Quote:
Originally Posted by ClassB4Me
As I mentioned before I don't believe this is a systemic problem but what is the criteria for when situations like the one you encountered get elevated attention or concern?
Most people do want to cooperate but the assessment of cooperating is usually in the eyes of the person with the badge (unless there is another person recording the situation - i.e. camera.
Just curious... After your 'encounter' have you mentally altered how you respond to police interaction?
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Actually, in my case, my attitude had been eroding from all the overzealous enforcement even before the adventure. It had to do with the deputies zooming up behind you with the brights on, right up to your bumper, and dropping back and doing it again and again. As soon as you would react by slowing down or moving over (as you had no idea if it was police or drunks), you were likely to get stopped for erratic driving. After the adventure, both of us didn't even want to go to work because we knew we would have to drive home, and that is not good place to be in regards to the police. We stewed for weeks before I wrote to the sheriff, even though DW said "are you sure you want to do that, it could get worse". The sheriff was great, as was his patrol captain, that we also had a nice long conversation with. The didn't deflect or push back, and I think were truly not happy. As I mentioned, it ended instantly, and has not returned in the ensuing years. The fact that it was taken care of so well and so professionally, really reinstated our positive feelings for the deputies and police in general. If they had not addressed the issue, I am sure it would have been a different story, so I truly understand why some folks have very negative feelings about police. I would say that I currently wouldn't even think about the bad if I were to get stopped, and certainly do believe the problems we had were because of a few bad apples that spoiled the barrel for a while, until corrected.
Hybrid Mode
