[smuryof]

Originally Posted by Bigg K

Ok, now being a cop myself, I've had a good laugh at some of these stories. I'll let you guys in on a little secret though, honesty is the best policy. Most times we know the answers to the questions we ask (like how fast do you think you were going?). What happens next depends on what you say. If you insult our intellegence (insert wise remark here) like "I don't know" or "I was doing the speed limit" or "maybe 35" when you were doing 60, expect a ticket. If you tell us, I was just showing off, I am stupid, I just installed my new supercharger etc, you will generally recieve just a warning, a good dressing down and probably a request to look under the hood.

Thanks for the perspective. That pretty much matches the experiences I've had. Unfortunately, I think one or two cops with a power-trip attitude, out of a hundred where the rest are all decent, hard working people, end up ruining people's image of the majority of officers / troopers across the country. It's easy for people to categorize all officials as "just there to give us a hard time." But let me tell you, there have been some situations where I was sure glad to have them around.

I guess someone else in Detroit must have had another old rusty Pontiac, because there was one day I'll never forget. This one's mercifully shorter than my other posts:

I was coming home from a buddy's house in Detroit, as usual rolling thru stop signs, trying not to linger too long in some of the bad neighborhoods, and I had just rolled slowly thru a red light (there were some scary-guys giving me the eye) and had gone a block when out of nowhere a cruiser whipped out from the side street I had just passed and flipped his lights on, bumper pretty much kissing my tail. I pulled over right away.

Loudspeaker: "Get out of the car, and show me your hands!!"

I was freaked; never had to do this before - so I put it in park, shut off the engine, and slowly got out. Held my hands up for him to see.

Then the officer got out of his aging Detroit cruiser, and
approached me, gun drawn! Needless to say, I was scared.

As he approached, the gun sagged a bit, he peered closer at me, took another look at the car, then dropped the gun to his side. Then he apologized and explained to me that they were looking for a badly rusted, "canary yellow" full-size, similar to mine, but the suspect was totally different & this was a case of mistaken identity. Then he slapped the side of the car, told me to try not to go thru red lights, and told me to go home. It's guys like that, putting their life on the line, in hopeless neighborhoods like those, that make me more than willing to pay my taxes.

[OHC6-Man]

Sheesh I wish I had some cool cops in my city. Every cop here is always on a power-trip. They just skip all warnings and go straight to the ticket, which is usually ridiculously high (thank you city lawmakers! not).

But I'll be movin soon and maybe the new town will have good cops.

[dbozmaninbull]

I'm a cop, too. Yes, when we ask you a question, we already know the answer. If you insult our intelligence, you'll get a coupon. If you act like a human being with some respect, you'll generally get the benefit of the doubt ... assuming you weren't doing something totally egregious.

I'm pretty easy on traffic. But if you're doing something that endangers other people -- like street-racing or running red lights -- I have no trouble dropping the hammer on you.

Just a different perspective.
d

[Bigg K]

dbozmaninbull:

"get a coupon?" thats hillarious! Can I use that? I usually tell the violator that I'm giving them a free ticket to go see the courthouse.....I figure it's my civic duty to get the young kids involved.....Bigg K

[badws6]

Wow great stories

Here's mine Way back when my wife and were just married (1981) We bought a 73 charger SE. 400ci auto.as we had just purchased the car and we live in CA, the car was from Illinois, and we had applied for custom plates so we had three registrations in the glove box One night on the way home I sorta got on it a little around a corner left a little rubber on the road ...well maybe more than a little..we were only a few blocks from home and the officer followed me into my apt. complex blocked the car in bliped the siren and turned on the lights ..did I mention that this was around midnight..needless to say the wife was a little miffed ...when the officer came up to the window and asked for the registration my wife fanned all three like playing cards and politley asked the officer which one ..buy now the officer is getting a little tense and askes me to get out of the car...this irritatas my wife who then storms out of the passanger side of the car slams the door and comes up to me demanding the keys so she can go into the house here is where it gets funny the officer is at least 6.6 and my wife is 5.2 in heels (and eighteen at this time) The officer shines his flashlight in her face and says and I quote "Just how old are you little miss" she now in her most venomus voice replies "I am eighteen and married if that is any of your buisness" and turns around and marches into the house. The Officer must have thought I was in enough already and just gave a warning ...With the help of my wife I thought I was going to jail ..and yes 26 years we are still married and still laugh about the "Incident"

