Friends with the Man in Blue

[Don Plumley]

Just was at my local ATM. As I'm walking away, I nearly step into one of Irvine's finest. I smile and say hi - he says, "Is that your Porsche?"

Gulp. Gut check - say yes or no?

Hmmm. He pronounced "Porsche" correctly.

"Yes sir, it is."

"Beautiful Car. Are you a member of the PCA? I like your badge on the back."

/Pulse

So we strike up a quick conversation - he has a '97 993! How cool is that?

To top it off, in the span of time we are talking there is a minor fender bender near my 911 (which had I not engaged in this fine conversation, there was odds I could have participated in the car kissing).

Anyway, thought I'd share...

Don

[Adam]

Police Officers in the U.S. must be very well paid, unlike our own Police. They average $40k annually. That's AUD$.

If a uniformed patrolman can afford a 993, imagine what the Chief drives!



Seriously, it's a good feeling when you have a positive exchange with the Police. I was sitting at the traffic lights one time, when a Police Cruiser pulled alongside. I was driving my old BMW 535i (with 2.5" exhaust - delicious!) and the officers asked me if it was a V12. They told me that it sounded great and that I took good care of my car. I was a young driver and it kinda changed my attitude toward the Cops.

[k9handler]

I am a police officer (aka Cop), and I do not have the money for a 993...this is why I drive a 75 911S. I must admit that I am not a big ticket writer, since I tend to push the legal limits from time to time myself. I feel it would be pretty darn hypocritical of me to write speeding thickets, then turn around and speed on my way home from work. On the other hand, if you are causing a safety hazard (i.e. school zone, pedestrian areas, or just flat out stupid in a no stupid zone) then I will write the ticket and not think twice. My pointer for all you board members...if you get pulled over, just cooperate and do not argue with him/her since this will only harm your situation. I have known a few officers who would give a warning ticket (no court, points, no record) just for the driver being nice, calm, and understanding. Ok, i will get off the sandbox now.

"The handcuffs are new, the pain will go away after you wear them for a while".

[Fishcop]

Adam, when I was a copper in Melbourne (10 years ago now), all I made was $30k per year.

As a Marine Parks Ranger/Fisheries Inspector now, I only make about $45k. You can still get by driving a Porsche all be it an old one like mine.

I'm here to tell you all that there are still a few "Cool" blokes in enforcement jobs!

[Yargk]

Originally posted by k9handler
Ok, i will get off the sandbox now.

Ummm, do you mean soapbox? (this is the only time I think I'd have the balls to correct an officer)

[speeder]

Many Police officers are very nice people and a lot of them are car-nuts, though more on the American muscle side from the unscientific research I've done. I have a buddy with a beautiful '69 camaro w/ 427 and "best of everything", cops are constantly pulling up next to him asking how fast it is, etc. He just replies, "I dunno. Want to race"? (W/ a wink, of course).

[Deeks]

A while back, cruising through Central London late at night during the week, we pulled up at some lights on Oxford Street (before it was closed off to public traffic) when a cop car pulled up alongside. It was something like a V6 Vauxhall Vectra. The Police officer in the driving seat, looked across, gave us a smile and asked a few questions about the car, it's performance etc... and just as the lights turned green, suggested that we race off the lights....!!!!

My friend revved the engine, dropped the clutch..... we didn't move an inch, whilst the cop car briskly pulled away. In his excitement my friend forgot that the road was wet and buggered up the launch by wheel spinning the car.

Dam. What a missed opportunity !!!

[k9handler]

Keith,
did I mention I was being transferred to the SF Bay area? Just kidding ha ha. I guess with 4 kids I spend more time in the sandbox, than on the soapbox. Thanks for the correction, drive safe, and have a nice day.

Also...I am not a traffic cop, so this may be why I feel the way I do. My main job is finding bombs.

[Adam]

k9handler, Wow!

Two EOD guys on the same BBS? That's so cool, I thought I'd never even get to meet one!

[Adam]

btw, I looked at your website and your 911 must be the long-lost twin sister to my 911...

It's almost even the same colour!

[MMARSH]

I personally can't stand cops. FYI, The Sheriff of LA County makes $245,000 Its the highest paying public official job in the country.

[DonNewton]

I guess your personal attitude would change with the anarchy that would result without them. Maybe, at some time in the past, you've been the recepient of a corrective intervention (that obviously could never have been your fault or responsibility), and just can't get over it? Lighten up. . .they earn every cent they earn, and should be paid more. I've done their job (in the long, distant past), and that's why I don't do it today.

[pbs911]

Don, it a good thing you went driving abeater in Irvine. It amazes me that whenever i drive through that town the cops have some poor guy on the curb while they rummage through their car. It seems that in Irvine, as well as were I live, the cops treat you well IF you drive the right car. If not they make sure you don't come back.

