Bull Police Dealings

[tahrey]

I was fined for driving with low petrol once. The petrol warning light wasn't on or anything. I got pulled over, the policeman checked my car for cannabis, wanted to see my drivers license, my insurance papers, he did a check on my license plate, and fined me for having low petrol. This was a completely random pull over by the way, absolutely no basis for it. The fine was £70, absolutely bull.

I can't imagine why that law exists, but once again, if that is illegal and you had low gas...well then the cop didn't do anything wrong.[/quote]

There is no such law as far as I am aware. There may be one regarding motorway travel, as you will then end up having to stop on the motorway for reasons that could have been easily avoided, but running out of fuel in any other case isn't an offence. What if your guage has broken whilst you're going along (either sticking, so you run out without realising, or falling to zero so it looks like you're empty when you're not)? Or some object in the road has made a small hole in your tank which empties it? Or your engine malfunctions (e.g. a twin-coil system goes bad and knocks out the sparks - but not the fuelling - for two cylinders) and starts consuming far more fuel than normal? The latter two could easily happen just after you've entered a section like that bit on the M25/M26 where there are no services or exits for about 25 miles. If you enter it with enough for 50-60 then have one of those happen, you're going to be pretty marginal for getting back on the surface roads and into a parking place.

(Even the Autobahn one is only applicable if your guage is functional, and no other event has caused you to lose or massively overconsume fuel; the offense is entering the highway whilst KNOWING - or at least, being able to know, if you'd bothered to check your guage - you may need to stop somewhere other than a service area on the way.)

Heck, a fuel guage isn't even mandatory equipment, and certainly not a warning light. You're only required, by law (in the uk where i assume this was because of the "£" fine), to have a speedometer and a headlight full-beam/direction indicator telltale. There are plenty of bikes where your low fuel warning is either the trip counter, or it starting to splutter and having to be turned onto the reserve supply to keep running. And my current car is the first one I've had with a light as well as a needle-guage... there's a reason I habitually carry a full 5L spare can - because without a reminder light, some days you just forget to check as often as you should.

Without an instrument to show you your fuel level, how can you guarantee not to run out, even if you're careful, work out your mileage, use a plumb-line dipstick, and try to keep it topped up above 1/2way all the time?

Me and my friends were skateboarding in the drive of a row of garages once, after about 10 minutes the sad old witch on my road comes out with a camera and starts filming us [which I always assumed was illegal without consent, but she's an ex policething so can get away with it I suppose]
Another 10 minutes pass and [honestly] a riot van pulls up. Apparently we have been "exposing ourselves" and banging our skateboards on her wall...
God I hate that cow, we didn't get charged with anything but the whole situation was one massive What The Fuck.

So, did you expose yourself or bang on her wall?
If not, then it won't be on the video. Tell the cops to check the tape.

Assuming they weren't just talking out of their asses and making shit up, how was that out of line or show that they are incapable of doing their jobs? Keep in mind that ignorance is never a legal excuse. Your situation is unfortunate and unpleasant, but to blame the police would be entirely unfair. They did their job. If there is a problem, it's with the local legislature, not the police.

Most police forces have a concept of reasonable/appropriate response, which is why they don't send everyone who does 46 in a 45mph speed limit or makes a mixtape to jail. They have a responsibility to interpret the spirit as well as the letter of the law, and still have powers to warn/caution people, request them to move on, issue them with a formal notice to get their lights fixed, etc without necessarily arresting you for a criminal offense.

In this case, the overnight ban is probably to stop hobos sleeping on the beach (and maybe getting run over by tractors that rake it over...), people doing the dirty and leaving condoms behind, dog walkers who don't clear up after their pet, camping, wild parties and general destruction and vandalism, people going for a drunken swim and drowning/getting lost, plus offshore drug smuggling etc...

Two guys walking back to their hotel and stopping for a rest on a pier, which may be the only thing with seats provided nearby? Not really doing any of the above. At best you can probably ignore them (if they haven't run off at the sight of an obvious patrol, they're likely benign), at worst inform them that it's a pass-only beach and they have to move on now... and coerce them to do so if they refuse.

Since legally they cant pull you over unless your breaking the law they like to make up BS excuses.