[soon2b2ltmp]

I have a few concerning my '72 catalina. Just a short background first, I bought a 1972 base model catalina with the intention of turning it into a replica of the car my dad drove as a Sheriffs deputy in IL. I managed to find a decent one for sale in Delaware and that is where the adventure begins......

I stayed with a police Friend of mine in DE while I got the car roadworthy for a car show the next week and the eventual 775 mile trip home. After I picked up the car from the paint shop (decked out with light bar, red headlights and Dupage County Sheriffs Department markings) and headed back to my buddies house, with my friend in the passenger seat. Mind you in DE it is legal for an antique vehicle to drive with the markings uncovered as long as its used for shows and parades. As we round the corner, this guy looked up, saw the car then freaked an ran.

While working on the car in DE, i managed to discover that someone crossed the 5 and 7 plug wires, and replaced the dying 2 bbl with a 4bbl.

So anyway its time for the trip home. I take off early in the morning after gassing up, and hit the turnpike. I get to the PA turnpike, after coming through the toll booth, I pull over and check to make sure everything is ok because I smell something fishy. Since I didnt find anything I took off, but noticed a PA State Police car sitting there at the toll booth. I made it to the first service plaza because the smell is getting worse and now greenish water is appearing on the windshield. I coast into a parking spot, smoke begins pouring from underneath the hood, and i'm getting horrible pre-ignition after attempting to turn it off (No idiot light). With the hood up I am staring at the engine, when I hear "Everything OK?" I turn around and theres the same State Police car from the tool booth. "I followed you from the toll booth cause I thought you might be having some trouble." I was astounded, and told that the car over heated and I'm just letting it cool down. He pulled off assured that I would be OK. I relaxed waited an hour then added some more coolant and distilled water, then took off. I made 3/4th of the way down the off ramp then the damn idiot light comes on!!!! I made it to an emergency pull off area and called for a tow. Ten Minutes later that same Trooper pulls up and asks if I need help. I told him that I just called for a tow, and we BS'd for a while and then he took off. 30 Minutes after that another trooper stops to see if I'm OK. I made sure when I got home to send in a commendation to the PASP for that trooper.

My next story;

I had a bad speaker and siren box in the car, and I took it over to a buddies house to fix it because he does Emergency Vehicle installs for a living. After I got a new speaker and siren and installed it, my friend and I took his suburban and went to lunch. After coming back and chilling in some lawn chairs I get a frantic cell phone call from mother saying come back to the house something happened, yadda yadda yadda. Here I'm thinking my dad just fell down the damn stairs and is hurt bad or something similar. So I take off with everything uncovered (which isn't illegal in IL, but frowned upon heavily) and head home not breaking the speed limit (gods truth!!) even though making that 400 4bbl roar was very tempting. By the way I'm in Dupage County, and its been said to me that they (the Sheriffs Office) are not pleased that I did the car because it has Dupage county markings. As I am coming to this light there is a Marked DCSO car and an unmarked sitting there talking. The guy in the marked car is staring at me with the jaw dropped. I wave and continue on, they pull out in the other direction, whew bullet dodged, Nothing happened. I get home it turns out to be something trivial. However I found out two weeks later why that deputy stared at me. At a car show I ran into a person who works for the sheriffs department, and told me that 92, the number on my car, is now a Sergeants car!

