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Problems with the law.

#161
Munjibunga said:
Funny thing about incomplete stops. I did a ride-along with the drummer in my band - he's a cop. It was a Monday morning and nothing was going on, so we parked in an alley off the main drag and watched for people rolling through a stop sign.

I'd say we watched over 100 cars come to that stop sign and, out of all the cars we watched, ONLY ONE came to a complete stop. Every other car rolled through the stop sign. So, we didn't stop anybody at that one, so we went to another one, and finally a guy zipped through at about 20 mph. He got a ticket.

So if you're going to roll through a stop sign, do it when there's more crime going on. The cops are always looking for action, and they don't want to be doing traffic stops.
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Tell me about it.

Last time I got pulled over (and ticketed) I came to a pretty precarious corner that I always make an old man style "complete stop then creep forward three times until I can actually see what's coming from the east." On an abandoned stretch of highway three miles from town, at 2:00am (bars are closed at 1:00 here). Never do get pulled over unless it's after closing time at the bars for some reason--always get asked to come stand by or sit in the cruiser where someone can smell my breath and see how my eyes respond to standing directly in the search light--often get an annoyed-looking police officer because I haven't been drinking and driving and there's no warrant out for me. That last time the guy was annoyed enough to give me a $125 ticket for wasting his precious DUI time.

I make plenty of mistakes (and frankly there are some I probably deserve citations for :hiding:), but I really don't make many on the roads unless you count often being on them during the time of night that police are itching to pick up some DUIs. Or if I sound so whiny that no one believes me--you gotta believe the "left of center" stops are ridiculous. Why the hell would an unimpared driver be veering onto the wrong side of the road for no reason?--he wouldn't, and I don't, but it doesn't stop the occasional stop at 2:00 am.
 
#163
dullsilver_mike said:
...... God help me if I ever followed my rights and told one of those guys I didn't authorize a search my glove box, trunk, etc. I'd be face down on the road with a k9 unit dog tearing up my pant leg.
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The toughest time to exercise this right is when you have something to hide. But a LEO will only ask if he does not have probable cause to search. Politely say no, maybe add that you are late for an appointment and ask if you can leave.
My BIL is a former local cop and now a federal agent, his advice is to always deny the request to search.

As mentioned in many previous posts .... never mouth-off to a cop. The best option is to be pleasant, answer their questions directly and do not offer information they have not requested.
This has gotten me out of many jams .... when guilty of something they have seen or guilty of soemthing they do not know about.
 
#164
snappytom said:
The toughest time to exercise this right is when you have something to hide. But a LEO will only ask if he does not have probable cause to search. Politely say no, maybe add that you are late for an appointment and ask if you can leave.
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Ive been told by an off duty officer that denying a search gives an officer probably cause. Bit of a Catch 22.
 
#166
Or that they all know that we don't know it as well as they do.

I had to go to court yesterday, and brought in the ordinance saying that they couldn't do something that I knew they would try. I'm not gonna go into details - TL;DR - but it worked! And they were pissed they had to comply :bassist:
 
#171
Wanted to add something I've actually seen cops do a few times:

If you are at a private residence drunk, and a cop shows up and asks you to step outside, DON'T!

I know of at least three times where cops pulled this maneuver and busted the person in question with a drunken in public. The last time I saw it done was about 2 years ago when I called the cops on my wasted stepmom because she went absolutely bat-shiz crazy(breaking doors and other misc. items, threatening me, hitting herself and saying she was going to call the cops on me saying I attacked her, a real gem she was) and I ended calling the police on her. I don't think they police had any real charges to put on her, but they have had run-ins with her before for various reasons, so they knew her.

So the cops get there, sees I wasn't exaggerating, and asks her to step outside. Bam, before she knew it she was handcuffed and sitting in the back of a cruiser.

She was released later that night, but after a long cold walk home without shoes, she had cooled down a bit.
 
