Ok...as a former police officer I have people who all the time complain about how they were unfairly ticketed for some random infraction so I thought I would tell a little story and then offer up some helpful hints.
A couple years after leaving the police department I was working in an unrelated field and training a new employee. I'll call him "Scooter" for the purpose of this story. Scooter had an attendance problem from the time he started. He was often late because he overslept or a multitude of other excuses. On more than one occasion he came in late cussing about how it wasn't his fault because some cop pulled him over for no reason. Finally I had enough and gave him my "Let's look at the facts" speech. I said "The first time you came in late because you were pulled over by the police what was the reason they gave you for the stop?". His answer was "speeding". I asked "Were you speeding?". His answer was "yes but I was late and there was almost no traffic so it was bullsh*t". I said "So you are admitting that you commited the infraction correct?". He says "Yes but there was no reason to pull me over because I wasn't endangering anyone." I said "Does the law say travelling in excess of the posted speed limit is a crime only if there is a lot of traffic?". He looks at me and says "No". I say "Ok...so you broke the law and you were pulled over and cited for it by your own admission, correct?". Scooter says "Yes but it wasn't fair.". I say "Explain to me what is unfair about you being cited for breaking a law?". Scooter has no answer and realizes that he's not gonna win this arguement.
Approximately 2 days later Scooter is late again. This time he is ranting and raving about getting pulled over and how he is being targeted by the police department. I interrupt his rant and say "Scooter...why did you get pulled over this time?". He says "For running a red light and speeding.". I say "Did you run the red light and were you speeding?". Keep in mind that Scooter is extremely irritated at this point. He answers "Yeah...I ran the red light and I was speeding but I was the only <explative> car on the road and I was late!!!". I said "So....lemme just go over the facts here and figure this out". I said "You were running late because the police snuck into your house again and turned off your alarm clock, they waited outside until you woke up and then followed you down the highway while using some secret cop weapon to increase the speed of your truck past the posted limit, they conspired with the computers that control the traffic lights to turn the light red just as you got there and they did ALL of this because they don't like you and wanted to write you tickets...that about right?". Scooter stood there quietly looking quite silly.
I said let's look at the facts..."You overslept because you were too lazy to get out of bed when the alarm went off, you obviously don't hold much regard for your job. You CHOSE to break the law because you thought you could get away with it. You have NOBODY to blame but yourself and are 100% responsible for your actions. The police officer targeted you not because he has a personal problem with you but because you were the ONLY person on the road AND you were breaking the law, kind of hard for him to miss something like that don't ya' think?". Scooter didn't say anything and began working. After about an hour later he came to me and said "You're right....I've been an @ss and an idiot.".
In the next yeat that I worked with Scooter he didn't recieve a single ticket, wasn't late a single time and excelled at his job. He used to joke about being so afraid of getting another @ss chewing from me that he would signal a turn even when he was walking LOL.
Onto the top ten list (these are NOT ranked in order of importance as they are all important):
10. Use your TURN SIGNALS!! Failure to do so is a great way to get stopped. Sure you may almost never use them and get away with it but eventually your luck will probably run out and it's such a simple thing to do to avoid a citation.
9. Don't perform obviously illegal maneuvers. Drivers call attention to themselves by making illegal U turns, rapidly changing lanes, changing multiple lanes or following another vehicle too closely.
8. Watch your lane!! One of the main indications of an intoxicated driver is "LOC" or "Left of center" which means drifting out of your lane and the police watch for this one very closely. Sober drivers often do the same thing when they are distracted by cell phones, music or vehicle passengers and never realize they did it. Hence almost every single driver will deny that they were weaving or ever left their lane at all.
7. Keep your music to a level that does not attract attention. In many jurisdictions you can be pulled over and cited for violation of the noise ordinace if your music can be heard by someone in another vehicle who has thier windows up. Also loud music draws attention and attention is what you are trying to avoid.
6. ALWAYS make sure your vehicle tags are up to date. An out of date tag screams to be pulled over.
5. ALWAYS make sure your vehicle tag is clean and the numbers are easily seen. Mud, road grime or even a tow hitch in front of the tag which makes it difficult to read by a police officer will get you cited fast.
4. Make sure your headlights, blinkers and running lights are all functional. Especially in the evening a missing headlight or taillight sticks out like a neon sign.
3. Wear your seatbelt. Totally aside from being a safety issue many jurisdictions may now use lack of seatbelt usage as a reason to stop you. You can argue about a police officer not being able to tell if you had a seatbelt on or not all day but I promise you that when you spend as much time watching for this kind of thing as they do they are very good at seeing who's wearing and who's not.
2. NEVER, EVER cop an attitude with a police officer. Always maintain a calm demeanor even if the police officer comes off with attitude towards you initially. You have just been been pulled over and now is not the time to become arguementative..I promise you will lose. If you were treated unfairly keep notes of things that were said and present your case in court where you have a chance. Never insist a police officer give you his name and badge number...that's just TV stuff and makes you look silly. The officers name is on his shirt and will be on the citation you are given. Remember...when you lose your cool things are going to get worse and should it end up in court your behavior at the time of the incident will be weighed heavily by the judge.
1. Ok...here's the big one. BE HONEST!!! Police officers have heard every lame excuse for why a driver did what they did and in 99.9% of cases it's nothing more than an attempt to get out of a ticket. So if you are that .1% who's actually on the way to the hospital because your wife is having a baby or your mother was in an accident you are out of luck. You will not have a reason that will justify exceeding the speed limit or running a stop sign or making an illegal turn so don't even try. The very best thing you can do is be honest...when the officer asks why you did what you did tell them "I have no excuse, I wasn't paying attention like I should have been and I apologize.". You have a much better chance of getting away with a verbal or written warning if you drop the BS and admit you screwed up. Also....avoid any overly dramatic behavior...these men and women have seen it all and you will come off as insincere. If you have no license or insurance don't lie to get out of it..it will come out eventually and you will be in much more serious trouble. If you are presenting in a gender role other than that which your identification shows be prepared to answer questions on the subject. Most of the time they are not being rude or malicious but simply making an accurate determination of your identity so don't make it into more than it is, once again if things aren't going your way save the fight for court where you have a chance.
The reason I put this in the "Transgender Talk" section is because dealing with law enforcement can be even more stressful for transgendered individuals especially those who are pre or mid transition TS or presenting as a different gender role than how they are identified legally. My goal here is to point out some behaviors to be avoided so that you don't draw unnecessary attention to yourself on the road and how to deal with it should you get pulled over.
