Speaking Of Everything…

By Papa Midnight on Jul 26, 2009

I really envy the person who has no “Cop Tales” to relate!

As someone who nearly got caught up with an LAPD officer “on a mission”… I’ll second that.

I suppose you already knew the whole story before you wrote your post but you took the parts that complimented your agenda and ignored the rest.

Completely off topic and against the point… but haven’t politicians, watchdog groups, media coalitions, lobbyist, etc. been doing that for years?

By Bill on Jul 30, 2009

Well bro, this is envy time. This is one area that I have had the good fortune not to experience. By the way, thanks for the nostolgia trip down memory lane of trick drillin wit da FRAT! Scooney!

The one near incident with the cops that involved me was told to me second had because I was in bed and slept through the entire incident.

Do you remember Fast Eddie reportedly shot a cop (killed? Don’t remember) down on County Line Road near the bowling alley? There was a literal “dragnet” going on throughout North Amityville (man were going to give our hometown a bad name- we already have the Amityville Horror to live down) to find him.

So they were trying to round up anybody who fit the description of Black male of medium complexion, 5′10 to 6ft in height, 15 to 20 yrs of age, 145 to 170lbs, wearing an afro. Didn’t that describe just about everybody you knew including me?

Well they knocked on our and another neighbors door and was trying to entice our parents to hav us come down and they would pay us ten bucks to stand in a line up.

Our neighbor, I won’t mention names, was going to have his oldest son go stand in the line up and was trying to convince our parents to get me out of bed to go with. (This mans youngest son would end up becoming a cop.)

Our parents weren’t having any of it and refused to let them get me. They were going to try to pull something under the guise of some legality that would allow them to take me in.

Our next door neighbor, of whom you spoke of as “one of the first black officers in Suffolk County” and was in fact a Sargeant Detective at the time, was awakened by all the commotion and told the officers that we were good young men and that he would not allow them to take us down to the station for a line up.

These guys were on a witch hunt for a cop shooter and it wasn’t as innocent a routine thing as they tried to make it seem. And just how did they know exactly where me and my boy lived who fit the description and we were the ONLY ones on that end of the Avenue who did?

I slept in blissfully ignorant slumber through the entire incident and knew nothing about it until the next morning.

I’ve had only three tickets from moving violations, the last being nearly ten years ago just outside of Richmond to be Best Man at our freind KJ’s wedding, you missed that one, for speeding. I was pulled over and ticketed by a “Brutha” although others were passing me at the time. I make no excuse, I was running late and I was exceeding the limit. I questioned the officer how he singled me out to ticket although I was being passed by several other cars. He simply replied that I was speeding and I realized that it would be a fruitless conversation. I took the citation and was on my way only to realize I was pulled over less than a quarter mile short of my exit.

Do you remember what you said to me that made total sense why he got me?

“Dude, you were speeding in VA in a rental car with MD plates. Of course he’s going to pull you over while the “natives” speed on their merry way! Duh!”

Bill

By Charlene on Sep 25, 2009

Boy do you guys bring back memories. Bill, I clearly remember the Fast Eddie incident. He had robbed the bowling alley. He was cornered in the parking lot by the officer and shot him to get away. Such a stupid waste — he is doing life and his story is in a criminal procedure law school case book. It was interesting to relate the “real story” of what happened to my classmates. I remember how the police went nuts and were rounding up every black male who fit the description although everyone knew Fast Eddie — he was a regular at the bowling alley and had already been identified by the victims who knew him well.
You’d think police departments would have learned a lesson from the incident … but NO! We have seen repeated examples of draconian methods to capture a suspect — real and imagined — when a black male is suspect.

As for traffic stops, you should have learned from my experience in Virginia in 1971. I was on 64, speeding, in a car with Michigan plates and I had a NY driver’s license. I was arrested and transported to jail where I was to stay until I paid the fine. The family of one of my P/R brothers lived near by and bailed me out and took me back to campus. An experience I never want to repeat, but may have come close when I lost my temper with an officer years later.

