2mtr

So I was riding my bike back from the community garden, and this cop in an (oh, bloody surprise) SUV pulls me over and demands my name. "WHAT'S YOUR NAME, SON?!" he shouts at me from his huge ass war causer. I'm like, "Why do you want to know," and what ensued was a totally abortion of civility.
He refuses to tell me, then after two minutes, says he can arrest me for a traffic violation. Yeah, then I give my name, thinking that he's stopped me for failing to signal a lane change. But it turns out, this pig thought I was a suspect in a "terroristic threatening" case, and he stopped me because I was a white guy on a bike. (Here in Hawaii, white = bad and suspect). Liar cop. Damn liar cop.
Five more cops show up, then one of them (a little runt of a human) just starts to touch me all over my ass, without even warning me. My bike is flipped over (without my consent or okay) and then two of them push me to the ground because I object to this little oinker in a flack vest groping my ass.
God, I hate cops. They just go along thinking everyone's a criminal, treating you like an object and not a human. They automatically manhandle your bike (in my case, an $1100 Surly), and expect submission without reason.
But the cycling tie in: bloody cops, they should learn that felons don't usually ride thousand dollar loaded tourning bikes, nor do they carry organic collard greens around just for the fun of it. My point is, this car culture doesn't distingush between a custom made Surly and a damn fully sprung Mart bike, and needs to stop profiling us based on our prefered mode of transport.

Chuvak

Unless you are not telling something, you are right. The cops had no right to do what they did, ect..

operator

Right or wrong, when you deal with a police officer you treat him with respect.

jfmckenna

Yea thats right when he says," bend over", bend over boy!

BeTheChange

And skweeeeeeeel like a pig!

Damn cops. I call them here where I live and they never come patroll the road where kids play on the side in a 20mph zone and people go 45-50 (flooring it the whole way because it is a short strip). But then they seem to have plenty of time to get a warrant and bust people for measly pot possesion charges when people are using it in their own house and aren't dealers. Skrew em.

2mtr

"Unless you are not telling something, you are right. The cops had no right to do what they did, ect.."

Actually, they have every legal right to demand your name, for what ever reason, and if you don't give it up, they can arrest you. And they can touch you whenever they want, just because. What's more, you MUST turn your bike over to allow them to check the serial number, even if you've got a rego sticker. Even more troubling, they can call you "son" all they want, and if you call them "Old man" they can haul you in for disrespect to a police officer.

HoboRandy

Just to add something to this for clarification - if you don't provide identification to a police officer upon request, they will detain you until you can be identified - not to be confused with being arrested.

Or so it was explained to me during my five hour stay in a county cop shop. Borrowed car + no wallet (containing ID) + lead foot = detainment for ID verification.


I understand your frustration, but give it some serious thought. The police were looking for a suspect to a crime, and in some fashion you fit their profile. When you were asked for identification, you became belligerent. It's always my first reaction to resist any sort of authority, but no matter what the reason is, the cop's WILL identify you before they let you go - that's their job - asking "why" doesn't change their need to ID you. I'd rather show them that I'm not the guy they're after, and get on my way, and let them get on their way and catch the real guy. As for checking your bike's serial number, they always check license plates - so why should it be any different for us? Equal is equal.

If you ask me, you're lucky they let you go without further questioning at the cop shop!

At the risk of sounding like all those adults and parent-types I always despised, it's for your own good. Would you rather have some guy stab your neighbor in the eye, steal your bike, and then tell the cops to "f*ck off" when they stop him - and then he rides off into the sunset because the cops didn't want to seem like fascists?

dobber

Gee, with a stellar attitude such as yours I wonder why?

JBBOOKS

1. You will find your attitude toward others often sets the tone for encounters of all kinds.

2. I have rarely seen a thread with so much prejudicial nonsense in it.

3. There are 2 sides to every story.

4. I'm a cop.

Fredmertz51

Its good to see at least one person in this forum who hasn't been turned into a docile sheep.

Fredmertz51

Gosh, GBBOOKS, we never would have figured that one out. You're a cop, imagine that.

H23

You shoulda just been cool, said hello, and gave your name.
Not giving your name makes some people think you have a warrant out on you!

