Stupid cops!

[PKRWUD]

Originally posted by Mr 5 0
PKRWUD:

Glad you decided to 'take the bait'. How's it taste?

Like chicken.

Get over it? That sum up your argument? O.K.

No, it doesn't, but I'll give it now. Get comfy.

Personally, I have no trouble with the police and haven't received a ticket in 11 years. I have nothing to 'get over'.

That was specifically not aimed at you, Jim, which is why it followed the paragraph addressed to Everyone else.

I consider cops to be very necessary, as I've stated numerous times here, but I also consider them to be dangerous as they have immense power to make your life very unpleasant should they wish to do so, regardless of your 'guilt'. I accept that risk as part of the social contract 'The Duece' alluded to. The police protect me - to a point - and I accept the slight risk of being the victim of police abuse on occasion (it hasn't happened yet). Keeps me honest.

While I agree that it happens, I don't agree that it happens to the degree that others have eluded to. I think the actual number of "dangerous" cops is miniscule per capita in law enforcement. I would be shocked if the real number was more than 1%. That's why I don't see this as a big deal, and the bashing that has taken place in this thread, by others, is for the most part uncalled for. I don't begin to pretend to understand everyones situation, or circumstances that may have occured in their lives that affect their perception, but I do grow tired of seeing what I believe to be an honorable, difficult profession being trashed because of someones childhood trauma. Again, this is not directed at anything you said. You should know me well enough to know that when I disagree with you specifically, I don't waste any time letting you know, and make it perfectly clear what it is you said that I have issues with. The bait you left for me was in regard to someone elses point, and it was to that point that I replied.

The whole convenience store clerk vs cop argument came into play as a simple comparison to make the point that the cops who are injured 'in the line of duty' are fewer in number than convenience store clerks who are injured in their line of duty (giving you the wrong change).

Chris, surely you (and elliotness) realized that the clerk's job wasn't being directly compared to the cop's job. I only used the comparative statistics to help illuminate the fact that a lot of people are killed or injured doing their job. Cops are not immune or somehow unique in this regard, they simply are better recognized.

I never felt that you were making that kind of comparison, but that was the subject of the bait.

I do not accept the premise that since police work is dangerous (granted, many times) cops get a pass on any stupid thing they do to harrass motorists. Nope, not by me they don't. They are accountable, at least in theory, and the constant assertions that cops are somehow superior beings that deserve more leeway than others due to the danger of the job they volunteer to do doesn't work for me.

Okay, this is where I get lost. I don't recall ever reading that insinuation in anybodies reply. I read where others believe that it happens, but I didn't see where anybody justified it.

It's irrevelant to the issue of police officers acting - as the thread topic stated - stupidly.

Saying 'it's the law' misses the point that it's a misuse of the law to stop people for tinted glass or exhaust noise that endangers no one and bothers no one but the cop, then to issue possibly expensive citations for these minor violations. That's a waste of time, annoying to the motorist that otherwise respects authority and undermines public respect for police work.

That same cop may save a life tomorrow but the motorist he harassed over a muffler today, will always see him as a jerk. That perception is his reality and it spreads with each misuse of the law but the over-zealous cop using poor judgement.

This is up for very little debate, I'm afraid. As I tried to make clear in my first post, there are noise restictions on the books in California, and cops are encouraged to enforce them. Not just by the muffler shop chain that donates to money to the elected officials re-election campaign, but by the citizens. One thing people seem to really like to complain about is noise. We get threatened with losing our racetrack every year because some new guy who moved to town near the fairgrounds didn't realize there were Sprint car races there every weekend for 8 months out of the year, and complains to the city about the noise. There are at least a dozen such letters to the editor every season, too. The track averages 1500 paying fans every single Saturday night, but is it them that the City Council takes into consideration? No, it's the handful of whiners. This year we had to get new mufflers that reduced the noise to 96 decibles, in order to appease those in power that are listening to the few, rather than the many. They cost us $300 each. Oh well. The complaints will still come in, and we'll just have to deal with it.

