I was recently told last night of something that made me wonder how come cops get to be where they are. I know some departments require psychology testing to make sure they are no power hungry types, but I guess this is not the case for all.

Apparently a cop pulled over a guy at the traffic lights, the guy had done nothing wrong, he was not speeding, no damage to his car, or anything but the cop pulled him over, and a guy I worked with had his window open, and could hear the cop tell the drive of the car he pulled him over for not going with the flow of the traffic, now most people around here drive about 10km/h faster than the posted speed limit, but this guy was not, he was actually driving the 50km/h posted, and the cop was giving him shit for actually driving the limit.

Yes we are supposed to go with the flow of the traffic, but only where legal, this rule applies to people under-speeding (not sure of the correct term for it, but it is a punishable offence).

What are your takes on this, and have you experienced, or heard of any weird abuse of powers?

EDIT: Personally I would have asked for the cops badge number and would have reported him to his chief.

Edited March 15, 201214 yr by Faracus

I've never personally experianced any LEO's with a bad attitude. I'm sure there are some cops out there who aren't really fit for the job but that goes with almost any career. Though, I can see why the officer might've pulled him over for that.

There are some with bad attitudes out there, yeah. All the ones I've met are generally good people with the exception of one guy that pulled me over when I was 17. He let me go without a ticket anyway because I wasn't seriously breaching the speed limit. In any case, just remember that police officers are still humans. Some humans are good, some are bad.

Sound's like the RCMP where i'm from, i was driving home from work at around 2am and the RCMP always came to the hotel i worked at to check on the tavern, anyway, i got into my car and waited for the cruiser to go so i could pull out, he signaled me to go and he followed me all the way home ( i lived in an apartment complex) he waited until i got parked into my parking stall, blocked me in and turned on his light's, and i sat in my car for about 20 mins before he got out the his car, finally came and talked to me, first tried telling me i was drunk and i was STILL in my chef's uniform, finally once he noticed that, he tried changing his story by saying i was speeding, then asked me for my license and registration, i asked what for? i didn't do anything i just got off work, so, i gave him my info THEN he tried ticketing me for expired tag's when i registration had been renewed THAT DAY, til finally i got frustrated and asked him "forgive me for being rhude but, do you have something stuck up your ass? i just got off work" he got mad turned around and drove away..

this is a pretty good example of how some officer's are, don't get me wrong i have the highest respect for any cop because of what they do, but it only takes one to ruin that trust.

also technically BY LAW you can drive as fast as any police vehicle and they CANNOT stop you as long as the light's are not on.

Edited March 16, 201214 yr by Slimory

Maybe he needed a doughnut? :P

LOL at the "-1", sorry if i don't approve of the police giving me a hard time for no good reason and cause their bored, anybody would do the same, unless one does not have the cojones to standup to one. cop's are only people.

i think what trigger's the mood swing's/attitudes with most officer's you will find alot of them smoke, i've only seen 1 HRP officer smoke and that was at headquarter's, they are not alot to show any unprofessionalism, i can say this because i'm a smoker, alot of them are always chewing gum, if i worked a 12 hour shift with no smoke, i'd be moody to.

Cops who cannot carry the responsibility given to them should no longer be in the job.

Agreed with NicoaiB

Cops in my area are generally exceptionally nice. I've been pulled over twice. Once was because I was in the area where they were searching for a guy who ran from them, and I was driving down the side streets where they were looking for him just wasting time with my friends, and they thought it was suspicious, ran me and my friends, had us pop the trunk so they could look, then let us go after apologizing and explaining what was going on.

The second time was when the State Police pulled me over on the expressway because he thought I didn't have my seatbelt on, which where I'm from is a primary offense, and when he walked up, he realized that my jacket I was wearing was actually the same color as my seatbelt, and I have it come from behind my shoulder because I'm so tall, so he couldn't see it. He ran me, apologized for stopping me with no legitimate reason, and let me go.

I was recently told last night of something that made me wonder how come cops get to be where they are. I know some departments require psychology testing to make sure they are no power hungry types, but I guess this is not the case for all.

***Most departments require a person to be 18+, have 60 college credits, and be certifiable. Anyone can apply but there are many tests and assesments plus background checks to help weed out the people who wouldn't be good officers.

