Getting pulled over

johnwaynesandw

johnwaynesandw

Joined
Mar 18, 2005
Messages
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This morning I was on my way back from a store (3 miles from my house), when I was pulled for driving too fast for conditions ( it is snowing in the South finally). I pulled over immediatly. After the LEO walked up to my truck and asked for registation and DL, I pointed out the pistol I had on the dash board. He asked

"is it loaded?"

I said "no sir, the clip is beside it"

He then said the the most off the wall thing

" hand it to me"

I always thought they took you out of the car and got it themself.

I handed him my gun and he asked for my registation so I opened the glove box and there was my pilot survival knife.

"whats that" says the LEO

He then asked if I had any more weapons in the truck, I said no, but I have a few knives.

LEO say ( hand them over)

I reached in my glove handed him the pilots knife, lifted my arm rest and got my Leatherman lockback.

The LEO then asked if there are any more, I replied there is a gerber guardian clipped to my door pocket and a spyderco paramilitary in my front pocket. after handing him everything he smiled ( I did not know if that was good or bad) By this time his patrol partner walks up and asked where the gun was.

The first LEO said it was on the dash unloaded. So at this point They ask if their is anything else while smiling.

I replied " I think that is it, but there may be one under my seat, but I was not sure if I left it out last time I used it"

They said "sit tight and they will be back in a min."

5-10 mins later The first LEO walks up to me and said

" this is a warning, there is no court date, or fines"

At this point the second officer waked up, and handded me all my items back and said have a good day. We shook hands and I thanked them both and said be safe then I was off.

The point of my story is most cops can be cool, if you are up front and honest with them. They are just doing their job.


Thanks for reading my story,
John
 
Amazing!! It wouldn't of happened like that where I'm from.

Helle
 
Ya I was pulled over when I first moved to Texas (I still had MI. Plates and it was 2 am. probably thought I was running drugs.) I was in uniform and the officer asked me if I had a handgun. I said "No but I have a loaded riffle in the back seat." to witch he replied "Oh thats ok." I began laughing uncontrollably! He said "I know only in Texas right." I had tears by this point and he began laughing as well. Where else is it worse for you to have a wimpy hand gun than a high powered assault riffle with all the bells and whistles.
 
The point of my story is most cops can be cool, if you are up front and honest with them. They are just doing their job.
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As a former LEO I can't agree more. One of most cops pet peeves is being lied to. Believe me we've heard them all before. A sure way to find youself going to jail is to play games with cops. Long hours, lousy pay, liberal judges, etc. leave you not in the mood for games very often. Tell the truth and your much more likely to get a break( it catches us off guard).
 
This fits better in Knife Laws than in Blade Discussion. :)
moving-van.jpg
 
Another "Guns in the South" story:

In 1996 I drove up to a local Chevy dealer to leave my trade-in and to buy and pick up my new '96 SS Supersport (the old, big one.) Inside the dealership, they asked for my keys to test drive the trade-in. I said ok but I needed to get my briefcase from the car because it had a gun in it.

A Jefferson County sherrif's deputy was standing nearby. When I brought the briefcase in, he asked what I had, in a friendly way. When I told him it was a Kahr K9, we began discussing how I liked it, how it fired, etc. He said he would like to see it. I said, ok, but do we really want to be handling a gun in here? He said he supposed not, and that was that. He never even asked to see my CCW.

The kicker: When I went into the finance office to close the deal, the petite, middle-aged lady behind the desk also asked what kind of gun I had. I told her, and she stated that she carried a S&W .357 magnum. She said that she got it when she was an Alabama State Trooper.

Although NRA rates Alabama as a discressionary issue state for permits, I have found that you fill out the simple form, get two character witnesses to sign it, pay your $7.50, have no criminal record, and it is pretty much automatic. Renew annually, for another $7.50. A few years
ago, the then-current sherrif raised the fee to $21.50 or so. The current guy ran partially on a campaign promise to roll it back to $7.50, which he did and has been getting re-elected ever since.
 
