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originally posted by: diggindirt
Until about 8 years ago I would have agreed with you. It was about then that I began encountering cops who, for no reason whatsoever, began to exhibit the bully attitude, the "in-your-face-yelling" attitude with bugging eyes. From 1979 to 2006 I drove all over the US without any interaction with police except a couple of times being stopped for having a dead headlamp. On both those occasions the officer was courteous, simply advising me that my headlight wasn't working and I should get it fixed. No problems---ever.
Then, about 2006, something changed...?
originally posted by: WizardVanWizard
Bunk. Every cop knows what job they're getting into. Nobody had a gun to their heads...
90% of their g.d job description is dealing with people's crap. If the prevailing attitude is that a person has right to cause serious bodily harm to another person (because of a badge) for, ahem, abuse that a cashier at Walmart probably deals with daily, then, well, crappy road ahead.
a reply to: randyvs
Actually, if I were out of line as a mod, for example if I were to break the rules by warning you for saying something I didn't like when you have done nothing wrong, I would fully expect you to cry foul in a very insistent manner, to lose respect for me and my position, and for the owners of this site to put a stop to any such misconduct in order to salvage the respect of the position. That kind of accountability goes hand in hand with legitimate respectable authority, and is the key to ending disrespect toward the police as well.
originally posted by: Hijinx
a reply to: alienjuggalo
I stop you because your tail light is out. I'm not even going to give you a ticket, merely let you know the light is out.
If you get all crazy and aggressive because I stopped you for what I thought was protecting you. I'm going to react too.
If you deny me basic data to make sure you own the vehicle, are legally aloud to drive, and aren't a threat to myself or anyone else and you act aggressively and refuse to comply of course I'm going to deal with the situation accordingly.
Put yourself in the officers shoes... Yes some act out irresponsibly and hastily, but you can make their lives and jobs easier as much as they can make your 5 minute interaction with them easier.
Seriously, just co-operate.
Me and my brother are polar opposites in this sense. I've had one ticket, been pulled over countless times because the office was doing his job. The longest I ever spent with an officer was 15 minutes and I talked to him, co-operated and we both wished each other a safe evening and went on our way.
MY BROTHER ! who doesn't #ing co-operate ever, has countless tickets, not because of his actions before he pulled over but after, he's been pepper sprayed, cuffed, arrested, tazered and it's always been his #ing fault. HE could have avoided each and every one of those actions, but HE was the idiot not the cop.
Don't make an individual who puts their life in possible harms way every single day make them think you might be the guy to harm them.
If only we had stayed calm when the British came over to enforce their rights we could have avoided that whole fight for independence thing. How silly of us.
no doubt that's an excellent attitude,