When drivers are stopped for moving violations, they shouldn't be treated simply as speeders — they should be regarded as possible felons.
Great attitude there, Chief Deputy. I remember a similar one expressed by a Chief Inspector:
I suspect everyone and I suspect no one.I guess that's another way of saying if you're not an "Only One," you just can't be trusted.
And the bond of affection between "us" and "them" just keeps growing stronger...
[Via ChareltonHest]
Fourth Amendment? What Fourth Amendment?
ReplyDeleteAnd another thing . . .
ReplyDeleteWithout giving away his secrets, here's one thing Ingram looks for: If the speed limit is 65 mph, most people will drive 75 mph. But someone wanted by the law will go 65 or less, and avoid eye contact with a cop who pulls up alongside. Ingram calls them "stress-induced indicators."
Let me make sure I have this right--is he saying that compliance with the (speed limit) law is grounds for suspicion? Is he further saying that he ignores people he knows to be breaking the law, in order to focus on the potentially much more lucrative bust of someone who obeys the speed limit?
Doesn't that sound a little . . . I don't know . . . twisted?
I wish I hadn't eaten lunch before reading that story. Herr Ingram made me puke. A damn sad state of affairs in America when people like him are allowed to be armed and roaming the streets. I truly hope on his next stop a tractor trailer hauling hogs runs over his tyrannical ass.
ReplyDeleteHe's a real "good" rep. of law "enforcement." His manners of speech are real professional,also.
ReplyDeleteNow Junior's in on the hustle.
Secret Freedom Fighters......
Wouldn't the other side of that coin be just as valid. Every cop is dishonest and a brutalizer of innocent citizens, a perjurer, drug dealer, and armed robber?
ReplyDeleteShouldn't every one of them be approached as a threat to the life of a citizen?
and this is one of the so called "good" cops.
ReplyDeleteThink about that for just a moment. This highwayman, this armed robber is considered to be a "good" cop. What is the limit of $$ that I am allowed to have in my own private vehicle? Since when is it a crime to be travelling with $$?
"What is the limit of $$ that I am allowed to have in my own private vehicle? Since when is it a crime to be travelling with $$?"
ReplyDeleteIt depends.
I believe 10k is the "limit" that has been established for us. But, I've spoken to cops that will confiscate 5k or more, b/c it "could be" illicit. Notice, I said "could be." Anything over 10k has to have documentation of where it came from, etc....
When that limit of cash one can carry without documentation--and without worry of confiscation by our "protectors"--came up in Ross's Unintended Consequences, I assumed it was a bit of artistic license.
ReplyDeleteFoolish of me.
Darn, you guys took all the good comments. Especially the one about speed limits; I refer back to "Why you should never talk to the cops." The officer in the video described how if he followed a car long enough, he WOULD catch them violating some obscure law, and issue a ticket, and that would be grounds for a search. ONE MILE OVER THE LIMIT is a violation... Damned if you do .. just damned, period.
ReplyDeleteObviously the comrades at National People's Republic Radio LOVE this cracker.
So would ... the hogs.
The mylar strips in the paper money reflect radar. No coincidence that people pulled over for "fitting the profile" happen to have $20,000 or more in cash. It's not alert police work, it's rigged money. I've heard of smugglers clipping and tweezing those strips out before they go through airport metal detectors. Now, though, they're probably set so sensitive that one strip would ping.
Hold a bill larger than a $1 up to the light. You'll see a dark line. Look closer and it says USA TWENTY USA TWENTY, etc. To prevent counterfeiting, of course. Ha.
As for this cop's attitude, I think a few thousand people will detour around Alabama now. We know his attitude is not unique, though not universal. We'll just have to expect ALL cops to act like Nazis, then, and be prepared accordingly. If they're fair, polite and professional, why, that'll be a nice surprise and a relief. That's not how America was meant to be.
Tick tock.
Since I purchased a radar detector, my interactions with cops have dropped to zero, but before that, the last time a cop asked me to step out of my vehicle, I locked the door before I closed it, and dropped my keys into my pocket.
ReplyDelete"What did you do that for?" he asked.
"I didn't want to tempt you into violating my 4th amendment right against illegal search and seizure," I replied. "So before you even ask, the answer is no, you may not search my vehicle without a warrant."
"Why? Do you have something to hide?" His manner became distinctly unfriendly.
I gave him the quote I picked up from a poster on the KABA website.
