So I went home for lunch yesterday, on my way back to the office I see a police car turn his cherries on immediately behind me. And unfortunately it was me he was pulling over.
The first thing I noticed was he was a State Patrolmen, the 2nd thing I noticed when he took my license and reg. that a 2nd State cop pulls beside him (I pulled into a parking lot, we were on a main 5 lane road) kind of thought that was funny.
The reason he pulls me over "I noticed you wasn't wearing your seat belt"...now I had a problem with that because I saw this guy on the other side of the road - mind you this was a 5 lane road - so he "noticed" I wasn't wearing a belt when we were going 40 mph EACH...in the OPPOSITE direction??? - this guy must have the ability to stop time for crying out loud!
So then - a 3rd patrol car pulls in front of me - for Pete's sake talk about causing a scene! My truck is completely surrounded by 3 State Police cars - and for a seatbelt???

So when the officer gets back to my door - I asked him "did you guys think I was someone else or something?" - he says "not sure what you mean sir", I said "there is 3 patrol cars surrounding my vehicle for a seat belt violation?" he says - "we are just in the area stepping up patrols" ...so he gives me the $25 citation and I move on.

Well that's not all...as it happens one of my bindery guys comes in laughing saying "what did you get pulled over for dude??, hell the one cop turned his lights on as the other one did a U-Turn (remember this is a main 5 lane road - during lunch hour) right in the middle of the road and goes after you like you just shot somebody "

Let me get this straight...an officer during lunch hour traffic...get's a 2nd officer to help him stop traffic so he can do a U-Turn on a very busy road....to go after a guy who is not wearing his seat-belt????!!!

I respect officers, I really do - but these guys are assholes and endanger public saftey for nothing.

__________________

The capitalist will sell us the very rope from which we will hang them...in time. - Josef Stalin

Hey - being your mommy is a dangerous and thankless job.

__________________
"Government big enough to supply everything you need is big enough to take everything you have... The course of history shows that as a government grows, liberty decreases."

-Thomas Jefferson

I doubt it - but I hope the looks I gave him made him feel a little stupid...I didn't glare at him (not a wise thing to do) I just looked at him with a raised eyebrow and looked at the other guys as in disbelief while I said "3 police cars surround...."

The whole seat-belt law is too much government control in the first place (I do understand child restraint laws however) - the government should not have the ability to fine me for not being safe - to myself.

__________________

The capitalist will sell us the very rope from which we will hang them...in time. - Josef Stalin

Drug laws, alcohol laws, seatbelt laws, helmet laws... the government is in the mommy-ing business.

But, ticketing people "for their own good" does generate revenue, which is the most important thing.

__________________
"Government big enough to supply everything you need is big enough to take everything you have... The course of history shows that as a government grows, liberty decreases."

-Thomas Jefferson

Louisiana State Police tend to do that crap also and most state police I've dealt with are real pricks.

__________________
"Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, chardonnay in one hand, chocolate in the other, body
thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and screaming 'WOO HOO, what a ride!'"

Yea, I've had similar things happen to me. I've been pulled over before for going 10mph over the speed limit and had 3 cop cars eventually show up, including a K9 unit (wasn't used, either). They ended up giving me a warning.

I think it's more about giving the appearance of 'no nonsense police', rather than serving any other real purpose.

I noticed a similar example the other night. There were a string of murders in DC and of course the police held a press conference about it in one of the neighborhoods. The policewoman speaking was going on about how they were going to increase patrols, put more cops on the beat, and make use of every last resource...meanwhile, she was surrounded by 20-30 police officers just standing around doing nothing and looking completely bored.

__________________
"Anyone that needs what they want, and doesn’t want what they need
I want nothing to do with
And to do what I want
And to do what I please
Is first on my to-do list"
-Gnarls Barkley, "Going On" lyrics

yeah it takes a lot of revenue to finance the incarceration of millions of fathers, leaving their children without a father...all the while releasing and refusing to imprison child molesters.

Go figure.

__________________

The capitalist will sell us the very rope from which we will hang them...in time. - Josef Stalin

Wait a damn minute here....I gotta PM our Irish lawyer...I believe in Indiana you can't get a seat-belt ticket unless you were pulled over for a SEPARATE violation.
The first thing the officer said was "I noticed you wasn't wearing your seat-belt"...

Hey O!.....am I right?

__________________

The capitalist will sell us the very rope from which we will hang them...in time. - Josef Stalin

I was wondering about that myself. I'm relatively confident that you may not be pulled over for your seatbelt thing in Ohio either, but I guess it varies from state to state.

__________________
"Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God."
Matthew 5:9

you go get'em killer ...you and our house James Spader, yea I'd like to be a fly on the wall for that.

__________________
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....

Pfff....

Good luck with that. The cop wouldn't admit to that rationale in court. My experience with this sort of thing is that, when all that's on the line is money out of your pocket, you're pretty much screwed. I'd be more worried about the check getting lost in the mail, and your fines doubling and tripling while no one bothers to let you know for six months. The local government is far more likely to gouge you for twice as much than realize they mugged you for no good reason.

__________________
"Government big enough to supply everything you need is big enough to take everything you have... The course of history shows that as a government grows, liberty decreases."

-Thomas Jefferson

I have noticed that it's never just one cop pulling someone over. Obviously, they get on the horn and call their buiddies over to "help". Explains why it takes 20 minutes for them to do a liscence check....

__________________
"My opinions may have changed, but not the fact that I am right." - Ashleigh Brilliant(?)
(Voting for None Of The Above, so far...)

yeah that's another thing - I sat there at least 15-20 minutes....I am salary/bonus - so I don't get paid by the hour, but what if I was working somewhere and came in 20 minutes late?

Dammit - you guys are getting me more pissed off!

__________________

The capitalist will sell us the very rope from which we will hang them...in time. - Josef Stalin

What's even better is on warm weather, summer days (obviously doing this in bad weather conditions when it matters more isn't an option ) when there are seat belt checkpoints by my work. I get to sit for five minutes while they slow traffic on a four lane road to a trickle so that they can make sure we've got our seatbelts on, our shirts buttoned, and no milk on our chins. This has, more than once, made me late to meetings.

__________________
"Government big enough to supply everything you need is big enough to take everything you have... The course of history shows that as a government grows, liberty decreases."

-Thomas Jefferson

It didn't use to be in Indiana either, according to this code that was made possible February 2007....however in that same code is where they state:
b) A law enforcement agency may not use a safety belt checkpoint to detect and issue a citation for a person's failure to comply with this chapter.

You can get pulled over - but they can only warn you - if I understand correctly...you can only get the citation if it is in addition to a separate violation.

__________________

The capitalist will sell us the very rope from which we will hang them...in time. - Josef Stalin