Need some Police Input.

[rpm]

Sikboy, you need to check out these 2 blogs by attorney's near you. You might know these guys.
Both are former procecutors.

http://skattershooting.blogspot.com/

http://www.iwasthestate.blogspot.com/

I particularly like this quote from IWTS:
"The title is from the Code of Criminal Procedure. The duty of a prosecutor is not to convict, but to see that justice is done."

[RTR]

stop parking illegally.

[AKIron]

Local laws vary but I can think of only two reasons for towing a car parked in front of your own house. Expired registration or it's parked facing the wrong way. I think you should inquire as to why your car should be towed. If it's an eyesore maybe more than one of your neighbors complained?

[bj229r]

I @@#@# HATE cops.

When I was a teenager, when I was suPPOSED to hate cops, I never saw anything wrong with them, never had any run-ins with them (perhaps living in a high-crime, metropolitan area like Tampa produces a better quality of police officer, who can better see the 'big picture') For the last 12 years, I've lived in a rural area, adjacent to a quiet, LOW-crime city (Roanoke) , in a quiet, LOW crime county (Roanoke) which has more cops than you can shake a stick at. There's naught for them to do in crime-fighting, so to justify their existence, they set up speed traps on back-water country roads, at the bottom of LONG downgrades, (which down-shifting doesn't even save you from passing the limit, forcing you to ride brake) pull people over at random to inform them of mud covering license tag....you get the picture.
Last year I had a guy follow me thru 4-5 turns...saw him back there, assumed he must be going same place s me, except I was going in circles around a building trolling for a parking space. He blocked me as I parked, turned on his bubbles, and threatened to write me 5 tickets for failure to use a signal while turning (I looked away from him, counted to 10, and said "sorry, won't happen again") 5 moving violations would take my license for YEARS, getting me fired from job, etc. Had I been 20 years younger, I would have pointed out, "WHEN YOU ARE ON A 1-WAY, IN THE RIGHT-TURN-LANE, GOING ONTO ANOTHER 1-WAY, IT'S PRETTY G#$##$%#$ OBVIOUS WHAT YOU ARE GOING TO DO!"

 Now that I'm 47, and have a mortgage and a kid entering college, I can see the bigger picture, and being surrounded by salamanders hassling non-criminals as they go about their lawful lives, is a minor trade-off for living in a nice place.

(Mac, follow afore-mentioned salamander around with a camera with telephoto lens....EVERYbody does something in the course of a day they would rather not be recorded:D )

[Bronk]

Originally posted by bj229r
I @@#@# HATE cops.

When I was a teenager, when I was suPPOSED to hate cops, I never saw anything wrong with them, never had any run-ins with them (perhaps living in a high-crime, metropolitan area like Tampa produces a better quality of police officer, who can better see the 'big picture') For the last 12 years, I've lived in a rural area, adjacent to a quiet, LOW-crime city (Roanoke) , in a quiet, LOW crime county (Roanoke) which has more cops than you can shake a stick at. There's naught for them to do in crime-fighting, so to justify their existence, they set up speed traps on back-water country roads, at the bottom of LONG downgrades, (which down-shifting doesn't even save you from passing the limit, forcing you to ride brake) pull people over at random to inform them of mud covering license tag....you get the picture.
Last year I had a guy follow me thru 4-5 turns...saw him back there, assumed he must be going same place s me, except I was going in circles around a building trolling for a parking space. He blocked me as I parked, turned on his bubbles, and threatened to write me 5 tickets for failure to use a signal while turning (I looked away from him, counted to 10, and said "sorry, won't happen again") 5 moving violations would take my license for YEARS, getting me fired from job, etc. Had I been 20 years younger, I would have pointed out, "WHEN YOU ARE ON A 1-WAY, IN THE RIGHT-TURN-LANE, GOING ONTO ANOTHER 1-WAY, IT'S PRETTY G#$##$%#$ OBVIOUS WHAT YOU ARE GOING TO DO!"

 Now that I'm 47, and have a mortgage and a kid entering college, I can see the bigger picture, and being surrounded by salamanders hassling non-criminals as they go about their lawful lives, is a minor trade-off for living in a nice place.

(Mac, follow afore-mentioned salamander around with a camera with telephoto lens....EVERYbody does something in the course of a day they would rather not be recorded:D )

Rural cops have nothing better to do. So they become traffic nazis.

