4th of July - I just met the coolest cop

I post this on the Fourth of July, after my family and I just packed in the remainder of our fireworks and firework remnants. We live in a small suburb where the law holds "If it goes up or blows up," it is illegal. Of course, as patriotic Americans, that just doesn't sit tight with us, and darn near every piece of explosive joy in our arsenal breaks that law.

We kept a watchful eye of each vehicle that passed our cul-de-sac. Yet our street location makes it very easy for cops to pin point where the fireworks are coming from. And yes, a police officer did happen to roll up on us this very night.

He gets out and points his flashlight at the plethora of our half full boxes of mortars and says, "Oh! Those are my favorite."

Already, memories of teachers catching me with pranks and toys in grade school and saying that exact phrase flash through my mind. "You can have this back at the end of the year," as they confiscate them. Surely thats why this police officer just said this.

"Did you know these are illegal?"

"No..."

"If it goes up or blows up..."

"Oh."

Then the shocker.

"Yeah, soon their gonna outlaw candy bars and soda.. We won't be able to drive cars that go over 50 horse power." Ha, this guy is great. "Do you have any BORING fireworks like snakes or fountains?"

"No."

"Ok, well you can take your fireworks to [place X] if you want to light them. Or do like I do and throw them out your car window." LOL! "Have a safe night guys."

And he was off. You could hear it in his lingo how much BS he thought this law was, and not only this one but others apparently. So I thought I'd share that to show that not all of the "bad guys" are really that bad..

Happy Fourth of July!

Cops are people too. Not all of them are butt holes

I've had WAY too many encounters with cops in the last few years, like getting "pulled over" and cornered by three patrol cars while sitting in a park parking lot with my engine off. He proceeded and almost succeeded in getting my girlfriend of the time riled up enough to throw the cuffs on her/us.

It was just incredibly refreshing to meet a police officer who wasn't a "butthole".

I am always happy to hear of cops being cool. I have had a few encounters with really friendly officers.

The town I live in has always had a fireworks ban. Fireworks could not be shot off in town and none could be sold in city limits. Last year they suddenly lifted the ban. It has been such a trip to see all these fireworks going off in town and cops not around. A little bit of freedom gained here!

I am an American god damn it, my father fought for this country and I can't celebrate by blowing a small piece of it. I am mad as hell, and im not going to take it anymore.

I feel you man. I am only 24 years old, and i can clearly remember when i was a youngster the new years fireworks we had. The best ones were literally explosives that ripped your hand off if you were not careful.

Nowadays almost all that make a boom are forbidden. Our homebrewed gunpowder bombs are the only thing that keeps the tradition of celebration going in a manner the whole town can hear.

I ran into one of those but he was not a cop but a ATF agent.

Some of us miners ran a miners 4th of july party at a mine WAY out in the Calif desert.

We had plenty of cold beer, fireworks legal and legal, guns, and high explosives.

We were all licensed blasters and had safety rules in place.

One fourth a new guy showed up and he had a federal red card(federal explosive license.)
We gave him a copy of our safety rules and let him join the crew.

A few years later on the TV news he was being interviewed about a big raid on some nut case that had planted a few bombs in the Reno NV area.
he was the ATF agent that had lead the arrest raid to get this guy.

We later found that he had been out to our party to investigate us but we all were licensed blasters and he could not see a reason to bust us as the only thing that was not legal was our illegal fireworks.

Plus he was a trained blaster and the ATF job did not let him just PLAY with the good stuff.
After the first year he no longer was working but just came out to play.

Agreed, not all cops are jerks in fact I believe most aren’t they are human beings just like you and me.
This officer in particular seems to be one of the ones that believes that 90% of the populace does not need a nanny to have fun and be safe, just because we have a minority of people that actually do.
Good story OP I love it when people post about the good people also, but then again is that what ATS is about, weird things happening? Star and flag upon ya.
Q. By the way, does anyone know what the most common phrase is muttered before Americans die by accident?
A. Watch this, hold my Beer a second.

lol that was one understanding cop. i've actually never met a bad cop...well just one lady cop who really hates me. but the rest are really nice if you cooperate and be respectful.

I'm terrified of cops.
My friend was severly beaten and hospitalized by two local police officers because they thought he was a homosexual.
They have too much authority and too little accountability.
I don't even do anything wrong. I work, I pay taxes, I pay my bills... but I almost panic at the mere sight of a cop car.
I guess I'm paranoid.

reply to post by AliWV


Do not be afraid of the Police.
I am the first one who will tell you that cops are just human beings too.
But as with all lines of work you get good at what you practice everyday.
For Police this is a sort of sixth sense, in the way that they can almost smell fear or ill intent coming off of people.
Sounds strange but if you ever were one or knew one you would understand, they pay attention to details that most would dismiss without a second thought.
There are some bad apples but for the most part they just do the job to do the right thing.
Sorry your buddy happened to run into some of the bad ones.

How refreshing it is to hear that. Good cops are awesome.

On that note, I have to say I agree with NOT launching 'go up and blow up' fireworks in residential neighborhoods. Notice that the officer pointed out there was a place that was suitable to launch the fireworks and that they were only illegal in certain areas (but perfectly legal in more secluded areas).

When I was a small child, my aunt's home almost burned down due to her neighbors launching fireworks. Her yard was completely scorched and she lost 2 outer walls in the fire.

So please be considerate of your neighbors' homes. There is a reason why some fireworks shouldn't be launched in residential or closely packed areas.

To be honest, although I'm happy to hear this story, the cop wasn't acting very responsibly. I'm glad he didn't drag off anyone to jail but he really should have at least had them relocate. Not launching fireworks in neighborhoods is something I happen to agree with legally. Someone's fun and irresponsibility could turn into someone else's tragedy.

[edit on 7/5/2010 by AshleyD]

Over the years, I've been approached by law enforcement about my 4th of July displays.
Not once did an officer confiscate, fine, or arrest me. or even give me a slap on the wrist!
Every fourth, I get approached haha.
Usually they just say stop, or move it to a safer location.

One time, 4th of July 2006.
I was doing my annual firework show, and a cop rolls up, and 2 guys get out.
They make their way into my backyard, and just stand there for like 5 mins.
Watching my uncle light off a few (I had stopped because I saw them coming)
I didn't have time to warn my uncle but, they just stood there.
After about another 5 or so, one of the cops says.
"Wow! that one was great!"
At this point everyone looks over and just stops dead cold haha.
My uncle is bent down, with a light lit, going for the fuse, frozen.
Then the cop said.
"go ahead, set it off!" to my uncle.
Which he did, blah blah blah.
These cops stayed and watched for another good 25 mins.
Then...
All they said was.
"Great stuff you guys got, happy fourth!"
It was odd, it looks like they don't care for that law, and just answered a call
to make it look like they were doing something about it haha.
I invited them back the year after, but they didn't show

last night, a kid from my block got seriously hurt playing with fireworks. one of those explosive types blew up on the kid's face and it wasn't even that kid's parents who bought them... his next door neighbor did...

I know i will come off sounding unpatriotic, which couldn't be further from the truth, but as a father of 2 kids i was concerned. there are reasons why those fireworks don't belong in densely populated areas. as I am putting out some ashes next to my shed, which appears to be a left over bottle rocket the kids next street are shooting up, since they couldn't used them anymore after that one kid got hurt and cops, firetrucks, and ambulance showed up, i wonder if those kids next street even have concerns for the kid who maybe battling for his life......

[edit on 5-7-2010 by curiousaboutsky]

I wish more people would share good stories like this. Unfortunately people enjoy discussing doom and gloom more and thus only bad stories reach the internet.

[edit on 5/7/2010 by DGFenrir]

I've actually met and dealt with a great deal of cool cops. I've been let go when they had all the reason to give me a ticket.

hell, I definitely could have been arrested last month and was just let go with a ticket. Glad there's more cops out there who understand what's BS.

Nice to hear about some decent cops for a change! They are out there. We had one a few years back stop and notice we had all the good stuff which just happened to be illegal. Just told us to be careful and have a good time.

If more cops would stop enforcing BS laws where no one is harmed this country would be in much better shape.

Hey I got blasted by a Chinese Cannon yesterday, and I can't think of anything more scary to get blasted by that is at least sold at stores.

Needless to say, I survived.

Hey semper did you hear that? lol

Have a safe holiday everyone.

considering its independence day it should be expected for citizens to tell the establishment to screw off.. this what the entire holiday is based around.. good to see a good cop out there.. that knows when a law is just fundamentally wrong and doesn't act on it.