It sounds like overkill, but I think it's S.O.P for many police to operate within a buddy system.

I got stopped last week for pulling past the white line at a stoplight....(granted this was at 1AM with no one on the road except me and the cop that came up behind me). About 1 minute after I pulled over into a gas station, a second cop car pulled up.

I just ended up getting a warning and was on my way, but the cops were treating the situation as if I could have been some kind of threat. I think in that line of work, it pays not to take chances. I respect that and do not mind the small personal hassle as long as they keep going after the bad guys.

It's a general security issue.... you have to accept some level of personal inconvenience as a non-criminal so that law enforcement can effectively go after the real criminals.

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Screw Change!! Let's have a Seamless Transition of Power and Policy.. John McSame in 2008!

What ?

Are you saying we don't have our priorities in order ?

I 'ave to agree and give you a "No sherl shitlock."

yes.....cali though is a little different.....I passed a San Jose cruiser a couple of weeks ago at like 90, I was heading to work, on a 3 lane highway, 415 am..not a car in sight...I was day dreaming and didn't see him as I rounded a corner and bam, there he was going about 60-65.....as I passed he hit his lights for a second to like say “slow down"......he kept meandering along at 65....and I was out of site in a minute or so....and that was that...the highway patrol are very different...I have been stopped for going 5 over.....and ticketed...

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We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile....

I stink when it comes to driving. Period. I just suck at it. Thus, I have had plenty of pullovers and not once has a cop been nasty to me. My only experience with a hacked-off cop was when I was returning to my car while I was parked in a fire zone (didn't know it) and he read me the riot act. It was about 6:30 AM, so maybe he's not a morning person (and...I didn't get a ticket for that, so that's a plus).

Anyway, I imagine that backup was called because, as OSB said, your vehicle may have been profiled or associated with some sect of criminals or a criminal. They don't know who you are, so they make sure they are safe...backup.

No doubt most have seen the cop-car dashboard videos on the news of cops getting shot, injured, and even killed for even a routine traffic stop. And 25 bucks? I'd just pay it immediately and save the time and hassle of traffic court.

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I am an American. That's the way most of us put it, just matter of factly. They are plain words, those four: you could write them on your thumbnail, or sweep them clear across this bright autumn sky. But remember too, that they are more than just words. They are a way of life. So whenever you speak them, speak them firmly, speak them proudly, speak them gratefully. I am an American. ...a tradition

Yeah, it sounds like the cop wrote the ticket to cover his arse for the stop and the judge knew exactly why he stopped your son and wasn't going to make your son pay a fine just so the cop could cover his arse.

I have had similar situations myself. Many times at night during those hours I get stopped for petty and even invented reasons but once they find out I'm not drunk they usually let me go with a 'warning' or a 'have a nice night.'

One time really POed me though, and it was similar to your son's situation. I had stopped late at a club because a DJ friend I knew was spinning there that night. I used to do some DJing years ago with a local DJ company in order to pick up extra cash and made some lasting friends from it, including the owner. In fact, some are clients of mine today for legal purposes.

I left the bar at last call. I had nothing but Diet Coke all night. The parking lot was across the street. I walked across to my car, hopped in, pulled out, and made a left heading to the traffic light at an intersection a few hundred yards down the road. I noticed a cop idling in the filling station across the street. He was watching everyone as they left the bar.

I turned left when the light turned green. I then turned right at the next block to head out of town towards home. By the time I was about four blocks down I noticed a cop with his lights on pulling me over. It was the same cop from the filling station lot. He told me I made an illegal left turn on a red light and that I was swerving back and forth over the double yellow line in the middle of the road. I was livid. He then asked me if I had anything to drink. I flatly and firmly denied it.

Whilst this was going on, another backup cop car arrived. The cop then asked me to get out of my vehicle so he could perform a sobriety test. I told him flatly and firmly that I never swerved or turned on a red light, that he saw I turned on a green light, and wouldn't be able to see me swerve because I hadn't and, even if I had, that he couldn't see me do that anyway given his position in the lot versus the road because buildings would block his view and I was around the next corner by the time he must have gotten out. I also insisted that I hadn't drank a drop of alcohol all evening and it appeared to me that he was merely just trying to stop my car because he saw me just exit the bar, especially since he had already called a backup police car.

The cop got suspicious that I seemed to know the law on car stops and police routines, especially with DUI. He asked me what I did for a living, and I told him I was a criminal defence attorney. He got nervous then and told me he believed me that I hadn't drank anything and got much more polite and backed off immediately. But, he then wrote me a turn signal violation to cover his arse, especially since he has radioed in a backup car. I pled not guilty the next morning before he could even file his ticket. That way, I made sure the cop knew that I did so when he came in to file his tickets to get the message this was not a ticket he wanted to litigate. When the court case date arrived, he decided to not show up and I was found not guilty.

Had I been intoxicated, though, I would have been arrested, and I'm sure, like most defendants, would have lost any credibility dispute between my version of the events and his if I tried to suppress the evidence due to an illegal car stop.

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James Hoban. Irish Architect. Member of the Royal Dublin Society. Hoban designed and built the White House and based it upon the top exterior and interior two floors of Leinster House, then known as Kildare House, which is now the current Irish Parliament building. He was also a supervisory architect of the US Capitol Building.