What so bad about giving your name anyway?

larue

A USEFUL RIGHT TO BE AWARE OF:

******You don't have to show ID unless detained with regards to
******some crime that the officer knows has happened or thinks
******is happening.

******** OFFICER: "SHOW ME SOME ID!"

******** YOU: "AM I BEING DETAINED?"

******** OFFICER: "YES".

******** YOU: "With regards to what crime?"

******If the officer can't answer this, you are simply being harassed.
If the officer does answer this then you must identify yourself.

H23

On the other hand, if you have NO REASON to hide your identity, then giving up the ID will save you some amount of time and stress.

I happen to know that a tactic that some cops employ is to ask someone for ID, and if they give it, the cop can run a warrant check on the individual (although they could, as you indicated refuse to give ID under certain circumstances). But if the guy offers his ID, and the cop determines he has a warrant, he can be arrested on the spot. Anyways, I think its a good tactic-- it gets dirtbags who need to be arrested off the street. You'd be surprised at the number of people with arrest warrants for violent crimes walking around major cities.

Istanbul_Tea

I wasn't aware that Surly made "Custom" anything?

Diggy18

Something is missing in that story. Five cops show up and shove you to the ground simply because you wouldn't give them your name? Hmmm.

AndrewP

Wrong - the Patriot Act gives the cops rights to do whatever they want. Osama has succeeded in turning USA into a Police State.

dobber

It's called embellishment. The kicker is he never completed the rant, he was put in the prone position and then what?

Umm, uh, I, ah......then John Ascroft shows up and demands that I sign the Patriot Act and I say NO WAY and then the

operator

2mtr's rant sounds like something a troll would post, point #2 applies in just about every word in his post. I'm utterly disgusted by some of the attitudes in posts here against cops.

patzza

Like JBbrooks said there are always 2 sides to a story. However, your attitude toward others often sets the tone for encounters of all kinds also should apply to the Police Officer as well. Majority of our cops have good intentions to serve and protect our cities but I'm sure we all encountered the overzealous , power trip , cocky cops in our time of existence. Racial & economic profiling does exist... And if you think it doesn't then you are sheltered. There is such a thing as reverse-discrimination as well, not saying that this happened in this threads case.

ngateguy

Three words- Change your attitude

aiguy

Hmmm... As a DC metro guy, I take US politics pretty seriously, so of course I read the act. I must have missed the part you are thinking of. Can you clarify?

Thanks!

HoboRandy

Amen!

That's a nice reminder that cops aren't "them" - they're "us."

TimArchy

The attitude that you should always obey the cops is probably being offered by someone who has never fit the profile of a possible criminal. I'm just making an assumption here, but are the people who are saying that he should have shown the cops respect white middle age males (i.e. the least likely group to be targeted for profiling)? reguadless of what the patriot act says, cops should not be able to question anyone they want. You should not have to give them your name or ID without a reason provided by the cop. If you do, you are just reinforcing that cops attitude that they can do whatever they want. And the next time that cop uses his tazer on an innocent black man because he wouldn't give the cop his name (because he didn't do anything), you will be partially to blame. In georgia, five people have been killed by cops using tazers in the last two years (one simply because he didn't want to get into the ambulance that his wife had called for him)

greenbreezer

I have several friends who live in HI and yes, it's true that caucasians are treated like outcasts, however if this "terroristic threatening" suspect was described as being a white male, you can't really hold it against the cop. I thought it rather bold of you to be so arrogant right back at the cop when you were figuring that you got pulled over for simply making a moving violation on your bike.

I do agree with you that the car culture can't distinguish the difference between a nice bike and a cheapy (X)-Mart bike. However I would take that a step further and say that many people can't distinguish one item from another if they have no personal interest in it. Whether it be cars, bikes, clothes, etc. I once made the mistake of calling a man's Mercedes SUV a minivan and he nearly had a fit! Jeez, they LOOK like minivans, okay? But I probably made the same mistake as those cops did: can't distinguish a pricey mode of transport from another.

My commuter bike has some blings on it that people who don't know bikes wouldn't even give it a thought. And just because my mtb is a hardtail, people just assume it's cheap. Little do they realize it probably costs more than a lot of full suspension bikes. But I don't expect people who aren't into bikes to ooh and ahh over my them cuz I know they could care less about them. And I don't let that bother me.