GOOD cop stories: when have you had a good interaction with LEO's?

[PaperclipGod]

So, to counter-balance the constant stories of heavy-handed and incompetent members of law enforcement, how about some anecdotes of officers who take "to protect and to serve" to heart?

Here's one that sticks out for me:

When I was 17, I got pulled over for speeding on my way home from work. I was doing 50 in a 30, I think. Cop wasn't particularly mean or nice, just doing his job.

However, a few months later I'm driving home from work again but with a couple friends in the car. In MA at the time, there was some law where unless you were 18 you couldn't drive with anyone else in the car unless they were your family or were over 21. You also weren't allowed to drive at night between midnight and 5 am.

Anyway, I was speeding at around 11:30 pm, and I get pulled over -- lo and behold, it's the same cop as the first time. When he walks up to the car -- before he even takes my license -- he sees me and says "Hello again, Mr. Jensen." He actually remembered me. I'm thinking to myself "oh crap."

So he writes me a ticket for speeding, but then instead of writing me up for having passengers, which would have been multiple infractions (and probably a suspension, since I was under 18), he has me pull into a parking lot so I can call someone to come pick up my friends. It ended up taking their ride about 40 minutes to get there, and he patiently waited the whole time. On top of that, by the time this had finished, it was past midnight, so I technically wasn't even allowed to drive myself home. He tells me it's alright, and to just drive slowly.

Anyway, it left a lasting impression on me, as the guy was so compassionate. Yeah, I got a speeding ticket, but he was more than fair about the whole situation. He was protecting and serving his community, not just being a hard-ass who could have piled on infractions for the hell of it.

And out of sheer respect for that one cop, I never drove through his town again over the speed limit or with underage passengers.

 

[xj0hnx]

Most of my interaction with police have been favorable. The most recent, we were driving home, my wife was driving, and our son in the car, got pulled over for an expired registration. the cops were very nice, my wife didn't even have her license with her. We explained she just came to pick me up from work, and hadn't brought her purse, they asked me for my license and carrying license, asked where my firearm was, told them it was on my hip, they were perfectly fine about everything, let us move on home without even a ticket. Another time me and a friend were walking home from eating, got stopped by some cops saying they were looking for burglary suspects, searched us, found a joint in my buddies cigarettes, had him dance on it, and sent us on our way. Most cops are great people, problem is when they fuck up, it's usually pretty bad.

 

[CrackRabbit]

I personally can't say I have had any memorable positive interactions with law enforcement. Most have been when stopped for traffic violations, and the LEO was simply being a hard-ass. The others they were simply doing their job (taking info and other things) and left no real impression one way or another.

 

[CADsortaGUY]

I helped one move into his new house last weekend. He's helping me remove siding this weekend.

 

[Nemesis 1]

I can't even begin to say how many times police gave me breaks . Hugh breaks . Alas that time has past and these men are gone . I never lied to them out of respect , They always cut me a break.

 

[mk]

Only had one encounter with the police. My car was broken into years ago. There was nothing valuable to steal but some tools went missing. The incident was reported but I didn't really expect much.
A couple of weeks later an officer called and said he'd drop by. He showed up with the stolen items and all the paperwork. We talked about the case for a little while and that was that.

 

[gaidensensei]

People are always bound to remember and focus on negative events better than positives.

It's like a psychology 200-level discussion subject.

I think it has to do with the fact that negatives are a learning experience, while positives are good and all but they just eventually become forgotten.

 

[69Mach1]

I've had quite a few interactions with officers. Almost all have been positive. 2-3 have been assholes. A call to their superiors has taken care of any who were being assholes just for the sake of being assholes. I'm sure there are exceptions, but if you just do what they say and tell the truth, 99% of the time cops are good guys. On the 1% where they're not, confrontation and escalation of force are almost certain to work against you. Unless you think your life is in danger, just play along and sort it out later.

 

[dainthomas]

I didn't get tazed or beaten last time, so that was pretty good.

