quote:

Originally posted by Chowser:
He was fishing.

LVMPD once stated to me that 20% of their traffic stops result in DWI arrests.
Fishing is pretty profitable, apparently.

Bruce

This message has been edited. Last edited by: RNshooter,

I was stopped by a Georgia state trooper for driving off without paying for $2.01 worth of gas in the next town over. Apparently they were looking for a white male in a white BMW wearing shorts. I was wearing pants. So the trooper frisks me and handcuffs me while he searches my car looking for those shorts. He was being a real smartass the whole time. A few minutes later a couple of county deputy's arrive. The trooper takes my license and puts them in his shirt pocket. They made me drive the 12 miles to the gas station with the trooper in front and two deputies behind with their blue lights on. We all pull into the parking lot and 3 city cops are already there waiting on us in the store. The trooper and deputy's walk me in and the clerk said nope not him. The trooper turned to the group of police and asked anything else we can get him for. Then he handed back my license and told me to leave.

Way back in 1991 I was wrapping up my leave after the gulf war by driving back to Ft Stewart from a visit to San Francisco. Snow in the mountains, and my lack of snow chains, encouraged me to go down to Los Angeles and across the country on I-10. About 10PM on day 2 of the drive I was in Louisiana, not terribly far from New Orleans, in fairly heavy traffic. The speed limit was 65 and I had my cruise set exactly at 65.

So there I was, cruising along getting passed by a big rig. He was was going 3 or 4 mph faster than me so it wasn't a vigorous pass, but it was deliberate. As soon as he cleared me he signalled and moved over in front of me. He was a little close but was still pulling away so no worries at all. Next up to pass was a young lady driving a small pickup. As she pulled up next to me I noticed headlights coming up behind me quickly. I figured "cop" because of the aggression and I was right. He swerved out into the passing lane behind the pickup fast enough that it scared the driver. She swerved a bit, floored it and pulled over in the lane in front of me - between me and the truck who'd just passed. The cop then swerves in behind me and turns on the rollers. Great.

I pulled over as far as I could, shut it down, and waited. After a few minutes of nothing happening I hear something behind me. I rolled my window down all the way and leaned out and heard him saying, "C'mon back her to my car" on the PA. That's weird, but whatever. I reached down to slip my shoes on, got out of the car and started walking back. He ended up meeting me halfway.

Him: "What the hell took you so long, boy?!"
me: "I had to put my shoes on"
him: "Ohhhh no. Here in Lusiana (so hard to type with an accent) you got ta drive with yer shoes on"
me: "ok"
him: "You in the military, boy?"
me: "yes sir" (high & tight haircut, fit and trim, gray PT shirt with "Army" on the front and cutoff BDU pants as shorts)
him: "I need to see yer driver's license, registration, proof of insurance, and yer military ID"
me: "Here's my license and ID, but the rest is in the glovebox"
him: "Well les go git it!"

We walked together to the passenger side and opened the door. My car had a combination lock on the glove box so as I was setting the combination to open it he says, "Oh in't that precious!"

It was at this moment that I had the thought that I'm going to disappear and my parents will never know what happened to me. I'd never spent time in Louisiana before, but everybody I met in the Army who WAS from Louisiana, frankly, wasn't right. Small sample size I know, but I was a yankee from IL and the bayou boys I knew in the Army were just kinda fucked up. Now that I've got billy-bob cop in front of me I wondered if I did, in fact, have a 'perty mouth.'

Anyway, off he goes to his car while I stood on the shoulder. A light rain began to fall. He returned.

him: "The reason I stopped you was because you's follin' too close behind that truck. Here in Lusiana we gotta law says you got ta folla 2 seconds. I timed yer follin distance and it was 1.3"
me: "Well, there was enough room between us that the truck you scared pulled in between us"
him: "Ah Ah Ah!! Did I tell you it was yer turn to talk, boy? I didn't think so!"

I honestly have no recollection of what he said next. It was loud, belligerent, and completely pointless. He was fishing, but went so far with the redneck banality that I stood there wondering how upset my mom was going to be when I disappeared and what the cop was going to do with my car. I liked that car.

He finally stopped shouting, handed my stuff, and told me to, "Git!" So I got. I was utterly exhausted after two very long days on the road by myself, but there was no way I was going to stop in 'Lusiana.' I managed to just make it to the Mississippi state line and welcome center rest stop where I pulled in to sleep for a few hours... Only to be awoken by a "knock knock knock" on my drivers' side window about 3 hours later.

But that's another story.

Neon license plate frame.

One night my girlfriend and I were headed out to the paper route about 2am. We were on a 4 lane street she was in her truck and I was in my truck. She was a little ways behind me and we were talking on the phone with our Bluetooths, She tells me I have a Sheriff Deputy behind me and I told her I know I'm listening to him on the radio. I've had all kinds of scanners since 1975.
Well he lights me up and I pulled into a church driveway. He gets out and I got out and I asked him what was wrong that I was delivering the newspaper. He said he couldn't read my license plate. So I walk to the back of my truck to look at it. I asked him why couldn't he read it both plate lights were working and the plate we in perfect shape and it was Army plate that was only three number 277.
He said ok you can go and he took off.

