I just refuse to schmooze

M

mike_mck2

Joined
May 19, 2005
Messages
301
Driving home after a nice long 12.5 hour shift, 0500, 4 lane road, clear weather, no cars, end of the month. I see a police car parked in a dark church parking lot, so I automatically slow down.
Pulls out behind me and lights me up. No break down lane so I wait for a place to pull off the road so he's not stuck out there in the road.

Asks me if I know why he pulled me over ( duh! ), and I tell him I know why, obviously I do because I slowed down when I saw him hiding out in the dark parking lot. Asks me if I have been pulled over recently and I say about 2 months ago, and he does the grimace thing, like that's just really bad....basically inviting the schmooze from me, which I'm just not gonna do.
Points out that my registration is expired, and again the grimace thing, like he's having less & less choice about writing me a ticket......

Takes my license, and then yet another police car pulls up, and now both have me spotlighted, with both reclecting right out of my side & rearview mirrors, and all lights flashing....really starting to annoy me with this desperado BS.

Finally, after about, I kid you not, 10-15 minutes of me sitting there with these lights blinding me in the friggin' eyes and not making any "sudden moves", he walks back up, asks for my SSN, work phone, address, and all the BS he just got from running me through the comp, and he writes me a ticket for 52 in a 40 and expired registration, because I refused to schmooze, I am 99.9% sure.

My mistake is drving the same way at the end of the month as I do every other day on that road, and not sucking up to some git so he can feel like a big man.

Almost every single friggin' morning I am driving home I encounter weaving semi's and drunks, and this git is parked out in some church parking lot making the roads safe from reckless desperado's like me...whatever.
 
mike_mck2 said:
My mistake is drving the same way at the end of the month as I do every other day on that road, and not sucking up to some git so he can feel like a big man.
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Your mistake was speeding and not having a valid license. I'm surprised they didn't impound your car or give you a heavy fine.
 
One of the reasons why police will ask you for your information, even after they've run you through the comp, is to see if the information that you tell them, matches up with what their system and your license says. They do the same thing when they come to pick up shoplifters that we've apprehended. Also, I don't know about your area, but I frequently see people pulled over with two police cars behind them around here, especially at night. I think it's less to do with "desperado bs" and more to do with having someone else there to help you if things get out of hand.

It sounds to me like your mistake was speeding and driving with an expired registration.
 
Mike,

I'm a cop. I don't write a lot of traffic tickets, although I do a lot of stops. I especially don't write speeding tickets unless they are linked to DUID or DUI charges or are in school zones.

I can understand your unhappiness with getting a ticket. Never any fun. But I'm curious about your comments on the lights. I understand that the "wall of light" is annoying, but do you understand why this has become common practice? It's the safe thing to do and it doesn't hurt you in any way.

Reference the "schmooze" factor, most police officers operate with the goal of achieving voluntary compliance with the public peace. Meaning that if I pull someone over and they appear to be regretful and sincere about an honest mistake ( like we all make) then clearly a warning will tend to stop the bad behavior. But if that person just appears annoyed with the proceedure and transfers their driving flaws into a sense of persecution, I can guess that a financial penalty will be required to achieve the goal of future safe driving.

Generally, being uncool will result in an uncool response in any human interaction. Police/driver included.

Take Care,
Jeff
 
You're kidding, right? You got the ticket because you broke the law not because you didn't 'schmooze" him up. You proabaly would have gotten away with a warning but being that you were pulled over 2 months earlier and didn't have a valid registration I think you're lucky that you only got a speeding ticket. What I find funny is how everyone that's pulled over or gets a ticket blames the cops. :rolleyes:
 
Speeding and an expired registration? Is that like expired plates?

I'm surprised you wheren't arrested.
 
mike_mck2 said:
My mistake is drving the same way at the end of the month as I do every other day on that road, and not sucking up to some git so he can feel like a big man.
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No, your mistake was being born without a set of big knockers. Had you been born with them you could have made him feel like a big man by letting him have a peek at them. That way it wouldn't matter that you were driving like a maniac with an expired registration and a belligerent attitude - one peak and it's Get Out Of Jail Free.

But it's too late to change that now - you're out - no big boobies for you. You will just have to try driving at close to the speed limit, paying attention to license and registration requirements, and dealing in a civil manner with people trying to do their job. Life's not fair, is it? ;)
 
Just being polite and honest to the police isnt shmoozing. I have never gotten a ticket when I have been pulled over. Cops arent stupid, if you are sitting there and are all pissed about getting pulled over, they will be able to tell, and they wont like it.
I got pulled over doing 70 in a 55 the other day, and I even told the cop I was keeping up with traffic (to which he replied "what traffic?") The road was empty, lol. But I was being polite, as I am to pretty much everyone- so I didnt get a ticket. Not shmoozing.
 
I was polite, as I am to everyone that is polite to me. I did not act annoyed in any way at all, I just did not buddy him up to try and get out of a ticket.

