Fuck all the haters

[MorganGrayson]

Originally Posted by RyanLanane

Some people just haven't learned to deal with cops, over the years....

How difficult is it to apply the same rules of manners and decency to police officers that are applied to everyone else? Be polite, be respectful, don't be belligerent...etc., etc., etc.

One of my daughters was pulled over for speeding. Was she? Hell, yes. She was also speeding in a "cone zone" even though no one was working. Breaking the speed limit in a cone zone does something horrific like triple the fine. However, if the driver greets the cop with "I'm sorry, officer. I was in a hurry and the road was clear and empty...and I made a mistake." (I'm free lancing from the original here, but basically, she was polite and she copped to the whole thing, if I may use that word.) The nice police officer ticketed her for speeding, but put down a lower speed than she was actually going. He got her in under the wire so that she paid the lower fine. He also left out that little "cone zone" bit, which he could have gotten very nasty about had he chosen to be.

When I was about 24, I was lagging about two or more car lengths behind the Gethsemene Baptist School bus, my usual "don't rear end the vehicle in front of you" way of driving, matching the speed. The lights went on behind me. I was startled and sputtered at the officer that I was two lengths behind the bus in what I thought was safe driving. The cop said "the bus was speeding, too, I just caught you first." I laughed and said "geeze, if you can't trust a Baptist School bus..." The cop looked like nobody had laughed at one of his jokes in years. I got a ticket, paid a fine, and life went on.

[voodooman]

Originally Posted by MorganGrayson

How difficult is it to apply the same rules of manners and decency to police officers that are applied to everyone else? Be polite, be respectful, don't be belligerent...etc., etc., etc.

One of my daughters was pulled over for speeding. Was she? Hell, yes. She was also speeding in a "cone zone" even though no one was working. Breaking the speed limit in a cone zone does something horrific like triple the fine. However, if the driver greets the cop with "I'm sorry, officer. I was in a hurry and the road was clear and empty...and I made a mistake." (I'm free lancing from the original here, but basically, she was polite and she copped to the whole thing, if I may use that word.) The nice police officer ticketed her for speeding, but put down a lower speed than she was actually going. He got her in under the wire so that she paid the lower fine. He also left out that little "cone zone" bit, which he could have gotten very nasty about had he chosen to be.

When I was about 24, I was lagging about two or more car lengths behind the Gethsemene Baptist School bus, my usual "don't rear end the vehicle in front of you" way of driving, matching the speed. The lights went on behind me. I was startled and sputtered at the officer that I was two lengths behind the bus in what I thought was safe driving. The cop said "the bus was speeding, too, I just caught you first." I laughed and said "geeze, if you can't trust a Baptist School bus..." The cop looked like nobody had laughed at one of his jokes in years. I got a ticket, paid a fine, and life went on.

Morgan,

I am so happy that your back. You put a smile on my face no matter what.

[MorganGrayson]

Originally Posted by voodooman

Morgan,

I am so happy that your back. You put a smile on my face no matter what.

I love putting a smile on your face. It's a cute face, it should be wearing a smile.

A very long time ago, for reasons not worth going into here, a cop friend of mine (he worked security at the hotel I worked at because cops don't get paid squat) offered to assist me in a rather large life issue by running an NCIC check on somebody. He explained that this was only supposed to be done when the individual was right in front of you, because if he was wanted, the little voice on the radio was going to say "bust him" and some fancy foot work would be required to explain why he was using this for "personal reasons." I looked at this nice family man, expressed my thanks, and refused to give him the name he was supposed to look up. We had a brief but lively discussion, but I couldn't let him endanger his job.

I always figured that nice gets nice and I'm right more often than I'm wrong. I've had much more good run-ins with cops than bad ones...and considering I briefly had a boyfriend who made a career out of getting arrested, that was surprising.

It's also simple logic. In any dynamic where one individual has a gun and a badge, it behooves the other individual to be polite.

I've also always seen cops as people. I rather liked knowing that back in the early '70s they took the mace away from the patrol officers because they were spraying it into each other's air conditioning vents.

I was cheerfully invited out once by 7 members of the Vice Squad to see a famous stripper with a 70 inch chest. Chesty Morgan or something like that. I politely declined...but it's still one of my favorite memories. In my old age I like to occasionally kill a few minutes wondering what would have happened...if....