INTERACTION WITH A POLICE OFFICER
- By MR-D-ROB
- The Cookout
- 12 Replies
About a year ago I was pulled over by a police officer after I inadvertently ran a stop sign. He came up to my car and asked for my license and insurance papers. I already had the papers ready and handed them to him. He told me that I had ran a stop sign. I let him know that I thought the sign was a yield sign and didn't see it well due to the area being dark. He said okay and told me to wait and he would be right back. I waited and he returned to the car after a 3 minutes or so.
He said he was just going to give me a warning and to be sure to watch that area when coming through next time. "Will do!", I said.
He was about to walk away when he turned back and said, "Do you mind if I ask you a question?" I replied "Yeah!"
He asked me why I was so polite and cooperative. He said that he noticed that my address is outside the city and wondered if being from the rural area was why I was so polite.
We talked for a few minutes. I explained to him that I didn't live there anymore and had just moved back to the city and was waiting on my new driver's license with the updated address to arrive. I also told him I wasn't originally from Texas and that I had been here since my time in the military. I told him about my previous time as a police officer myself. He told me that he had pulled over 3 other African American people for minor traffic infractions and they were all rude and mean. He said he let them go with warnings also but even then they were still being rude.
He said he just wondered why I behaved so differently and said it must be that I was in the military and had been a cop myself. It seemed that his thought process was that black people who were from within the city and not prior military, prior law enforcement etc. would all be rude. I didn't want him to walk away with that mindset.
I explained to him that none of that was why I was polite. I told him that he was polite to me so I was polite back. I explained that I couldn't be upset that he pulled me over for running a stop sign and that he was simply doing his job. If anything I was glad he let me know about the stop sign. What if I accidentally ran it again not knowing it was there and got hit.
I told him that the way he conducted the stop is exactly what is expected. Just be polite. Conduct the stop and don't ask extra unnecessary stuff like do I have drugs or guns etc. That leads to or will appear to be racial profiling.
I explained that all could be expected is a professional behaved officer and he did that. I further explained that the other people were probably just upset about current events and that he shouldn't let their behavior dictate his future interactions with black people. I explained that most black people aren't going to behave that way if he did just what he did with me. I explained that even if he had given me a ticket I would still have been polite.
There is no reason for me to argue with him. If I wanted to dispute the ticket I could do that in court!
Overall it was a good interaction and I think he learned!
He said he was just going to give me a warning and to be sure to watch that area when coming through next time. "Will do!", I said.
He was about to walk away when he turned back and said, "Do you mind if I ask you a question?" I replied "Yeah!"
He asked me why I was so polite and cooperative. He said that he noticed that my address is outside the city and wondered if being from the rural area was why I was so polite.
We talked for a few minutes. I explained to him that I didn't live there anymore and had just moved back to the city and was waiting on my new driver's license with the updated address to arrive. I also told him I wasn't originally from Texas and that I had been here since my time in the military. I told him about my previous time as a police officer myself. He told me that he had pulled over 3 other African American people for minor traffic infractions and they were all rude and mean. He said he let them go with warnings also but even then they were still being rude.
He said he just wondered why I behaved so differently and said it must be that I was in the military and had been a cop myself. It seemed that his thought process was that black people who were from within the city and not prior military, prior law enforcement etc. would all be rude. I didn't want him to walk away with that mindset.
I explained to him that none of that was why I was polite. I told him that he was polite to me so I was polite back. I explained that I couldn't be upset that he pulled me over for running a stop sign and that he was simply doing his job. If anything I was glad he let me know about the stop sign. What if I accidentally ran it again not knowing it was there and got hit.
I told him that the way he conducted the stop is exactly what is expected. Just be polite. Conduct the stop and don't ask extra unnecessary stuff like do I have drugs or guns etc. That leads to or will appear to be racial profiling.
I explained that all could be expected is a professional behaved officer and he did that. I further explained that the other people were probably just upset about current events and that he shouldn't let their behavior dictate his future interactions with black people. I explained that most black people aren't going to behave that way if he did just what he did with me. I explained that even if he had given me a ticket I would still have been polite.
There is no reason for me to argue with him. If I wanted to dispute the ticket I could do that in court!
Overall it was a good interaction and I think he learned!