As for the registration, in my opinion that's just more BS, and is purely a revenue item.

Yep, I broke the law, and I am paying for it. My point is, I don't think I deserved it, and I know, from experience, that if I had schmoozed him up I would have got a warning. I either deserved a ticket or I didn't, and schmoozing does not change that. That's my point.
 
All kidding aside, you could probably catch a break for the speed, which wasn't that bad, but expired registration or license will bring you a ticket every time.
 
Rat Finkenstein said:
Just being polite and honest to the police isnt shmoozing. I have never gotten a ticket when I have been pulled over. Cops arent stupid, if you are sitting there and are all pissed about getting pulled over, they will be able to tell, and they wont like it.
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Word.

I've only been pulled over a few times. Polite and honest is definitely the way to go. You stand the best chances of getting off with a warning.

Show some bad attitude, and you're more than likely going to get cited.

In 25 years of driving, I've only gotten one ticket, and I went to traffic school for that one.

A friend was having a real bad day, and happened to get pulled over for speeding. The officer said "Do you know fast you were going?" To which he replied "You've got the radar, why don't you tell me." Bad move - bad attitude. That earned him a ticket.

Edit to add:

IMHO, when the officer is trying to 'schmooze,' he's probably looking for a way not to cite you.
 
You know who you should schmooze with? The judge when you go to trial(if you decide to contest it). You screwed up big time, and you're lucky that you weren't arrested.
 
Mike,

You wrote : " I either deserved a ticket or I didn't, and schmoozing does not change that. That's my point."

My point is that it's not about deserving a ticket. It's about communicating that other methods besides a ticket can be used to change your behavior.

However, if you wish to persist in your line of thought :
a) you sped
b) you had an expired registration.
c) you caught caught in a and b

Guess you deserved the ticket, and you should act like "a big man" and pay it.

Take Care,
Jeff
 
mike_mck2 said:
I was polite, as I am to everyone that is polite to me. I did not act annoyed in any way at all, I just did not buddy him up to try and get out of a ticket.

As for the registration, in my opinion that's just more BS, and is purely a revenue item.

Yep, I broke the law, and I am paying for it. My point is, I don't think I deserved it, and I know, from experience, that if I had schmoozed him up I would have got a warning. I either deserved a ticket or I didn't, and schmoozing does not change that. That's my point.
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I don't think you would have gotten out of it whether you kissed his ass or not. You had 3 strikes on you going into it. 52 in a 40...12mph over the limit and the prior stop alone (which he can check on) was enough to cite you. The expired registration put the nail in the coffin. You're damn right you deserved it! Next time don't speed and you won't have to deal with these problems. You brought it on yourself. Don't blame the cop for doing his job.
 
One of my friends was heading back to school from leave, and got pulled over by a cop for speeding. He plays it straight, gives the cop his info, and gets a ticket.
Before letting him leave, the cop asks "By the way, where do you go to school?"
My friend says "West Point."
The cop says "----ing hell! You're supposed to tell me that when I pull you over - there's plenty of jerks out there who deserve tickets, but you're not one of them. Now the ticket's in the computer and I can't unwrite it."
 
Arrested? Some of you are just bizarre. Do you know what a vehicle registration is?

Also, I think I gave him plenty of reasons not to write me a ticket:

I was polite, honest & straightfoward, not driving recklessly, obviously well aware of my surroundings, and I have a damn good driving record, the warning from 2 months ago aside.

Yes, I think I gave him plenty of good reasons, but I think because I did not schmooze the guy and because it was the end of the month, I got a ticket.

Maybe you just had to be there to see that the guy obviously wanted me to buddy him up so he could find a reason not to write the ticket, but like I said, schmoozing does not somehow mean I don't deserve the ticket he is otherwise going to write.

Break the law and get a ticket, that's the way it should work, but this being the real world, it obviously does not. Show some tit & you probably won't, or schmooze well enough and you probably won't. I think it's BS, but it is true that is how it works.
 
Mike,

As a guy who arrests who people for a living, I can't agree with your "Break the law and get a ticket" fundamentalism on this issue. The ticket's a tool, not a punishment. If I can use a better, simpler tool, I do so. Why would you want to deny that to either the cops or the drivers?

The "show some tit" and "end of the month" quota thing are fantasy to make you feel better about your choices. Police work is not a Burt Reynolds movie.

Take Care,
Jeff
 
You have the right to fight the ticket in court. Stand in front of a Judge and explain that the reason you got a ticket for speeding with an expired tab was because you didnt kiss ass...hey it might work.. and monkeys might fly out of my ass and my wife might bring home Paris Hilton for us both to play with. It could happen...

you never know!!!
 
if you hadn't been speeding and payed for your registration on time, then you wouldn't have been in a position to have to schmooze your way out of a ticket.

Quit yet whinin and cowboy up I say.
 
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