Eclipsehornplayer

Some opinions feel more like this eh?

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Eclipse MHY Bb Trumpet with interchangable leadpipes
Bach 229 25A C Trumpet
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40cal

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“If there must be trouble, let it be in my day so that my child may have peace.”

Thomas Paine 1737-1809

“That’s all the bullets we had, or we would have shot him more,” Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd

gzent

But 40 you're a real cop, not a "trooper with a flat-top bucking to make sargeant" as a cop friend of mine calls them.

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Sympathy and trust abounding
No more falsehoods or derisions
Golden living dreams of visions
Mystic crystal revalation
And the mind's true liberation

40cal

I am a state trooper fyi.

__________________


“If there must be trouble, let it be in my day so that my child may have peace.”

Thomas Paine 1737-1809

“That’s all the bullets we had, or we would have shot him more,” Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd

gzent

Funny, I never imagined you in one of those amusing patrolman hats.

Maybe the MHP should send some of our local troopers up your way where there is real crime since all they have to do down here is write tickets at 10 over?

__________________
Harmony and understanding
Sympathy and trust abounding
No more falsehoods or derisions
Golden living dreams of visions
Mystic crystal revalation
And the mind's true liberation

tpter1

John- I'm with Manny. Luck has nothing to do with it. Rarely does. It was all your integrity and decency. "Good on ya, mate!"

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-Glenn
"Roses have thorns; shining waters mud. Clouds and eclipses stain the moon and the sun; and history reeks of the wrongs we have done. After today, after today, consider me gone."- Sting

Debacler

John these guys are right, to an extent you make your own luck. Being courteous, polite, prepared and especially honest goes a long ways towards catching a break. I know myself and most of my coworkers don't particularly care for writing decent, honest people citations as everyone no matter how hard they try will make mistakes. That coupled with the fact the politicians have made the cost of a minor mistake a budget buster for most and we let people write their own tickets. That is to say if you want argue, I'll give you the date and time for that. You wanna be a jerk and I'll give you a reason to complain. 40Cal I gotta say my blood began to heat up as I read gzent's post on this subject and had a few thoughts to post myself, but as I went through the thread I discovered you were already on top of it. Thanks.

Vulgano Brother

Clean living pays off, it really does! (Unfortunatley, it doesn't have an influence on trumpet playing or politics.)

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40cal

Here is a very small example of what I have encountered on traffic stops.

About 1million bucks worth of dope (in the last yr)
1 car w/6 stolen firearms, stolen jewelry etc...
Stolen DVD's (LOTS)
Sex offenders
Kidnap victims (and kidnappers)
People hauling dope $$
People w/warrants
Previously deported aliens (who get deported again)

Here are some things I have seen in the last yr.

Lots of dead people. People that can only be identified w/dental records, people missing most of their body, brains, intestines and goop on the road, and people burned beyond all recognition. This is in addition to the dead children and infants killed by people violating state statute.

So for the average law abiding person like you, getting pulled over can be a pain in the butt.

For law enforcement it is a way to get a legal look at someone and to change the behavior of the violator. Do you have a valid license? Do you have insurance? Great, now lets deal w/why you have been detained.

We, as in my colleagues and I see these things day in and day out. Speed is a real problem and not just in MN. Yeah, you weren't out killing someone, or hauling 10 kilos of coke, but how do you think we find them?

Clean record? Whooptie do. I popped a guy who was 52 yrs old w/a major load of dope hidden in his car ( he had a clean record) A partner of mine whacked a retired guy w/16 kilos of coke. I pulled a loaded .32 auto off of a 72 yr old guy. A mother with her kids? She had a bunch of coke. A guy w/10 pounds of weed, meth, 10 grand in cash, a tec9 9mm and a glock? He didn't have a criminal record.

So what does this tell someone? The way we weed through the normal citizen to the people like I have illustrated above is by asking a few questions. A couple of which are

Where you coming from? Where you headed? Oh, and it's also being polite. I could walk up to your car and say, "License and proof of insurance" and once I have them, walk away. Is that polite? Not in my book. I have not given you a chance to say why you may have been doing what you were doing.

And speaking of how the trooper spoke to you. In about 8 seconds of conversation what did he accomplish?

You admitted you violated a state statute, you admitted you did not know how fast you were going. Why is this important? Well, if you go to court and you tell the court you were doing 70 and not speeding guess what? Either you lied at the scene or you lied in court, either way you are a liar.

Why would the trooper repeat what you said?

The trooper most likely repeated what you said for the benefit of his dash camera. The body mics we wear do not always pickup what people say from the inside of a vehicle. This is a very common practice amongst officers with cameras.

People have posted about being honest and polite. They are right. If someone comes off as a jerk, they will get a ticket before someone who comes off as a class act. I don't care who someone is, if they are a jagoff to me, I'll hang paper. It could be my boss, the chief, the mayor...It does not matter to me.

Why would any trooper say, "Drive safe" when ending the encounter? Well, after I just gave someone a 150 dollar ticket, have a nice day may come across as being a jerk. Drive safe is the safest thing for an officer to say. As a matter of fact, I say it too.


So I guess I'll go do my fake cop work since troopers are not real cops and traffic safety is not in the realm of responsibility of real cops.

__________________


“If there must be trouble, let it be in my day so that my child may have peace.”

Thomas Paine 1737-1809

“That’s all the bullets we had, or we would have shot him more,” Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd

Manny Laureano

That's one hell of a post, there, officer.

Thanks for all you do on our behalf. With all that goes on behind the scenes, with all that goes on without our knowledge, it's easy to take for granted the jobs that make us safe and comfortable.

Whether it's the cop on the beat, the patrolman keeping his eyes out for erratic behavior, the pharmacist putting the right drugs in the container at the right dosage, the trumpeter waiting 35 minutes before playing a sword motif in a Wagner opera and not missing a note, the techie that waits patiently while you explain your problem for the fourth time in five minutes, the toll taker taking the 800th toll payment on a Friday afternoon after having done it for the last three years, or the father that waits to hear from his kid that he needs a ride home from a place that's 45 minutes away, we all have thankless jobs that go unnoticed and taken for granted.

Maybe what we we've garnered here is the opportunity to look at a fellow or lady that's in the middle of doing something for us and wonder how we'd do in the same position. All I can say is I'm not giving up my day gig anytime soon to do some of the jobs I've seen described here. We all give our jobs the value it deserves and I'm thankful I'm doing something I love.

It's my wish for all of us; that we're doing what we love and, in so doing, love what we're doing.

ML