More reason to hate the Police.

[The PIT]

Okay I'll be kind they did move the stolen car soon after I reported it or it got knicked again. However the negative attitude of the person I reported too doesn't encourage you too report crime which is the main reason why many people don't bother.

[Oboy]

The thing that makes me the maddest is when the LAW enforcers don’t follow the laws! An example is speed limits. Why should ppl do the speed limit when the cops don’t! Then police and community leaders brake the law what good is it? I thought that the law was for everyone and not just for the common foke? Police officers are here to protect and to serve the public and to lead by example, not to get a free donut from krispykreme in a chopper or speed in there cars to get one!?!?!?


Oboy

[The PIT]

Like the one night a few months ago the copter was flying round and round in circles (They fly a little higher now) above our roof for half n hour. After it went away there coppers running all over our gardens jumping over hedges.
I didn't challenge them in case there was someone hiding in our garden. There wasn't of course. next day I rang up to see whats the fuss is about and the attitude was how dare you ring us up.
Next time I challenge them and ask for the id number. A car had been dumped in our area and the copter had lost the thiefs. Still it's better than copter getting rabbits arrested not once but twice or even the compost heap. This is tru by the way.

[RichL]

Originally posted by Wombat
Actually, if you read up, you'll see that TP has had plenty of unpleasant experiences with police. I wouldn't think highly of them either if I were him.

Judging by a lot of his posts, I think TP has had plenty of unpleasant experiences with just about everything
I'm all for classing him as a disaster area and declaring a 50 mile exclusion zone around him, for everyone's safety!
It's probably safer to invite Angela Lansbury over for the weekend that it is to go anywhere near TP

Personally, on the few occasions I've had dealing with members of her majesty's constabulary, I've found that you get reasonable and not-so-reasonable ones.
When I was involved in a road accident, the PC from Essex traffic took my statement, and never once gave me the impression that because I was young and driving a fast car it must all be my fault. When the exhaust fell off another car and I was pulled over my a couple from the Metropolitan Police, they weren't quite so reasonable and gave me a £30 fine, although I claimed it must have happened going over the speed humps just around the corner. (Later inspection led me to conclude it must have fallen off miles ago and been showering sparks out the back for some time.)
When I reported my car's side window had been smashed and my tax disc stolen both the Met and Essex police were pretty good, although when the same car had its numberplate stolen, Essex police didnt want to know and the Met took the details and filed it on the computers.

[RichL]

Originally posted by The PIT
Still it's better than copter getting rabbits arrested not once but twice or even the compost heap. This is tru by the way.

ROTFL!
The hele-tele and IR cameras they use can read a car numberplate from miles away. Either the 'copter pilot needs a bit more training or he was doing it on purpose.

"Left a bit, bit more, stop! He's just the other side of the fence!"
*SQUELCH*
"Oops!" *snigger* "My mistake, sorry."

[Gurm]

A few years back, Julie and I were living in the city (not yet married, but engaged) - right on Huntington Avenue in downtown Boston.

Now, I happened to have a BB gun. I didn't (and still don't) have a firearms ID, because you didn't need one to buy a BB gun when I was 10 - and because you STILL don't need one to own or carry a BB gun.

One day, there's a knock on the door. I'm sitting in my underwear sipping a cup of coffee. It's 6AM. Julie is just done with her shower. She is more decent than I, so she opens the door a crack. "Hello!"

CRASH! The door is kicked in, and two of Boston's finest shove Julie to the floor and run in, GUNS DRAWN.

"WHERE IS IT!?!?!?" they scream.

"What?" I yell, frantically pulling on some shorts.

"THE GUN! WHERE'S THE ****ING GUN!?!? SHOW US RIGHT NOW!"

So I get out the BB Gun.

"THAT'S A HUNTING RIFLE!!!!!! DROP IT NOW, ON THE FLOOR!"

So I do.

