How do you feel when you are around a police officer?

SCARED or SAFE?

Honestly I would have to input scared. After seeing so many videos of people getting arrested for no apparent reason, and just having that float thru your mind, just irritates me. Even if being arrest and winning in court, but when u have cuffs around your wrists you just feel hopeless.

I would like to see the general public view on this question, and to see if we are running is the right or wrong direction

[edit on 7-1-2009 by Blundo]

For the most part I usually feel annoyed. However in my area there seem to be a lot more "good" cops than 'bad" cops. Now late at night there's also the "bored" cops too.

I really should put the front license plate on my car so they really don't have a reason to pull me over anymore though...

I've also noticed when you feel calm and confident, know your rights, and make the officer feel at ease, every traffic stop goes by a lot smoother with more respect on both sides. Usually gets you out of tickets too.

If the officer shows respect he gets it back more in return. At least that's how I do it...

reply to post by Blundo
To answer the question, well for some reason I feel like starting sh*t with every cop I see. I would love to be able to get away with walking up to a cop, sticking my middle finger in his face, and maybe tazing him too..... I cant figure out why I feel this way.......

I just ignore them and hope they dont notice my expired inspection sticker lol.
I dont really get nervous or anxious around cops, probably because my dad was a cop in Dallas when i was growing up, I went fishing with cops, I hunted with cops, played poker with cops and drank with cops, even while underage.
I became so close to some of them that when one would die on duty it was like losing an uncle or a brother.
This was a different generation though, this was a time when a cop wouldnt arrest a child, much less taze one, for a minor offense.

The cops now, for the most part, are arrogant, power hungry "jack booted thugs" (to borrow a popular term from the 90's)
and I can barely stand to be around them.
Cops have or at least used to have, major discretion as to what to do during an incident, so I dont think their over zealousness is ordered, I think they get off on it.
At the same time, I think the entire judicial system has gone crazy, judges, DA's and cops alike.
People are now going to jail for things that in the past wouldnt have even made it past a cop much less to a grand jury.
Something is definitely going on in this country, it just seems like they want to imprison everyone they can and are looking for any reason to do so, no matter how trivial.

reply to post by Blundo


It depends on how fast I was driving, to how I feel. Other than that, I'm perfectly comfortable around them, and have a number of friends that are cops.

Every time I see a cop car I sort of freak out. sometimes I'll think I see lights behind me and my heart will skip a beat. I've never had a good experience with a cop, let's put it that way.

Originally posted by Blundo
SCARED or SAFE?

or irritated or grateful or disgusted nothing at all or even 'hot' (men in uniform!) ... There are more feelings then just those two that you listed. Through the years, at different times and with different cops, I've felt them all.

I don't feel anything, first of all i understand that police are there to put you in jail, not help you. Second, i dont give them an excuse to come up and talk to me, and when they do, i tell them where to go.

reply to post by Blundo


I get somewhat nervous around police, though my nervousness is getting less as I get older and get more of an attitude of "Oh bring it on... you ridiculous thugs you aren't going to scare me for the rest of my life.". Of course I didn't just magically get this opinion. Firstly despite having driven safely for well over 10 years I have been issued about seven tickets (though three of them were in one stop for paperwork violations such as not having insurance card with me). Secondly I was once at a highway rest stop and went to a police officer to ask for directions. First he shined his spotlight right in my eyes. Second he barked "What do you want!?" as if daring to approach an officer was a crime in itself. Thirdly, when I asked if I should take a certain way he barked "NO YOU CAN'T DO THAT... IT IS AGAINST THE LAW!"... because I didn't know that would be going the wrong way on a one-way driveway and I guess he somehow thought I was trying to get permission to do that. I just left after that and figured I'd just try figuring it out on my own.

The best thing the police have done for me is this: they recovered a stolen checkbook from me and then woke me up at home at 1AM to explain this to me and said I needed to come down to the station immediately to see what else of mine they may have. Thank God I had changed my address on my drivers license or who knows what the people who I rented their room from at my previous residence would have thought, had a police officer woke them up at 1AM looking for me!

Well from my experience, cops think being out late at night is a good enough reason to throw you on the ground and search you.

I have never met a polite or good cop. You get pulled over they shine their lights in your eyes. You squint, so they ask you if you've been drinking. Then they get to search your car.

Until the dumb cops realize that the laws they are enforcing are unconstitutional and wrong (like smoking weed) than I will always feel nervous and really pissed off around them.

Indifferent. I am not one to feel intimidated easily by authority figures, and I have respect for the job they do (not always the way they do it or the ones who do it per say).

They are there to do a job, perform a function. Things would be BAD without them.

They are just people, with a tough job sometimes, but plain old people none the less.

It does not surprise me that almost all of the people who answered this question admit in their posts to committing some type of violation... everything from smoking weed to no insurance card.

I do not get nervous around cops because I don't commit any violations that would draw their attention to me.

