have had wheels in the grass. Cop said. 'Look you give me attitude. I'll run you in right now.' Power tripping. Did I mention that I stood at least 6 inches taller than this cop? Makes a difference in what follows. Shorty was hiding behind his badge and fucking with me 'cause he thought he could. At the time there were two cop-stop laws: 1) Failure to Signal Lane Change and 2) Failure to Maintain Single Lane (what Shorty alleged I had done). The sole purpose of these laws was to give cops 'PROBABLE CAUSE' to stop a driver to check him for Driving Under the Influence. I call them cop-stop laws because that was -- and is -- their only purpose: to give the cops PC. Shorty asked me to take a field sobriety test. The penalty for failure to comply with such a request is automatic suspension of your driver's license. So I complied. Passed the fucking test. Shorty asked if he could search my car. I should have said. 'Fuck you. Get a warrant.' But I knew he would. Problem with that was that no judge would be available to sign such a warrant until Monday morning and the cop would 'detain' me and my vehicle until he got the warrant and ran the fucking search. Oh by the way did I mention that my brother-in-law was the local judge??? So I consented to the search. Shorty went through my car. I had a tin of Altoids in the change compartment of my Audi and Shorty unwrapped every damned one of them. During this sterling police performance an officer of the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) showed up. He and I had a polite and respectful discussion. Finally. Shorty wrote me a ticket for Failure to Maintain Single Lane and we parted company. It was 4 a m. Shorty wasted 2 and ½ hours of my life. I got notice of the court date and I went and requested a jury and subpoenaed the DPS officer. Prosecutor dismissed the case. But did not tell me beforehand. I had to lose a day and go to court prepared to chew a cop's ass to shreds before I found out. #Case 2: Another lawyer referred me a case of two misdemeanors: running a stop sign and failure to display a driver's license. Guy needed a lawyer to bail him out so I did. In Texas you bail the suspect you represent the suspect. I bailed him without meeting him. Sent him a representation letter with a court date and a warning: This letter is a contract and gives me the right to represent you; if you do not show up for court. I will plead you guilty. (That way the court releases the bond back to me.) Guy showed up for court. I asked him his story. He said. 'It wasn't me.' Well one charge was failure to display a driver's license so this was plausible. I said. 'Can you prove it?' Guy said. 'Yeah.' 'How?' 'I was not in the country the date the ticket was written. I was on a Caribbean cruise with my girlfriend.' Guy kept records. He had receipts ship boarding passes dated photos taken in Jamaica the date of the ticket. All at home. I thought. 'This should be dismissed.' I told the client to have a seat and wait until his case is called. When that happened we went out of the court room to talk with the city prosecutor. Prosecutor offered his standard deal. He had done this three dozen times before this morning. He did not even look up from his paperwork as he spoke. I said. 'This one's special.' That got his attention. He looked at me. I asked my client to tell his story. When he finished. I said to the prosecutor. 'Dismissal or trial. Your choice.' Damned if he didn't call over the cop to look over my client. Cop looked hard at my client and I could see that there was no recognition in his eyes. He asked my client for his driver's license and compared the signature to the signature on the ticket. Cop said. 'The signatures are the same.' I looked at the signatures. I said. 'No they're not.' Cop said to prosecutor. 'It was him.' Oh did I mention that my client was Mexican-American and that the cop looked like the poster boy for the local chapter of John Birch? Prosecutor told my client that he would set the matter for trial and that he was free to leave. I told my client to take direction from me not the prosecutor and told him to go straight home gather his evidence and return to me at the courthouse. (I had other cases to attend to.) My client went home got his evidence and returned. Sure enough he had been in Jamaica the day the ticket was written. I provided copies of exculpatory documents to the prosecutor THAT DAY and asked him to dismiss. Prosecutor said he would show my evidence to his witness -- the cop -- and see if his witness would change his mind. (Yes this is gross nonfeasance by the prosecutor.) Four months later. I inquired at the prosecutor's office about the case. New prosecutor assigned. Who knew nothing about the exculpatory evidence. And could not find it. Two months later we went to trial. New prosecutor. Newer than last time. Had not seen the exculpatory evidence. Some consternation. Called in the original prosecutor. Who could not find the exculpatory evidence. More consternation. Asked me if I would show him my evidence. 'Sure,' I said. 'You'll see it along with the jury when my witnesses present it from the stand.' Case dismissed. Now on this day I really really wanted this case to go to trial. I had a prejudiced cop that I was going to skewer. I had already made an oral request to the court to have the bailiff standing ready to take the cop into custody for perjury. Twice I had tried to avoid trial and I was hot and gunning for blood. Here's my point. To cops and prosecutors it was just another day at the office. But to my client it was a day AWAY from the office. It was lost work lost income wasted time. Somebody needed to pay. I thought blood was the appropriate payment. Understand me: I have known good cops. My godfather was a cop and I loved that man. I still celebrate his memory every day. But cops are human and like all humans they are corrupted by power. A good citizen does not automatically comply with a cop's request because 'he has nothing to hide.' Scooter Libby did that. He is serving time in a federal penitentiary. My own experience with my godfather's cop buddies is that cops divide the world into cops and bad guys. You gotta be one or the other. I know I ain't a cop. Hmmm. FYI 180 years ago there were no cops. Look it up. That means that the Framers could not have thought about the abuses of power the police are prone to. And I believe they would have been horrified.