 

[rudder]

So, to counter-balance the constant stories of heavy-handed and incompetent members of law enforcement, how about some anecdotes of officers who take "to protect and to serve" to heart?

Here's one that sticks out for me:

When I was 17, I got pulled over for speeding on my way home from work. I was doing 50 in a 30, I think. Cop wasn't particularly mean or nice, just doing his job.

However, a few months later I'm driving home from work again but with a couple friends in the car. In MA at the time, there was some law where unless you were 18 you couldn't drive with anyone else in the car unless they were your family or were over 21. You also weren't allowed to drive at night between midnight and 5 am.

Anyway, I was speeding at around 11:30 pm, and I get pulled over -- lo and behold, it's the same cop as the first time. When he walks up to the car -- before he even takes my license -- he sees me and says "Hello again, Mr. Jensen." He actually remembered me. I'm thinking to myself "oh crap."

So he writes me a ticket for speeding, but then instead of writing me up for having passengers, which would have been multiple infractions (and probably a suspension, since I was under 18), he has me pull into a parking lot so I can call someone to come pick up my friends. It ended up taking their ride about 40 minutes to get there, and he patiently waited the whole time. On top of that, by the time this had finished, it was past midnight, so I technically wasn't even allowed to drive myself home. He tells me it's alright, and to just drive slowly.

Anyway, it left a lasting impression on me, as the guy was so compassionate. Yeah, I got a speeding ticket, but he was more than fair about the whole situation. He was protecting and serving his community, not just being a hard-ass who could have piled on infractions for the hell of it.

And out of sheer respect for that one cop, I never drove through his town again over the speed limit or with underage passengers.

He was trying to get some.

The only cool LE people I know are the ones who work for the sheriffs office. They dont have to be dicks and hand out traffic tickets and usually they are from the community. I was pulled over by a sherrifs dept car for going to fast. No ticket, but my wife was getting pissed at me for having a long drawn out conversation with the lady popo.

 

[tk149]

Back when I was in high school, I was driving through a known speed trap. A cop pulled me over. I had just gotten my license and was sweating bullets.
I didn't think I was speeding, but the speed limit was only 25mph, so maybe I was doing 28 when he clocked me.

He said he pulled me over for not having the latest license renewal sticker on my license plate. I told him it was my parents' car.

I didn't even know you had to have a license sticker. He had me check the glove compartment, and sure enough, there was the sticker. I put it on, and he let me go.

To this day, I wonder if he really saw the tiny little expired license sticker on the plate as I drove by.

 

[OBLAMA2009]

in san francisco we recently had a case of a police officer covering his license plates with towels and driving around neighborhoods trying to drag young girls in his truck to rape them. it turns out he had been caught doing that twice before, but because he ws a cop and they didnt want bad publicity, nothing was done. he didnt kill anyone, just smacked them around before assaulting them

 

[OBLAMA2009]

in oakland we just had a case of a deer wandering into a neighborhood. the kids in the neighborhood were excited because it isnt everyday that they got to see a deer in oakland. they called the lindsay wildlife museum to catch the deer and rerelease it in the woods, but before they could get there they police cornered the deer and blew its head off with 7 shots in front of the schoolchildren. in the video, the police could be see laughing at what they had done

 

[HamburgerBoy]

in san francisco we recently had a case of a police officer covering his license plates with towels and driving around neighborhoods trying to drag young girls in his truck to rape them. it turns out he had been caught doing that twice before, but because he ws a cop and they didnt want bad publicity, nothing was done. he didnt kill anyone, just smacked them around before assaulting them

in oakland we just had a case of a deer wandering into a neighborhood. the kids in the neighborhood were excited because it isnt everyday that they got to see a deer in oakland. they called the lindsay wildlife museum to catch the deer and rerelease it in the woods, but before they could get there they police cornered the deer and blew its head off with 7 shots in front of the schoolchildren. in the video, the police could be see laughing at what they had done

You're forgetting the time that you had to pick up the dead bodies of children shot to death by the pigs, in Los Angeles I believe.

