Ignorant Police Officer... Saturday Rant

[Deep C]

Its been a while since my last rant but this one is fresh and too good to pass up.

To simplify: Car registration expired a few days ago. Renew on line. Get receipt and print out. They mail the sticker... Simple... Receipts are good as proof if stopped before sticker arrives.

I'm driving along, all legal... Lights go on behind me. So far officer is right to stop because of sticker.... I give license, insurance and proof of registration. Should be good. Comes back and hands me a ticket...
Ummmmm... "Sir that piece of paper in your hand there is legitimate proof of current registration. This ticket is for expired registration."
He glares at me... "You appear to have been drinking."
"Say again? I havn't had a drop in seven years."
"Step out of the car. I'm going to search it."
Back up is now called and he goes through it with a fine tooth comb. Mambas , hooks, leaders, teardrops, sailfish flags, shoes, and the rest of the contents of the rolling tackle box were tossed out in the street. Cigarettes were dismantled and inspected. I don't drink, I don't do drugs, so I just sit back and watch him go to town. He grabs Mini's, back pack.
"This yours?"
"My daughter's..."
"How do I know you got a daughter?"
"Cause I just told you and purple polkadot back packs aren't my thing."
He dumps it on the ground and homework and shit flies. Now I'm past annoyed. Yeah... Now I was flat out pissed. The back up won't let me chase down the blowing homework and notes...
He finds that NYPD 911 memorial hat my friend the New York cop gave me.
"New York guys are ass holes." Finds my PBA booster card.... "Ass holes.... You a cop?" Utter disregard for his fellow officers to say the least.
"No sir just a friend to the men in uniform..."
He finds my captains licnese. "Marine Officer? You are a cop!"
"No sir. No authority except on a vessel I am in command of." Then the Deep part of me kicked in. I can't help it. It comes with the turf." On board though I am judge, jury and hang man! What do you say? Lets go fishin! Boats in the watre three blocks form here. Come on general lets go..." Visions of keel hauling the fat dunce now danced in my head. Tough to keep a straight face.
Of course the car was clean, the back pack was clean. I'm clean. The ticket stands though. Now I can pay the monster Florida fines $76 State+$11 Fee+ $200 City +++ or fight it. Down here its not one trip to court. Its about five. First the plea hearing. Then a couple "status" hearings. Then a preliminary then finaly you stand before a magistrate that gets paid from the fines he imposes.
All because this guy doesn't even know how to read and that the online registration is just as legit as one from the window at the clerks office. Not being racist but a white man needs 90% to pass. This guy needed a 60% and I doubt highly that he achieved that without some help. I love our guys out there "protecting us" but some like this one need to be asking if you "want fries with that" rather than being turned loose with a gun on the public.
I give up... Its just so Florida...

[LuckyLady]

No points = pay
Points = Day in court = double the fines and no points

[Deep C]

Points or at least notify insurance company... Five trips to court. Tough to railroad when I have proof from the state itself but again this is DFlorida. We have sherrifs down here who still wear mirror sunglasses... With the mirror on the INSIDE!

[dman25]

Wow! Sounds alot like The Peoples Republic OF Maryland. Atleast up here if you did anything short of murder you can usually walk. I guess that's the one positive thing about having the highest murder rate in the world. Last year we had 2 guys rob and shoot an off duty police officer. The guy they caught got 5 years. 5 years!!!! I'm sure he'll be out in 2.

[Hallnass282]

Coming from drag strip "66 chevelle 10 second car but street legal" 9 at night girl in the passenger seat and buddy in the back all legal and get nailed for having my stage numbers on the upper right windshield."YOUNG SPOILED BRAT" is what he called me.I built the car with my money from the time I was 12

[Deep C]

Down here if you're white and an upstanding citizen they put you on a chain gang in the swamp for jay walking. The bad guys walk. My old house got broken into. I tracked and found him. They took four months to excercise the warrant. 23 years old, 22 felony convictions, did two weeks time served for my burgulary...

I have a lot of cop friends. Great guys all of them, but down here there are a handful of some real wankers. Its a shame because these are the ones people remember and it makes all cops look bad.

[scotty2]

another douche bag gives the rest of us "good" ones a black eye..........sorry, sir

[shoefish]

Most cops are great guys...they just want to do their job and protect the innocent while getting the bad guy. Unfortunately it seems like there is another crowd that has short man, short d%$k sindrome- you know, the ones who watch RoboCop movies and type threads about it with one hand . Anyway, sounds like you ran into one of the latter, and I'd fight it- it's the principle that counts. It's just too bad you didn't have a video camera like that other guy did a couple of weeks ago.

[Deep C]

Scotty
You are one of the great ones... Always welcome in and around my life. Hell a member of the family even. Just a handful of off center ones just make it seem so much worse. I guess its the same with any profession. I get pissed when I hear of a charter captain doing off color stuff, like keeping deposits for a weather cancellation, or taking guys for a boat ride without even trying to catch fish.
Police are that line between "Them" and "Us". Fortunately there are enough good ones to keep that balance for the most part. Then you have that one out there thats a waste of taxpayer dollars who spoils the whole picture... Oh well... Its not all of them or even a big enough percentage to really get worked up about. Thank goodness for the good ones though...

[homewrecker]

Deep check this out like Dman25 I live in Md,my little truck gets stolen and I get it back a couple days later,now the best part,a few weeks later I get a ticket in the mail for running a red light and the camera shows date and time which is a day after being stolen,to make a long story short I end up having to pay the $75 fine.Now heres the kicker about 2 months later I start getting notices about unpaid parking fines which again is like beating your head up against the wall trying to fight them,so I had to pony up more dough,so I sent the check off and I swear I made it out to"Baltimore Extortion Fund" and it was cashed with no problem.The tickets are just another means to produce revenue.