How Close Have You Come When Breathalized

[chovain]

Anyway, my two lessons - don't drink and drive - and be courteous if you're pulled!

Sometime being courteous isn't enough. Some cops really are just arseholes:

I was driving home from work late one night (was living in Sydney's Northern Beaches at the time). Turned left off Pittwater Rd. As it was, there was a police car stationary in lane 2 at the lights (which were green). I thought nothing of it at first until he turned in behind me. He followed me for about a kilometre, when he hit the lights.

I pulled over and lowered my window, wondering what the problem was going to be. When the officer arrived at the window, he asked, "Do you have an ash tray?" It took me somewhat by surprise. I hadn't had the car all that long, and don't smoke, so I had a look around the cabin and realised I didn't (It hadn't even occured to me that some cars did and some cars didn't). "No, I don't," I responded.

"Do you know why I've pulled you over?" I gave him my best guess: "Are you doing breath tests?" "No, we saw you throw a cigarette butt out the window. Do you know the fine for throwing a cigarette butt out the window?"

I assumed there must have been a misunderstanding at that point and replied, "Whoah, it couldn't have been me. I don't even smoke!". "It hit our windscreen. We saw you throw it." At this point, one of the other cops went back to the police car with my license, presumable to look me up in the database.

I gave them the benefit of the doubt again, even though I knew it was something more sinister: "It couldn't have been me. Are you sure it hasn't been flicked up off the road by my tires?" I knew that wasn't possible, as they had been so close to the intersection.

"No. We saw you throw it." I felt I was running out of options, and was being very unfairly targeted for something I simply didn't do. "Listen - It couldn't have been mine. I don't have any cigarettes with me, nor a lighter. Smell by breath: I don't smoke."

His response to my reasonable logic? "I don't want to smell your breath, you effing poof." Convenient that the other cop was still looking up my details Still, I suspect cops like that travel in pairs, so a complaint wouldn't have stuck anyway.

Still to this day don't know what they were after.

 

[Zizzle]

While we are talking about cops being bastards.... let me say I have had coppers as friends, and I'm not taring them all with the same brush, but like any group there are bad apples, and power trippers.

A few years ago, just after I had moved to Queensland, I was on my way to work one morning about 9am. New suburb so the roads are practially deserted. Saw the cops just stopped at a round about which was odd, didn't have the radar out or anything. I had right of way, so turned in from of them. Pulled into the car park and saw that they had followed me.

I jumped out and was on my way when they gave me some grief about me speeding and weeving across lanes which was crap, so I said politely that I didn't think that I had done that. Explained that I was in a hurry to get to my new job, was definately right on the speed limit as a result. So they ask for my license. I had just changed my license over to a queensland one. So it doesn't show up on their computer yet. I explain that I just moved here and just changed it. No acknowlegdement. They have to call me in over the radio... we are waiting for the reply.

So they start going over the car. They look inside and see a few cardboard boxes. One was an old 33k modem box, hopelessly out of date, I don't even know why I had it. They start hassling me about why I had boxes of computer gear, like I had knocked it off. Wanted to search the car. Asked me where the reciepts were. I said I dunno.

Dunno why, I but just opened the modem box that hadn't been opened in years and there was a reciept with my name on it for the modem. What are the chances? Didn't slow 'em down though.

About then the call came back that my license was clean, but they kept hassling me. Starting to search the car. I just wanted to get to work. Not long after that a call came in for them to go to a real job and they dropped me like a hot potato.

Bastards, I think they were just bored, and parked at the round about just waiting for someone to come along that they could hassle.