Police Harassment

**RavenMind** · 07-21-2005, 02:00 AM

I received this in my email yesterday & thought it was funny enough to post!
RM

Quote:

From: Dean Bowman
To: "UHPA"
Subject: Police Harrassment

Hello Sgt.,

I would like to submit the following to be published in the next Utah Trooper Magazine if you think it is appropriate and/or has not been previously published.

Thanks, Dean Bomman
Retired UHP/Sec-2

POLICE HARASSMENT
Recently, California ran an e-mail forum (a question and answer exchange) with the topic being "Community Policing".

One of the civilian email participants posed the following question: "I would like to know how it is possible for police officers to continually harass people and get away with it?"

From the "other side" (the law enforcement side) a cool cop with a sense of humor replied:

"It is not easy. In California we average one cop for every 2000 people. About 60% of those cops are on patrol, where we do most of the harassing. One-fifth of that 60% are on duty at any moment and available for harassing people. So, one cop is responsible for harassing about 10,000 residents.

When you toss in the commercial, business, and tourist locations that attract people from other areas, sometimes you have a situation where a single cop is responsible for harassing 20,000 or more people a day.

A ten-hour shift runs 36,000 seconds. This gives a cop one-second to harass a person, and three-fourths of a second to eat a donut AND THEN find a new person to harass.

This is not an easy task. Most cops are not up to it day in and day out. It is just too tiring. What we do is utilize some tools to help us narrow down those, which we harass. They are as follows:

PHONE: People will call us up and point out things that cause us to focus on a person for special harassment. "My neighbor is beating his wife" is a code phrase we use. Then we come out and give special harassment. Another popular one on a weeknight is, "The kids next door are having a party."

CARS: We have special cops assigned to harass people who drive. They like to harass the drivers of fast cars, cars blasting music, cars with expired registration stickers and the like. It is lots of fun when you pick them out of traffic for nothing more obvious than running a red light. Sometimes you get to really heap the harassment on when you find they have drugs in the car, are drunk, or have an outstanding warrant.

RUNNERS: Some people take off running just at the sight of a police officer. Nothing is quite as satisfying as running after them like a beagle on the scent of a bunny. When you catch them you can harass them for hours.

CODES: When you can think of nothing else to do, there are books that give ideas for reasons to harass folks. The books are called "Codes"; Penal, Vehicle, Health and Safety, Business and Professions Codes... They each spell out all sorts of things for which you can really mess with people. After you read the code, you can just drive around for a while until you find someone violating one of these listed offenses, and harass them. Just last week I saw a guy smash a car window. Well, the code says that is not allowed. That meant I got permission to harass this guy. It is a pretty cool system that we have set up, and it works pretty well.

I seem to have a never-ending supply of folks to harass. And we get away with it. Why? Because the good citizens who pay the tab like it that we keep the streets safe for them. Next time you are in my town, give me a single finger wave. That is a signal that you wish for me to take a little closer look at you, and maybe I'll even find a reason to harass you.

Looking forward to meeting you."

**toxict3arz** · 07-21-2005, 02:57 AM

my personal feelings

i REALLY REALLY want to be a cop ... but at the same time i hate all cops *except the ones that get your things back when its stolen*

now why do i want to be a cop?

my frens friend was a cop *worked for la county, not sure if its lapd*

anyways he quit because he said it was too dangerous or something but since he has been a cop for 2 years he will probably never get a minor speeding ticket or so in his whole life!

why? becuase *this is cops little secret so you guys cant leak it out of this forum* its a little cop thing that cops dont give other cops tickets .. even if they arent a cop anymore .. because lets say if bob *use to be cop* gets a ticket from a officer, bob will tell his cop friends about the officer then the officer will become a loner inside the police department for giving a cop a ticket .. even if he isnt a cop anymore !!

**RavenMind** · 07-21-2005, 06:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by toxict3arz

but at the same time i hate all cops

I'm tired so I hope I'm misunderstanding you.

**jgvernonco** · 07-21-2005, 11:17 AM

My former bro-in-law spent the night in the Madison Street Jail, until Daddy bailed him out.

Of course, he hadlong hair, and usually dressed a bit ratty, so he was sounding off about howthis officer had picked him out to harrass him. The police chief at the time, Reuben Ortega, as pretty down on profiling, and made his people put down the Pronbably Cause for every citizen encounter, so I was suspicious.

"Why did he pull your over, I asked?

"My license plates were expired", he replied.

"How expired"?

"Last year".

"So, what did the cop say"?

"He asked for my driver's license and registration".

"You presented those"?

"I didn't have them".

"What did the officer do then"?

