And how did that Pan Out... Local LEO's

[45 Bravo]

I have spent a little time behind the badge, Rapides Parish police. (Louisiana has parishes, not counties)

Police are people too, they have a job to do, just like you, unfortunately, when you are under their scrutiny, you don't normally realize this.

They want to have a rather uneventful day, and go home, kiss their wife, have dinner and a beer and watch the game, just like you.

(this is not counting the 21 year old roger ramjet that is so full of P&V no one can stand him)

But the way he conducts the stop has a lot of factors that effect the outcome of the stop.
Did his wife burn the toast that morning?, was the last stop a d*ck?

He has to be in control of the situation, and while he may seem to be a d*ck himself, until he decides that you are threat or not, he must treat you as a potential one until he determines otherwise.

Then the stop can proceed in a manner that is determined by your and his interactions.

You may get a ticket, you may get a warning.

MOST, and i repeat MOST officers won't pull you over for no reason, you have done something that has warranted his attention, and the best you can do is make the best of the stop, and accept your punishment, and go on with your day.

Say hi, give short yes and no sir answers, be respectful.
When he is finished, thank him, shake his hand, tell him have a nice day.

When you pull away, do so in a normal manner.

He will stay there for a few minutes, writing every thing you said and did on the back of the ticket in the comments section that you never see or knew about.

IF, you try to fight the ticket, or have it fixed, the comments will either help you, or hurt you..

45 Bravo

[DC]

Okay, well this is not a story about getting pulled over, but one about judgement and trust.

Rewind back to about 1977-78 . . . My friends and I used to go to this abandoned farm that had all these derelict buildings.  Many of them were already collapsed. . . . the silo was crumbling, and the farmhouse had probably lost all it's windows 30 years earlier.   So this place became the target shooting spot for everyone in a 20 mile radius.  So we would bring everything we had.  Basically what we did was to do mock S.W.A.T. raids on the farmhouse.  We would go through room by room and clear each one as we went.  Then all of a sudden, we were in Viet Nam and someone would call out "VC on the roof".  Then everyone opened up and we "aerated" a particular spot on the roof.  We're all yelling, screaming, and cursing at an enemy that isn't even there. . . . . . So basically just good, clean fun on a Saturday afternoon.

Okay, so where does the LEO come in?  Well, one day, at the end of the shooting day, we walk back out to where our cars are at.  Maybe it's a quarter mile to get back to them.  We round the bend on the dirt road as we walk toward our cars and right there is a PA State Trooper.  We figured we must definitely be in some sort of trouble.  So he asks us if we had permission to be shooting on the property and we had to say no.  He was not happy with that answer.  Then he gave us a lecture.  Then he asked what kind of guns we had.  He asked us to take them out of the cases, and he checked them out.  Of course, we had to describe in gory detail all the different mods we had done, etc.

Then all of a sudden, he looks me in the eye and, without warning, goes for his gun.  He had it out in about half a second.  Then he says "Check this out".  He hands me HIS gun and starts talking about the how he filed the hammer, this-that-and-the-other-thing, and all these other mods he's done.  He was just beaming.  I'm standing there in shock, holding the LEO's loaded service revolver (yes, they had revolver's way back then).  We all hung around about another half hour going over all kinds of mods you could do to your guns.  My friend Greg and I both had Dan Wesson 357s with interchangable barrels.  So there was lots to talk about there. . . . But talk about being surprised!

[David Baker]

DC, I'm sure Max thought it was funny at the time... Not so much later! LQTM

[DC]

"Y'all remember Gettysburg, Don't You!". . . . . . Classic!   

[pcarrell]

Yeah, and they weren't a bad band either!

[David Baker]

"Damn Yankees" LQTM

[marshalldoll]

Great story Bake. Love it!!
Dan

[pcarrell]

Yeah, Max might have overstepped his boundary a little!

[David Baker]

Thanks Chilli, You guys here are GR8! Hats off to the creators and founders of this site, Lots of time and energy in putting this together and it shows! Nice to be able to share with like minded folks who get it.

[ChilliDrift]

Good stuff Bake... your gonna fit in just fine around here.

[David Baker]

I don't condone breaking the law by any means... I'm sure we all have some stories involving the law, I'm a firm believer that you really have to do something stupid to get pulled over on a bike and we all know the type of action it takes, On the rare occasion speeding will allow you this opportunity to have a conversation with your local LEO. I've had one that went pretty well considering the situation. Then there are others who's experiences go from bad to worse, Max is a case in point.

While traveling one of our local back roads on an otherwise gorgeous day, In a 35mph limit downgrade that I've traveled many times and knew that there was usually an officer sitting in waiting I was totally wrapped up in the moment when I spotted him in the usual hiding spot, As I glanced down at the speedo and realized that I was close to 15mph over (This will get you a date with a man in uniform, especially riding alone) sure enough I drew him out of his hiding spot. When he approached the bike he stated the usual... "Nice Bike... License and registration... Goin' a little fast weren't we... You know, I've been waiting for you all morning." Ever have one of those moments when the words are leaving your lips and you can't get 'em back? I responded with... "I got here as fast as I could" After he stopped laughing and wiped the tears from the corners of his eyes he said... "That's a new one on me... Take it a little slower next time would you... Enjoy the rest of your day... By the way... Don't ever use that line again." And I haven't!

The bad to worse would be a good friend named Max... He was known to just get up, Pick a direction and ride, Sometimes for days. A couple of us got a call from Max to bail him out... Apparently he took an excursion to Georgia all the way from our area North of York, PA. The way he explained it he was speeding and got pulled over which he said he deserved, He said he felt the State Trooper had a bit of an attitude with him being a "Northern Yankee" When he produced his license he said the Trooper asked... "Just where the Hell is Lewisberry, PA Son!" Max replied... "Just North of York" The Trooper then said... "Don't suppose you'd like to explain where the Hell York is Son!"  That's when Max responded with... "YORK! Hell that's just a little bit East of Gettysburg!... Y'all remember Gettysburg, Don't You!"... Shortly there after we got the call from Max for Bail. Ya gotta' laugh!