Fast forward 30+ years to Baltimore County. I and a coworker had left the main Social Security Administration complex to go to a satellite office where we were to conduct a meeting. After sitting at a red light I made a left turn onto Security Blvd. and a Baltimore County officer put on his red lights and siren. I pulled to the side thinking he wanted to get by and was shocked when he pulled behind me. As I was not doing 15 mph, and had signaled my turn and was in the turn lane, I could not imagine what I had done. It took almost 20 minutes before I found out! The officer sat in his car for awhile while my passenger fumed and wanted to know what was taking so long. I told her — a younger white woman — that he was running my plates to see if there was any information on my car, and assured her that he would find nothing since everything was up to date. He then came and asked for my license but did not respond to my inquiry about why I had been stopped. He disappeared back to his vehicle. Shortly, a State Trooper arrived and another Baltimore County officer. My passenger asked me why and wanted to know what I had done to get this attention. I explained that although I did not know who they were looking for, or why, I must meet a general description of someone they were looking for: a middle aged black female in a hooptie. Perhaps I was a suspected drug dealer. LOL! She was not amused. Especially after the officer asked her for HER ID! He refused her SSA Id and asked for her driver’s license. She showed it to him and he took it from her! Before she could say anything, he disappeared back to his car. Of course he was back in a few short minutes with it because she was clean. It was at that point that he returned my license as well as hers and told me he had pulled me over because I had: A BURNED OUT TAIL LIGHT! He then disappeared back to his car to write the ticket. By then I was no longer amused. We had been sitting for almost 20 minutes, were late to our meeting, and I was PISSED!

When that bastard returned I let him have it. I told him that he was wasting taxpayer $$$ having us sit for so long for something so trivial — I was letting him know that I was aware that he was showing his contempt for the value of my time by holding us for so long. He replied I am paid by taxpayer money too. I said yes, MINE, and I don’t appreciate you wasting MY money. He then tried to tell me that I did not live in Baltimore County, that I lived in Baltimore City. After a brief exchange, I told him that I knew where I lived, and I paid my house property taxes to Baltimore County without any protest from the City. I told him he should refer to a map and become more familiar with the area so to better understand who his employers (me) were.

I then told him that he had no right to have run my passenger’s driver’s license. That is when the real fun began. I was having so much fun by then, I forgot to be mad. The idiot proceeded to tell me that running her license was legal, why he could do it, and told me what laws allowed him to do so.

I dropped the hammer and told him he had no probable cause to run my passenger’s license and even if he had discovered she was an ax murderer wanted in 20 states there was nothing he could have done about it because he had no probable cause and it was an illegal search. I cut him off in the middle of his rant about why he had done every thing legal and said, “You may get away with telling other people that bull shit, but WE know better. It has been your misfortune today to have stopped not one, but TWO Federal government attorneys and WE KNOW better. And WE KNOW that YOU KNOW better. You could have told me that I had a burned out tail light 20 minutes ago. You could have written a ticket and had us on our way to make our meeting on time and not have a dozen people waiting around for us and wasting tax payer money — OUR money, including yours, and our time. We, the citizens of Baltimore County, and the citizens of the US don’t appreciate your waste of our tax dollars!”

The officer handed me the original ticket, (not the copy — he has to file the original ticket for there to be a record and a fine paid — thus there is NO RECORD of my stop) tucked his tail between his legs, and retreated to his car.

My passenger said, “I think I’ve just experienced driving with blacks.” Notably, it was 3 years before she got into my car again.

I don’t recommend anyone try this, and I probably would not have done it under different circumstances. I got away with giving the officer a tongue lashing because I had a witness — my white passenger who was also an attorney.

By C.J. on Sep 26, 2009

Quote: “You’d think police departments would have learned a lesson from the incident … but NO! We have seen repeated examples of draconian methods to capture a suspect — real and imagined — when a black male is suspect.

So when the police chase or search for a white suspect using “Draconian” methods to capture is that a racist act? No, wait. That only applies if the race orientation between a suspect and the pursuing police officer are just the right combination. Would that also apply to a black officer and a white suspect? No? What about a black officer and a black suspect? Can we THEN attach the implied racial profiling label? No? Hmmmmm…it must be exclusive to another racial combination. What could it be?

How ridiculous your blanket, single race exclusive, racial prejudice proclamation sounds when you try to apply it to any other race under the same conditions? We all know these same tactics are used by the police on all races and ethnicities but only one race gets to use the “racism” defense. How convenient. Pure racism is nothing but a mere scrap of what it was 30-40 years ago but for some reason people just don’t want to accept that it is diminished and fading away. They try to create racism where it doesn’t exist in order to keep it alive out of self-pity or some kind of personal or political advantage.