"He told me to step out of the car".

"And....?"

"I got out of the car" (and, it turns out, said something to the effect of this is the part where the pig harrasses the long hair guy). He also admitted that while he was waiting, he gave the officer the finger.

And gee whiz, there was this outstanding warrant for failure to appear on a speeding ticket.

Now, police harassment happens, but so much of it is just like this story; police harrassing law-abiding citizens that aren't law abiding at all. In this case, the officer did not have a cite and release oftion; he had to take the young man to jail.

**40sondacurb** · 07-21-2005, 11:20 AM

I don't hate cops but I do hate the police departments that give out tickets for sport instead of safty.

When the cops start wearing night vision gogles so they can ticket people for not wearing seatbelts at night as well as during the day, it's gone too far.

**myquitehead** · 07-21-2005, 11:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 40sondacurb

I don't hate cops but I do hate the police departments that give out tickets for sport instead of safty.

When the cops start wearing night vision gogles so they can ticket people for not wearing seatbelts at night as well as during the day, it's gone too far.

I don't understand how that's for "sport."

**40sondacurb** · 07-21-2005, 11:49 AM

your right, it's for money. If you ever hear about police fnding being cut, expect to have speed traps at every straightaway.

**myquitehead** · 07-21-2005, 11:54 AM

I don't see what's wrong with enforcing the traffic laws. Wear your belt and drive the limit and they won't pull you over.

**Jason** · 07-21-2005, 12:00 PM

When you hear stories of mothers driving with two kids in her trunk, and 11 other kids inside the car, yes, I'm all for them wearing night vision googles to pull people over.

While wearing night vision googles is a bit extreme, and unpractial, seat belts save lives more often then they don't. Go down to your local FD and talk to them, they'll show you. I'm often reminded of pictures my brother shown me of a kid street racing who lost control at about 60 or 70 miles per hour. He was ejected out of his car. Even his car stereo came out and was found about 100 feet away from the car (it was a pull out car stereo that went flying in the acident).

As far as speeding. I admit, I go faster then the limit when its bright out, on good roads. During the rain and while the roads are wet, I'm one of the slow pokes people call names most likely. But when I get pulled over, I don't start blaming people or making excuses, I knew what the speed limit is, its my fault, and now I must pay.

**toxict3arz** · 07-21-2005, 03:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RavenMind

I'm tired so I hope I'm misunderstanding you.

then i said .. except for the ones that get your stolen stuff back *i cracked a joke :P *

anyways i think its required for all cops to give out a certain amount of tickets within a month or something

im not sure.. i mean there are probably tons of lazy cops who dont like giving out tickets *and like to play tag with their siren on at night in la*

**Jason** · 07-21-2005, 08:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by toxict3arz

anyways i think its required for all cops to give out a certain amount of tickets within a month or something

Of all the former and current cops I have known and know, none of been able to confirm that. In fact my step-grandfather was telling me the other day when he was a cop, they usually kept the people who write more tickets on patrol and moved up others who didn't write as many tickets.

**jgvernonco** · 07-21-2005, 09:43 PM

It used to be called PC...Public Contact, and warnings worked as well as citations.

I think budgets tightened then, and....

elf · 07-22-2005, 01:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Danrak

But when I get pulled over, I don't start blaming people or making excuses, I knew what the speed limit is, its my fault, and now I must pay.

I think for the most part police are a good thing.

I agree 100% with the above quote. I speed...ALOT, but when I get pulled over, I know it's time to pay the proverbial 'piper' (I only have 1 speeding ticket...apparently I'm good at avoiding the 'po').

What I have a problem with, is times like the last ticket I got. I recently purchased a new car (well my dad bought it and I am slowly buying it from him). It was purchased in Nashville, and since I live in Knoxville I drove it home to get my plate on Sunday. Well Monday, I am in class all day (8:00a.m. - 9:00p.m.) which makes it physically impossible to get my new liscense plate.
Tuesday, I get pulled over at 8:00 a.m. for not having a liscense plate. I explain to the cop why I do not have one, and he decides to ticket me anyway. I then had to pay $140 to dimiss the ticket. The only way around it was to miss up to 3 hours of work and the talk to a judge. This pissed me off because I am generally a law abiding citizen and was ON MY WAY to get a new liscense plate when I got this ticket. I am a poor college student and this ticket was INCREDIBLY difficult to pay...that's what makes me hate cops.

rlgsbs · 07-22-2005, 02:09 AM

If i was a cop. I would be the stake out king.....noone would be safe from harrasment!

**40sondacurb** · 07-22-2005, 12:11 PM

Harassment incadent 1.
Wel I've seen harrasment first hand. I was walking home from gran terrace (our neibor city) and this citizen patrol passed us up. So we get to the bottom of the hill (you have to walk up this hill to GT) and then some GT police man pulls on the side of me and my brother (were in colton now so he has no buisnes there any ways) and asks us where we were coming form. We told him form up the hill in GT, then he asks us "what were you doing up there" I told him visiting a friend, he asks who. I was going to give him a fake name because it's none of his buisness any ways but then my brother bluts out my friends name, this didn't do any thin but I would rather the nosy guy didn't know. So then he tells us some vending machine got vandalized up in GT and request weshake our bags to make sure we weren't carrying backpacks full of quaters. He was satisfied and drove back up to his crapy town. But the whole time the guy had this attutude even though I did all the right things, I called him officer and I complied with his little requst. He had no right to come down the hill to another city to pull me and my brother over for some crap like that.

Harassment incadent 2.
Then there was the time my uncle got his head bashed in through a Payless Shoes store window. It was on tape and my uncle was a Sheriff at the time, he did nothing physical to warrent that ether. on the Tape he said a few cuss words but never made any physical gesture to the officer, he was a sheriff himself and knew better than that.

Harassment incadent 3.
Then there was the time I was in Ohio and we were cleaning out my aunts car before we rturned it to her. When we puled intothe shopping center me and my other brother started walking to the quickie mart and my dad (who is white, yes, 40s is part German/Irish) wantedwas cleaning out the car and yelled at us "I need some help here", because we were walking away and he wanted us toclean the car. So these two cops looked over and saw us walking towards him and they briskly started walking towards him to and started asking him if he was OK he said yeah I'm fine, of course he didn't get what was going on

, and then as we got closer the started saying are you sure sir? are you sure? while they eye balled me and my brother, then he caught on and said O yeah these are my kids don't worry about it.

we still jam him up about that.

those are all the one's I can think of off the back of my hand.

**toxict3arz** · 07-22-2005, 12:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by danrak

Of all the former and current cops I have known and know, none of been able to confirm that. In fact my step-grandfather was telling me the other day when he was a cop, they usually kept the people who write more tickets on patrol and moved up others who didn't write as many tickets.

oic mayb i heard wrong

and if i was a cop i would like to be a negociator .. *is that how you spell it?!*

**myquitehead** · 07-22-2005, 01:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 40sondacurb

Wel I've seen harrasment first hand. I was walking home from gran terrace (our neibor city) and this citizen patrol passed us up. So we get to the bottom of the hill (you have to walk up this hill to GT) and then some GT police man pulls on the side of me and my brother (were in colton now so he has no buisnes there any ways) and asks us where we were coming form. We told him form up the hill in GT, then he asks us "what were you doing up there" I told him visiting a friend, he asks who. I was going to give him a fake name because it's none of his buisness any ways but then my brother bluts out my friends name, this didn't do any thin but I would rather the nosy guy didn't know. So then he tells us some vending machine got vandalized up in GT and request weshake our bags to make sure we weren't carrying backpacks full of quaters. He was satisfied and drove back up to his crapy town. But the whole time the guy had this attutude even though I did all the right things, I called him officer and I complied with his little requst. He had no right to come down the hill to another city to pull me and my brother over for some crap like that.

Sorry I broke my quote box :/

This sounds like proper procedure to me. It sounds like what you're complaining about is profiling (are you dark skinned?). Unfortunatley profiling works. Cops learn from their experiences. It sucks for the people who fall into the profile that don't fit the description, but there's really no way around it. If the Officer went against his better judgement because he didn't want to offend you he wouldn't be doing his job. I can't say that there aren't bad cops, but to hate the good ones because of the bad.. just think if you were one of them. You go out and do your best everyday, trying to make the city a safer place, and the people you protect call you pig.

**40sondacurb** · 07-22-2005, 02:07 PM

I can't walk home without getting the "proper procedure"? That's fair?

Quote:

It sounds like what you're complaining about is profiling (are you dark skinned?). Unfortunatley profiling works.

I just told a story nothing else. What exactly are you saying? He was right to do what he did? It was harassment, we were doing nothing but walking home and he went out of his way to give us the third degree.

Quote:

(are you dark skinned?)

What does that matter? It would be bull if I was purple.

**myquitehead** · 07-22-2005, 02:28 PM

Well my point was it wasn't harassment unless you omitted the part of the story where he harassed you.

I got pulled over for driving along some decomissioned rail road tracks late at night. That's it, driving. It wasn't illegal, it was just the circumstances. After that he even took my license plate down wrong and asked me why the car was registered in Minnesota. I talked to him and he re-ran the plates and I told him I was just out amusing myself. He bid me a good night and I went home.

I was in a certain place at a certain time and the officer found this reason enough to pull me over. This isn't harassment, it's his job.

**40sondacurb** · 07-22-2005, 02:42 PM

how that story relates to mine, other than you going haome afterwards and a cop pulling you over, I'll never know.

Pulling some one over for no reason is harassment in my book, may be it's not on the level of my uncle getting his head bashed through a window but I consider it a harassment.

I guess in your opinon it wouldn't be, but I don't appreciate being F ed with for walking home. O and it was a regular side walk in a shoping plaza, instead of n abondond rail road.

07-21-2005, 11:17 AM	#4 (permalink)
jgvernonco Old Timer Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Northern Arizona Posts: 7,958 OS: Vista Home Premium, SP 27	My former bro-in-law spent the night in the Madison Street Jail, until Daddy bailed him out. Of course, he hadlong hair, and usually dressed a bit ratty, so he was sounding off about howthis officer had picked him out to harrass him. The police chief at the time, Reuben Ortega, as pretty down on profiling, and made his people put down the Pronbably Cause for every citizen encounter, so I was suspicious. "Why did he pull your over, I asked? "My license plates were expired", he replied. "How expired"? "Last year". "So, what did the cop say"? "He asked for my driver's license and registration". "You presented those"? "I didn't have them". "What did the officer do then"? "He told me to step out of the car". "And....?" "I got out of the car" (and, it turns out, said something to the effect of this is the part where the pig harrasses the long hair guy). He also admitted that while he was waiting, he gave the officer the finger. And gee whiz, there was this outstanding warrant for failure to appear on a speeding ticket. Now, police harassment happens, but so much of it is just like this story; police harrassing law-abiding citizens that aren't law abiding at all. In this case, the officer did not have a cite and release oftion; he had to take the young man to jail. __________________ Donations keep TSF moving forward. Please help. http://www.myspace.com/speedbumpthecelt

07-21-2005, 11:20 AM	#5 (permalink)
40sondacurb Don't be a menace Join Date: Jan 2005 Posts: 6,285 OS: Vista sp2	I don't hate cops but I do hate the police departments that give out tickets for sport instead of safty. When the cops start wearing night vision gogles so they can ticket people for not wearing seatbelts at night as well as during the day, it's gone too far. __________________ Donate to keep the forum running

07-21-2005, 11:49 AM	#7 (permalink)
40sondacurb Don't be a menace Join Date: Jan 2005 Posts: 6,285 OS: Vista sp2	your right, it's for money. If you ever hear about police fnding being cut, expect to have speed traps at every straightaway. __________________ Donate to keep the forum running

07-21-2005, 12:00 PM	#9 (permalink)
Jason Faugh a ballagh Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Pasco, FL Posts: 8,476 OS: Windows Vista My System Blog Entries: 2	When you hear stories of mothers driving with two kids in her trunk, and 11 other kids inside the car, yes, I'm all for them wearing night vision googles to pull people over. While wearing night vision googles is a bit extreme, and unpractial, seat belts save lives more often then they don't. Go down to your local FD and talk to them, they'll show you. I'm often reminded of pictures my brother shown me of a kid street racing who lost control at about 60 or 70 miles per hour. He was ejected out of his car. Even his car stereo came out and was found about 100 feet away from the car (it was a pull out car stereo that went flying in the acident). As far as speeding. I admit, I go faster then the limit when its bright out, on good roads. During the rain and while the roads are wet, I'm one of the slow pokes people call names most likely. But when I get pulled over, I don't start blaming people or making excuses, I knew what the speed limit is, its my fault, and now I must pay. __________________ Posting Tips \| Advice for New People \| Common Fixes \| Agus na damnaithe fágtha gan focal Glaoigh ormsa i measc na naomh

07-21-2005, 09:43 PM	#12 (permalink)
jgvernonco Old Timer Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Northern Arizona Posts: 7,958 OS: Vista Home Premium, SP 27	It used to be called PC...Public Contact, and warnings worked as well as citations. I think budgets tightened then, and.... __________________ Donations keep TSF moving forward. Please help. http://www.myspace.com/speedbumpthecelt

07-21-2005, 02:57 AM	#2 (permalink)
toxict3arz TSF Enthusiast Join Date: Oct 2004 Posts: 1,283 OS: windows XP Pro	my personal feelings i REALLY REALLY want to be a cop ... but at the same time i hate all cops except the ones that get your things back when its stolen now why do i want to be a cop? my frens friend was a cop worked for la county, not sure if its lapd anyways he quit because he said it was too dangerous or something but since he has been a cop for 2 years he will probably never get a minor speeding ticket or so in his whole life! why? becuase this is cops little secret so you guys cant leak it out of this forum its a little cop thing that cops dont give other cops tickets .. even if they arent a cop anymore .. because lets say if bob use to be cop gets a ticket from a officer, bob will tell his cop friends about the officer then the officer will become a loner inside the police department for giving a cop a ticket .. even if he isnt a cop anymore !!

07-21-2005, 11:54 AM	#8 (permalink)
myquitehead TSF Enthusiast Join Date: Jun 2005 Posts: 572 OS: XP Pro Sp1	I don't see what's wrong with enforcing the traffic laws. Wear your belt and drive the limit and they won't pull you over.

07-22-2005, 02:09 AM	#14 (permalink)
rlgsbs Registered User Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Cincinnati Posts: 193 OS: XP	If i was a cop. I would be the stake out king.....noone would be safe from harrasment!

07-22-2005, 12:11 PM	#15 (permalink)
40sondacurb Don't be a menace Join Date: Jan 2005 Posts: 6,285 OS: Vista sp2	Harassment incadent 1. Wel I've seen harrasment first hand. I was walking home from gran terrace (our neibor city) and this citizen patrol passed us up. So we get to the bottom of the hill (you have to walk up this hill to GT) and then some GT police man pulls on the side of me and my brother (were in colton now so he has no buisnes there any ways) and asks us where we were coming form. We told him form up the hill in GT, then he asks us "what were you doing up there" I told him visiting a friend, he asks who. I was going to give him a fake name because it's none of his buisness any ways but then my brother bluts out my friends name, this didn't do any thin but I would rather the nosy guy didn't know. So then he tells us some vending machine got vandalized up in GT and request weshake our bags to make sure we weren't carrying backpacks full of quaters. He was satisfied and drove back up to his crapy town. But the whole time the guy had this attutude even though I did all the right things, I called him officer and I complied with his little requst. He had no right to come down the hill to another city to pull me and my brother over for some crap like that. Harassment incadent 2. Then there was the time my uncle got his head bashed in through a Payless Shoes store window. It was on tape and my uncle was a Sheriff at the time, he did nothing physical to warrent that ether. on the Tape he said a few cuss words but never made any physical gesture to the officer, he was a sheriff himself and knew better than that. Harassment incadent 3. Then there was the time I was in Ohio and we were cleaning out my aunts car before we rturned it to her. When we puled intothe shopping center me and my other brother started walking to the quickie mart and my dad (who is white, yes, 40s is part German/Irish) wantedwas cleaning out the car and yelled at us "I need some help here", because we were walking away and he wanted us toclean the car. So these two cops looked over and saw us walking towards him and they briskly started walking towards him to and started asking him if he was OK he said yeah I'm fine, of course he didn't get what was going on , and then as we got closer the started saying are you sure sir? are you sure? while they eye balled me and my brother, then he caught on and said O yeah these are my kids don't worry about it. we still jam him up about that. those are all the one's I can think of off the back of my hand. __________________ Donate to keep the forum running Last edited by 40sondacurb; 07-22-2005 at 12:44 PM.

07-22-2005, 02:28 PM	#19 (permalink)
myquitehead TSF Enthusiast Join Date: Jun 2005 Posts: 572 OS: XP Pro Sp1	Well my point was it wasn't harassment unless you omitted the part of the story where he harassed you. I got pulled over for driving along some decomissioned rail road tracks late at night. That's it, driving. It wasn't illegal, it was just the circumstances. After that he even took my license plate down wrong and asked me why the car was registered in Minnesota. I talked to him and he re-ran the plates and I told him I was just out amusing myself. He bid me a good night and I went home. I was in a certain place at a certain time and the officer found this reason enough to pull me over. This isn't harassment, it's his job.

07-22-2005, 02:42 PM	#20 (permalink)
40sondacurb Don't be a menace Join Date: Jan 2005 Posts: 6,285 OS: Vista sp2	how that story relates to mine, other than you going haome afterwards and a cop pulling you over, I'll never know. Pulling some one over for no reason is harassment in my book, may be it's not on the level of my uncle getting his head bashed through a window but I consider it a harassment. I guess in your opinon it wouldn't be, but I don't appreciate being F ed with for walking home. O and it was a regular side walk in a shoping plaza, instead of n abondond rail road. __________________ Donate to keep the forum running Last edited by 40sondacurb; 07-22-2005 at 02:45 PM.