What Would You Do If Pulled Over?

That's simple. I'd be nice to the officer, not occifer, the officer. I'd be respectful, and I wouldn't make any sudden movements. I'd wait for him, or her, to come up to my car and let them engage me first.

You know, we live an oddly hard yet overly easy period in time, but one thing I have a hard time stomaching is the disrespect shown to those who serve to protect us. That's just me though. I served in the military for 8 years and actually would have been in law enforcement if not for my color-blindness.

I won't argue that things don't cross a line, but if it were me being pulled over or whatever, I'd be respectful and do what they ask.

The first time I was pulled over, it was for speeding. It was very routine. I don't remember if I took the registration out of the glove compartment before or after he got to the car. I don't remember giving much thought to it.

The second time, I was lost and accidentally ran a red light after taking a wrong turn. That time, I have no idea what I did with my hands, since I was distracted by trying to calm my girlfriend at the time, who was freaking out because she had cocaine in her purse (which I didn't know about beforehand). It didn't help that the cop started screaming at us as soon as I rolled down the window. He was kind of an asshole.

The third time, I had no idea what I was being pulled over for: the cop just walked out into the middle of the road and signaled me over. I was dumbshocked (in no small part due to this being within a few days of the previous two events, and had been concentrating on driving extremely carefully), so I didn't do anything at all, didn't even turn down the music until he asked me to. Turned out I wasn't supposed to turn left anymore on this intersection I'd turned left at earlier that morning, and had been turning left at for years. It was due to construction. The next day, the sign was moved to a more obvious place.

A high school friend of hubby's was on the Phx PD for many years. He said to roll your window down before they got to you, and keep your hands in plain sight. He knew I sometimes traveled smaller roads in the state alone, and had my .38 with me when I did. He said in that situation to place the gun on the passenger seat, and get out of the car and close the door. As soon as the officer was in easy speaking distance, tell them there was a gun on the seat. As a small white woman, I was never concerned they would see me as a threat.

MM

Hands on wheel, no sudden moves, respectful. If asked for my DL, I always tell them it's in my bag before I reach to open it, ditto the registration in the glove compartment. It's not because I'm intimidated (close friends and family know that's hard to do), but because I understand that every time a cop stops someone, they risk having a gun pointed at them. It's easier on both of us if I treat them with the same level of respect I expect of them.

I've been pulled over once. I had my license, registration, and insurance ready to hand over before he got up to the side of my car. It was for speeding. He said he clocked me at 53 in a 30, I admitted to doing 40, and he wrote the ticket for 35. I think he just knew I was going fast though, otherwise he was blocking someone's driveway to try and catch people.

I usually hole up in the nearest shack and shout out the window, "You'll never take me alive, copper!"

Vito said:

I usually hole up in the nearest shack and shout out the window, "You'll never take me alive, copper!"

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That's what I'll do if I think I'm about to be arrested, but if it's just a routine traffic stop, I assume it's more likely that I'll just be shot, so it seems unwise to goad them into it.

MaryMumsy said:

A high school friend of hubby's was on the Phx PD for many years. He said to roll your window down before they got to you, and keep your hands in plain sight. He knew I sometimes traveled smaller roads in the state alone, and had my .38 with me when I did. He said in that situation to place the gun on the passenger seat, and get out of the car and close the door. As soon as the officer was in easy speaking distance, tell them there was a gun on the seat. As a small white woman, I was never concerned they would see me as a threat.

MM

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You should do what Sean Hannity does. Get out of the car, put your hands down near your waist, and lift up your shirt so that the cop can see your gun.

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/jon-stewart-ferguson

Hands at ten and two, dome light on if dark, no sudden movements, no reaching for anything without announcing it first, calm and respectful communications, and, if applicable, tell the officer that I've got a CCW permit and that I'm armed. No using the word "gun" and no producing of same unless prompted.

I was taught traffic stops when I learned to drive and I always assumed it was common knowledge.

Here's a thing. We have random breath testing here, and I'm not very good at parking so what used to happen is that I'd kind of wave at the policeman to let him know I'd seen him and then look for a place to park which was usually so far away that I'd just decide it wasn't worth wasting their time or mine and give up go on my way. Nothing ever happened until the time I did it with other people in the car and they all got incredibly shouty about it.

So now I only do that if there's no-one else in the car.

The police never seemed to mind. They didn't chase me or anything. But I think if I'd been a young man, esp a dark-skinned young man, things might have been a bit different.

This isn't a thing in the UK really, because (with a few exceptions) our police aren't armed.