Well I get back in my truck and get back on my way. When we got to our nightly stop to get a snack and use the restroom before getting on the country route guess who was there. The Deputy that stopped me was there and his unit was running with the lights on. When we walked in my girlfriend headed to the restroom and the clerk was saying 'hey Bill what's going on this morning' The Deputy was looking at stuff in the store. I told the clerk (Donna) it was going good until a Sheriff Deputy stopped me. She wanted to know for what and by who. I told her he was fishing and that the guy over there was the one. She knew him and said why did you stop Bill. He said he couldn't read my plate and she ask me what was wrong with my plate. I said nothing it's perfect
I told him that HIS plate light was not working on his unit. Then I told him I could put him on a bunch of illegal plate violators. He seemed to like that until I told him it was his Dept for not having legal plates or even plates on their units. He tried to make excuses for that. I told him I had been at a friend house earlier that day that is a La. Trooper and we talked about the Sheriff not having legal plates.
Then left and did my route. He went home with no fish that night.

I wonder what's worse?
The stupid things we get pulled over for or the shit we get away with?

I wonder how much of this stuff would continue if there was no monetary penalty...

For having a blue car. ("We received a call reporting a blue car driving erratically in this area.")

For turning around on a dead-end street. ("What were you doing in there?")

On I94 between Madison and Milwaukee, I was doing 65 on the head (my truck was governed at 65, fleet GPS also verified the calibration), and the limit at that time was 65.

A little sparrow or somesuch hits my hood, rolls up, and sticks in my wiper, dead. I couldn't leave it there, it's a sin (Goodfellas mod), so I turned on the wipers, and off it went, behind my truck.

A minute or so later, I see red-n-blues in the side view mirror. WI State Trooper approaches, and asked if he knows why I'm pulled over. I said "the truck just passed fleet inspection yesterday, and had a clean pre-trip today, and is governed at exactly 65, so I have no idea".

He goes back to his squad, and returns 10 minutes later, ticket in hand. The charge? Flipping him the bird!

In all seriousness though, I really DID hit and kill a bird with my work truck on that stretch a few years ago. A Canada Goose! Talk about a near-death experience!

If I were an LEO, if make the city wealthy writing tickets for not using turn signals.

quote:

Originally posted by Oldrider:
"WRONG BIKE!!!!"

Been through that one myself. Three cops with guns, though they were behind me and I didn't know they had them out.

Clear covers over my license plates to keep them nice, cops says the law states that you are not to cover any of your license plate at any time.

I tried to reason with him that it was meant to not hide your license plate. He wrote me the ticket any way. In court, the judge agreed with me, that I was not trying to hide anything with a clear cover

quote:

Originally posted by ARman:
I got pulled over for hood scoops. Yep the hood scoops that was factory on my 1969 Dodge Super Bee.

The, I'm not going to be nice about it. Idiot cop wrote my a ticket for obstructed view.

You know, for FACTORY INSTALLED hood scoops. I had to miss work, drive down town to court and since my last name begins with a "W" set there all freaking day for FACTORY INSTALLED HOOD SCOOPS! I showed the judge a picture of my car and factory literature of my model and it was dismissed.

Still to this day when I think about it, that idiot cop pisses me off. He cost me a day of work, plus parking lot fees and though it was dismissed I still had to pay court costs.

All for freaking FACTORY INSTALLED HOOD SCOOPS!

Now, I ain't sayin I was a freaking angle. Back then I was a lead foot, and I will admit it would pick up a race here and there. But that day I was just driving my car, obeying all traffic laws. When smart ass Johnny Law, pulls me over and write me a ticket for obstructed vision for I'll say it again FACTORY INSTALLED HOOD SCOOPS!

I was polite and courteous and followed all the orders. Yet he had some kind of attitude, from start to finish, even in court. Where the judge himself could not believe that he wrote the ticket.

I will say, I'm not a cop hater, as a matter of fact, I thought about law enforcement as a career. But that badge heavy imbecile sure didn't need to have that job.

So. Long story short. Factory installed hood scoops. I was pulled over and ticketed for factory installed hood scoops.


ARman

this one's for you.

I was driving east bound on Mowry Rd. in Fremont, Ca. I was doing about 37 mph. The road has three lanes in each direction, and the 6 lanes are separated by an island that is the width of two lanes. I saw an officer going west bound, and just as we passed each other, he suddenly looked over at me with an urgent look on his face. This caused me to watch him in the rear view mirror. Sure enough, he made a u-turn and sped up to pull me over. Cited me for 57 in a 40. But, I was going LESS than 40.

