What are your experiences with Police?

Reading another thread about Police on here made me realize how big of a gulf there is between different people's experiences with law enforcement. So I ask you, what are your experiences with police? I'm a millenial, and I admit I'm biased because of the experiences I had growing up in a small town on the border of Kentucky and Tennessee. I started skateboarding when I was about 13, and we were the local police's favorite targets. They'd drive us out of town, throw our shoes in a pond and make us walk back a couple of miles, stuff like that.

When we got to driving age they started messing with us as often as they could, and now they could handcuff us, throw us on the ground, and beat us if they felt like it. And they did. It became normal and expected. One time the local sheriff and a couple deputies stopped me and some friends as we were going home after a movie and tore all the seats in the car out, claiming they got a "tip" that we were smuggling drugs and left us on the side of the road with every seat in the car ripped out and broke. All of our parents complained, to the police department, to the city council, to no avail. As long as there was more than one cop present when they did these things to us all they had to say is that we were lying, and their word was taken as gospel. The police in my town got the benefit of the doubt on everything, even though they were all scumbags, just because they wore a badge.

Welcome to small town government and life in the south. Where we'd get beat and harassed just because of the way we looked while a classmates dad would get waved through roadblocks while he was raving drunk, just because he's "known" in the community. It's the good 'ol boy system, and after moving away and going to college and traveling it seems like this is how it operates everywhere. I've been locked up in jail 7 times in seven different states, all for traffic violations. Nothing bigger than a failure to appear for a traffic ticket (if that). Every encounter I've ever had with an officer (even while I was broken down on the side of the road in distress) I end up handcuffed while me and everything with me is searched over with a fine toothed comb in hopes to find some kind of violation to tax me or throw me in jail for a couple days for an even bigger tax. Helping me or anyone else seems to be the last thing on their mind. So, why would I ever call them?

It's not all a bad story, my sophomore year in college the main cop that was the ringleader in my small town got busted with a male prostitute in the back of his squad car. Karma is a ####.

What you have to realize is that with police how they are now, there is a large part of America with the same experiences as I had, and growing larger. Unless Police officers choose to stand against their own for the injustices they see other police commit, the overall feeling for police will continue to slide until the majority of the country feels like I do. To all LEO's, you don't want this. It'll be realized very quickly the only power you have is the power we give you over us.

So I ask again, what are your experiences with Police? Positive stories are encouraged as well. I know all police aren't bad like the ones I grew up around, I've read about them, I just haven't met any in real life.

I was arrested for possessing less than half a gram of marijuana in 2009 in Tampa, FL. I was taken to jail, booked, bonded out, and was on probation for a year.

I'm white, the sheriff who arrested me was white. Where I was living at the time in Tampa was a predominantly white suburb. I was profiled for being young and driving at 2AM.

That being said... After I went through the pathetically inefficient justice system and had my record expunged, I became an outstanding citizen and have never had another negative encounter with police.

I was arrested once for dropping a can of paint on the road.
The cops weren't too helpful and thought i did it on purpose, which i didn't.

When I get pulled over, I keep both hands on the wheel until they ask for the usual paperwork.
*** keep this all papers together, and know exactly where they are. They don't like waiting while you fumble around looking for papers, so they'll just add no insurance certificate / no registration to your ticket.
Accept your ticket, and request a court date to fight it. If it doesn't get dismissed, i usually bargain for no points / lower $$.
I speed a lot, and there's no reason to argue when you're wrong

originally posted by: ColdWisdom
I was arrested for possessing less than half a gram of marijuana in 2009 in Tampa, FL. I was taken to jail, booked, bonded out, and was on probation for a year.

I'm white, the sheriff who arrested me was white. Where I was living at the time in Tampa was a predominantly white suburb. I was profiled for being young and driving at 2AM.

That being said... After I went through the pathetically inefficient justice system and had my record expunged, I became an outstanding citizen and have never had another negative encounter with police.

That's the thing, being in jail for me has never served as any kind of deterrent other than trying to minimize police contact from that point on. Jail to me is a crappy 3 days and then I'm out, and life goes on. I am a better driver now I guess haha.

Unfortunately, I have had too many to recount them all here... but I will share one specific one..

I left my apartment to drive to Ann Arbor (about 40 miles away) to watch the tigers in the World Series 2006(?) .. my friend met me at my house and while normally we would have "prepared" for the drive, I had been preparing all day and we were running late to the party/game so we skipped the ritual and hit the road..

2 miles from my apartment I pass a cop with someone pulled over.. as soon as I pass his victim drives away and I'm put between victim #1 and officer Hill.
Immediately the lights go on.
I get pulled over.almost immediately I'm asked to step out.
He says my eyes are red, and wants to search the call.

