OT: What (not) to do when pulled over by the police

Good advice. Thanks for posting. I remember the one and only time I've ever gotten a ticket. I wasn't paying attention and when I saw the officer (facing the other direction) I glanced down and realized I was 10 mph over the posted limit. I immediately found a wide spot and pulled over (I saw the officer turn around after I passed) and waited. He asked me why I pulled over and waited and I, honestly told him that I was in the wrong so was willing to take the consequences. The officer was so amazed that he told me to write a letter to the court requesting that the ticket amount be reduced. It was - from $75 to $25.

I know, sigh seems dh is the better parent on teaching the boys what to do and not do.

I got my handgun carry permit :cowboy: recently, and the mandatory safety class was taught by a State Trooper. He recommended that permit holders keep their permit behind their drivers license and hand both over whenever you get pulled over and a cop asks for your license. (In TN the permit is the same size and style as DL.) His logic was that if you hand over your license and he goes back to his car to check your record, he's going to see that you are a handgun carry permit holder, and his radar is going to go up that there's a better likelihood that you have a gun in your car. You've just put the cop even more on edge than he already was. Now, if you hand the permit with your DL, you're giving him the opportunity to ask you if you're carrying and he is more likely to trust that you're being honest. No guarantees, but this trooper said that he had NEVER written a ticket for a handgun carry permit holder who voluntarily handed over his permit. He said he usually just ended up talking to them about what kind of gun they have and sent them on their way! I haven't gotten to test this out (knock on wood!), but I do keep my carry permit directly behind my DL!

The one very hard lesson I learned about dealing with the police is to ALWAYS treat them with respect and do NOT ever argue with them. Back in my college days, I was pulled over at a roadblock that had been set up after a concert. The cop asked to see my proof of insurance, so I started digging through my glove compartment...I couldn't find it right off the bat. He told me to hurry up, and when I responded in a very annoyed tone, he told me to step out of the car. When I got out of the car, things escalated beyond belief. When he grabbed my arm, I told him not to touch me...and all hell broke loose. I won't go into all the details, but I ended up with two broken ribs and a broken collarbone. I was charged with failure to obey and had to go to court. The judge threw the case out, yelled at the cop, and told me to never argue with law enforcement again. The ironic thing is that I later found my car insurance sitting right there on the top of all my stuff in the glove compartment...it had been in plain sight the whole time.

OMG Raven! That is so horrible... I know it happens, but I hate to hear of officer's abusing their power. The fact that this case was thrown out and you ended up with broken bones is horrifying.

This might sound picky but how do you know that we (as an AA people) teach our children this? Although I understand you intentions are good, please do not speak for the "Black" population speak for yourself