Professional courtesy from police at traffic stops

Indy, LPN, LVN · Aug 16, 2007

I have family and friends on the police force of all three towns I am near and and never had a ticket here. I also have never used their names (my last name is different) but I think they know me as this is a pretty small area. Either that, or the police force is just incredibly friendly to everyone who slips up very rarely, which is probably the case.
I have also seen an officer who almost caused an accident by nearly hitting a group of bikes ticket one of the bikers (never mind it wasn't his fault) and the guy I was with was a SWAT team member and police officer (and veteran) and pulling out his badge did nothing to stop this officers tirade which is actually very unusual.
There are stickers that law enforcement gives to family. They are called thin blue line stickers and people put them on the backs of their vehicles to identify Law enforcement and family members. BUT I can tell you that you do not want to get caught with one and not have any true connections!

I've heard this before but it sounds like an urban myth to me. My stepdad was a cop for 20 years and no one in our family ever had a special bumper sticker.

Altra, BSN, RN · Aug 16, 2007

I've heard this before but it sounds like an urban myth to me. My stepdad was a cop for 20 years and no one in our family ever had a special bumper sticker.

What I see in my area (don't know if it's a state or regional thing) are stickers provided by the FOP - a star-shaped sticker that goes on the license plate itself. Family of police officers have them on their vehicles too. They don't get pulled over unless driving really recklessly.

Elvish, BSN, DNP, RN, NP · Aug 16, 2007

A friend of mine who used to work for the local PD had the thin blue line sticker on his and his wife's personal vehicles.

EmmaG, RN · Aug 16, 2007

A friend of mine who used to work for the local PD had the thin blue line sticker on his and his wife's personal vehicles.

I'd rather take my chances on getting a ticket than advertise to the world (which includes some not-so-nice-people) that I'm a cop.

Elvish, BSN, DNP, RN, NP · Aug 16, 2007

Me too, the same way I don't advertise my nursing license to the world.

caroladybelle, BSN, RN · Aug 16, 2007

What I see in my area (don't know if it's a state or regional thing) are stickers provided by the FOP - a star-shaped sticker that goes on the license plate itself. Family of police officers have them on their vehicles too. They don't get pulled over unless driving really recklessly.

That comes as a surprise to me.

My father was a police officer, as is my niece and her spouse. And none of them are fans of the FOP or the PBA. They would have a conniption if I were to ever have one of those stickers on the car.

pagandeva2000, LPN · Aug 16, 2007

Just what is my old home state allowing you to do? Purchase your nurses license number and have it put on your driver's license? Heck, I miss my four year car registration and it's small fee. Here in Florida, I have to renew my registration every year and purchase a sticker to put on my license plate. I will admit I didn't register my car down here until shortly before my registration was due to expire.
Woody

Basically, they are providing an ID card with our license numbers and photograph on it to produce rather than carrying the actual license itself. It is more convienent for me, and it appears that we can carry this as a form of ID. This was created to assist in disaster preparedness. Here is the hyperlink; http://www.op.nysed.gov/photoid.htm

woody62, RN · Aug 17, 2007

Basically, they are providing an ID card with our license numbers and photograph on it to produce rather than carrying the actual license itself. It is more convienent for me, and it appears that we can carry this as a form of ID. This was created to assist in disaster preparedness. Here is the hyperlink; http://www.op.nysed.gov/photoid.htm

I was an R.N. for 13 years, in NYS (and still am). I never carried my license on me. The only time I presented my license was when I interview for a new job. And I really do not know what it has to do with disaster preparedness. Any group I have been a part of, we had to provide a copy of our license yearly.

Woody:balloons:

bagladyrn, RN · Aug 17, 2007

I haven't gotten out of tickets by being a nurse - more by having pathetic cars!

Ex: I slid under a light turning from yellow to red, officer pulls me over, walks toward me with ticket pad in hand, stops, returns pad to pocket, pulls out pad of inspection tickets and walks around my vehicle busily checking off items. He then came to my window, said to me "Lady, I initially stopped you to give you a ticket for running that red light, but with this car - you don't need any more problems!" He handed me the inspection ticket and walked away. Was never sure whether I should be grateful or insulted!