[k9handler]

Thanks Adam...
I love your car as well...the color seems a little brighter than mine. Mine is the original paint, so it may just be faded.
May I ask what you did with the whale tail? I thought it looked good on the car, but the classic lines are very nice as well.

[RSupdate]

Originally posted by MMARSH
I personally can't stand cops. FYI, The Sheriff of LA County makes $245,000 Its the highest paying public official job in the country.

I have always been a big supporter of law enforcement....
That is until two weeks ago..... Long story short:

Lite turns green, crossing intersection I see O.C. Sheriff waiting to turn rt.- to go same direction I am going. First thing I do is keep rpms at or under 3k, signal & pull in behind an elderly person going the speed limit...then cruise....

a minute or two later the cop pulls up along side and stays right next to me for 4 mi. falls back, then red lites me, writes me up for "modified exhaust", (I have a S.S. Borla) I sign the ticket and he gives me my licence & regist. back

Now it gets scary....

He is turning away and all of a sudden turns back and out of the blue asks if I have been drinking.."No" I replied (I hadn't) next thing I know, I am being accused of being on "methamphetimne"
(I had a handfull of starbuck's chocolate covered espresso beans an hour before..god's truth!!) and spread across the hood of the squad car, frisked, doing all these drug coordination tests, then being locked in the back of the squad car while the two cops totally search my 911...floormats & trunk carpet out in the street, glove box dumped on the floor, looking & feeling around under the car...the whole shabang.

While all this is going on one or the other periodically come back to the car and basically gets right in my face and loudly tells me to "give it up, tell us what you are on" I won't admit to it (I have nothing to admit to!)and they get pissed off, telling me that "they are not amatuers at this" and "you can't fool us"
Well after about 15-20 min in the back of their fine auto, I am let out and told, " reluctantly, we have to let you go. You have passed all our tests and we cannot find any contraband in your vehicle. We know you are on something, we just don't know what" (remember the Starbucks...?) They would not believe one word I said. Not one. It didn't take long for me to realize the more I said the more they tried to and did, use it against me.

Oh, and the last thing they said to me was, "If you have any problem with what went on here, my name and badge number are on the ticket..."

This all occured in Sunset Beach, Cal. in the middle of the afternoon.

And this is the short version too. I left alot of juicy details out.

Right now, I don't think to highly of law enforcement. If those two can do that to me, anyone can have that happen to them. I never dreamed anything like that would happen.

O.C. Sheriff = Gestapo.

[pbs911]

John,

Sunset Beach? I thought they only did that in HB back when the gestapo youth were really there. Seriously, I've been through the same thing in HB a while back, when it was old main street. I guess now that HB is "cleaned up" they are moving north.

AS with every thing, there is always a select few who give the rest a bad name. In my case, as a lawyer, its the majority that give a select few a bad name.

[Jess]

I'm with Mike and John on this one.

While I'm sure that there are good cops out there, my experiences have only shown me otherwise.

Basically, I have to wonder what type of mentality is drawn into law enforcement. To me it seems like cops were the nerds, outcasts, or wantabes when we were young that are now able to extract some sort of perverted revenge on the rest of us.

Think about it. How many of us would like to go to work each morning with one of our goals being to ruin other people's days? Do otherwise normal folks relish the idea of having to phyically restrain another human being? I, for one, don't wake up longing to invade another's privacy and that is what I see cops continuously doing.

Sure, I know, we need them to preserve civil society. I agree.

I'm saying that I am a very average, very middle class, very respectful thiry-five yeal old guy who has had far more negative experiences with cops than positive ones. I just think that to a large extent, cops run arond with a chip on thier shoulders looking for excuses to excert(sp?) the power that we have entrusted them with.


Jess

[emcon5]

Originally posted by Jess
I'm with Mike and John on this one.

For those of you not in on the joke,

Mike (MMARSH) is a cop.

Tom

[jperry]

99% of cops give the rest a bad name

[MMARSH]

Originally posted by emcon5


For those of you not in on the joke,

Mike (MMARSH) is a cop.

Tom

Tom, why'd you tell, I thought I would just go along with the cops suck attitude around here. It comes up about once a week and It was just starting to get good What can I say I'm a nerd, outcast and a wantabe, I gotta have fun somehow.


Seriously John, sorry about your incident, I really hate to hear of stories like yours. That type of thing doesn't do anything but make my job more difficult. You should file a formal complaint with the station Watch Commander.

Oh BTW. I work with several cops who drive 911s. One has an SC with 3000 original miles on it. All of my cop friends are car guys just like all of my civilian friends.