Julie is getting up at this point, and one of them turns to "cover" her.

"WHERE'S THE AMMO!!!!!"

I pull out a ziplock baggie filled with BB's.

"WHERE'D YOU GET THIS!?!?!??"

Now, at this point I'm starting to get a little ticked, but I have two Boston Police Officers with live weapons pointed at me and my fiancee. What's a guy to do?

"I bought them at the hardware store."

"WHERE'S YOUR LICENSE!?"

"I don't have one - it's a BB Gun..."

"DON'T LIE TO US! THAT'S A HUNTING RIFLE!"

"No, see - it says 'Daisy' on it... it's a BB gun. It takes BB's. I don't have a license because you don't need one to own a BB gun."

"WHERE'S YOUR FID CARD THEN!? AND WHERE'S THE _REAL_ AMMO!?!?!?"

"I don't have one - don't need one to get BB's, and didn't need one to buy this gun... in 1980."

"WE'RE USING YOUR PHONE, HOLD ON!"

So they call the station, and their chief... and proceed to tell me that they're confiscating the weapon and ammunition, and I'll be hearing from them.

Now, after the fact, it turns out that they had gotten an ANONYMOUS tip that someone NEAR OR IN my apartment had been firing an assault rifle at people in the alley. I had been doing no such thing, of course. The BB gun was a toy, and the most I had ever shot at were varmints, pigeons, and whatnot.

They asked me, before they left, if I had ever fired it, and I admitted that perhaps I had fired at the pigeons IN MY APARTMENT... they were evil pigeons that were coming into my kitchen and eating my food!

... Fast forward, 2 months ...

So I get a notice in the mail that I am being summoned to appear on 5 FELONY CHARGES, for:

- Possession of a firearm without a license.
- Discharge of a firearm in a public street.
- Possession of ammunition without a license.
- Assault on a protected species (pigeons!).
- Reckless endangerment.

Now, I'm 18 at the time, and scared out of my ****ing mind. It's bullshit, but can they make it stick? So I call the family lawyer. He has me get him evidence to refute each charge - pictures of my apartment, on a cul-de-sac behind a fence that says "private property". That took care of the "public place" charge. And so on and so forth.

So we get to the courthouse, and the cops don't show up. Now, you EXPECT this for a speeding ticket, but for 5 FELONY CHARGES? You'd think they'd appear. So the magistrate throws it out, but tells me that they have 6 months to refile charges on me. They never do.

Do you think that maybe their chief chewed them out for harassing a college kid with a BB Gun?

So I get a notice in the mail a year later.

"Dear Sir, we have a firearm that is scheduled for destruction to which you might have a claim. If you believe that it is yours, please appear at ...address... with your firearms ID, gun license, and receipt for the purchase of the firearm."

So I sent them a letter.

"Dear Sirs, I do not wish to claim this firearm. It is a dangerous weapon, and every effort should be made to get it, and all weapons like it, off of our streets. Please destroy it as soon as possible. I should like confirmation of its destruction, at your convenience."

I got a cute little slip a few weeks later saying that it had, indeed, been destroyed. Oops.

Now, does THAT sound like good cops?

- Gurm

[Gurm]

Another good cop story...

When I was 16/17, between high school and college, I had a summer of freedom. Worked afternoons, and spent every night over at my friend's house - about a mile from my house. I'd bike over there after work, and we'd all sit up eating pizza and getting drunk.

About halfway through the summer, I got pulled over, at around 2AM, by a cop on patrol. I was biking home.

"Where you going, son?"

"Home, officer."

"Where's that?"

"Up on Rte. 6, just around this corner."

"Where you BEEN?"

"At my friend's house."

"Where's that?"

"Back there on ... street ..."

"What're you doing out so late?"

(Mind you, there is no curfew, he's just harassing me...)

"Watching movies, can I go home now officer? I'm tired and have to work at noon..."

"I'll give you a ride."

