Originally Posted by
exile
Remember that the off duty officer that "took down public property (of course not a crime
) to confiscate (steal
) two bikes and then issued no trespassing summons to the cyclist" just got promoted
.
As his first official act he might have sent out some of his subordinates (henchmen) to speak with (harass) cyclists
.
The officer felt it was very important that you be (mis) informed about the laws of Richmond He also effectively demonstrated the dangers (buzzing) of the activity you are partaking in
.
I hope you learned your lesson sir
.
/Sarcasm
You did everything right. It seems Richmond needs to learn a lot if it really wants to be bicycling friendly.
All sarcasm aside... I do not believe law enforcement officers such as these will ever learn their lessons. It is unfortunate, but also a reality. I do believe we should be able to educate a law enforcement officer if they are wrong but that is frowned upon and considered disobedient. Add in all the other negatives that would come along with trying to correct an officer and you have yourself a very, very, very bad day! Like I said, this is unfortunate but we cannot expect law enforcement officers to actually be educated on the law can we?
Originally Posted by
silmarillion
I think you did the right thing.
My uncle is a 30+ year veteran police officer in Kansas. He says the laws in Kansas are pretty close to what we have in Georgia but it will always vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction.
He did give me some advice. He said always smile and take the citation if one is given. Go to court and state your case. That way the officer is educated in the law by the bench.
If you ever run into any problem where you feel that you have been wronged by a uniformed officer, you should have him ask his watch commander to come to the scene for mediation.
Be sure you know all the local laws that are in enforced in the jurisdictions you are riding in. He says that people will try to argue state law when the road/path may fall under a local ordinance.
Yes, unfortunately, correcting a law enforcement officer is bad thing. It is not recommend and is frowned upon by law enforcement. But, like I said above. We should be able to correct law enforcement officers if they are in the wrong, they could call it in and get confirmation, but I doubt an officer will take the time to check whether or not he is correct...
Oh, the thought of being wrong in a officers eyes....
Also, just because you keep your mouth shut like a
good ol boy, take your ticket or whatever and show up in court doesn't mean you will win. You honestly believe going to court, and being innocent will get you off the hook? haha.... You are naive my friend and it is unfortunate but it is no guarantee you would win. Innocent people pay tickets and go to jail every day in this country and that is just how it is.
Originally Posted by
dynodonn
The LEO deliberately "buzzes" a cyclist, then pulls same cyclist over to basically voice his concerns about the cyclist's safety.
Personally, I like to see this LEO have his ass handed to him.
I agree and it should happen to a lot of other police officers of the world. These guys just run around with a blue suit and badge, demand respect but most cases do not give respect, and try and simply control the masses through fear and intimidation. Right or wrong they want you to "listen and follow
orders". If law enforcement officers were more educated on the law, which you would think would be step 1, they wouldn't misrepresent the law and punish someone unjustly. If officers were trained to listen to people when they are saying they are wrong and actually checking to ensure what is right and wrong we would have better interaction with law enforcement officers.
If behaviour like this goes unpunished, you might as well say that they encourage and support it because they are not trying to correct it. Sad, but law enforcement officers (traffic, beat cops, patrol cars, gang unit, narcotics and so on...) do things illegal and punish people every day who do not deserve it and get away with it.