Way back before DUI was a crime against humanity, I got stopped by a state trooper at like 3 AM, he said I had been going 15 mph on the highway, he asked me to recite the alphabet, he asked me where I lived, which was about 5 minutes away, and as he turned to get back into his cruiser, he looked at me and "Christmas comes early for you this year", maybe I just run into all the good cops.
But I always tell them the truth, I don't deny anything, and I always keep my eyes down as a sign of submission, and they always let me go.
A friend of mine got a bunch of DUIs and he needed the services of the "best DUI Lawyer in the Commonwealth", the lawyer took him out to the parking lot and pointed to a Ford wagon, he said "That's what I drive, a Ford station wagon with toys in the back seat, I speed, I get stopped all the time and I never get a ticket, because the cop sees the wagon and the toys and he figures my wife is bitchin' at me to get home because the kids are givin' her a hard time, so he gives me a break, and I'm not married, and I don't have kids, so if you want to drive crazy, get a Ford station wagon, and if you want to drive a Jaguar or a Cadillac or a Corvette, drive slow, because you get no sympathy is those"

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“The thought of his being president sends a cold chill down my spine.”

Senator Thad Cochran, Mississippi (R)
on McCain

“I decided I didn’t want this guy anywhere near a trigger.”
Senator Pete Domenici, New Mexico (R)
on McCain

“My anger did not help my campaign ... People don’t like angry candidates very much.”

McCain on McCain

That MA attorney did indeed give good practical advice, goober. It proves generally true. I've said the same things to clients, especially those with suspended licences. Hot rods and POS cars get pulled over and ticketed plenty whilst mama vans don't as much. The profile means much in a choice to stop or let go, notice or not notice, etc.

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James Hoban. Irish Architect. Member of the Royal Dublin Society. Hoban designed and built the White House and based it upon the top exterior and interior two floors of Leinster House, then known as Kildare House, which is now the current Irish Parliament building. He was also a supervisory architect of the US Capitol Building.

In my state it has become common practice although not written, to keep check on residents. This is done by a 6 month stop interval where records can be updated, this came to light two years ago when we had a maverick officer harrassing all of the young people in the neighborhood. I found out through a friend on the force this was an unwritten policy and leaves plenty of room for interpretation by the officer.It was not until we had recorded no less than 20 peoples rights violated and threatened to take the local prosecutor to court with this joker that he was removed and it quieted down. Don't expect any aspect of the law to protect your rights any more, we are a police state like orwell predicted and it gets worse by the day.

You respect people who get paid to take your money for not following unjust laws with which you disagree? "Love your enemies," I guess.

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A federal judge ruled today that graphic pictures of detainee abuse at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison must be released over government claims that they could damage America's image.

Someone should tell them that bad press can be prevented by not abusing prisoners in the first place. Censorship is only needed to preserve the good reputation of those who have tortured and/or murdered already.

There were just a bunch of foolish lazy redneck cops who insisted on picking the easiest assigments. Typical for american cops I guess...

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Jesus was a communist!

Given that where you live there is very little crime so the other cops may have just been bored. Pulling you over may have been the highlight of their shift.

Well, shit, I suppose all we need is three more Danes to start posting here, and we'll be able to determine what's "typical" behavior from all Danes...

The sheep want more stupid laws, and the police profit from them. The corruption occurs above the police force level. They're just trying to make their damn quota and go home -- it's a fucking job now.

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Beyond Modern Society / Transcendentalism / Pan-Nationalism

One time, late at night, I was cruising down the road looking for a shopping center on the left. I saw what I thought was my destination and got into the middle turn lane but then realized it was the next one down. It being very late I decided to stay there and turn when I came to it.

The next second a big tan and brown state trooper charges past, pulls in front and stops, lights on.

The guy who jumps out was the scariest fucker I've ever seen. One of these little gas pump shaped guys. He was in full uniform but had no hat and his head was shaved. He wasn't bald, just shaved, you could tell, and this was a few years ago, before it became really fashionable. My first thought was that some crazy had killed a cop and taken his uniform and car, with me about to become his next victim.

"Whataya doing," he says as he walks up on my car.

"...uh, turning.." I reply, really hoping he won't take it wrong. Also wondering if he'll kill me fast or slow.

"Then why didn't you?" as he says this he leans in a little.

"..it was the wrong place."

"..oh, okay, well, you're supposed to turn once you get over anyway. Remember that" he taps my door and walks away.

Rather obviously he thought me drunk, but when he smelled no liquor, he walked away. Maybe he had someplace to go too.

I also think he really must have liked just scaring people, and I think my eyes, which were probably as bright as a herd of deer in the headlights, might have really amused him.

I really don't think it is so much a control issue as a fiscal one. Say you are seriously injured in an accident, lose your job and then your insurance, THEN who foots the bill for disability, etc. (Yes, I know you can sue, but if the person doesn't have a pot to piss in, you can't get anything.)

I think it is more than that.

I did get pulled over a while back for not wearing a seat belt. Well, not that the officer could SEE. I did have it on tucked under my arm. I refrained from telling him that the law does not state HOW you have to wear it. As far as the laws go, you could wear it strapped around your toes or in between your butt cheeks and you would still be wearing it.

I wear my under the arm because I am short and it chokes me. So he showed me how to adjust it. (Hey, car salesmen don't show you THAT when you go to buy a car.) Anyway he didn't ticket me.

Lucky him.