 

[OBLAMA2009]

on the bart we just had a case of a police officer assaulting and then shooting to death an unarmed, nonresisting man. it was caught on video with a cell phone. the police went into the crowd and attempted to confiscate all the cell phones so they could say the man had assaulted a police officer, but a video still appeared on the evening news, showing them shooting in the back an unarmed man lying face down on the ground.

 

[Balt]

My experiences have been limited (I'm a pretty careful person), but they've all been positive.

Just as an example, I once got caught in the left lane with no shoulder passing a huge line of vehicles when an emergency vehicle with its lights on started to come up behind me in the distance. Basically my decision was to pretty much floor it and get past as quickly as possible so I could move into the right lane. This involved exceeding the speed limit by a pretty substantial margin. I got spotted doing this by a cop who was clearly clocking people, but he didn't pull me over.

I suppose it's also possible he was just taking a nap, but I like to think he just realized what I was doing was my best effort to get the hell out of the way.

That's not my only story, but it's the only one I'm going to share. For personal interactions I would recommend honesty and respect. They are usually pretty calm and forgiving unless you try to bullshit them.

 

[OBLAMA2009]

in san francisco the police hid the criminal and disciplinary records of their officers from courts. as a result, many people (some guilty im sure) were nevertheless denied fair trials and now it looks as if many convictions will have to be thrown out of court. did you know you could be a thief, liar, assaulter or sex offender and stiil be employed as a cop?

 

[OBLAMA2009]

in berkeley a drug addicted cop stole drugs from the evidence room for several years. he was finally caught. a regular citizen would have been in big trouble for having that amount of drugs, but when he was sentenced the judge declined to give him jail time because of all the great public service he had performed as a cop

 

[DAGTA]

I'm reminding of the saying, "If there were good cops, they would arrest the bad cops."

 

[JSt0rm]

my favorite feel good story is the one where that cop pushed the innocent dude into the wall and broke his neck.

 

[OBLAMA2009]

my favorite feel good story is the one where that cop pushed the innocent dude into the wall and broke his neck.

i think youre referring to the bart cop who rammed the drunk man's head through a glass window, without regard for the safety his intended victim or the people on the street below who could have been injured by 100lbs of sharp broken glass falling onto them. yes being drunk in public is illegal, but the penalty for that isnt having your head and face rammed through razor sharp plate glass by a 250lb cop

 

[OBLAMA2009]

I'm reminding of the saying, "If there were good cops, they would arrest the bad cops."

havent you heard of the "blue shield of death"? if you tell on another cop, they wont help you on the streets

 

[PieIsAwesome]

Was driving one of my dad's cars to school. I didn't know that the number thing for the tags was expired and got pulled over. Officer was very professional and nice. I had trouble finding the registration and insurance documents, wasn't sure which they were (lol), but she was nice enough to suggest "I think that looks like it" as I was going through them.

Being the first and only time I was pulled over, I was nervous, and forgot to turn off the headlights. The battery or something in the car was dying at the time, and after the officer left I couldn't start the car. Another officer later came by after seeing my hazard lights and gave me a jump start.

So completely positive for me.

 

[Steeplerot]

I'm reminding of the saying, "If there were good cops, they would arrest the bad cops."

this

 

[WhipperSnapper]

Anyway, it left a lasting impression on me, as the guy was so compassionate. Yeah, I got a speeding ticket, but he was more than fair about the whole situation. He was protecting and serving his community, not just being a hard-ass who could have piled on infractions for the hell of it.

Do you really think he was doing you a particularly large favor by having pulled you over and given you a ticket? How did he help you? He didn't! You weren't really hurting anyone and he cost you money! He doesn't sound like an asshole, but I don't think he did you any favors.

I've received a couple traffic tickets and while the police were polite, I left wishing they had never been born since they ended up costing me money when in my view I wasn't a threat to anyone.