"No, I have nothing to hide. I just believe that you people in power are required to obey your own rules, and if I fail in my civic duty to insist upon that, my soul will shrivel up and shrink down to the size of yours."
So, he added reckless driving to the speeding charge, and I beat it in court anyway.
Very good, g. By locking your car, you ensured the officers's safety by preventing your surprise immediate access to any weapon inside. Therefore it was unnecessary for him to check for himself. Brilliant. Sorry he hosed you, glad you won. I wish him a long career on the back of a garbage truck. Before someone gives him a short career IN the back of one. He was lucky you're the reasonable person and good citizen you obviously are. I hope I have the courage to do something similar under similar circumstances.
ReplyDeleteA much-admired real estate developer here -- has been helping bring a betrayed, vampirized downtown back from the dead -- has been charged with manipulating cash deposits to his wife's account to keep them under $10,000 per to avoid them being reported by the bank to the IRS for tax purposes. They're ordered to record things like weekly deposits -- or withdrawals, I guess -- of $9,600 etc. "Know Your Customer. (It makes you a better informant.)"
ReplyDeleteWhy did I just think of Bonnie and Clyde? In the movie, they take all the money from all the tellers, but tell a farmer to keep his money he's about to deposit because they only want the BANK'S money.
Kudos for the Pink Panther reference, David. I knew my wife was "the only one" when our first date involved watching three Peter Sellers movies in a row.
ReplyDeleteDo you have a lisonce for your minkey?
ReplyDeleteFairfax, Va. near DC is operating like this guy. Virginia Citizens Defense League relates how a North Carolina resident stopped for allegedly runnning a red light dutifully advised officers he was a concealed carry permittee and was armed. And was treated like a felon. They disarmed him, charged him with illegal hollowpoints (news to me. They're legal here) and carrying a loaded gun across state lines. Bogus BS.
The judge threw out all the gun issues and advised the cops to study the law. They STILL pressed the red light charge. Jerks.
Expect ANYTHING. No wonder people go 50 miles out of their way when traveling the East Coast.
> someone wanted by the law will go 65 or less,
ReplyDelete....just like someone not wanted by the law will who's not in a hurry....
> and avoid eye contact with a cop who pulls up alongside.
As long as he stays in his own lane, and his car doesn't touch mine, and he doesn't have on his flashing lights and siren or isn't otherwise pulling me over, the cop is just another driver. If he had his flashing lights and siren on, I'd pull over to the curb/shoulder and stop to let him pass by, whether he was alongside or behind. In either case, why would I have eye contact with him? It makes no sense.
45superman wrote:
> Doesn't that sound a little . . . I don't know . . . twisted?
Only if you start from the premise that his job is to protect us from all predators, instead of just competing ones.
Defender wrote:
> A much-admired real estate developer here -- has been helping bring a betrayed, vampirized downtown back from the dead -- has been charged with manipulating cash deposits to his wife's account to keep them under $10,000 per to avoid them being reported by the bank to the IRS for tax purposes. They're ordered to record things like weekly deposits -- or withdrawals, I guess -- of $9,600 etc. "Know Your Customer. (It makes you a better informant.)"
You mean, he really didn't know that $10K triggers the filing of a Cash Transaction Report, whereas asking what the reporting limit is and then modifying the amount to be just under it triggers the filing of a Suspicious Activity Report? What kind of legal advice is he getting?
Am I the only one who thinks that Eliot Spitzer could have got away scot-free if he'd just taken the attitude "Yes, I'm withdrawing $10K; what of it? File your CTR and be damned"?
> Why did I just think of Bonnie and Clyde? In the movie, they take all the money from all the tellers, but tell a farmer to keep his money he's about to deposit because they only want the BANK'S money.
In the real world, that story is associated with John Dillinger.
Mark Odell
Doesn't anyone find it just a little obscene that obeying the law is reason for suspicion? Whether it be cash movement or vehicular movement.
ReplyDeleteOh Hell! I just had an epiphany. Since our minders break the law at every opportunity they are compelled by their own lack of character to regard anyone who obeys the law as suspicious for damn sure and not "special" by their actions of believing in the law. Let's face it, if one isn't an "only one" or an elected "special one" then they must be undesirable, or if not, not powerful or connected enough to successfully prevail against a thug with a uniform and a badge.
These dumb sonsofbitches are writing their own death warrants. How goddamned bright is that?
I don't know how long it will take for the reaction to turn violent, but I do know people become exhausted of fear and replace it with anger and retribution.