Can't they? Maybe it's different depending on where you are, but as far as I know they can do it just on a suspicion of lawbreaking (e.g. you're acting drunk), or even just to do a random check-up.
It's when they start fabricating offenses that you've supposedly committed, rather than just sending you on your way with a trite apology, on finding that you're clean ... that's where the trouble starts.

You could have 10 kilos of blow and a couple uzis in your car under a blanket and unless the cop has a valid reason for pulling you over and searching your car you wont be convicted.

Well, they do have to have good reason for conducting a search, that much is common. But the reason doesn't have to be that they've seen the edge of an assault rifle peeking out from under the blanket...

I also love the BS reasons they give sometimes as they can be quite hilarious.

Come on, amuse me, quote some.

My car actually was insured, my insurance company is just retarded and likes to send me the proper slips a good month late every single year.

There's a simple solution to that then, isn't there? CHANGE YOUR INSURANCE COMPANY ALREADY. I did that myself when I got tired of being dicked around.
Or call them up and complain.
Incidentally does the US not operate some kind of insurer's database that the police can check on? UK traffic cop cars even do it automatically by scanning the plates, can give a result on whether a certain vehicle is/isn't covered in seconds.

But, if you've arranged it through a broker's office, you should at least be able to get a receipt or cover note that you can keep and show to the 5-0. If on the internet, you can print the receipt it shows at the end of the process, from which they can get the policy number etc. Even over the phone, you'll be given that reference, and you could demand they fax a cover note to you (e.g. at a post office).

If the reason you have none of that is that you let it auto-renew, you're probably paying WAY too much.

 

[BRex21]

Hmm, was that in the UK? Resident, or visiting?

I actually live in Manitoba and the default speed if 50KPH, there was a sign saying 50KPH, then a bridge that obscured the view of an intersection. Because of this they decided to put up a sign saying slow to 30KPH, But had yet to get around to it when they started enforcement.
The enforcing officers argument was that I lived in the area and should know the speed limits.

 

[BRex21]

Officer was proably in the wrong there, but that's what traffic court is for

And i did get off the ticket, but its still a pain in the ass to have to drive downtown to set up an appointment in traffic court (about a 40k jaunt from my home each way) and then drive downtown AGAIN for the appointment wasting gas and hours of my life because a police officer failed to realize that posting the speed limit was necessary when ticketing someone for going above the posted speed limit, I suspect it was still a profitable endeavour simply because there are many people in this world who are much less of a stubborn jackass than I am who would simply pay the fine.

 

[thetruefallen]

Most of my beef is with N.S.W. Highway Patrol (bunch of cock-mongers to a man).

Let me spell out the main incident that spawned my frustration. I was driving down the Hume Highway, southbound towards Goulburn and I blew a tyre. Pulled over, changed it for the temporary spare, still had about 40km to go before i could get the original repaired at Goulburn. The maximum rated speed for the temporary spare was 75km/h, the Hume is normally 110km/h. No biggy, just limp the car to Goulburn, pay the $80 or whatever for a new tyre. Easy, right?

After about 10km i was pulled over by High-way patrol car stationed out of Goulburn. Fucker gave me a $255 ticket for obstructing traffic. Traffic conditions were light to moderate, i was being over taken a lot (but i did also as a learner driver on the same road a few short years before hand stuck with a similar speed restriction of 80km/h). Then he wouldn't let me leave because he said if i went back out on the road he would give me another ticket for obstructing traffic. So they towed the car, not to the tyre place but to the fucking impound lot.

After about 2 hours of bitching at Goulburn police station (the closest i have ever been to being legitimately arrested) i finally got the car out of the impound lot for free (apparently there was a "miss-communication" between the tow truck driver and the police). I would have told the tow truck drive the score if i was allowed to travel with the vehicle, but no, i got my first and hopefully only ride in the back of a squad car.

Still had to pay the ticket and the tow (which was another $300 odd on top of everything else. Worst thing was, it wasn't even my car, I was driving it down for a friend who was living in Canberra at the time and had just got his license back (he was keeping the car at his parents house in Sydney and i was going to catch the bus back). I knew he didn't have that kind of cash, neither did I but i still had to pay.