Apparently a cop pulled over a guy at the traffic lights, the guy had done nothing wrong, he was not speeding, no damage to his car, or anything but the cop pulled him over, and a guy I worked with had his window open, and could hear the cop tell the drive of the car he pulled him over for not going with the flow of the traffic, now most people around here drive about 10km/h faster than the posted speed limit, but this guy was not, he was actually driving the 50km/h posted, and the cop was giving him shit for actually driving the limit.

***I heard from a friend of a friend of a friend...ect Stories are stories and unless you were there you don't know exactly what happened. Officers call talking about another Officers actions or what they would do Monday Morning Quaterbacking. Cops are there to enforce traffic laws and keep people safe. So if everyone on the highway is going faster than the speed limit and you have one person going slower creating a possible danger the officer has every right to stop the person and talk with them.

Yes we are supposed to go with the flow of the traffic, but only where legal, this rule applies to people under-speeding (not sure of the correct term for it, but it is a punishable offence).

***Go the speed limit but take a look at how people drive in L.A. at rush hour...if people went the speed limit or didn't go with the flow there would be accidents

What are your takes on this, and have you experienced, or heard of any weird abuse of powers?

***There are more "to protect & serve" cops than there are "paycheck & benefits" cops. A police officer in the United States may pull over anyone for any reason. They also may speak with anyone for any reason. However state laws and other things come into play and what cops may or may not do. Most of the time officers will only stop someone for serious violations that warrant a need for you to be stopped, talked with, and possibly ticketed to remind you to be safe on the road. As a citizen of the United States everyone has the right to fight a ticket they recieve at the court date on the citation. They also may get the badge number and name of the officer and report them to their department. All in all follow the officer's directions at all times and deal with what you need to deal with afterwards.

EDIT: Personally I would have asked for the cops badge number and would have reported him to his chief.

**Would be your right to do so but how would you know what you would do since you were not there or in that situation?

Edited March 17, 201214 yr by HolyOrangeJuice

A police officer in the United States may pull over anyone for any reason. They also may speak with anyone for any reason.

No. A police officer needs reasonable suspicion you committed a crime to pull you over. They may talk with you for any reason, but, unless they have reasonable suspicion or probable cause (not sure which), you can just walk/drive away.

No. A police officer needs reasonable suspicion you committed a crime to pull you over. They may talk with you for any reason, but, unless they have reasonable suspicion or probable cause (not sure which), you can just walk/drive away.

This, You may see officers on COPS or on ride alongs stating along the lines "yeah pull him over, My PC is tag light out" PC means probable cause, if an officer does not have this and stops a person for no reason, the entire case could be thrown out of court and that officer could get in a fair amount of trouble.

PS: Im just adding onto what cp was stating btw...

Well not to pop your bubble, but this be Canada, a slightly different ball game with different laws, honestly I don't know the laws much myself, I just do everything how it's supposed to be done.

This is not LA, we are just a small city, so rush hour does not get too bad. They have actually been spending quite some money on turning the major 2 lane roads in to 4 lanes to help ease congestion.

Also there is no college requirements to join here.

Edited March 17, 201214 yr by Faracus

Well not to pop your bubble, but this be Canada, a slightly different ball game with different laws, honestly I don't know the laws much myself, I just do everything how it's supposed to be done.

This is not LA, we are just a small city, so rush hour does not get too bad. They have actually been spending quite some money on turning the major 2 lane roads in to 4 lanes to help ease congestion.

Also there is no college requirements to join here.

Well my statement was about America, I don't know any of the laws in canada since I don't live there, Plus I was simply adding onto Cps statement to clarify what it's meaning (PC) is over here in america.

Edited March 17, 201214 yr by JAM-Justin35

Well not to pop your bubble, but this be Canada, a slightly different ball game with different laws, honestly I don't know the laws much myself, I just do everything how it's supposed to be done.

This is not LA, we are just a small city, so rush hour does not get too bad. They have actually been spending quite some money on turning the major 2 lane roads in to 4 lanes to help ease congestion.

Also there is no college requirements to join here.

True that, at the first part, we don't have state police, we have RCMP and just city police, sheriff etc, at the last part, Halifax Regional Police need's to have college credit's (some kind of law program) you also need a shit ton of volunteering and be involved the community one way or another,polygraph etc, but i do know that most places in canada don't condone the uses of the pre-employment polygraph such as winnipeg police service, any or all cities in new brunswick, i don't think ontario either.

Well not to pop your bubble, but this be Canada, a slightly different ball game with different laws, honestly I don't know the laws much myself, I just do everything how it's supposed to be done.

