When questioned by the cops....

not supposed to do that in this country Jim. Our cops (er law endorsement officers) carry hand guns. Also radios to wire ahead. Occasionally in crime areas hand guns with automatic weapons & sometimes dogs trained to run you down. I cant tell you the last time I saw a cop with a billy club.

I prefer the old fashioned 45 Cal with a lightweight Ithaca skater gun myself but I'm old school. Saves the poor dog from any harm. He is an officer too.

 

I had to read the whole thread, chuckling at different points...


Working at this police dept for 25+ years, I have seen good officers
and not-so-good officers come and go. The good ones stay, get promoted, and are still here. The bad ones don't last long, and probably
agency-hop like any other profession does.

I have NEVER seen a cop with a bad attitude keep his job for long.

And yes, the investigation he did by questioning you the way he did, getting close enough to smell your breath, checking your engine temp, etc, is all good street investigating. They are trained in how people will respond, and most generally, they know regular nerves from guilty nerves. And you weren't detained, you were free to go at any time.

Here is the most common type of stop, the officers refer to as a "Terry Stop" defined on Wikipedia:

In the United States, a Terry stop is a brief detention of a person by police[1] on reasonable suspicion of involvement in criminal activity but short of probable cause to arrest.
The name derives from Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1 (1968),in which the Supreme Court of the United States held that police may briefly detain a person whom they reasonably suspect is involved in criminal activity;the Court also held that police may do a limited search of the suspect’s outer garments for weapons if they have a reasonable and articulable suspicion that the person detained may be “armed and dangerous”.When a search for weapons is authorized, the procedure is known as a “stop and frisk”.
To have reasonable suspicion that would justify a stop, police must be able to point to “specific and articulable facts” that would indicate to a reasonable person that a crime has been, is being, or is about to be committed.Reasonable suspicion depends on the “totality of the circumstances”,and can result from a combination of facts, each of which is by itself innocuous.
The search of the suspect’s outer garments, also known as a patdown, must be limited to what is necessary to discover weapons; however, pursuant to the “plain feel” doctrine, police may seize contraband discovered in the course of a frisk, but only if the contraband’s identity is immediately apparent.
In some jurisdictions, persons detained under the doctrine of Terry must identify themselves to police upon request. In Hiibel v. Sixth Judicial District Court of Nevada, 542 U.S. 177, the Court held that a Nevada statute requiring such identification did not violate the Fourth Amendment’s prohibition against unreasonable searches and seizures, or, in the circumstances of that case, the Fifth Amendment’s privilege against self incrimination.

 

Dcorbett, may I, as a Canadian, offer my sincere thanks for your services in the USA, as a police officer.

I always take opportunity to encourage the men and women in Canada who risk their lives daily to "serve and protect" us.

May God's blessing rest with you always.

Cheers,

Jim

 

Don't forget the tazers!
I have to shake my head everytime I hear a family complaining of police using a tazer gun on kids. I've seen how out of control even very young kids can be. There are a few elementary students that are bigger than me, and I am by no means little. Much better than shooting the kid...if any of mine ever got out of control and got tazered, I'd be making them apologize to the officer and take whatever punishment they had coming, NOT go crying foul because the police figured out how to gain control with a weapon that rarely has long-lasting side effects.

I'll note again that all my experiences with officers without a clue happened in Ohio. They were pretty corrupt anyhow, the power hungry type that came and forced little kids to take down lemonade stands and then wouldn't come in a real emergency because the area was too crime-ridden and they claimed they were too afraid. But hey, get those kids selling lemonade! Around the time I was leaving the state they were addressing the problem and almost all the officers were reassigned or replaced.

Oregon police were totally opposite. They were polite, kind, and professional. Except the one I ticked off, but that was the result of a news story I wrote and made him mad. Long story.

Out here they don't seem to bother with you unless you're caught red-handed murdering someone with an axe. LOL But I've had interaction with them for a couple different reasons and they've still acted professional. The ones that help keep the peace at the high school I work at do an excellent job as far as they can...you can only respond to one situation at a time. (our area is severely understaffed)

I guess it just depends on where you are too. There's a reason truckers call Ohio "the communist state" and try to route themselves around it when possible. Very controlling, at the time I lived there, tons of corruption at many levels. Them pesky voters seemed more of a hindrance than anything unless they had money to throw around.

Oregon was more of a people state. More self-policed than otherwise. The attitude was completely different in that they treated citizens with respect and understood the concept of people helping other people. I remember one time a mom left her baby in the car while she went to the store...when she came out, a group was standing around the car and getting ready to bust out the window. In Ohio the people would have been charged with interfering and possibly ticketed for not waiting for the police. Out there they simply thanked everyone.

And you know what? That showed in people's attitudes. In Ohio, people seemed helpless. Got a problem? Call the police and wait. In Oregon if you had a problem, you could usually count on those around to help out while waiting for the authorities.

It's interesting how it works in different places and how much it affects how people think and live. A good police force can make or break their area of this country and define what life is like for people. I'll never lose my appreciation for the attitude of the area where I lived in Oregon. Good officers, good people. Hope
Ohio is doing better than it was, but from my last visit there two years ago, sounds like they're still struggling and even if they mean well, can't do their job as neded because of severe understaffing from budget cuts.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6bVa6jn4rpE

"Don't taze me, bro!" :laugh: