Armed black man gets pulled over for broken headlight: Good Ending

a reply to: Edumakated

I'm a black male. My father was a cop for almost 30 years before he retired.

Most cops just want to get home to their families safe. When you start talking back, not following directions, etc all you are doing is putting the cop even more on edge. Police never know who they are pulling over. You could be totally innocent or you could have a body in the trunk.

You have a unique perspective into this. On the one hand, you are the son of a law enforcement officer. So you understand how the family feels about having a parent who's a cop. Somewhere in the back of your mind you have to always be prepared for the worst possible news.

On the other hand, you are a black man who has no doubt seen racism at some point in your life. Possibly even from a cop. Therefore you can attest to the fact that sometimes people of color are targeted more often than others.

Even though you can see both sides of the problem. Your father's advice is always the best path to resolution:

My father gave me the talk growing up on how to interact with police. He always drilled into my head that regardless if I think I am right and the cop is wrong, the side of the road is not the place to play Johnny Cochran. He told me just follow the policeman's orders and we can deal with it later.

Thanks for the post.

-dex

a reply to: Spider879

You make some good points:

we often overlook the role city/county government played in their actions, in some places they play the role of tax collectors which was behind much of the discontent in Ferguson

I bought up the NYC subway wide sitting stance in which cops passed out tickets at 2:00 A.M in order to fill ticket quotas

I say look at the city council all the way up to the state government and their policies that helped turned many a would be good cop into a bad cop, cops may just be the face of the problem the local or even state government may actually be the cause.

In addition to having to fill quotas writing citations, they also seize private property via civil asset forfeiture. And in some cases, the money from these activities is already budgeted into the fiscal year before they have even been written.

These kinds of activities also don't make the populace any more trusting of law enforcement. If we get caught in a speed trap that is set up specifically for the purpose of writing citations, we feel outraged. And the person to whom we direct that anger is the cop who pulled us over. But the real problem lies with the ones who laid out the trap to begin with.

Thanks,

-dex

originally posted by: laminatedsoul
A man went to the doctor the other day and had his blood pressure checked. Amazing, the doctor did not kill him.

That doctor should be given credit for DOING his job... I think that's the moral of the story here, no?

Why should we hear all the tales of a cop doing his job properly? When it is clearly important to bring it up when they completely fail to do their job.

Unreal, really...

Well if we don't, then people are going to react the wrong way and start targeting cops as we've seen in a few instances over the last 6 months.

Kinda unreal that this didn't cross your mind...

a reply to: ChesterJohn

A lot of young people are defiant today. I also think You Tube video's have an big influence on them.

I watched one video where a young man is pulled over because he flashed his lights at a police officer. He refused to give the officer his license and registration. The cop has him lying on the ground. The kid has his cell phone in one hand talking into it as he's recording this officer so he could place it on You Tube. The cop ended up killing the kid which again is absolutely outrageous!

In the end, feeling his rights were being violated, this kid risked going to jail and ended up losing his life at the hands of a trigger happy police officer. The officer had the right to ask him for his papers, but he certainly didn't have a right to shoot this kid dead.

How does getting pulled over for an equipment violation turn into being asked if one is armed?.

I say this story is a fabrication.

originally posted by: MyHappyDogShiner
How does getting pulled over for an equipment violation turn into being asked if one is armed?.

I say this story is a fabrication.

As a CCW holder, you are required to tell the officer that you are armed when he approaches. They usually already know if they ran the plates, but it's how it should happen for the safety of all.

Tucson LEO are awesome.

Got rear ended a couple months ago and spoke with the Sheriff for a while about hunting while we waited for a tow truck.