[a67goatnut]

I got a ticket last weekend for speeding. The gears have been changed in my car so I have to do some math while I'm driving. When I got this ticket I was pacing the rest of the traffic though. I, and everyone else was going about 5 over. 60 in a 55. I was in the left lane of two when I saw this Expedition towing a u-haul trailer quickly approaching. I made the lane change to the right to let her through. When I was changing lanes I noticed this Oregon state trooper going the opposite direction. The speed limit changed in a few houndred yards to a 40 mph. The expedition continued at a clip well above the spped limit. A few hundred yards later we ended up at a traffic signal along side of each other. When the light turned green I noticed the trooper behind me and then he turned his lights on. He pulled me over and ticketed me for going 70 in a 55.

He asked me if I knew how fast I was going and I made the mistake of telling him about my gears and that I felt that I was probably going about 60 along with the rest of the traffic. He was not impressed with my answer...but told me that if I provided proof to the court that I got my speedo corrected that they would drop the speeding offense. There is no mention of this on the ticket so it makes me wonder a bit. My wife was with me as a witness but I'm sure that will not matter much. I just feel that he had to have been locked onto the expedition coming up behind me and that because I was in the GTO that he thought I must have been the culpret. I'm sure that the driver of the expedition was pleased that she did not get pulled over though.

Urghhh!!

[Repoman]

Car: 76 T/A
Town: Princeton, NJ
Time: Saturday morning, 1992

I just rescued the 'Bird from a barn. Cleaned her up, did the brakes/clutch, etc. Driving with fresh plates, but no inspesction sticker yet. Cop pulls me over for it. I'm dead cool, all my paperwork is straight. At the window he asks for my papers, I hand him the pink temp inspection card off the dash we use in NJ, and open the center console for my reg/ins. When I open the console, I see my papers there, but they are under my BROWNING HI-POWER 9MM, sitting butt up. I am looking away from the cop, so I don't know if he is seeing this. I have a second to decide a) put hands on steering wheel and soil self, or b) reach for the gun and get papers trapped underneath.

It feels like an hour passes while I'm staring down, and no yelling, so I move the gun, get the papers, and close the lid. I turn to the cop, and he is obviously clueless, checking out the car.

After that I kept my papers on the visor.

[Bigg K]

Good way to get yourself shot. You don't even have to touch the gun. The officer could have shot you just for reaching towards the console where it was, and it would have been a good shooting as far as the officer is concerned. Not preaching, just want you to be safe (and in one piece!).

[the70OOJudge]

Back in North Bay Ontario in the late 70's My buddy Tim Taylor(yes for real but not the Tim your thinking of) Had a 69 440 R/T Charger.. Blue with a black Vinyl Roof.. Auto.. Every time I came home on my weekends as I was in the Military at the time. He would sit and wait on the hwy for me to come in.. Then follow me down town and we would cruise the city all night . Then one day just out of the blue (joke) we lined up on lakeshore drive just coming out of the A and W drive in resturant.. Both of us doing the classic brake burn then when we got a jump in holding till it went green.. You could not see anything back there behind us, and not in the front either as the wind blew it all forward.. All of a sudden he jumped forward with me beside him.. The ole Judge lept into a frenzy so I had to back off and grab again.. lining up to him at around 110 mph ,, I could see the red and blue behind us... he slammed on the brakes and I put on the gas.... went a good mile and parked at a gas station.. He stops the Charger, runs out rips open the hood.. flips off this cheezy mesh air cleaner throwing it on the road in front of him and takes his spring off his carb , pushing down the throttle linkage stalling the charger as the city police walked up to him... His excuse is that the throttle linkage stuck open and after a couple mins had it in hand and pushed his car over into a parking lot... After the police left I came back and we laid low for the night thinking we did mighty fine till that same police member off shift pulled up in the A and W in a 67 cameo white Camero... We all looked at one another and laughed.. What a life .... What memories ....

[GOAT WAGON 428]

My MOTHER was at the light, just minding her own bees wax but decides to rip through the gears in her 1970 Formula RAIII 400 , at least 90-110 . A cop pulls her over and says, "didn't see me back there, did ya?" Mom,"uh, no" , cop "bet ya feel pretty stupid, huh?" mom, "uh, yeah" cop, "got a tach in there?", mom, "Yes, sir!" . Cop, "What were you red lining at?", mom, "Oh, about 5300". So, he checked out her license and reg, ins, etc. All was in good order, so the officer came back and gave my mom a stern warning, with a hint of a smile. They both got back out on the road, and were side by side at the light. The officer says on the PA, "You wanna try that again?", and revs up his cop car!! My mom just laughed nervously, as the officer squealed off from the line!!