I’ll have you know that once when I was about 21-22 YOA I was slung across the hood of a police cruiser by some racist white cops (I’m white by the way; third generation Italian American) in Cincinnati, Ohio. They then handcuffed me and threw me into the back seat of the police car. I asked them what I did wrong and they replied with, “Shut Up!” While I was sitting in the back of the cruiser I heard on the police radio that there was a shooting about 3 blocks from where my friends and I were eating at a 24 hour Waffle House. We were in town only to watch the Reds and Dodgers baseball game and were getting ready to start our long drive home after eating. Anyway, the suspect description put out in the BOLO was for a white male, 5-10 to 6-00, dark hair and medium build. That was the description of half the white guys I knew. The police then took me to the department’s headquarters and I was there for about 6 hours. They only turned me loose when they located the real suspect. So, what do you think of that experience? Oh, by the way, I ended up having to get about 14 stitches in my forehead from being “processed” at the station. Is that Draconian enough to suit you, or am I too light skinned to warrant such a profound description of police abuse? Do you think I have a case for a civil suit on the basis of racial profiling or prejudice? They arrested me because I was white and vaguely looked like another white guy, which is obviously race motivated? Or is racism an exclusive privilege of certain people as a claim? Do you see how ridiculous the “racism” label is when you spread it around to fit every single negative encounter between a black male or female and a white male, especially police encounters? Save the racism claim for legitimate cases, which are rare in this day and age, or you are going to wear out the case claim potency for the few legitimate cases that occur from time to time.

Charlene, are you a federal prosecuting attorney? From your comments I doubt very seriously you are. You do understand that just because you pass the bar exam and get hired by the federal government as an attorney (I’m assuming from your post, the Social Security Administration) it doesn’t mean you are a master of federal law in all divisions, court procedure, arrest search and seizure and the rules of evidence. I’ll bet you couldn’t prosecute a federal court case to save your own life, especially if you believe that a police officer HAS to have “probable cause” to “ask” anyone on God’s green earth for personal identification. You’re just lucky that the officer who pulled you over was obviously inexperienced, probably a probation officer, and didn’t have the knowledge, or confidence, of a more seasoned veteran. You might have had a very different story to tell here on this site if he were.

First of all, the officer had probable cause to stop you because of the faulty equipment on your vehicle. The fact that you were late for an appointment was only relevant to you, but not pertinent to the standard procedures a police officer performs on any ordinary traffic stop. It is standard for a police officer to run the license plate through the indicated state’s DMV database to make sure that it is proper and not reported stolen before he/ she approaches the vehicle to interview the driver. This is an officer safety issue (Your time versus the officer’s safety: which do you think is more important? Don’t reply. We police officers already know the answer to that one). Sometimes when the license plate is entered the vehicle query will report a “not on file” response. This means the license plate is improper for the vehicle or hasn’t been entered into the DMV system yet, or possibly a computer malfunction. Sometimes there’ll be an NCIC “hit” on the plate number but under a different state of issue. That is why the police officer double checks the vehicle documents to make sure that it is registered properly. The fact that two other police officers arrived to back up the officer for a taillight infraction suggests that the DMV response for the plate did not initially reveal it was proper. In my experience this (“not on file” response) sometimes means that the vehicle may be stolen. The officer apparently wanted to be sure of his information and to allow for back-up to arrive in case he had possible felons in the vehicle. This would explain your EXCRUCIATINGLY long 20 minute wait before he approached and informed you of the violation.

Another thing, it is standard for a police officer to check the driver and passengers for wants and warrants (especially in the above mentioned situation) as well as the driver’s license to ensure that it is valid. These processes also take time, time you did not want to allow the officer to have to perform his sworn duty in a safe and proper manner.

Now, isn’t it amazing how a perspective can be transformed by facts and knowledge? It’s not as entertaining or mind blowing as fiction, is it? Charlene, does it embarrass you to know there was probably a valid reason for your life altering 20 minute wait?

