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Obviously this post is motivated by the "Police State" thread. I've put it here in "Contingency Planning" because it is a possible contingency everyday that we depart from our homes.
No one can deny that there are bad cops out there. As a matter of fact, they are probably as many bad as there are good, if not more. Let me take a minute or two to explain why this is the case. The badge and the rubber stamp of authority that goes with it is a very powerful thing. More power than most young men and women know how to handle when it is thrust upon them. I personally know many officers that think putting on the badge makes them a man or a woman and they are nothing without it, which is very sad. Of course the reality is that you have to be a mature man or woman before you put the badge on. You have to be 21 years old to be a cop and few people at that age have the maturity to do the job. Most people come into the career with noble intentions. However, with bad mentoring, and too few good role models, they quickly start going to the dark side. Also, many of these officers get disenchanted with the job when the revolving door of the juctice system lets the perp go after the officer worked so hard to get them off the street. I could give many other reason but for the sake of brevity I won't. Also let me make sure that you understand, those are some of the "reasons", NOT JUSTIFICATION. There is NO JUSTIFICATION for a bad cop.
So, the above being said, when you are stopped by an officer you do not know if you have a bad one or a good one. So how are you suppose to respond? In the first place, the officer needed one of two things to stop you; probable cause and/or reasonable suspicion. Examples of probable cause would be a busted tail light, failure to stop as a marked intersection, speeding, etc. Examples of reasonble suspicion would be swirving in traffic or crossing the white or yellow lines, your vehicle matching the description of a vehicle involved in a crime, etc. When you pull your car to the curb cut the engine off and stay in your car. If it is night time, turn on your interior light. Roll down your window and place both hands out the window or on top of the steering wheel. If you have a legal gun in the car, concealed or otherwise, tell the officer immediately. This will put him/her at ease and makes the officer feel that you mean him/her no harm. Remember, you know you and what your intentions are, the officer does not.
When you are stopped do not immediately start digging for your license and registrtation because the officer does not know what you are digging for and it makes him/her more nervous than they already are. Thats right, the officer is nervous and scared unless he is just an idiot. When the officer ask for your paperwork please remember to tell him/her about the gun in the glove box, if that is where you keep it and your registration.
If the officer is rude, continue to be polite and silently note his badge number and/or his vehicle number. If the officer ask for a consent search and you have nothing to hide, you can certainly say no. You can also ask him why he wants to search, remember your vehicle may match the one that was at the bank robbery that morning or the murder the night before. Now we are talking about a bad cop: If you say no to the search and the cop becomes billigerant, right, wrong, or indifferent, it is best to let him search and then report him to his Chief the first chance you get. You do not want this idiot to hurt you while you are trying to defend your rights, it's not worth it.
The other thing that would help to keep in mind is behind that badge is a person. He/she works in a stressful, frustrating enviroment. We all have days like that, but for the officer, with few exceptions, everyday is like that. The officer that you are dealing with may have just came from a wreck, a suicide, a rape, or a murder, and you are the next person he/she sees and the officer has to change gears emotionally and mentally to deal with you and your situation.
We have all heard of the police kicking in the door of a house with guns drawn only to find that they are at the wrong house. As things get worse in America and crime continues to grow as the economy worsens, these types of scenarios are going to become more common place. If this happens to you, do exactly as you are told and do not argue with the high strung cops who thought they were busting in on a drug or street gang operation. It will not take them long to figure out the mistake. You may not know this but houses are being purchased in very high class expensive housing areas and being used for the sole purpose of manufacturing drugs. So you can see how a mistake can happen even in your nieghborhood.
There are to many scenarios to go over. But, to sum it up, it's not a perfect world and there are no perfect police officers even though we want them to be. What we mostly see when we talk about the behavior of cops is accentuating the negative and eliminating the possitive. In other words, when a cop does something wrong you will hear about it everytime, but you will seldom hear about what he/she did right.
beebopCOP
No one can deny that there are bad cops out there. As a matter of fact, they are probably as many bad as there are good, if not more. Let me take a minute or two to explain why this is the case. The badge and the rubber stamp of authority that goes with it is a very powerful thing. More power than most young men and women know how to handle when it is thrust upon them. I personally know many officers that think putting on the badge makes them a man or a woman and they are nothing without it, which is very sad. Of course the reality is that you have to be a mature man or woman before you put the badge on. You have to be 21 years old to be a cop and few people at that age have the maturity to do the job. Most people come into the career with noble intentions. However, with bad mentoring, and too few good role models, they quickly start going to the dark side. Also, many of these officers get disenchanted with the job when the revolving door of the juctice system lets the perp go after the officer worked so hard to get them off the street. I could give many other reason but for the sake of brevity I won't. Also let me make sure that you understand, those are some of the "reasons", NOT JUSTIFICATION. There is NO JUSTIFICATION for a bad cop.
So, the above being said, when you are stopped by an officer you do not know if you have a bad one or a good one. So how are you suppose to respond? In the first place, the officer needed one of two things to stop you; probable cause and/or reasonable suspicion. Examples of probable cause would be a busted tail light, failure to stop as a marked intersection, speeding, etc. Examples of reasonble suspicion would be swirving in traffic or crossing the white or yellow lines, your vehicle matching the description of a vehicle involved in a crime, etc. When you pull your car to the curb cut the engine off and stay in your car. If it is night time, turn on your interior light. Roll down your window and place both hands out the window or on top of the steering wheel. If you have a legal gun in the car, concealed or otherwise, tell the officer immediately. This will put him/her at ease and makes the officer feel that you mean him/her no harm. Remember, you know you and what your intentions are, the officer does not.
When you are stopped do not immediately start digging for your license and registrtation because the officer does not know what you are digging for and it makes him/her more nervous than they already are. Thats right, the officer is nervous and scared unless he is just an idiot. When the officer ask for your paperwork please remember to tell him/her about the gun in the glove box, if that is where you keep it and your registration.
If the officer is rude, continue to be polite and silently note his badge number and/or his vehicle number. If the officer ask for a consent search and you have nothing to hide, you can certainly say no. You can also ask him why he wants to search, remember your vehicle may match the one that was at the bank robbery that morning or the murder the night before. Now we are talking about a bad cop: If you say no to the search and the cop becomes billigerant, right, wrong, or indifferent, it is best to let him search and then report him to his Chief the first chance you get. You do not want this idiot to hurt you while you are trying to defend your rights, it's not worth it.
The other thing that would help to keep in mind is behind that badge is a person. He/she works in a stressful, frustrating enviroment. We all have days like that, but for the officer, with few exceptions, everyday is like that. The officer that you are dealing with may have just came from a wreck, a suicide, a rape, or a murder, and you are the next person he/she sees and the officer has to change gears emotionally and mentally to deal with you and your situation.
We have all heard of the police kicking in the door of a house with guns drawn only to find that they are at the wrong house. As things get worse in America and crime continues to grow as the economy worsens, these types of scenarios are going to become more common place. If this happens to you, do exactly as you are told and do not argue with the high strung cops who thought they were busting in on a drug or street gang operation. It will not take them long to figure out the mistake. You may not know this but houses are being purchased in very high class expensive housing areas and being used for the sole purpose of manufacturing drugs. So you can see how a mistake can happen even in your nieghborhood.
There are to many scenarios to go over. But, to sum it up, it's not a perfect world and there are no perfect police officers even though we want them to be. What we mostly see when we talk about the behavior of cops is accentuating the negative and eliminating the possitive. In other words, when a cop does something wrong you will hear about it everytime, but you will seldom hear about what he/she did right.
beebopCOP
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