I think I'd rather they left me alone

[ArmedBear]

One more addendum.

If someone stops me on the street for any reason, I can tell him/her to F off and if he/she doesn't clear my path, that's assault.

If it's a cop, I do not have that power. I have no freedom to go about my business without undue harrassment. I don't want a damned gift certificate, and that should be my choice, not the cop's.

 

[MS .45]

ArmedBear,
That is the same problem I am having with this. I would have no choice but to pull over and induldge the officer in his act of kindness and visual inspection of my vehicle. I drive safely so that I don't have to be hasseled with being pulled over.

 

[seeker_two]

Go ahead, copper. You'll never gift-certificate me alive!!!....

 

[Art Eatman]

"You can't see that a cop no longer needs to have any reason whatsoever to randomly pull over anyone he feels like, if he has a built-in alibi of handing out coffee cards?"

A Bad Guy LEO has never needed to have any legal reason to wrongfully pull somebody over. Never. Not since before I was born.

What I'm saying is that I don't make the connection between this hypothetical Bad Guy LEO that is somewhere "out there" and PR Attaboys in this particular PR deal. I just don't see where there is any connection.

"I don't want a damned gift certificate, and that should be my choice, not the cop's."

Call the mayor. It's not the cop's idea. And all you have to do is tell the cop, "No, thanks."

Art

 

[lee n. field]

Can I bill them for the wasted time? Standard rate $70/hr, half hour minimum.

 

[Standing Wolf]

The exact same "technique" was tried some years ago in Minnesnowta. It was found by the courts to be illegal.

I've never understood why bad ideas don't just die and stay dead.

 

[ArmedBear]

Perhaps you didn't follow my link.

That

hypothetical Bad Guy LEO that is somewhere "out there"

used his power to pull people over to murder a young woman here in San Diego a couple years after I moved here. It's still very real to us here, every time some of us drive by the offramp where he did it.

Never even found a motive, other than that he was bored one night.

Hypothetical? I'm happy for you that you live where all the cops are angels and don't unduly enjoy the power they have over other citizens. That has not been the case here, and I'm not just talking about the Cara Knott murder.

We've had a number of other sexual assault cases lately.

The ability to pull people over for no reason would just give a cop more ability to "case" his victims and totally avoid scrutiny. Such scrutiny HAS led to cops being stopped from hurting more people, here, recently.

Again, I'm glad for you that, where you are, people are angels and cops need no oversight.

 

[beerslurpy]

Actually, if the person refused to pull over, what would be the cause to pursue him and pull him over? Would they make something up? Would he be arrested for the made up crime?

Is the person being commended in custody? Can they do a Terry search?

What if they pull someone over to congratulate them but spot a coffee can and then search and find cocaine in the trunk? What was the probable cause for pulling them over in the first place? Oh thats right, he was actually driving erratically, not safely!

The exclusionary rule isnt enough, they need to severely punish whoever came up with this brilliant idea for infringing on the 4th amendment. And by punish I mean fed to lions.

 

[dasmi]

I imagine if you refuse to pull over, they'd treat that like any other stop where the subject refused to pull over.

 

[HankB]

That you are stopped for being exemplary, and rewarded, has no connection with any sort of police misbehavior.

Art, here you and I differ - cops are supposed to stop people for MISbehavior. If they now are stopping people for GOOD behavior, they've crossed the line into harassment of the law-abiding as a matter of policy.

As for being "rewarded" . . . tickets to a bush-league baseball game I won't be attending are absolutely worthless to me, as they are to the majority of people.

If they were serious about rewarding good drivers, they'd either pass out something worthwhile (like a $50 Visa gift card) or just mail you the reward.

And lemme say that anybody who gets upset about "wasting ten minutes" obviously isn't married.

Putting up with something from family is one thing - but I never met a cop I'd want to sleep with. (I'd guess a Brokeback Mountain joke wouldn't be considered The High Road?)

 

[beerslurpy]

Exactly, its allows them to pull people over without probable cause and then pretend that it was just a way of congratulating them if it doesnt lead to any evidence of a crime.

If it turns out the awardee has warrants, I bet you that the award program wont be mentioned as the probable cause for doing the stop.

 

[Brian Dale]

Forget misconduct or the possibility of it. Let's take an absolute Straight-Arrow officer as an example.

We hired this person to enforce the law. We trained and armed him, then gave him the authority to kill you, me or John Dillinger based solely on his own estimation of the situation, out there in the field. If he uses this power improperly or unwisely, he might lose his career afterward, but the deed's done.

For the ordinary citizen, an encounter with a law officer involves facing (not "facing down," mind you; just "being in the presence of") an officer with the authority to use force, including lethal force, to compel immediate obedience. Certainly, to deal with occasional regular people doing nothing wrong, and to congratulate them for good driving and so forth, would be a nice break for the officer. Not so for the regular citizen.

Don't use the power of the state to pass out nice comments. That's not what it's for. Let the officer concentrate on going out and catching bad guys.

 

[ArmedBear]

+1 Happy Bob

The best way a cop can "congratulate me" for driving legally is to just drive on and pull over someone else who isn't.

 

[joab]

I don't see any ulterior motives on the part of the officers and believe that the city fathers are truly trying to promote safe driving.
However
I don't live in Mayberry and simply don't have the time to chat with the sheriff or stop for a jar of pickles from Barney

Like someone else said
If you like my driving run my tag and send me an atta-boy in the mail.
That would actually be appreciated

 

[ArmedBear]

To be clear, I don't think there were ulterior motives here. I don't think anyone wanted to subvert the 4th amendment or abet the abuse of power by police officers on any level.

But intentions don't matter. Results do.

And as far as PR goes, these guys have no clue. How about asking some citizens what they think of the idea? Market research is a good thing.

 

[Cellar Dweller]

If this is such a great idea, why not have non-LEO county employees handing out baseball tickets on their commute? "Official" County vehicles can be easily and cheaply marked - a couple magnetic signs and a JC Whitney revolving light (NOT red or blue). If the stop isn't wasting the driver's time, it's certainly not wasting the employee's time either...

Police can concentrate on stopping BAD drivers, which is in their job description. Stopping and rewarding GOOD drivers isn't.

Drivers have the option to opt out by simply not stopping.

No resulting tie-up of traffic. Win-win.