“When ignorance is washed away and the veil of egotistical blindness is lifted, only then will we discover what tremendous asses we are.”
-C.J.S.-

Quote: “I dropped the hammer and told him he had no probable cause to run my passenger’s license and even if he had discovered she was an ax murderer wanted in 20 states there was nothing he could have done about it because he had no probable cause and it was an illegal search”

This is an incredibly inaccurate legal assertion on your behalf. Do you really expect people to buy this? You are incorrectly trying to make applicable the “Fruit of the Poisonous Tree” rule of evidence to your passenger’s hypothetical fugitive status. She is not evidence to be bagged and secured. How about the “Good Faith Doctrine” which could be applicable in this case as well? I can see now you are trying to recall some bits of college education on a subject that you never had the chance or need to apply in your current career sector. Maybe you should go back and review your class notes before trying to post intelligently on an issue such as this. However, I’ll play for a moment. If you wanted to fictitiously use her as physical evidence, the officer could have “collected” her as such under the “Plain View Doctrine” rule. She was in plain view to the officer while in your vehicle and “evidence” of a criminal nature (being a fugitive). Case closed. Now, back to reality.

Quote: “That is when the real fun began. I was having so much fun by then, I forgot to be mad.”

You should be very proud and happy with yourself to have had so much fun during such a TRAGIC event that caused you so much anger and displeasure. Tell me, why did professor Gates get arrested for his loud and boisterous protest to a white police officer in public and you didn’t? Everyone knows that white cops are racists so what made you so special that you would get a pass and not the rest of the African American population? Do we dare suggest that the politically and socially accepted belief that the racism of white police officers upon African American citizens is grossly overstated, or, God forbid, largely false?

“When our ignorance is washed away and the veil of egotistical blindness is lifted, only then will our eyes be opened to see what tremendous asses we are.”
-C.J.S.-

Quote: “When that bastard returned I let him have it.”

That “bastard” as you called him deals with ungrateful, self-centered, inconsiderate, impatient motorists and citizens such as yourself literally everyday of his career, and he’s rewarded for his services with a mediocre pension and an average mortality rate of 59 years (obviously due to the stresses of the job). It’s revolting how proud and elated you were at the “tongue lashing” and disrespect you gave this public servant who was following procedure and doing his duty to the best of his ability. You may have intimidated that young officer into believing your BS and into questioning his own authority but an experienced veteran like I would not have been amused, panicked or persuaded.

Quote: “I was letting him know that I was aware that he was showing his contempt for the value of my time by holding us for so long. He replied I am paid by taxpayer money too. I said yes, MINE, and I don’t appreciate you wasting MY money.”

You didn’t really think this one through before you wrote it, did you? I’ll help enlighten you on this one. Your salary comes from taxpayer money and his salary comes from taxpayer money. You pay the taxes that facilitate his job and he pays the taxes that facilitate your job *hint-hint.* According to your post you and your passenger were going from your place of business at the SSA building to a satellite office for a meeting. So, you were on the federal clock for work, right? *hint-hint* So, you take the extra time to verbally combat this officer about the time delay, your passenger’s ID, your self-serving distortion of criminal procedure, “having so much fun” while further delaying you from your job and duties, then you hypocritically accuse him of wasting YOUR tax dollars? Guess what? I’m a tax payer as well, who facilitates the money used to pay YOUR salary and I don’t like the way you are wasting MY money for your own personal vendettas and delaying the police officer whom I KNOW was giving the tax paying public their moneys worth by being out there doing his job CORRECTLY! I don’t contribute to his salary because I don’t live in his tax jurisdiction, but I sure as hell live in the United States of America and I work damn hard for the federal taxes taken out of my pocket that you are evidently wasting! Get back to work and let the police do their unappreciated jobs!

Quote: “The officer handed me the original ticket, (not the copy — he has to file the original ticket for there to be a record and a fine paid — thus there is NO RECORD of my stop) tucked his tail between his legs, and retreated to his car.”

You’re a genius. Let me guess, you graduated top of your class from the Northwest California University Correspondence School of Law, right? You do know there are 3 other copies to that citation, don’t you? Page #1: Complaint - Affidavit; Page #2: Summons (usually the driver’s copy); Page #3: Traffic RECORD; Page #4: Officer’s Copy. So, you go ahead and celebrate that you received the wrong copy from the officer (I’ve done this once or twice myself over the years when I was temporarily distracted, like when some driver is PROTESTING the citation and I would be trying to explain the court procedure for contesting the charge, etc.) and fill yourself with the false confidence that he can’t re-write you a citation based on the THREE copies of information from the traffic stop; or just fill out a complaint in magistrate or traffic court and you would receive a summons to respond to court on the original traffic offense.