I was petrified, shaking.. let's just say if he had searched the car I would not have made it to Ann Arbor... in my shaky scared voice I say "I know my rights. I do not consent" he said all the usual stuff.. people with nothing to hide usually don't have a problem blah blah blah.. all I could do was fight pissing myself and mumbling "I know my rights"..

So he basically said if I failed sobriety test he has the right to search and will come down much harder on me.. I said ok let's do the test.. after 10 minute of light in my eyes and alphabets he finally says "looks like your eyes are just red tonight" and he sent me packing.

This to me is significant because A) all he had to do was say my eyes twitches too much which is what they look for in certain. Sobriety test.. it would have been his word against mine and he was honest.
B) I'm certain that this officeR KNEW I was hiding something illegal in my auto.. an being such a small town, I though for sure h would be after me and I would see him again in coming weeks and I would not be so lucky.
I haven't seen him since.

I'm not fan of police but I can say in my small Michigan town they are pretty cool and not jISt out to get people because he could got me but was honest .




I wish they all went like that lol

I'm English and I have to say I've not personally had any issues with cops.
Even been let off with a warning for riding too fast on occasion always by bike cops, never by car cops.

I would still rather go through my day without having to speak with one, but that's the nature of the job.

As a counterpoint, you can always google South Yorkshire Police and see the British Police at their very worst.

originally posted by: SteamyJeans
Unfortunately, I have had too many to recount them all here... but I will share one specific one..

I left my apartment to drive to Ann Arbor (about 40 miles away) to watch the tigers in the World Series 2006(?) .. my friend met me at my house and while normally we would have "prepared" for the drive, I had been preparing all day and we were running late to the party/game so we skipped the ritual and hit the road..

2 miles from my apartment I pass a cop with someone pulled over.. as soon as I pass his victim drives away and I'm put between victim #1 and officer Hill.
Immediately the lights go on.
I get pulled over.almost immediately I'm asked to step out.
He says my eyes are red, and wants to search the call.

I was petrified, shaking.. let's just say if he had searched the call I would not have made it to Ann Arbor... in my shaky scared voice I say "I know my rights. I do not consent" he said all the usual stuff.. people with nothing to hide usually don't have a problem blah blah blah.. all I could do was fight pissing myself and mumbling "I know my rights"..

So he basically said if I failed sobriety test he has the right to search and will come down much harder on me.. I said ok let's do the test.. after 10 minute of light in my eyes and alphabets he finally says "looks like your eyes are just red tonight" and he sent me packing.

This to me is significant because A) all he had to do was say my eyes twitches too much which is what they look for in certain. Sobriety test.. it would have been his word against mine and he was honest.
B) I'm certain that this officeR KNEW I was hiding something illegal in my auto.. an being such a small town, I though for sure h would be after me and I would see him again in coming weeks and I would not be so lucky.
I haven't seen him since.

I'm not fan of police but I can say in my small Michigan town they are pretty cool and not jISt out to get people because he could got me but was honest .

I wish they all went like that lol

You lucked up that time lol. A friend of mine in Kentucky was pulled over once for having a tail light out and this guy had such a country southern slow-drawl accent the police officer was convinced he was under the influence of something, and locked him up until his blood test came back negative haha. Seriously.

a reply to: underwerks

I was arrested and put in jail because a cop found my friends sisters prescription medication and claimed it was ecstasy. Lol. They were capsules ffs.

Three a.m. rolled around and they finally realized we hadn't done anything illegal, and told us to get a ride home by 6 or we'd have to post bail. I asked them what crime i would be required to pay bail for, and they didn't respond. Luckily I found a ride.

Not all of my experiences were bad, though.

a reply to: underwerks

They showed up fifteen minutes after two armed robbers smash and grabbed our local jewlers store. My colleague and I chased the thieves off.

They failed to protect my families business from a fraudster, who successfully collapsed our business using the courts and his familiarity there with, despite being asked to investigate on the grounds of his having violated no less than three laws in the doing of it, and possibly more.

They failed to catch five lads who broke my face open at a party, knocked out a friend of mine, and injured several other pals, just for the hell of it.

But they can bust all the pot dealers.

The hell with em.

originally posted by: rockintitz
a reply to: underwerks

I was arrested and put in jail because a cop found my friends sisters prescription medication and claimed it was ecstasy. Lol. They were capsules ffs.

Three a.m. rolled around and they finally realized we hadn't done anything illegal, and told us to get a ride home by 6 or we'd have to post bail. I asked them what crime i would be required to pay bail for, and they didn't respond. Luckily I found a ride.

Not all of my experiences were bad, though.