"No, thank you officer. I have a bicycle, and it's not far. I'll be fine."

He started to insist, but I said no quite firmly and rode off.

-----------

The next night, I'm biking home, and again get pulled over. Same cop.

"Where you going, son?"

... can you see where this is going?

EVERY NIGHT FOR TWO WEEKS he pulled me over, pretended not to know me, and asked the same questions. I started being a wise-ass of course.

"Where you going?"

"Same place as last night..."

"And where's that?"

Now this guy was obviously either dumb as a ****ing post or enjoying ****ing with me. Finally I got indignant, at about the two-and-a-half week mark.

"Officer, I'm going to have to ask you not to follow me any more."

"What did you say, son?"

"You've pulled me over every night for two weeks, I'm going to ask you - only once - not to pull me over again."

"I'll do the asking around here -"

I cut him off.

"No. I'm a citizen. There is no curfew. You are harassing me, plain and simple. I _will_ have your badge. My friend, the one whose house you have asked me the location of every night... his dad is a selectman. He HATES cops who harass teenagers. He got one cop fired in Wareham for pulling his kid over without just cause. You want to mess with him? Or my parents? We _WILL_ have your job."

"Don't threaten me, son - I could take you in!"

"Don't call me son, and no you can't. You can't arrest me for being out at 2AM, and I _can_ have you suspended for harassing me. And if you think a trip to the station will scare me into compliance with your agenda, you're sadly mistaken."

He got flustered at that point, and I rode off. He started yelling for me to come back, but I was quite ticked off at that point.

The next day, I had my parents call the station. He _DID_ get reprimanded, and taken off night patrol. Oopsie.

------------------

Fast forward to the end of the summer. He's back on night patrol. Now my parents had cranberry bogs. And teenagers liked to go down there and party. So my parents asked the cops to send occasional patrols down to make sure there were no bonfires or whatnot.

Well, my folks were away for the weekend, and I had a couple friends over. And we went walking down to the bogs, half-cocked, to see the stars (we all knew celestial navigation at that point) and generally just have some good buzzed fun.

Well, GUESS who starts circling the bog as we are lying there on the ground, looking up at the sky?

That's right, everyone's favorite ****ole cop.

Now, my friends were none too fond of this guy, either. He had at one point forced my friend Abby to get in his squad car when she was out walking the dog, and took her home. This didn't go over well, since it left the poor dog wandering far from home... and her parents had of course complained.

Well, he pulls up, turns on his lights, and gets out - with weapon unholstered, to confront us.

"What're you kids doing here?"

My friends were saying "oh, shit it's ****ole-man!" but I said "shut up and let me handle this".

So I get up and approach him - beer in hand. Mind you I'm 17...

"Laying on the ground, looking for Mercury, and having a refreshing beverage. What can I do for you, officer?"

"Huh?"

"What can I do for you?"

"You can put down that beer and get in the car."

"I don't think so. I think that instead, you'll leave this area and not come back."

"WHAT!?!?!?"

"I said, LEAVE MY PROPERTY. You are not wanted here. I understand that you were told to patrol. I'm telling you that tonight, your patrol is unnecessary since I'm here keeping an eye on things myself. Now get lost, before I have YOU arrested."

Yeah, I was a drunk 17-year-old shit. But I was also right.

"You've been drinking!"

"Yup. And you can't do shit about it. I'm fully within my rights to consume whatever intoxicating beverages I choose, on my own property. Now, would you REALLY like to try to take me to the station? I know you got suspended LAST time I bitched about you. Would you like to overstep your bounds again?"

An aside - this cop had been reprimanded for calling in backup to deal with MY DAD on HIS OWN LAND, since he had... GASP... a BLACK MAN in the car with him. This guy was a ****ing piece of work.

Well, he finally left. Recently I went home - and this guy is still on active duty there, harassing teenagers and pretending to be important. They still let him carry a gun.

I'm scared for my hometown.