Mr Bats has a great story about this from not long after he passed his test - he was driving along, and saw a police car behind him with blues and twos on, so he pulled over to let them pass. They slowed and didn't pass, so he pulled back out and carried on driving, again slowing and pulling over when it seemed sensible, but they didn't pass. Eventually, he pulled over for petrol and they followed him into the petrol station.

They marched up to him and demanded to know what he usually did when he saw a police car behind him with lights going. To which he replied that he pulled over and let them pass, which he'd tried to do, but they hadn't driven on!

It just didn't occur to him that they were pulling him over, and they saw the funny side too. He hadn't done anything, it was just that a teenaged boy in a Morris 1000 wasn't what they expected to see so they wanted to check his documents.

the old man schooled me on this when i started driving in the early 80s.

kill the car. hands on the wheel. speak only when answering a question and announcing in advance any move you're going to make.

I don't get pulled over.

who's going to pull over a big wheel, rob?

Someone that wants my lunch money?

throw your inhaler at them and ride, ride, damn you.

asroc said:

Hands at ten and two, dome light on if dark, no sudden movements, no reaching for anything without announcing it first, calm and respectful communications, and, if applicable, tell the officer that I've got a CCW permit and that I'm armed. No using the word "gun" and no producing of same unless prompted.

I was taught traffic stops when I learned to drive and I always assumed it was common knowledge.

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This is pretty much what I do, too, except I put my hands on the ceiling where they're even more obviously visible. (And don't have a gun or permit.)

Also, being female, if I'm driving alone at night and a cop behind me turns on his lights, I immediately hit my blinker and slow down a little, but keep driving until I'm in a well-lit area, hopefully with more people around. I don't know if this is what the police still advise for women driving alone but it was the last two times this happened to me, and both times the policeman either didn't say a word about it (as in, no "Why didn't you pull over right away?") or thanked me (pulling people over at night in the dark is scary for policemen, too, so they tend to really appreciate the dome-light-on-and-hands-on-ceiling thing; it makes them feel kindlier towards you, and makes you look like a more co-operative, respectful law-abider, both of which are good impressions to give when you're pulled over).

And yeah, always respectful, always friendly. I've had one or two not-so-great interactions with cops in my life, but the overwhelming majority of them I've ever dealt with or known (and my mom's an ER nurse, so I've known a LOT of cops) were pretty decent guys, really, and were happy to be nice and have a pleasant interaction with someone. We hear a lot about the bad cops--and there are unfortunately too many of them--but we don't usually hear about the good ones.

I take the Dave Chappelle approach to speaking to cops:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yOMDmEP5QE0

I have been pulled over a lot.

In all cases, I open the window, shut off the car, turn on the overhead light and put my hands on the wheel where they can be seen easily.

1) Taillight out, but I didn't know it. Officer stopped me, I told him it was my dad's car and I would have it fixed right away -- he let me go. I had probably had at least a dozen beers and other substances.

2) Going down a steep hill, speed limit 25, I hit 30 -- officer was sitting in an obvious 'speed trap' and I got a ticket. No impairment.

3) While driving home in my new car (which was, apparently, one commonly used by drug dealers) I was stopped at a light and suddenly surrounded by police cars and bicycle officers, who ordered me out of the car, threw me to the ground and handcuffed me. It took about ten minutes for them to figure out I wasn't the person they were looking for and they let me go. No impairment.

4) thru 30) or so...When my mother-in-law lived on Mercer Island, we got stopped every time we drove on the island. Various reasons were given, from safety check to 'thought your tail light was out' to 'thought your tabs were expired' but we never got a ticket, after explaining we were visiting our relatives. It was common knowledge that if you didn't drive a snazzy enough car, you would get pulled over to see what you were doing on the island. No impairment.

31) While speeding up to merge on what I thought was a freeway entrance, I got stopped in another 'speed trap' -- it turns out you aren't allowed to speed up until you are past a certain point on the street. Ticket for speeding. The speed limit sign is obscured by an overgrown hedge. No impairment.

We have family members who are minorities and they are well-trained in the habit of calling anyone in authority 'sir' or 'ma'am'. Just for safety's sake, even the white-looking ones do this.

As an aside: for about a year after carver John T. Williams was shot to death by police after they ordered him to show his hands (he was hearing impaired), our Native American friends would frequently raise their hands and yell out "we're weavers, not carvers" whenever they were in downtown Seattle and saw a cop.

Stacia Kane said:

and makes you look like a more co-operative, respectful law-abider

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But that would ruin my reputation.

mccardey said:

Here's a thing. We have random breath testing here, .

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Have you ever failed and been offered a breath mint?

Vince524 said:

Have you ever failed and been offered a breath mint?

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I've refused and been offered a blood test.

It came up red.