[6T1Cat]

Actually this happened to a new owner in about '72 or '73 after I sold my car.
My older cousin owned a Pontiac dealership. (tons of stories there) His son had a black '61 Cat Bubble top with a 4bbl and a 4 spd. I had a white '61 Catalina Bubble top with 8 lug wheels and a built 389 (re-jetted Tri-Power, 10.75 heads, 288/302 Cam, recurved distributor, Iron headers, etc.) but what really made this car was the 4spd Hydramatic from a '64 Bonny that we shoehorned in. That thing was FAST. All I know is that you really could bury the speedo needle in the turn signal indicator. Anyway, in a moment of juvenile stupidity I sold the car. It stayed in the area for awhile and the 2nd or 3rd owner was doing donuts in a parking lot. For some reason the State Police got on his tail and chased him out of town and up a long hill. They speedo clocked him doing 117. He was actually going faster but that was all they could do as he pulled away and out ran them. The reason I know this is that for some unknown reason he went back to town a little later and they surrounded him and pulled him out of the car at gunpoint. Which starts a whole 'nother story but I'll save that for later.

[red76TA]

got a question for the cops here- do you guys get any of the court costs or do you only get the ticket portion of a ticket? my last one was 35 for the ticket 110 for the court costs and 150 for getting it dropped to a non moving violation

[6T1Cat]

As a former Judge, I can tell you that in NY the money goes to the local municipality and to the State. There is NO direct funding of police agencies by these fines EXCEPT DWI.

[J.D.]

17 years ago i was headed up to my camping spot. i had a 77 buick regal with a 67 pontiac 400 in it and a radar detector. making GREAT time. got stuck behind a pickup. 2 lane rd 55mph zone. we were already doing 70 mph and i was looking HARD to pass ! i got my chance and floored it. much to my GREAT surprise , i was looking so hard to pass that when i floored it , THERE WAS A MICHIGAN STATE TROOPER 3 CAR LENGTHS BEHIND ME !! never saw him. pulled back in line after i passed and sure enough here he comes ! i didnt look at him as he passed me but was one happy camper when he pulled over the car in FRONT of me !! he must have been thinking "wtf is this idiot thinking " when i floored it. ahhh the good old days !

[Thomasmoto]

My best one is when my wife and I had only been married a month and were on our way back home from her parents house for a 4th of July lunch. We were in my 87 Turbo Buick-was a mid-11 car and I stop at this red light and here comes a pickup full of guys revving and hollering and so on, so I come up against the converter to about 2500rpms and when the light went green not only did we do a fuel car burnout, but the truck looked like it was tied to a tree, he was hardly moving at all. Well about that time I get a glance out of the corner of my right eye and I see him, it was a city cop in the parking lot that I just covered in tire smoke. I mean he was like the starter at a NHRA event when they can't see for a minute due to the smoke. Well my wife was easily upset at that time in our lives so I lookup in the rearview and the his car sliding sideways out into the road after us. I calmly turned to my wife and said honey we are about to be pulled over don't go nuts. So the officer comes up to the car and says license and registration and I give them to him and he goes back to his cruiser and comes back in about 5 mins and says you know those redlights get to me too sometimes, but you can't do that! He charges me with wreckless driving-6 points and a $500.00 fine, this was in 1989, and $500.00 was more then than now, but it's still an appreciable amount to me.. So I call a friend that is a lawyer and explain the above to him and he says we can go 1 of 2 ways, go for a jury trial and he swears he can convince them a 6 cylinder car could not do what I was charged with and I try to explain the GN's of the time were getting alot of press cause they could smoke the new Vettes. Or he says come get him at trial time and he will ask the cop if he will help me. I said let's do that. He changed it to unsafe starting which was a $20.00 fine and 2 points. I said THANKS-and ran to the window to pay the fine.
David T.