- Gurm

[The PIT]

Originally posted by RichL


Judging by a lot of his posts, I think TP has had plenty of unpleasant experiences with just about everything
I'm all for classing him as a disaster area and declaring a 50 mile exclusion zone around him, for everyone's safety!
It's probably safer to invite Angela Lansbury over for the weekend that it is to go anywhere near TP

Personally, on the few occasions I've had dealing with members of her majesty's constabulary, I've found that you get reasonable and not-so-reasonable ones.

Thanks Buddy just moving into house next door to you.
Wheres me pal Goldstein got to??

[MadScot]

Police are like anyone: some are ****oles, others helpful. Its just a shame that we need them to be a cut above the rest...

MadScot

[Gurm]

That's the problem. They're only human, but they're given great power and responsibility, so we need them to transcend their mediocrity.

- Gurm

[Lizzard[MPE]]

poor gurm.. man you've had some shit happen. lol

Our cops used to show up at parties and drink with us. Haha, but then again I lived in the country so they knew and liked all us kids (they often were substitute teachers at the school). I remember one time my Junior year of highschool, my friend Mark and I were racing our mustangs on this curvy street for about 9-10 miles before we got pulled over. (yes i know.. young and dumb) but anyway the cop yells for us to step outta are vehicles all mean like and we were both freaked out and he then told us to get on the ground with our hands behind our backs. he then comes up to us and starts laughing and says "well looky who i found racin their pretty mustangs, lizzie and markie.. get off the pavement ****heads" then we got up and realized who it was.. we bullshitted with him for 30 mins or so, then told him that he should stop in at a party later that night after he was off work. we'll when he left he said "i better not catch you two bitches racin again today" then we laughed and left. lol.. gotta love country cops. we never raced after that .. much

[Greebe]

No Lizzie, it's not country cops... it's T&A that came to your rescue nothing more.

[Indiana]

Well at least here in germany most cops are really, really dumb. No wonder, shitty work-times, shitty payment and the shittiest possible social image. Who will do that as a profession if he is not totally dumb...?
And those are the really bad ones, having a major minority complex, then using the "power" (kind of) the job gives them to try to be a really big mighty boy at least once..

I know so many f*cked up cop stories from friends (that you would NEVER think have gotten into trouble with the police at any time) - and I have had my share of "cop-craziness" myself that I'm just happy when I don't see one. They're NEVER there when you would need one, anyways, so why have them there to bother you?

A friend of mine for instance had his car damaged by a Marder (a wild animal) which bit through a hose of the motors cooling system (hope this is the right word), so we got stuck at night about 3:30 am when trying to drive home. We were standing at some traffic lights when suddenly the was fog coming out of the motor. Cops were behind us. Guess what: they did not help, NO they wanted to give him a f*cking ticket!!!

My dad got a fine for not having done TÜV (a technical inspection for cars that is due at specific intervals). Still the car did have TÜV and was carrying the correct plaque. When complaining we got a writing that the case was dismissed for some obscure paragraph. My brother is a lawyer (Ugh!) and guess what this paragraph was: NO, not the "hey, the police officer ****ed up and pour claim was blatantly and provable wrong, so we apology"- paragraph, but a "case dismissed for lack of public interest"- thing. Of course there never was even one single word of an apology when they clearly made a mistake.

My brother once had a ticket for false parking on his car when he came back from shopping even though the parking meter still showed 5 remaining minutes. He got into the shop next to where he parked and got the manager out to be a witness. Do you think that the police could confess they did make a mistake without the case having to go to court?!? Of course not.

[Lizzard[MPE]]

Originally posted by Greebe
No Lizzie, it's not country cops... it's T&A that came to your rescue nothing more.

LOL.. well ok.. yeah.. ummm..


edit: whataminute... T&A didnt get me outta goin to jail now did it!

[Greebe]

That was a court screwup... negates what they can or rather in this case cannot get away with.