Kaspar said he has Cherry Bombs on his Mustang, which are nothing more than painted glass-packs. I have no doubt at all that it's a loud car. I also doubt that it is legal. The law clearly states that motor vehicles used on public highways can not exceed 82 decibles while driving under 35 mph, or 90 decibles while driving over 35 mph. It's the first limit that get's most people busted because that's when most people hit WOT. Once their speed picks up, the throttle opening lessens, the rpm's drop, and the noise deminishes. Two kids at a traffic light that don't know any better are prime examples of those that break this law, and odds are that some grandmother is nearby enough to hear it, and she may complain about it.

Because of this, and because of all the annoyingly loud exhaust systems I heard while in Florida for Christmas, I don't see this issue as being nearly as trivial as you, and others, seem to. It goes alot deeper than just some cop with an attitude harassing people with "slightly modified" exhaust systems. There are alot of people that are driving around with no mufflers, or ones that have been gutted out, or those that are too cheap to replace the pipes that are nearly dragging on the ground. They do not emit the sounds of a well tuned muscle machine, they sound like a series of M-80s going off in a large dumpster. Not terribly appealing to anyone, other than the driver. These are, for the most part, the ones who get stopped. I haven't met one person yet who's exhaust was sensible, and without problems, that was pulled over here for noise. You'd be surprised at the details you'll find when you investigate the claims a little deeper.

The Duce thinks breaking traffic laws is a game and he accepts the consequences if he 'loses'. Fair enough. Most of us share that attitude. However, a cop combing over your car and nit-picking for a crooked license plate or other harmless 'violation' is bogus and foolish, as it undermines law-abiding citizen's confidence in the police authority to be fair and impartial. Dumb.

This is the part that I really find amusing. I have been "victimized" by cops as often as anyone here, yet I'm the one who seems to be defending them. I have had cops comb over my car(s) with a fine tooth comb looking for BS violations. I received a ticket one time for having my stereo too loud. My 1969 Chevelle SS bone-stock 8-Track, un-externally-amplified stereo. The cop was 4 car lengths ahead of me on Van Nuys Blvd. on a cruise night, and he was purely doing it to hassle me, in the hopes that I would stay away on cruise nights. Another night cruising in the Chevelle, I was pulled over for failing to use a turn signal when changing lanes. The cop asked me to open my hood because he didn't believe it was stock. Back then, there was no such thing as "smog legal" hi-po parts. If it wasn't stock, it was illegal. He wrote me a ticket for having a chrome Moroso air cleaner. I was headed out to the street races one night, and was pulled over for the sole reason that I was obviously on my way there. When the cop asked me for my license, I asked him what I did wrong. His reply was that he hadn't decided yet, but he was sure he could find something. He did. He wrote me a ticket for having less than 2/32" tread on one spot, on one tire, and I had to roll the car back 2 feet before he found it. I recieved a ticket one time while parked at Balboa Park (very popular hang-out back then) in the S.F. Valley on a Saturday night because I had several Mickey's Beer labels across the very top of my windshield. I was stopped while cruising Main Street here in Ventura the first weekend after I moved up here because I had a USA-1 license plate on the front of my Chevelle. 6 months later, I received a ticket for having too loud of an exhaust because one of my collector bolts fell out, and I kept driving it anyway. All of these were while driving my red/black Super Sport. I received literally dozens of traffic tickets between 1982 and 1988, most of which were BS nit-picking tickets.

What I see now, however, that I didn't see then, was that even though I wasn't causing anybody any harm, I was usually in or around a situation that was a problem, and that the cops were trying to curtail, like street racing, drinking at a park, and cruising major blvds. This was at a time when there were problems associated with cruising, like crime in the stores along Van Nuys Blvd, and more. In fact, it got so bad that they eventually had to completely close down Van Nuys Blvd. from 6pm until 11pm every Wed., Fri., and Sat. night. This went on for months before the cruisers finally stopped coming, and the problems went away. We hated them for it, but only because we were unable to see the bigger picture. I have since met 2 cops who worked there then, and had to bust poeple who wouldn't leave for anything they could. They both said the same thing to me, which was that they hated having to do that, and in fact they both had grown up cruising Van Nuys Blvd. themselves.

There have still been a few times where I was unquestionably harassed for no justifiable reason, but I still say that kind of thing is no where near as commonplace as others would have you believe.

Okay, now I'm done.

Peace.

Take care,
-Chris