MikeH said:
Although NRA rates Alabama as a discressionary issue state for permits, I have found that you fill out the simple form, get two character witnesses to sign it, pay your $7.50, have no criminal record, and it is pretty much automatic. Renew annually, for another $7.50. A few years
ago, the then-current sherrif raised the fee to $21.50 or so. The current guy ran partially on a campaign promise to roll it back to $7.50, which he did and has been getting re-elected ever since.
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I thought that $7.50 figure was a typo... wow! It must be nice to live in places that have sensible CCW laws...
Where I live, its $100.00, and even if they don't give you a permit because they just don't feel like it on that day they keep the hundred bucks.
 
I have had man similar stories most while ither hiking in the local parks or out on a 40 mile pluss bike ride down the towpath. I had a ranger aproach me in silver creek when i was hiking this was back when i was still carring my western 648 bird and trout knife. Nice little fix blade. Well the ranger spots it right off and starts talking about the various knives he had and still has. All the while checking it out. He ended up testing it against his thumb for sharpness and before i could warn him at just ow sharp it was he peeled a nice little bit of skin off with out even relizing hed been cut. When i clued him in to the fact he says"oh thats alright ive done lots worse just that with mine i always knew id been cut" Best part was when i told him i had only cut my self once with a knife that amounted to more than a papercut. His expresion was priceless.

BTW most of the rangers here are off duty state patrolmen or fire fighters etc. I dont think theres a single ranger and only a few police here who are not cool.
 
A couple of days ago I was involved in an accident in a parking lot wherein my truck rolled from its position, dented a bumper of another vehicle and scraped a paint spot on another. We were all in the store when this occurred. Apparently it was one of very few times I failed to set the parking brake. Very minor stuff but despite rolling only about 5 feet this will be expensive.
Selma, Tx officers were very quick to respond, professional, helpful and polite in the handling of this most mundane of police duties. What I did not like was the senior officer's extreme interest in MY vehicle. He walked entirely around it, carefully surveying the entire visible interior trying to see through the layers of crap that are strewn about the interior of my truck. After his first go around he quietly pulled the other officer away and discussed, I must assume, his idea that I was hiding something. He returned and continued to look into my truck finally leaning on his elbows facing into the bed just behind the driver's side acting bored. I was keenly aware of this and annoyed, but ignored it as I am also aware many 'bad guys' are caught during routine traffic violations and the 'plain sight' reasonable cause searches are the tool that accomplishes this. I applaud the stupidity of criminals. Despite their impact on us others they are quite entertaining at times.
Let me state this and check the record: I ain't one of the bad guys. No drugs. No alcohol. No armed robbery. My mom brung me up good to be an asset to society and helpful of others.
I am also aware that the bad guys look just like you and me and my mom which makes police work (and civilian life) a bit tough at times.
What I really objected to was being profiled. I have longish hair and was wearing a Buck 110 sheathed on my hip. In reality I have no idea what problem the officer had with me so I must assume it was my 'looks'.
Other persons present: cute Asian chick from New York, a near clueless elderly woman and a retired colonel (witness). Had he checked ALL the cars involved, I would not be so sensitive to his 'search'. He did not. Perhaps had we all been subjected to this search he would have seen the open containers of alcohol in the Asian girl's car or the pills the old lady was popping to 'calm her nerves', or the gun that either one may have been carrying illegally 'for protection'? Instead he chose the 'biker' looking guy because I 'look' like some kind of troublemaker. At least in contrast to the group I was in....Perhaps I need to clean up. This is the 3rd time this has happened in 20 years. The 2 previous of which resulted in thorough, yet unproductive searches. The knife never made it into the conversation and I didn't comment on his search mostly due to the fact that I had a 7 inch Bowie under the seat. Ooops. I went back into the store to complete my purchase and wait for the officers to find something better to do. Due to that guys CS attitude I fully expected to have them pull me over off private property and find an excuse to do a real search. :jerkit:
I learned not to leave my door open as an officer in one of the previous searches sat down in pretense of reading the inside of my inspection sticker and 'swiped' her hand under the seat. She denied it when I confronted her and then changed her story to state that a lot of times they find weapons. I told her I thought that constituted an illegal search. She responded that my door was open and thus became a 'public' area and freely subject to any seach. I informed her that sounded like CYA BS as I locked and closed the door. That time I only got cited a warning for not actually wearing my glasses.
 