Bronk

[Dichotomy]

I hate to say that my last three interactions with the police have been less than satisfactory.  I'm sure there are a lot of good ones out there that are trying their best to do a difficult and dangerous job but it seems to me that, more and more, the jerks and a-holes are the ones that gravitate toward this profession.  My next door neighbor was a cop until she got sick of the bs and changed her job to postal inspector.  

I got to spend a night detained because my record was screwed up and on their little computer screen it said I was driving on a suspended license.   The cop would not allow me to SHOW HIM THE LETTER FROM THE DPS in my briefcase that it was not suspended and it was a clerical error that they were correcting.

Fortunately with a phone call I got the case dropped but I'll never get the night of being treated like a common criminal back.  I didn't even get my phone call or my miranda until 2:00 am.  

I don't want to dislike cops but I certainly don't trust them the way I used to.  

It used to be if you treated a police officer with respect, even when he was going to write you the ticket anyway, they responded in kind.  A lot of times I got a warning and a 'have a nice day'.  The last three I dealt with treated me like S@#t regardless of how polite I was to them.

Recently during rush hour the local authorities organized a 'stop every car and check for insurance' checkpoint.  When I raised hell with the city council the response I got from the police department was it was their way of keeping up their traffic safety responsibility.  They got a little upset when I accused them of attempting to generate revenue instead of stopping the break in that happened 2 blocks away.  

Oh well.  I keep my nose clean, don't speed, and keep my tags and inspection up to date.  I don't really have much to worry about but I'm still wary of them.

[Dago]

My experience is most cops are basically good guys putting up with a ton of crap, but a few over-inflated egos make the rest look bad.

[storch]

police personnel perform the vital social function of providing law enforcement.  without these dedicated people in place the whole of society would sink into anarchy and terror.  if you follow the rules by which a society needs to conform to you will seldomly have a problem with law enforcement personnel.  if they behave outside of the strict guidelines set forth by our representative government they are held accountable.

a few weeks back my daughter was test driving a new car she wanted to purchase.  they were pulled over by an unmarked car plus about seven other marked units pulled out of the vehicle tossed to the pavement which was scaldingly hot cuffed and dragged to the swale.  this occurred during a period in time when two deputies were shot in the line of duty and they were hunting white cars with stolen tags.

it turns out the deputies were correct in their procedure.  the tag was lost by the dealership and reported stolen.  it had been in the salesmans desk and he went away on vacation.  the day my daughter went for a test ride was the dudes first day back.  the police acted accordingly and with concern for their personal safety.  I don't fault the police.

personally I have nothing but respect for LEPs and I show due deference whenever I deal with them.  they are providing a service to us which I gladly pay for.

[Tigeress]

Have you tried talking to this man? ...getting to know him?

Shoot, invite him and his wife over to your house for a few hamburgers and beer and if he is actually a decent guy you can make friends with him.

So many people assume a combat attitude with problem people but most of them are ok once you get to know them. Having a police officer living in the neighborhood is a good thing, in my opinion.

Just keep his number handy in case of a problem and he can get there much faster than a dispatcher sending a squad car... if he is off duty and at home.

Forget the initial warning on the parked car and try to make him feel welcome to the neighborhood.

I wish I had a police officer for a neighbor... I am afraid to go out after dark unless I am driving.

TIGERESS

[Maverick]

Tigeress,

While what you posted is somewhat understandable you have to understand something. When you are off duty you are not the neighborhood protector, or enforcer. In my department doing that off duty outside of a department approved off duty job would get you administratively punished. If it continued to happen you would end up fired.

I did not want to be bothered by neighbors who had small neighbor issues, most of which could not be handled outside of oprah or judge judy's tv show. I just wanted to be done with the job and have a life outside of work. When I was off duty I was OFF DUTY and not someones little puppet to deal with their petty problems. The neighbors could call the on duty Police and make their problems known.

If my being in the neighborhood helped the hemorhoids go somewhere else, that's fine but I did not want to deal with them on my time. I had my own life and wanted to be concerned with that on my off duty time.

In the case that Mac posted, that guy is setting himself up for a career change and likely deserves to be removed from the job if he can't learn that he's not supercop.

[Tigeress]

Originally posted by bj229r
I @@#@# HATE cops.

Now that I'm 47, and have a mortgage and a kid entering college, I can see the bigger picture, and being surrounded by salamanders hassling non-criminals as they go about their lawful lives, is a minor trade-off for living in a nice place.
 