[goatnutz]

sorry, i dont have a good getaway story but i did part out a local police car. a1965 catalina wagon 338h.p. 421 with saftytrack chromed valve covers and breather lid and those little accesory bumper steps on the rear to aid in tossing in the criminals. guess the the cops would play around the new expressway before just before finished pontiac vs. mopar. when i went to buy the old rusty wagon from the long retired chief ipulled in the drive to find a 64 gto sitting there with a billy goat tied to the bumper. bought that to of course. when he takes me out back to the wagon he says were taking the goats home away.he had gutted the seats and steering collum to accomodate more goats.still have the motor and rear from the wagon and still got the rusty 64 to. the bandits lucky he didnt have a real pontiac cop car chasing him around.

[Rockhead400]

Finally I have a good getaway story! My 3 friends and one girl came over and wanted to ride in the GTO, but it wouldnt start and the front brake was grabbing. They fixed it, washed it and we headed out. We were doing 4 burnouts on a side street, when I stopped to do another and someone said a cop was running for his car to chase me. I floored it, ran a stop sign taking a right and going sideways in my 67 GTO with a 4 speed. I ran fast straight for about a 1/2 block and saw a dark area between two buildings and killed the lights and engine and turned in. We waited quietly while he ran up and down this steet with his air cleaner screaming looking for us. We sat about 10 minutes and then went to a nearby big store parking lot and hid the car and shopped for 20 minutes laughing our asses off. I felt like I was in high school and everyone was proud of me for getting away. Muscle cars rule baby! Now if I only had a good suspension and brakes.

[VCho455]

Mid summer, late 70's, in northern Idaho. A buddy gives us his 75 or 76 Formula with a 455 for the night. Payback for some work we did for him. With my buddy Doug driving, we head 45 miles to Coeur d'Lane to cruise town on a sweet Friday night. Picked up a case of Michalob for the trip and we're off. A couple of times through town and we drive past a local enforment team (Coppers). They take interest in us for no reason (maybe a black firebird with nice wheels and out of town plates. 2 blocks later they pull us over. Since it wasn't our car we had been carefully placing the empty beers back in the box, which was sitting in plain site on the back seat. The two officers did the usual routine. Doug admits he forgot his licence. He tells them we're going to Spokane to pick up a friend at the airport with the friends car. He claims the beer was in the car when we picked up the car. Skepical looks all around outside of the car. They take the registration and insurance and return to the cruiser. After about 10 minutes, they return and ask how well we know the friend who we're picking up. Doug says they work together. The kind officer tells us that the plates are registered to 66 ford pickup and the insurance is expired. At this time they ask for my ID. I'm figuring that we are going to spend a little time in jail, no 200 dollars, no GO. They go back to the cruiser and a second one shows up. Bad sign. Another 15 minutes of being stared at by everyone crusing town that night. The enforcement team comes back to the car and informs us that they are going to let us go. But I was to drive the car as I had a licence and they had better not see us anywhere again that night. Even on highway coming back from the airport. We drove straight to the highway and turned right to home and not left to Spokane. Later we surmised that they let us go because our buddy owned both the pickup and the bird.

[BAD455TA]

One of many....

A few years ago I got pulled over for expired Registration and Inspection my little brother was with me (this time) and I got lucky because I told the cop I had just built it and was testing it out(this was the truth). Anyway he said "Oh yea man I remember building a car with my dad when I was younger, can I take a look under the hood?" Needless to say he let me go and told me to get it renewed.
SOOOOO.....

Sunday I am test driving the same car with a newly rebuilt motor, this time with my Father in Law and we get pulled over in front of the house for...you guessed it, expired reg and insp.

I left the car running in hopes that he would have the same apprieciation for it as the last cop did. Lucky for me after what seemed like hours he let me go and told me to park it until I register it. He told me he was being nice since my reg was 4 years expired! LOL

I bought new tags yesterday!!!!