Pleasant meeting with...
Yep, only thing he had on me was a missing reg sticker (even though my car WAS registered and I had the papers to prove it), and once he had me pulled over he tried accusing me of being with a minor and searched my car because of the Glock sticker on my back window. I have never had this kind of experience with a police officer in all my years of driving, and I have been pulled over A LOT... Even when I do break the law and the cop is pissed (like one time I was going 95 in a 65) I get treated with more respect than this officer.
I don't know his name (don't have the ticket with me at the moment), but it was a decently tall, medium framed black officer that looked to be in his early-mid 40's. I was tagged on Santa Clara and 1st street in San Jose as I was driving in the right-hand lane and was stuck behind a bus... The cop was in the lane next to me and cut over to go around a car that was trying to make a left and decided to pull me over. I could tell that he was angry from the getgo, so who knows what was going through his head.
I don't know his name (don't have the ticket with me at the moment), but it was a decently tall, medium framed black officer that looked to be in his early-mid 40's. I was tagged on Santa Clara and 1st street in San Jose as I was driving in the right-hand lane and was stuck behind a bus... The cop was in the lane next to me and cut over to go around a car that was trying to make a left and decided to pull me over. I could tell that he was angry from the getgo, so who knows what was going through his head.
I get pulled over often and have had some great experiences with some really nice police officers, and I'm almost always pro-police as long as they aren't overstepping their bounds, but I was pulled over Saturday by a San Jose cop for an expired reg tag (car is registered, someone stole the sticker off my car!!! 
). I was very polite, turned off the car, rolled down windows, put keys on the dash, and as he came up he treated me like I was some violent criminal... I was driving my wife's little cousin home and he demanded that she provide ID, accused me of being with a minor (in a sexual way!). She's 16 and has her drivers lic, so she had ID to give him... We both have clean records and haven't commited any kind of crimes, not even a strike on our driving records... He kept us there for a good 45mins and gave me a ticket for missing tags, and for impeding traffic (I was stuck behind a bus and couldn't go around without cutting off a bunch of cars in the fast lane)... I plan on fighting the ticket because I know for a fact that I wasn't doing ANYTHING wrong, I was barely even going under the speed limit. The cop was just being a TOTAL ***** and def one of the worst experiences Ive ever had with a cop. F'ing bastard, I hope he loses his job.
(Also searched my car to look for guns/weapons because he saw my "GLOCK" sticker on the back window. I thought this was TOTALLY uncalled for and since I just wanted to get out of there and had nothing to hide, I let him look in my trunk (which is empty). Even though he found nothing, he was still a royal *******
). I was very polite, turned off the car, rolled down windows, put keys on the dash, and as he came up he treated me like I was some violent criminal... I was driving my wife's little cousin home and he demanded that she provide ID, accused me of being with a minor (in a sexual way!). She's 16 and has her drivers lic, so she had ID to give him... We both have clean records and haven't commited any kind of crimes, not even a strike on our driving records... He kept us there for a good 45mins and gave me a ticket for missing tags, and for impeding traffic (I was stuck behind a bus and couldn't go around without cutting off a bunch of cars in the fast lane)... I plan on fighting the ticket because I know for a fact that I wasn't doing ANYTHING wrong, I was barely even going under the speed limit. The cop was just being a TOTAL ***** and def one of the worst experiences Ive ever had with a cop. F'ing bastard, I hope he loses his job. (Also searched my car to look for guns/weapons because he saw my "GLOCK" sticker on the back window. I thought this was TOTALLY uncalled for and since I just wanted to get out of there and had nothing to hide, I let him look in my trunk (which is empty). Even though he found nothing, he was still a royal *******
He won't get fired for 'pedo profiling' you, haha!
I had a fun interaction with the cops once, my GF @the time was a bit younger than me (but legal =p ) and the cops were asking her for ID as well. Seemed weird but we were out at night possibly @ a make out spot.
Someone once cut off an entire section of my license plate once to get the year tag. Yeah, Menlo Park PD had me on the side of the road for a good 20 min that time.
The expired tags story would have went over easier had you a police report for the theft ready with your paperwork.
Although I'm sure if you had a "I <3 Cupcakes" sticker on the back window, he wouldn't have searched the car for cupcakes. Unfortunately for you, guns are more dangerous these days than cupcakes (exception - Kristie Alley), so if it was Probable that your fanaticism for guns & weapons could Cause you to carry a gun in the car (even for protection), he was within YOUR rights to search.
I've had officers ask if I was on drugs, and I informed them I don't drink/do drugs and my pee was cleaner than theirs. Was I offended? Slightly, but they didn't go the extra step of giving a field sobriety test based on any 'suspicions' due to profiling.
Fight the impeding traffic citation by mail, but don't waste your time filing a complaint about harassment, it'll only make you a target.
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Joined: Dec 2004
Posts: 380
From: Sunnyvale
...but don't waste your time filing a complaint about harassment, it'll only make you a target.
The experience Brucelee had was uncalled for (the search atleast). I don't give a crap if you had a bad day, just because a guy has a sticker on his car, is not a good enough reason to search <period>. If I had a 420 sticker on my car I wonder what that same cop would've done? While relatively minor in the end, it sounded like an abuse of his power - his deductive logic was certainly flawed.
In the spirit of the OP's thread, whenever I am pulled over and treat the guy with some respect, it usually ends up in my favor, most PO's are good guys. I know when I deserve a ticket, it's up to them if I will or won't receive one, so it's good practice to be kind and respectful as it increases the odds in your favor (though not always).
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subie OCD
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May 15, 2007 05:19 PM