Another vehicle had a short in the wiring to the taillights, got pulled over frequently for taillight out. I would ask permission, get out of the car, kick the rear fender and light would come back on. Never did get ticketed for that but had a few laughs!

woody62, RN · Aug 17, 2007

I haven't gotten out of tickets by being a nurse - more by having pathetic cars!
Ex: I slid under a light turning from yellow to red, officer pulls me over, walks toward me with ticket pad in hand, stops, returns pad to pocket, pulls out pad of inspection tickets and walks around my vehicle busily checking off items. He then came to my window, said to me "Lady, I initially stopped you to give you a ticket for running that red light, but with this car - you don't need any more problems!" He handed me the inspection ticket and walked away. Was never sure whether I should be grateful or insulted!
Another vehicle had a short in the wiring to the taillights, got pulled over frequently for taillight out. I would ask permission, get out of the car, kick the rear fender and light would come back on. Never did get ticketed for that but had a few laughs!

Now that is funny.

On Christmas Day, 1970 I was going one exit down on the NYS Thurway. I should add, it was the year we got 117 inches of snow. I was the only person on the Thruway, when I noticed a state trooper in my rearview. I was only doing 35 mph, the road was covered with packed snow. And I could for the life of me, figure out what I had done wrong. When I got to the toll taker, I told him to tell the trooper I would pull over in the plaza. He said don't brother, he was following you because you are the last car to exit between Erie, PA and the Hernmier (?) Plaza. I thanked my lucky stars. I didn't get home again until January 6, 1971.

Woody:balloons:

Ruby Vee, BSN · Aug 17, 2007

well, heck
on my way home after a horrible night, i was stopped for not wearing a seatbelt (yeah yeah i know...). if that weren't enough, my inspection was out of date, my city sticker was missing, i couldn't find my license and registration... i was a mess.
i ended up with five tickets, but he told me how to get out of all of them except the seatbelt charge (no getting out of that one lol) by showing the court i had all the paperwork and stuff.
ah well.

dh and i were stopped in front of our hospital (a university teaching hospital) one christmas after a 12 hour shift. the campus policeman knew we were employees of the hospital before he pulled us over -- he had followed us out of the employee parking garage! we were stopped for a broken headlight -- broken that morning on the way to work by a stray rock. it was my car (he was driving) but they gave him the ticket. and yes, he did get a ticket, even though we were both wearing scrubs with stethescopes around our necks. when he pulled us over for a broken headlight, dh opened the car door to go take a look, and the guy pulled a gun on him!!!!

i was told to get the headlight repaired and then take the ticket to my local police station for followup. when i did that, the local sheriff's deputy (i lived in the county, not the city) laughed and laughed at what a jerk that campus policeman was. i think i'm still mad about the whole thing!

bigsyis · Aug 17, 2007

in light of the law enforcement stops we've been discussing, i thought i'd pass on these supposedly "true" comments:

these 16 police comments were taken off actual police car video recorders in the police cars around the country:

#16 "you know, stop lights don't come any redder than the one you just went

through."

#15 "relax, the handcuffs are tight because they're new. they'll stretch after you wear them a while."

#14 "if you take your hands off the car, i'll make your birth certificate a

worthless document."

#13 "if you run, you'll only go to jail tired."

#12 "can you run faster than 1200 feet per second? because that's the speed of the bullet that'll be chasing you."

#11 "you don't know how fast you were going? i guess that means i can write

anything i want to on the ticket, huh?"

#10 "yes sir, you can talk to the shift supervisor, but i don't think it will help. oh, did i mention that i'm the shift supervisor?"

#9 "warning? you want a warning? okay, i'm warning you not to do that again or i'll give you another ticket."

#8 "the answer to this last question will determine whether you are drunk or not: was mickey mouse a cat or a dog?"

#7 "fair? you want me to be fair? listen, 'fair' is a place where you go to ride on rides, eat cotton candy & corn dogs."

#6 "yeah, we have a quota. two more tickets and my wife gets a toaster oven."

#5 "in god we trust, all others we run through ncic ( national crime

information center )."

#4 "how big were those 'just two beers' you say you had?"

#3 "no sir, we don't have quotas anymore we used to, but now we're allowed to write as many tickets as we can."

#2 "i'm glad to hear that (police) chief hawker is a personal friend of yours. so, you know someone who can post your bail."

and the winner is....

#1 "you didn't think we give tickets to pretty women? you're right, we don't. sign here..."

[color=#0000bf]"be kinder than necessary for everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle"