Sorry, but I just have to rant a bit.

You guys won't believe what just happened to me. For those of you who commute through West LA, be careful when driving on Sawtelle between National and Venice. I'm pretty sure it's a speed trap and seems to be a perfect place for one. But the conditions today was just bizarre.

So here's what happened. I was driving north on Sawtelle like I normally do after work. I just happened to be able to leave work early today. I was already kind of tired and figuring I'd just drive slow. I go up the hill and see this motorcycle cop to the right behind another car he had pulled over. At that moment I'm like, "whew, good thing I'm driving slow today." Then I see the cop hop on his bike and race towards me. Not a second later he lights me up. I had to look in my mirror 3 times and all around to finally realize he meant me. There weren't any other cars around. At this point, I was totally confused and thinking to myself, WTF. I pull over and the cop comes up. I ask him what the problem was and he claimed I was driving in excess of 50. At that point I was shocked and told him there must have been a mistake. He asks me when was the last time I looked at my speedometer and I tell him at least 3 blocks down and that I was doing 38 (in a 35 zone). Hey, I was being honest about everything. The cop then asks for my license and does a quick walk around my car. I'm still stunned by the speed he told me I was doing and keep telling him politely there must be some mistake. I guess I had a very confused look on my face because he tells me, "you've looked at me with this confused look for 2 minutes now denying what I paced you at." He claimed he paced me for a mile when in fact it wasn't even a full block. The cop continues to push me to admit I'm wrong and that I had made a mistake. Of course, I didn't want to incriminate myself when I wasn't speeding. I finally shut up when I realized he probably wasn't going to give me a ticket. He literally held up my license and said "if you value not getting a point on your driving record and keeping your license, you should respect law enforcement and admit to your mistakes." I still didn't admit to anything, but I didn't really say much further either. I guess the signs were there to begin with considering he never asked me for my registration. The cop also asked me how old I was, as if he couldn't do basic math. I'm 24 but I do look way younger and I guess the cop was kind of surprised when I told him how old I was.

But what got to me the most was how he tried to pressure me into admitting fault when there wasn't any. In fact, there really wasn't any ground for him to even pull me over. Then he points out that there could have been 3 situations, 1) I was oblivious and not paying attention. 2) My speedometer is severely miscalibrated and that I can go to AAA to get it tested. I didn't know what to say except that my car was new. 3) I'm flat out lying to him. Then he went on saying that people tend to respect law enforcement, especially when they see cops around. He said "it is a well known fact that people tend to at least obey the speed limit when a cop is around and the primary purpose of us motorcycle cops is to give tickets." Basically, he was calling me a moron and wanted to make sure to point it out. All I could do is sit there and think, "but I wasn't speeding."

Needless to say, I'm quite upset. This experience shook me up. At one point I almost believed he was going to write me a speeding ticket and some sort of reprimand for not respecting him. It really angers me that such a thing would happen. Then to top it all off, he mentions I don't have a front license plate. After he was finally done (a great way to spend 20 minutes), he gets on his bike, flips on his lights and pulled over another poor guy on the other side.

What a wonderful way to start a weekend. >=(

 

That's bull****. But be glad you didn't get the ticket.

 

They always are on ego trips. at least in my county

 

next time ask for his name and serial no. unless he has some reason to pull u over he cant. if he says u were speeding, ask him to show u the gun. if he actually did give u the ticket, just measure the distance between u and the guy getting the ticket u drove by, if its less than a mile, u win on his inconsistencies .. plus u could have cussed him out to all hell and he couldnt give u a ticket for it.

thing i always do when i get pulled over is pull the keys from the ignition, throw then on the roof ... drop all the windows, turn the lights on, and make sure im on a secluded street. cops are vulnerable, and they really respect it when u understand where they are coming from and what their job is.

either way, that guy was a dick. u can always file a complaint if u really cared or had the time.