I can sympathize with you BJ. Sorry to hear that.

I get hassled by certian folks in Aces High just because I am a woman and love to fly... I know how it feels to be singled out and treated poorly by one ore two. Sorry you have to put up with being hassled where you drive.

The universe has a very strange way of turning the tables on those who cause trouble for people though... I think of it as those who generate bad karma cause themselves to get it back from out of nowhere without warning...  from something or someone else entirely.

The few folks who have hassled me here do not represent the vast majority of people in Aces High. There are a lot of nice and decent people here with lots of good karma.

Good Luck and hope it gets better for you

TIGERESS

[Tigeress]

Originally posted by Maverick
Tigeress,

While what you posted is somewhat understandable you have to understand something. When you are off duty you are not the neighborhood protector, or enforcer. In my department doing that off duty outside of a department approved off duty job would get you administratively punished. If it continued to happen you would end up fired.

I did not want to be bothered by neighbors who had small neighbor issues, most of which could not be handled outside of oprah or judge judy's tv show. I just wanted to be done with the job and have a life outside of work. When I was off duty I was OFF DUTY and not someones little puppet to deal with their petty problems. The neighbors could call the on duty Police and make their problems known.

If my being in the neighborhood helped the hemorhoids go somewhere else, that's fine but I did not want to deal with them on my time. I had my own life and wanted to be concerned with that on my off duty time.

In the case that Mac posted, that guy is setting himself up for a career change and likely deserves to be removed from the job if he can't learn that he's not supercop.

Hi Maverick

I certianly understand what you are saying. I wasn't thinking in terms of squabbles or hissy-fits between neighbors, rather... friends who come to the defense of friends in times of real trouble like a break-in in progress.

I thought the police are the police 24/7 in the case of a serious crime in progress.

I have a neighbor, a single man, who looks out after me and told me I can rely on him if a serious problem arose if necessary. Even if it was just talk, it makes me feel more secure.

TIGERESS

[Maverick]

Tigress,

What are you going to do, call your neighbor on the phone or are you going to call the agency that has jurisdiction? Your neighbor won't have his equipment on to ID him as a Police Officer to either the suspect or the later arriving on duty officers. That puts the neighbor in even more danger as he has no back up, no primary equipment, unless he stops to get dressed in uniform then respond to your house. He possibly probably won't any means of communication with Officers en route to tell them who he is and what the description of the circumstances are while they are on the way.

Yep the Officer is a 24/7 responsibility, it does not mean they are on call or on duty 24/7 unless it is a bonafide emergency where life is in danger. Then they are expected to deal with the situation until the on duty units arrive.

The very real sad fact is that it isn't the life and death emergency that happens where they are going to be dealing with an intense situation. It IS the neighbor squabbles that they get hit with. The fights between the neighbors kids, if not the parents, barking dogs and all the ways folks find to not get along.

Just because a Cop lives in your area they are not your neighborhood keeper.

If you have a plumber that lives on your street, do you expect them to be responsible for your plumbing just because they live on the block?

[Tigeress]

Originally posted by Maverick
Tigress,

What are you going to do, call your neighbor on the phone or are you going to call the agency that has jurisdiction? Your neighbor won't have his equipment on to ID him as a Police Officer to either the suspect or the later arriving on duty officers. That puts the neighbor in even more danger as he has no back up, no primary equipment, unless he stops to get dressed in uniform then respond to your house. He possibly probably won't any means of communication with Officers en route to tell them who he is and what the description of the circumstances are while they are on the way.

Yep the Officer is a 24/7 responsibility, it does not mean they are on call or on duty 24/7 unless it is a bonafide emergency where life is in danger. Then they are expected to deal with the situation until the on duty units arrive.

The very real sad fact is that it isn't the life and death emergency that happens where they are going to be dealing with an intense situation. It IS the neighbor squabbles that they get hit with. The fights between the neighbors kids, if not the parents, barking dogs and all the ways folks find to not get along.

Just because a Cop lives in your area they are not your neighborhood keeper.

If you have a plumber that lives on your street, do you expect them to be responsible for your plumbing just because they live on the block?

I understand Maverick... point taken



TIGERESS

[Chairboy]

Originally posted by Tigeress
I understand Maverick... point taken



TIGERESS

This kind of response just won't do here.  You're supposed to call him a socialist or something.