" the being behind the mirrored shades is human." Unfortunately. Karl that's the problem. I'm going to give you the benefit of what little doubt remains in my mind and say that you are a good cop; that is one who does not abuse his authority. Not all cops are like you. David has thrown hypotheticals at you and you responded with hypotheticals. Let me give you my reality. Case 1: I was a Texas lawyer working with a team of four other lawyers to put together a petition to be filed Monday the last day before the statute of limitations barred our plaintiff from bringing suit. I had worked Friday and Saturday with a few hours sleep on the office floor. I was driving home Saturday night to sleep in my own bed before I returned to spend Sunday and Monday hammering out the last pages of the petition. I lived an hour from the office and a mile outside the city limits. At 1.30 a m. I crested the last rise before my home -- I could see my home half a mile away -- and BINGO! the car behind me lights up the Christmas tree lights. First thing I did was take my foot off the gas. I was coasting. I wondered what the hell I did to get a cop to flash me. I knew I was not speeding. Knowing what I knew as a lawyer. I decided to coast into my driveway. That way -- if the cop was on a power trip and hauled me in -- I would save the expense of paying for a tow and the impound fee. This annoyed Johnny Law who flashed me with his searchlight. I stopped in my driveway turned off my engine and stepped out of my car. I noted that the officer was a city cop (I lived outside a small town) and that he had not flashed any lights until we were beyond the city limits. Politely I asked the reason for the stop. 'You crossed the painted line back there,' he said. 'The center line?' 'No. The white line on the side.' 'I deny it.' FYI the road beyond the city limits had no shoulder. Had I crossed the 'white line on the side' I would have had wheels in the grass. Cop said. 'Look you give me attitude. I'll run you in right now.' Power tripping. Did I mention that I stood at least 6 inches taller than this cop? Makes a difference in what follows. Shorty was hiding behind his badge and fucking with me 'cause he thought he could. At the time there were two cop-stop laws: 1) Failure to Signal Lane Change and 2) Failure to Maintain Single Lane (what Shorty alleged I had done). The sole purpose of these laws was to give cops 'PROBABLE CAUSE' to stop a driver to check him for Driving Under the Influence. I call them cop-stop laws because that was -- and is -- their only purpose: to give the cops PC. Shorty asked me to take a field sobriety test. The penalty for failure to comply with such a request is automatic suspension of your driver's license. So I complied. Passed the fucking test. Shorty asked if he could search my car. I should have said. 'Fuck you. Get a warrant.' But I knew he would. Problem with that was that no judge would be available to sign such a warrant until Monday morning and the cop would 'detain' me and my vehicle until he got the warrant and ran the fucking search. Oh by the way did I mention that my brother-in-law was the local judge??? So I consented to the search. Shorty went through my car. I had a tin of Altoids in the change compartment of my Audi and Shorty unwrapped every damned one of them. During this sterling police performance an officer of the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) showed up. He and I had a polite and respectful discussion. Finally. Shorty wrote me a ticket for Failure to Maintain Single Lane and we parted company. It was 4 a m. Shorty wasted 2 and ½ hours of my life. I got notice of the court date and I went and requested a jury and subpoenaed the DPS officer. Prosecutor dismissed the case. But did not tell me beforehand. I had to lose a day and go to court prepared to chew a cop's ass to shreds before I found out.