Merek said:
What I really objected to was being profiled. I have longish hair and was wearing a Buck 110 sheathed on my hip. In reality I have no idea what problem the officer had with me so I must assume it was my 'looks'.

Instead he chose the 'biker' looking guy because I 'look' like some kind of troublemaker. At least in contrast to the group I was in....Perhaps I need to clean up. This is the 3rd time this has happened in 20 years.
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My favorite line from Face Off: "If you dress like Halloween, expect goblins!" Profiling is a law enforcement tool, and if you look/dress/act within certain known profiles, then you should expect to be looked at closely.
 
I was involved in an accident (got rearended) last year, and had a Queen small stockman in my back pocket and my Benchmade Apparition in my sportcoat inside pocket. I was ready to toss it in the bushes when the LEO arrived (didn't do anything wrong, but who knows what could have happened, plus I was on my way to my grandmothers wake, and didn't want to deal with any more bullcrap) and come back for it later, but nothing happened. I threw it under the seat, and forgot about it. It was my special carry knife at the time, too.
 
Merek,

Isn't it possible they paid extra attention to you for reasons other than your appearance? Perhaps the fact that your car had just rolled across the parking lot into the other cars made them interested in you. This could indicate drug or alcohol use among other things.
 
Now YOU are calling me a druggie!!!:p

It didn't roll across the lot. It rolled 5 feet. I do not look (or act) as much like a druggie as the confused 55-ish woman or the frenetic hyper chickkie. The older woman was definitely too clueless to be in public by herself. Over my ears hair, combed back, and wearing a Buck do not a druggie make. Otherwise I was dressed in new jeans, $250 Justin boots and a western style longsleeve shirt..... Sounds kinda Texas don't it? If anything I looked like Jerry Lee Lewis and he afeared of his young daughters. IN CONTRAST to the CUTE chick and the granny, I was the bad guy, but not bad enough to confront though I am sure if my attitude had surfaced he might have 'thought' he saw something.
Normally I don't have any problems with cops at traffic stops and encounters in public. 3 minor problems in 20+ years....been driving for nearly 44 years. Not bad odds. This guy simply erred in not conducting more thorough searches involving all parties. He would have increased his chances by scanning 2 additional vehicles. He smelled that Bowie and would have been more than happy to slap me with Reckless Parking with a Big Bladed Tool Under the Seat but he would have missed getting to frisk the hot chick after arresting her for Vicodin behind the wheel.:cool:

This ain't overly related to the thread anymore so I am dropping it.
 
I don't mind profiling, or being profiled. I look funny. Ok, I look like a convict, but I don't speak like one. I get stopped pretty regularly, and I have learned that politeness and honesty go a long way. I love knives. I've been carrying a knife since I was eight or nine. I think that most LEOs love knives too. Good knives. I think that there is a general range of appropriate EDC, and then there is everything else. I guess what I'm talking about is profiling some one by the knife that they carry. I'm sure all of us have had some one say, " Hey, I hear you're into knives. What do you think of this one?" Then I get shown something that usually leaves me thinking less of the person :
Chinese or Pakistani Steel
Garbage switch blade
Fantasy knife
Or perhaps something a little too aggressive:
Large double edged push knife
Out the Front tactical dagger
I have always carried knives that LEOs themselves want. There is nothing better then that sound of envy and dissmay I get to hear when an Officer has my knife. "ooh, this is a nice knife."
I've only had one knife taken, back in the early 80's, and I was being a condicending prick. Lesson learned. It's all about the applied law, not the written law. LEOs have to separate the Good Guys from the Bad Guys. I want them to shake funny lookin' people to see what falls out. If it's a crack pipe and a garbage switch blade then they are probabley in the system already under wants and warrents.
In closing, when I say politeness, I don't mean that obligatory "yes sir, No sir" I mean speaking respectfully to some one who is trying to find out if I am one of the Good Guys or not. I already know that I'm not a prick, but I need to give the LEO all of the time and information that he needs to come to that conclusion on his own, without me acting like I'm being put upon or hassled.
 
Correct me if I'm wrong, but by handing your gun and knives to an officer, aren't you in fact "surrendering" them? A CCW instructor I know told me that if an officer asks you to hand him a firearm or knife, you should politely tell him where said items are located and to pick it up himself. Once again, please tell me if I have been uninformed.
 
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