#173
Gopherbassist said:
You do what they tell you.
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That's why you keep a tape recorder nearby at all times. Start recording when the cop isn't looking and put someplace inconspicuous while they talk to you and/or commit police brutality. Based on the track record of my local police (e.g., shooting a sucicidal kid to death because he was threatening to off himself, among other gems of "public service") I trust them about as much as I would trust a convicted felon.
 
#176
9 pages of discussion of a wise azz getting his just due. This was a noise complaint. The Sheriff was responding to a complaint from a neighbor. The OP escalated a routine excessive noise complaint and the Sheriff slapped his hand for it. And now of course the OP calls the officer names on a forum.

Time to grow up kid. Show some respect in the future and have some consideration towards a "porker" that would put his life on the line to defend you and your friends.
 
#177
The modifier said:
Sunday yesterday around 6 pm our band was holding rehearsal just as any other usual weekend. However this weekend someone in the neighborhood decided to call the cops :scowl: We hear a knock on the garage door and a yell that its the cops, out of instinct we all proceed to turn off our amps, and our drummer proceeds to open the garage door. As soon as the door is open the sheriff feels free to walk inside our practice space and engage into a conversation with David our drummer. As he does he notices my fingers running over my fretboard (take in mind I was not picking, simply running my fingers over the board as in a warm up/cool down, and the amp was off) so he tells me: Will you stop playing that while I talk to him? I try explaining to him that im not playing that im simply cooling down my fingers from our current jam, and he takes that as me being a smart ass. He pulls me out of the garage and asks for my age, I reply 19, he then tells me that if im 19 I can afford to get a 300$ ticket under the charge of loud music for being a smart ass. While he is writing the ticket he places me in the back of his car, finally lets me out hands me the ticket leaves without incident. I will additionally add that he left a particularly offensive "typo" on the ticket, he put down my sex as being female, I do have long hair, but seriously to mistake me for a girl you'd have to be a 3 year old. I plan to show up in court and contest the charge. Ideas, thoughts, opinions welcomed.
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If anything, the cop - through being a smart-arsed turd and putting down female - may have invalidated the ticket and you may be able to get it thrown out of court on this technicality.

Not wishing to pry, but does your income qualify you to receive legal aid? If so, try to get an opinion on this matter beforehand and with any luck you may not have to even appear in court.

If you don't qualify for legal aid, many legal firms offer a 'free first consultation' and you may be able to get an opinion through this avenue.

Good luck.....
 
#178
The proper response to the cop telling you to stop doing something would have been to apologize & immediately stop doing that.

You can still get back at him for the other thing, though. Go to court to fight the ticket. When it's your turn to speak, stand up in open court, drop your pants, & show that you're not a girl! Extra points if you're able to put an "exclamation" on it, if you catch my drift.

Report back & tell us how it went.
 
#179
In most cases when you open your door to the police they must ask permission to enter. They can't just barge in whether it's the front door or the garage door. This officer wasn't chasing anyone and the garage door was opened voluntarily. After determining who was the person who lived at that address the officer should've ask him outside to discuss a noise complaint (aka misdemeanor, ...at 6pm ???!!!) not invite himself inside...(4th amendment I think). And it is a violation of the OP's 1st amendment rights for the police to issue a fine for a noise complaint when the noisemakers (amps) were all turned off and the OP was only moving his fingers on the fretboard of an unamplified bass guitar. The OP's bandmates are credible witnesses. He should fight the fine. Some cops just hate to leave Dunkin'
 
#180
Clark Dark said:
In most cases when you open your door to the police they must ask permission to enter. They can't just barge in whether it's the front door or the garage door. This officer wasn't chasing anyone and the garage door was opened voluntarily. After determining who was the person who lived at that address the officer should've ask him outside to discuss a noise complaint (aka misdemeanor, ...at 6pm ???!!!) not invite himself inside...(4th amendment I think). And it is a violation of the OP's 1st amendment rights for the police to issue a fine for a noise complaint when the noisemakers (amps) were all turned off and the OP was only moving his fingers on the fretboard of an unamplified bass guitar. The OP's bandmates are credible witnesses. He should fight the fine. Some cops just hate to leave Dunkin'
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Unfortunately, most of your points are completely incorrect.
 

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