Any LEO

that brings a whole new meaning to emptying their pockets. I would think they were a drug mule if that was their reaction to that order.

 

"before you let them go--".........literally taken........of course.........!!

 

That is why jails have "inmate workers." You just take the car in and tell them to "clean it up." The drive in may not be pleasant, but at least the "pooper" is in the cage and I am in the front seat!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I actually let a 100 miler go one time. When I finally got the car to stop, it was an elderly couple. Both were crying. They told me they were enroute from a small town in San Diego county to the Marine base at Yuma. Their son had tried to commit suicide, was extremely critical and not expected to live out the night.

I had dispatch check their story, and when it was true, there was just no way I could take the driver to jail, (yes it IS a bookable offense at that speed,) or even issue a ticket. I had a long talk with them, got them calmed down and to realize that their killing themselves and possible someone else trying to get to Yuma, was not going to help their kid.

I often have wondered how that came out. . .

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I was never one to be swayed by an excuse or a sob story. When I made a stop, my mind was already made up as to whether it was going to be a ticket, or a verbal warning. I've had many an idiot talk himself INTO a ticket when I had in mind just a verbal, but I've had very darn few talk their way OUT of one.

 

Couldn't have said that better myself.

 

In 1977, when the national speed limit was 55, I got stopped in Ala for 72 in a 55. I was doing a multi-stop furniture load, and was checking the address of the next stop, and did not notice the Ala HP on the other side. I was stopped, and he was writing the tricket as I sat next to him in the car. I was asking for a warning, especially since in those days Ala kept your license until the ticket was paid. Ky and a few other states did not recognize Ala's receipt, so I was worried, as I usually ran through Ky and Ohio.

I kept asking for a warning, and he kept writing. Finally I asked if he knew anything about trucks. He said not much. I asked if he had ever heard of a Peterbilt. He said he had heard the name. I told him Peterbilts were the best trucks on the road, and would run over 100 MPH without even trying hard. I said I was looking at the name and address of my next stop, and was not paying attention to how fast I was going, and the truck was so quite and fast, that 55 seemed like 25.

I kept up this line of BS for a few minutes until he bought into it. He marked the ticket void, and let me go with a verbal warning. I left in my 1972 Cabover Peterbilt, with a 270 non-turbo charged cummins, that was loud, and would only do 72 MPH wide open with a tail wind.

 

A couple of years ago, I was in a scale in Texas. Three of us went by when they turned the lights on. We all pulled in and two of us were told to pull to the side and wait. I pulled over where he pointed me, killed my tractor, turned on the interior light, and rolled the window down. I got my logbook, permit book, and paperwork for the load out and set them on the dash.

The guy in the other truck ZOOMED up next to me and jumped out of his tractor dialing a cell phone. As he paced back and forth between our trucks, talking angrily with someone on the other end, he didn't notice the Trooper walking up behind him. I heard only peices of one half of the phone conversation, but it was obvious he was on the phone with a reciever blaming the scale for why he'd be later than he already was.

The trooper was RIGHT behind the guy when the dumb driver said, "yeah, these dumb $**t pigs are holding me up" and so on. The trooper didn't say anything. He just turned around, stepped over to his pick up, and got a creeper out of the back of it and started back toward us. As he walked by my window, he smiled and said (real friendly like) to me, "you're good to go. Have a nice evening." LOL.

I said "thank you sir, you too" and went on my way. I wasn't there five minutes.

I'm pretty sure the trooper would have looked over our logs or paperwork briefly and let us go on our way. That's usually what I get on that scale. It's never taken more than a few minutes for them to realize I'm strAight up, or trying to be. They've always been pretty nice to me there. I'm sure I had a better trip than that other driver.

Attitude and manners go a long way, most of the time.

 

You said it.

I'm always polite and always have a smile on my face, no matter what is being said by the officer.

 

You got very lucky there. My stock reply in a situation like that was always, "OK, you want a warning, so here it is. If I catch you breaking (whatever you broke) traffic regulations again, I'll give you ANOTHER ticket. Sign here, please.

I did not work a lot of traffic. It was not my major function in life as a LEO. But there were times when something was so dangerous, or just down right stupid, (usually the same thing actually,) that I just could not ignore it.

Besides that, keeping up on traffic enforcement yields a lot of arrests for other stuff. . .

 

Very lucky. He had the ticket ready for me to sign by the time he wrote void on it. It wasn't the money, it was the fact he was keeping my license and giving me a slip to drive with. I had heard too many stories of states like Ky and Ohio not recognizing the slip. I usually ran two trips a week to Michigan back then, and didn't want to chance getting locked up in KY for driving without a license. I figured four times a week through Ky until my license got back would be pushing things.