It's crazy to me that the people tasked with enforcing drug laws are a lot of times the most ignorant about what they're supposed to be looking for. It wouldn't be so bad if they didn't have the power to lock you in a cage because of it, but then again, America.

I was a LEO trainer for 2 years. Crisis intervention training [CIT] for a private contractor Forensic Behavioral services company. Most of the LEOs I trained were fine people but some were so tweeked on Roids they were loose cannons and should not have been in that profession or in any position of control of other people.

originally posted by: TrueBrit
a reply to: underwerks

They showed up fifteen minutes after two armed robbers smash and grabbed our local jewlers store. My colleague and I chased the thieves off.

They failed to protect my families business from a fraudster, who successfully collapsed our business using the courts and his familiarity there with, despite being asked to investigate on the grounds of his having violated no less than three laws in the doing of it, and possibly more.

They failed to catch five lads who broke my face open at a party, knocked out a friend of mine, and injured several other pals, just for the hell of it.

But they can bust all the pot dealers.

The hell with em.

That's terrible about your families business. I think police perceive cannabis users as low hanging fruit a lot of times because they're for the most part peaceful and easy to detain. An easy way to get them numbers up when they need it.

a reply to: underwerks

So much about this country would be better if we could just lax up on the drug laws.

a reply to: underwerks

I live in rural West Texas. The nearest town is a population of 17,000. Population of the county is 21,000. 90% Mexican Hispanic. The local police/sherrifs dept. is 95% Mexican Hispanic. I'm white/anglo (Gringo in local terms). I get pulled over for no reason, usually in the town. They're polite, sometimes address me first in Spanish and then go to Spanglish when they realize I don't speak Spanish. They run the plates, check for this and that, then tell me to have a nice day. I can't say their profiling, one of them told me he was checking to be sure we were in the computer. I don't know what that means.

I am getting tired of it.

originally posted by: olaru12
I was a LEO trainer for 2 years. Crisis intervention training [CIT] for a private contractor Forensic Behavioral services company. Most of the LEOs I trained were fine people but some were so tweeked on Roids they were loose cannons and should not have been in that profession or in any position of control of other people.

I don't by any means think all police are like the ones I grew up having to deal with. Scumbags are scumbags, whether they wear a badge or not. I just haven't had any personal experience that was positive. I'm sure there's thousands of positive interactions everyday, we just don't hear about them as much as the bad ones. I'd like it if people would post some positive interactions too so I can still have some hope lol.

I try to stay away from situations where I might cross paths with the police. That seems to have worked for me fairly well. A few brushes as a kid. Traffic accidents.

But, then again, I'm white, so I got privilege (apparently), although some other white people I grew up with ended up in the hoosegow. I guess they just weren't white enough.

Still, I visited Turkey one day on a vacation, and it was a bit intimidating to be confronted by laughing, camo-uniformed police carrying M-16s, and knowing that they could basically kill me for no reason and there was nothing I could do about it, and they probably wouldn't even get in trouble for it. They were also white (Caucasian).

But in the United States, my tacit agreement with the police is working out fairly well. I don't do anything horribly illegal, and they leave me alone and keep the other criminals from getting out of control.

My own experience was fairly harmless (not being American), but let's insert it for the sake of balance.
This comes from my diary as a college student. I had been walking along an empty street in the small hours, coming home from a party;

As I was going home along the Cowley Road, a police-car on the other side of the street went off, went round Magdalen roundabout, and came after me. The occupant got out and called me over, addressing me as “pal”. He asked me what my name was, where I had come from. He said he was looking for an eighteen-year old boy called Joseph Merrill and asked me if I had seen him. He asked also where I worked and how old I was, and finished by enjoining me to “give him a shout” if I saw the said Joseph. I pointed out that I didn’t know what the boy looked like ( and perhaps I should have asked him how to go about “giving him a shout”). He said the boy was middle height, “like yourself”, eighteen years old, etc., and let me go. If he was really looking for the boy, the later questions seemed to have little point unless he thought I might be him, in which case I was surprised that he didn’t want further identification before I went on my way. The other possibility, which only occurred to me later, was that the boy was non-existent, just an excuse to stop me, which would make the whole conversation much more intelligible.

originally posted by: ColdWisdom
a reply to: underwerks

So much about this country would be better if we could just lax up on the drug laws.

Completely. I thought about adding a part about that in the OP but that's a whole topic unto itself and I doubted I would have the space. I see the drug war as the main driving factor behind the majority of everything wrong with how police are perceived today. Legalize. Regulate. Tax. Like it was before 1915. And let police do actual police work.

They go after speeding tickets and kids smoking pot like an addict looking for a fix. Yet, you can find 'Asian Massage' parlors blatantly open on every block in every China Town in every major city in the US. The police just want to eat jelly donuts and go after easy "criminals".