I talked with many of my friends about it - several who were LEOs. They all said I should fight it. So, I took time off work to go to the arraignment to plead not guilty, then took a day off work and sat in the court room for about 6 hours on the trial date. One by one, each of the people in the gallery had their cases heard. Finally at about 3 PM, the bailiff came out and announced that any of us who had been cited by Officer so-and-so - our cases were dismissed. I and all of the remaining people (about 12) in the gallery all got up and left.

But, that's not the worst.

One night I was riding my Yamaha 650 bike. I was headed to a store - it was almost midnight. I was headed south bound on Hesperian Blvd. in Hayward, CA. When I got to the intersection where the store was, I pulled into the left turn lane which had its own left turn signal. I sat there, waiting for the light to turn green. But, it never did. After about 2 minutes, I was starting to suspect that the light never would change for me because the wieght of my bike was insufficient to trigger the light-changing mechanism. Then, a car approached the intersection from the west. I felt relieved - I assumed the weight of the car to my right would trigger the mechanism, then I'd be able to make my left turn. Well, the weight of his car did trigger the mechanism. The green lights for the traffic running north and south on Hesperian Blvd turned red, and the fella in the car got his green. He went through the intersection, but I never got my green arrow to make my left turn. They just changed back to green for north and south bound traffic on Hesperian.

I walked my bike backwards to the very beginning of the left turn lane and then pulled back up to the stop line. Still no good - still no green arrow. And, because it was so late at night, there wasn't another car as far as the eye could see. So, I decided to just go ahead and make my left turn.

As I pulled into the store parking lot, suddenly the whole intersection was lit up in pretty red, blue and white lights. As it turned out, there was a CHP sitting in the parking lot across the street from the store. This kid was YOUNG! At that time, I was 27 and this youngster couldn't have been much more than 21.

I asked him, "How long were you sitting there in your patrol car?"

He asked why I asked and I responded, "Because I've been sitting here waiting for the light to change for a minimum of five minutes."

He responded, "Oh, I know - I saw everything."

I asked him, "You saw how when the other car came to the intersection, the light changed for him, but it didn't change for me?"

He replied, "Yup."

I asked him, "Did you see me walk my bike back to the beginning of the left turn lane and ride back up to the line?"

He replied, "Yup."

So, then I asked him, "Well what should I have done, then? That left turn lane signal has still not been activated!"

He said, "Well, you can tell it to the judge."

After experiencing the bogus case on Mowry in Fremont, I thought perhaps this officer was indicating that if I fought this ticket on Hesperian, he wouldn't show up, and the case would be dismissed. So, I took time off work to go to the courthouse and plead not guilty so that I could set a trial date, then took a day off work to go to the trial. But, sure enough, there was the child-officer to tell the judge that I ran a red light.

I explained everything to the judge and he said, "The best I can do for you is to find you guilty, but suspend the sentence so that you won't have to pay the fine."

Well, isn't that great? I STILL got a point on my DL, which caused my insurance to sky rocket.

I've been driving for a long time - even had driving jobs, and I have earned my share of citations. For those I blame no one but myself. But the two I discussed above were both totally bogus. Pure, unadulterated bull shit.

When my son was about 20, he got pulled over for speeding, going 55 in a 45MPH zone.

Officer said, "Son, you were doing 55MPH, the speed limit is 45".

My son said, "No, officer - the speed limit is 55".

"No son, it is 45"

"Officer, it is 55".

"Son, the sign is right back there". "Why don't we walk back there and I will show you". (a couple hundred feet)

Sure enough, the speed limit was actually 55. The cop said to my son, "Have a nice day".

I told him to savor the moment, because that kind of luck is never going to happen again!

Gotta run, so I'll read the rest of the thread later, but this reminds me of an old incident.

We had a murder in our city. Gunshots heard but not called in. Blood from floor six stairwell all the way down to the first floor. No one called.

No one until near daylight.

A few days later, Cleveland PD pulls a car over for loud muffler. Body was in the trunk. They tried to bury it then dug it back up and was moving it when they got pulled over.

So, fishing does work.

That stupid Cadillac is still in our impound lot and I can do nothing about it until the guy dies in jail. It's still evidence.

Forced a cop off the road.

Playing my radio too loud.

And this was the era way before subwoofers in cars and such. Compared to today's sound systems, mine wasn't much.

quote:

Originally posted by RogueJSK:

or a trunk full of dead hookers.

Just don't give them permission to search the trunk. If they are fishing, there is no probable cause.

The officer may be able to develop PC during the stop. Or maybe the driver has warrants, or is hooked up for some offense during the stop like lying about their identity or not having a valid DL, which leads to the car being towed/impounded and the dead hookers discovered during inventory.

See Chowser's story a couple posts up for a great example of when a fishing stop for a petty violation like a loud muffler led directly to the discovery of a body in a trunk.

If nothing else, the officer documents the stop, which may come in handy later during the dead hooker investigation. Maybe a witness is later located that states the last time one of the hookers was seen alive, she was nearby to the location of the earlier traffic stop, getting into a vehicle whose make and driver matches the details from the fishing traffic stop. The detectives then have a lead to follow up on.