Of course there will be people who say "I didn't do anything wrong and the cop harassed me!" But as I said, most of the posters admit to doing something wrong in the first place.

I feel like they are another person I am standing around with. They are just people in uniforms. Some good some bad, some smart, some dumb,just a little more authority.

And when you talk to them, you learn just that. They have children, favorite foods, favorite tv shows, and a lot of funny stories.

I am at ease, because I know my rights. And if I am not doing something wrong why would I be uneasy?

And if they are like any other government employee, most likely they are not going to create extra work if they don't have too. With everything they do, there comes A LOT of paperwork.

You see the bad stuff on the net and tv. You don't see the good stuff of course. And officers can do amazing things.

They show up to your house if there is a breakin. They are the first to show up if there is an accident. They try to help and control riots. It is not always about authority.

That depends on what they have in their hand. If it's a radar gun, a hand gun, a taser, a club, a flashlight in my face, a ticket book or pepper spray.

I recall being pulled over once for being in the wrong area of town and they even said my ID was fake, but let us go because of a more important call. Basically, it was a warning not to come into that neighborhood again.

I was pulled over once near my parents home and the cop made me stay in the car while he searched my trunk. Another unmarked car pulled up, spoke to him and than told me to leave. The cop who pulled me over was allegedly found responsible for the crimes in the area and was probably planting evidence.

I prefer cops with coffee cups and a sandwich in their hands.

A hot female cop with her phone number in her hand is also acceptable.

If I'm driving, scared. I have a lead foot, and get pulled over about twice a month. Only two tickets after 7 years though! Best line to get out of a speeding ticket? "Yes sir I know why you pulled me over. I was doing __ in a __." If they ask why say "I felt like it was safe in this case." As long as your only going 10-15 over (depending on speed limit) you're good to go. Honesty goes a LONG way.

If I'm not driving, I'm not at all intimidated or scared. Cops are people too, believe it or not. The majority are very decent, and if you treat them with respect you will be treated the same. I used to deal with various branches of law enforcement all the time and the only time I saw them act like jerks was when someone was acting like an idiot. Try striking up a conversation, you might be surprised.

English police are very cold and clinical in the way they deal with people, they have this whole other lingo that's very direct and impersonal.
I get an automatic bad rap with the pigs because I look like a hippie (truth be told I am a bit of one) so I get the whole nine yards. I don't have to deal with them very often because I know how to keep my nose clean but when I do I actually find myself in my head doing a mental checklist of what I've got on me.
I've never felt particularly safe around the police because they look like they're eyeing you up for trouble. Worst but is that my college is swarming with them, there's a Metropolitan Police trainig school on campus... I turn a corner and BAM! four uniformed officers stroll past.

Not cool.

I think it all depends on the context in which you see a cop. I think it also depends on the cops' attitudes and the culture of the police department.

I used to live in the San Francisco Bay Area, which is arguably the most liberal part of the U.S. Cops there seemed to be relaxed. They were not quick to write tickets or make arrests. They seemed more willing to try and resolve issues rather than flex their muscle.

I now live in a more conservative town. Cops here write more tickets. I also have seen cops pepper spray and cuff people at the train station that would probably have been given a warning up in the Bay Area. Cops also seem to abuse their authority. There is a cop that goes to my gym that used his police privileges to park in handicapped spots. He would also put the siren on so he could get out of the parking lot quicker.

Scared...no. Safe...a little. Intimidated...no. Feel like starting a problem with them...no, thats just plain stupid.

Simply give them the due respect and cooperation, they return the same. Be an idiot and show off ur arse and they will put you down a peg or two as needed.

Ive had many cops pull me over when Im driving my 630Hp red Camaro, just to ask me how fast will it go, what year it is, what size of engine its got, what can it do in a 1/4 mile, and general chit chat about it. One thing I dont do is purposely give any cop any reason to stop me...unlike others I have seen who drag race their 4 cyl rice burners down mainstreet at 60mph in a 20mph zone, spinning tires at the stop light or just being dumb, giving cops perfect reason to pull em over and ask them to step out of the vehicle.

Most of them are good and treat you right if you do the same. Even some of the bad ones can be tamed by simply showing them the respect and being decent with them. I have never run into a bad cop that cant be turned in a second simply by cooperating with them.

Even a very nice cop will throw your butt down on the floor if your a total d...wad to them. It all depends on how you handle it.

As the old saying goes...first impressions are always the most important, and the most revealing of a person's state of mind.



Cheers!!!!

No problems here, I don't feel worried or scared. Just another person out doing a job...
I haven't broken any laws...

Having worked with them in the past, I dislike them, generally speaking.

I know they deal with idiots all day, but that's no excuse to be an ass, it's their job. Somehow in the past ten years police officers have stopped "serving and protecting" and started harassing and intimidating. I have found there is only a thin difference in personality between cops and criminals. Either way it's about power and control. Of course their ethics vary, but not always...

Somewhere on ATS is a thread about how the lights on their cars are meant to be disorienting. Nice.