 

Just be happy you didnt get a ticket.. You would have either just paid it or have to deal with it in court.. To me, my time is more valuable then that, and I would have just paid it, but you saved yourself a lot of trouble by keeping your mouth shut.. Sucks that it had to happen to you though..

 

with my last ticket, cop didn't say anything to me. Just asked if the car was mine. I said "yes". He went back to his bike. Came back a few minutes later and handed me a ticket. Before I could even start the car again, he ran back to his bike, and darted into the freeway, to pull somebody else over.

As for cops with egos....

A few years ago, I had an undercover cop pull me over right after I got on the freeway. I knew there was a cop a few cars behind me, as I neared the freeway entrance, so I was careful not to speed.

He pulled me over, and didn't ask anything about how fast I was going. He said, "Don't try to outrun me on my freeways boy".

He said I was "accelerating too fast", and that there was no need to "accelerate so fast". (Nevermind that this freeway onramp, is a stop sign with a 90 degree turn onto the freeway, with no acceleration lane )

He then lectured me for like 10 minutes on "exhibition of speed", etc, etc.

 

you should of shot him in the head.
Pigs sucks.

 

[QUOTE=overdrve]Sorry, but I just have to rant a bit.

You guys won't believe what just happened to me....and said "if you value not getting a point on your driving record and keeping your license, you should respect law enforcement and admit to your mistakes."

Don't sweat it. The guy was a ***** - a dick & I'll throw in douchebag just for helluvit. Anyone who calls your experience BS is completely kidding themselves if they believe a cop having a bad day - whether @ work or home - has no effect on how they treat the 'citizenry' is blowin smoke up their own hole. I don't give a rats --- if they hold a 'law enforcement' position or not - they get respect when they earn it .... just like everyone else. Wearing a badge doesn't - in and of itself - demand anything. Don't let whomever this was inside your head. You have to live with it & you know whether the truth was shaded or not. If you didn't do it - you didn't do it.

 

Isn't that a redundant statement? Cops on ego-trips

 

i got a cop story to tell long time ago,

i dont know them so i had to use #1 #2//lolz
i was sitting in my dad's car,my dad went into the store buy something,then 2 cops walk up to me,ask me whos car is this then i told him its my dads.the cops asked me where is my dad.i pointed at the store,and told them hes in there buying something and hes coming back real soon. then i got off the car ran into the store try to find my dad. i went in i didn't see my dad,i quicky ran back to the car again,i saw my dad talking to the cop. when i walk up to them, the cop #1 told me y did i lyed?? i was like wtf? i asnwer the cop:wat did i lie? the cop said hes not ur father!. i was so pissed i cuzz at the cop so badly! i was like u ***** fu*ka stuff like that.then #2 cop ask me to clam down,asking me where does my dad lives,such and such,i told them everything.
i was so **** so get back to the passenger side of the car. the cop trying to give my dad a ticket and i told the cop why we cant park here!? i start cuzzing again,and then one of the cop told me to get off the car and put my hands behind.cops grap my hands got his click click handcoffez out asked me if i wanted to go to jail today,i ask no.the cop let me go and told us drive away.

 

He probably just wanted to make sure you weren't driving your dad's car without permission.

 

write a formal complaint to your village or town mayor. at least it will give them awareness about schitty cops.

we use to have many cops flash their lights at a red lite and just drive through interestions in IL....until people started complaining.

 

Don't sweat it. Everyone gets frustrated when talking to the police, because thats a situation where you are completely powerless.

Anyways this is probably what happened -- the cop was behind on his quota and he wanted to catch a car fast ... he saw you were driving just slightly above the limit and decided to stop you. Then he tried to convince you and scare you into admiting that you were driving much faster, so he can ticket you.

He saw that he could not make you believe him, which means that even if he gave you a ticket you would drag him into court, which would be a much bigger waste of his time than if he just hung around and waited for an actual speeder. So he let you go.

 

Since you didn't get a ticket, go complain to his supervisor...

 

You guys should see how the cops treat me ...only because I'm young and have an M3....