Case 2: Another lawyer referred me a case of two misdemeanors: running a stop sign and failure to display a driver's license. Guy needed a lawyer to bail him out so I did. In Texas you bail the suspect you represent the suspect. I bailed him without meeting him. Sent him a representation letter with a court date and a warning: This letter is a contract and gives me the right to represent you; if you do not show up for court. I will plead you guilty. (That way the court releases the bond back to me.) Guy showed up for court. I asked him his story. He said. 'It wasn't me.' Well one charge was failure to display a driver's license so this was plausible. I said. 'Can you prove it?' Guy said. 'Yeah.' 'How?' 'I was not in the country the date the ticket was written. I was on a Caribbean cruise with my girlfriend.' Guy kept records. He had receipts ship boarding passes dated photos taken in Jamaica the date of the ticket. All at home. I thought. 'This should be dismissed.' I told the client to have a seat and wait until his case was called. When that happened we went out of the court room to talk with the city prosecutor. Prosecutor offered his standard deal. He had done this three dozen times before this morning. He did not even look up from his paperwork as he spoke. I said. 'This one's special.' That got his attention. He looked at me. I asked my client to tell his story. When he finished. I said to the prosecutor. 'Dismissal or trial. Your choice.' Damned if he didn't call over the cop to look over my client. Cop looked hard at my client and I could see that there was no recognition in his eyes. He asked my client for his driver's license and compared the signature to the signature on the ticket. Cop said. 'The signatures are the same.' I looked at the signatures. I said. 'No they're not.' Cop said to prosecutor. 'It was him.' Oh did I mention that my client was Mexican-American and that the cop looked like the poster boy for the local chapter of John Birch? Prosecutor told my client that he would set the matter for trial and that he was free to leave. I told my client to take direction from me not the prosecutor and told him to go straight home gather his evidence and return to me at the courthouse. (I had other cases to attend to.) My client went home got his evidence and returned. Sure enough he had been in Jamaica the day the ticket was written. I provided copies of exculpatory documents to the prosecutor THAT DAY and asked him to dismiss. Prosecutor said he would show my evidence to his witness -- the cop -- and see if his witness would change his mind. (Yes this is gross nonfeasance by the prosecutor.) Four months later. I inquired at the prosecutor's office about the case. New prosecutor assigned. Who knew nothing about the exculpatory evidence. And could not find it. Two months later we went to trial. New prosecutor. Newer than last time. Had not seen the exculpatory evidence. Some consternation. Called in the original prosecutor. Who could not find the exculpatory evidence. More consternation. Asked me if I would show him my evidence. 'Sure,' I said. 'You'll see it along with the jury when my witnesses present it from the stand.' Case dismissed. Now on this day I really really wanted this case to go to trial. I had a prejudiced cop that I was going to skewer. I had already made an oral request to the court to have the bailiff standing ready to take the cop into custody for perjury. Twice I had tried to avoid trial and I was hot and gunning for blood. Here's my point. To cops and prosecutors it was just another day at the office. But to my client it was a day AWAY from the office. It was lost work lost income wasted time. Somebody needed to pay. I thought blood was the appropriate payment. Understand me: I have known good cops. My godfather was a cop and I loved that man. I still celebrate his memory every day. But cops are human and like all humans they are corrupted by power. A good citizen does not automatically comply with a cop's request because 'he has nothing to hide.' Scooter Libby did that. He is serving time in a federal penitentiary. Oh did I mention that near my home some guy had been posing as a cop stopping women on deserted streets and raping them?My own experience with my godfather's cop buddies is that cops divide the world into cops and bad guys. You gotta be one or the other. I know I ain't a cop. Hmmm. FYI 180 years ago there were no cops. Look it up. That means that the Framers could not have thought about the abuses of power the police are prone to. And I believe they would have been horrified.
I'll reply to a few specific points in a moment but first I'd like to answer your posts as a whole. I do realize that there are LEOs out there that are dirty. To them the ends justify the means. However. I've been in this business for almost eleven years where I've worked for three different agencies... state local and Federal. I've had close contacts with other agencies at those same levels everything from limited dealings with the FBI down to extensive contacts at the county and municipal level. I have worked with and known a lot of cops in my career. There were some that shouldn't have been in the job due to various reason but I don't know any that were what I would consider corrupt. Are they out there? Sure. The LAPD officers that thumped Rodney King were dirty. The New Orleans Police Department is notorious for being dirty just look what happened with them after Katrina. But that kind of behavior isn't the norm. Not even close.
Also as I read your comments the thought came to me that I've heard all this before. Different scenarios but a common theme. I won't doubt your integrity and call BS on your stories. I don't know what happened in those cases since I wasn't there. You have the benefit of the doubt. But understand that I've heard these things many many times before told about officers that I know and have had similar stories told about me. You're a criminal defense attorney you see things in a different way that I a witness for the state would. In the first scenario. I do wonder what your demeanor was during that stop. After all you seem to have been fatigued and anxious to get home.
Not a good move. You're supposed to stop as soon as it's safe to do so. Failure to do so is Fleeing to Elude in Florida and the other states have similar statutes. When people don't immediately pull over for a marked unit when it's obviously safe to do so that raises the stress level because now we're wondering what's going on. Is the driver about to run? Is he trying to hide a weapon or contraband before stopping? Is he buying time while trying to think up a plan to escape or to kill us? Depending on how long it took for you to stop he may have been on an adrenaline rush and prepared for the worst. I've known two guys who were shot to death during traffic stops the threat and the stress is real. Next time just pull over.
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