This is not LA, we are just a small city, so rush hour does not get too bad. They have actually been spending quite some money on turning the major 2 lane roads in to 4 lanes to help ease congestion.

Also there is no college requirements to join here.

Who was that replying to?

I'll add my 0.02 here about cops that just want the power and cops who actually care about people. I saw both sides in 2010 in London.

I was in London in 2010 coming back from dinner with a friend when an officer walking the street in a high visiblity jacket and hat stopped us for what seemed to be no reason, yelling at us to stop and if we didn't we were going to be arrested, that carry on.

He then went and interrogated my distraught friend about her nationality (Israeli by birth) and beliefs (Jewish) simply becaus she said she doesn't like the whole Israeli-Palestinian war and wants it to end. The best bit, they gave her (A US national) a police caution for, and I quote 'hate speech'. Thankfully she was able to go to the station and talk to the sgt on duty who cleared it up and got rid of it, the cop who gave her that caution was known for such a thing then removing the cautions. Totally and utterly illegal, but (and I mean no racism here), he saw himself as part of an Asian 'quota' to be hired to keep the Met multicultural, so he tended to pull the race card whenever he got into trouble (which I learned from the desk sgt telling me this, that he hed a few people a month come in and ask WTH they got a caution for when they did nothing, the desk sgt and I both agreed we hoped he got fired. Karma got him, he got stabbed to death sadly responding to a call)

Then, on the flip side, same trip and a few days later staying with my relatives they got into a fight in a pub over drinks when somebody pushed past them, so my uncle who was pretty blotto at the point, decided to shove the guy back and got a punch, the police got called and didn't just arrest both of them straight off, they took statements from everyone in the pub, and then stayed to ensure we were all okay about it, the police didn't have to stay and help 50 or so pubgoers out and collect statements from everybody in the pub (even the kitchen staff who saw nothing), but they did, they stayed longer than they had to and I could tell they genuinely cared about the people and the job.

Worth noting that the police officer in my village falls squarely into the 'Cops who care about people' aspect, he looks out for all of us, somebody in a stolen car smashed into a war memorial and he got up at 3am to arrest them and hold them there until a squad car arrived and went to get a torch to write down the registration plate of the stolen car.

No. A police officer needs reasonable suspicion you committed a crime to pull you over. They may talk with you for any reason, but, unless they have reasonable suspicion or probable cause (not sure which), you can just walk/drive away.

A police officer has the right to detain you long enough to see whether probable cause exists for an arrest.

Detain: A detention is a legal term that is something less than an arrest. A police officer can detain you to conduct an investigation to see whether further criminal activity is afoot.

So an officer may stop you for any reason he/she wants but cannot do anything further if they don't have PC. The number one thing to ask an officer is "Am I being detained?" "Am I free to go?". If you get a yes to the first question you must stay if you get a no to the second question you are being detained and must stay.

Either way officers are there to help you and are not going to bother you with small issues or stop you for no reason at all.

Nope. See Terry v. Ohio, and Florida v. J.L..

Edited March 18, 201214 yr by cp702

A police officer has the right to detain you long enough to see whether probable cause exists for an arrest.

No that would be illegal under the UN Human Rights Convention; A peace officer needs probable cause to initiate a traffic stop or else anything discovered in the bad traffic stop can be thrown out in court.

As for the original question; Before I worked for the Police Service and enlisted in the Army, I had this idea that both professions were honorable and most cops and soldiers were all good hearted people and that everything they do is right, even though I grew up in a tough neighborhood and saw my fair share of abuses and hassling I still thought that was the right thing.

First two weeks into my year as a student court officer, I was thrown into the reality of policing and learned that not everything is black and white and there are a lot of grey areas when it comes to law enforcement and the military. If you know anything about the study of Police corruption and Police psychology you’ll learn firsthand why some cops do the things they do and why in some departments it has become the norm rather than the exception (in fact there are behavioral models of police officers), I’m not going to go into to detail but for those of you who haven’t set foot in the criminal justice system, and had to wade through the bs of politics and bureaucracy then you’ll come to realize why that it’s not all sunshine’s and rainbows. In larger urban departments you will also see that many cops are only there for the power, glory, prestige and the ability to slam someone’s head into the wall; there are cops who joined to right wrongs and to serve and protect but that has become the minority in my opinion and again those cops usually become bitter, disillusioned and cynical.

Don’t get me wrong, the military and police are still honorable professions, but every story has two sides.

Edited March 18, 201214 yr by Comm