I did talk with a lawyer about taking the whole thing to court but he advised against it because I was technically in the wrong and it would just end up costing me fuck loads for the privilege to see that worm of a highway patrolman wearing his best court attire.

I could go on like this for pages, but i think i made my point. Feels good to get some of that out actually.

OP: if you can stomach the text wall above then you will know my opinion that cops suck everywhere. I have never had a positive experience with them even when trying to seek there aid. They do what they want and how they want it. The rest of the world can go fuck themselves with a burning piece of barbed wire smothered in hepatitis as far as they are concerned.

 

[k-ossuburb]

Nothing much I can think of, I hardly ever have any contact with the police unless it's to ask for directions or I happen to be a witness to something.

I was once stopped on my walk to work, it was 5am, I was tired (I only managed 3 hours sleep) and I was obviously in a bit of a rush because I like to get to work early so I have enough time to sit outside and have a couple of cigarettes and a quick coffee at the nearby cafe. I was also wearing a heavy coat and had my hood up and a scarf double-wrapped around my neck so it would reach just under my chin since it was winter and I really hate the cold.

Anyway, it seemed I looked suspicious (which is understandable, I guess) and I was stopped by the police who said that someone suspicious was seen walking around, they asked me questions, I showed them my uniform and pretty much explained what I said above as to why I had my scarf so high up and why I was in such a hurry. I wasn't arrested or anything, but I was 15 minutes late for work because of it.

And, that's honestly the worst thing that the police has ever done to me.

 

[aegix drakan_v1legacy]

My Dad had two close shaves with cops.

Spoiler: Story 1

1) While he was working for a tech company, fixing a printer issue, a robbery was taking place in the jewelry store a few floors below. He and his co-workers were about to take the elevator down, when the issue happened again, so they ended up staying longer to fix it (this was when the robbery was taking place, they obviously didn't know that.)

So with the printer finally fixed, they went downstairs to get their car....and the keys they'd left with the parking guy were gone. It turns out that the guys robbing the store were wearing suits and had a briefcase. ...Guess what my dad and co had? ...So it turned out the parking guy had thought my dad and co were the robbers, and thus handed over the keys to the lieutenant...who was now in a high speed chase halfway across montreal...

Basically, dad nearly walked into a robbery, was mistaken for the criminal by the parking guy, and then had to walk home because the guy had given the cops his car keys. XD

Spoiler: story 2

So YEARS after the above incident, my dad was running a plastic molding place. He's there one weekend trying to fix one of the machines when he hears this squeaky voice say "Poliiice!". Wondering what the hell is going on, he puts his huuuge black flashlight into a holster on his belt, and walks to the large open truck doors where he heard the noise.

And what does he see? A lady cop pointing her gun at him, finger on the trigger, going "there was a burglar alarm at address #### (not dad's work address)! Identify yourself!". So my dad (hands in the air, obviously) goes "You got the wrong address...The place you're looking for is THAT place!", and as he said this, he leaned forward slightly to point at the right place....and then noticed that there was ANOTHER lady cop (finger on trigger) standing under the truck doors, pointer her gun up at him. So he backs up and goes "ladies...Ladies, take it easy! Look at the number on the place. You've got the wrong address!"

To this day, he says if he had not holstered his flashlight before going out, or if his hand had been anywhere near it, they would have shot his ass.

Turns out the burglar alarm was a false alarm too.

 

[DustyDrB]

Beach Badge? I'm glad we don't have those where I live.

The worst I've gotten was being warned for walking my dog on a particular beach (which is in an anti-touristy, pro-local section. And I have no problem with that. Locals deserve there own refuge). So I just got in my car and drove five minutes further down the road where it was OK to walk my dog.

Cops generally aren't hardasses about things on our beaches (I'm in Charleston, SC. We have a bunch of different beach areas with different rules for each). They'll warn you and give you a chance to stop whatever you're doing or leave. That seems to me the right way to do it. You can't be expected to know every little law in every area around you.

The whole Beach Badge thing sounds like utter bullshit, though. Unless it was a private beach and was clearly marked as such, how the hell are you supposed to know? It seems they would be better off having restricted parking areas (so you'd need to purchase a pass to park). Parking warnings are usually right in your line of sight and are something you'll watch out for anyway. But who thinks to themselves, "I wonder if it is illegal to just be walking here"?