My suggestion for you is to call the officer as soon as you can and let him know that you have the wrong copy for court, then apologize for your significant part in the foolishly escalated scene. I’m sure this police officer will look at it as the integral act of an honest person, as long as you don’t do it with a condescending tone in your voice. He’ll probably express his regret for the entire incident himself and if you wanted, explain to you in general what the standard process of a traffic stop is and why it took as long as it did. I would be surprised if he didn’t state almost word for word what I wrote previously in this post. And, finally, he would most likely change the citation to a warning and the incident could be history, officially.

Quote: “I don’t recommend anyone try this, and I probably would not have done it under different circumstances. I got away with giving the officer a tongue lashing because I had a witness — my white passenger who was also an attorney.

Well, you almost impressed me with an intelligent statement, by advising others not to do what you did. But, then you let your overflowing oratory orifice spew out more smelly refuse………”I got away with giving the officer a tongue lashing because I had a witness — my WHITE passenger who was also an attorney.” The implied racist motivation for the whole incident just had to be the crescendo of your great tale of peril and triumph over the forces of evil, the racist police. Do you really believe that? That truly is unfortunate.

Charlene, do yourself a favor, take a long look at your life and what you’ve accomplished so far. You’re probably a self-made person who didn’t take a handout or leg up from anyone. You’ve most likely had plenty of successes to date and no more failures than the average person, white or black. Let me fill you in on something, you don’t have to do it. Do you know what I mean? You don’t have to do “it.” You are already a successful person with a promising future so you don’t need “IT.” Get “it” out of your head and don’t feel like you have to use “it” every time the colors don’t coordinate when things go wrong in your life. Stuff happens, things go wrong, and sometimes what we believe is an injustice occurs to all of us. ALL of us. Don’t allow yourself to feel that deep tug of insecurity that tells you to blame someone or something for your failures or the negative events that come up from time to time. Have the dignity and intelligence to recognize the difference between a TRUE racist incident and one that has the color coordination of one but no probable cause to support it. You accused the officer of having no “probable cause” in his processing of the incident, so what was your probable cause to believe it was racial prejudice? He was white, you were black, the passenger was white and he wrote you a citation? Come on! Snap out of it! You’re smarter and more intuitive than that. Now give yourself some credit. Dig down inside and find the truth as to why you felt the way you did, given the flimsy “probable cause” circumstances of this incident. You’ll probably find it’s a reflex built in and handed down from generations past and it’s still residual with African Americans today. Some people yolk and enhance that reflex to keep it fresh and influential, as it does still shock and awe some people in this country, but that is quickly coming to an end.

In this day and in this country, African Americans have every advantage that whites do, and in some cases, more. Racism is being kept alive by a small and desperate group of individuals who still have something to profit from whites and blacks being socially segregated. These small groups of white and black Americans will fight, bite and claw to the very last until WE don’t allow it to be an issue anymore. So, I say again, you don’t need “it” to survive and succeed. Don’t let “it” be a part of your life. Have some pride and confidence in yourself that you don’t need or want “it” ever again.

Just a little “Cop Tale” of my own:

As a police officer I perform many duties and one of them is stopping vehicles for committing traffic violations. I pulled a vehicle over one day, and the driver was none too happy that I stopped him for driving through a stop sign. He said, “I’m a tax payer and I pay your salary. Why aren’t you out catching rapist and murderers instead of harassing people like me? Now, I’ve heard this exact phrase from motorists, word for word, about one-thousand times in my career as a police officer. Normally, when confronted with this comment I remain taciturn and focused on the business at hand to avoid a verbal confrontation with the upset driver. But, on this particular day, I felt compelled to respond to his question. I replied in a calm pedestrian tone, “Sir, I appreciate your tax contributions that facilitate my employment and salary. Just in case you didn’t know it I pay the same taxes as you do for the same county services we both enjoy. I’ll have you know that I make full use of my position and your tax dollars to purse the criminals that you mentioned and bad guys in general. You can be assured the money is well spent. As a taxpayer myself I want my money to go toward the police making the roads in my community safer for my family to travel on. So, today and at this very moment, I am here utilizing MY tax dollars to show the same diligence to a service desired by a taxpayer who contributes to my salary as well. So, if you’ll please sign at the bottom of this citation, then I can get back to catching bad guys on your dime.”

By Charlene on Sep 28, 2009

Dear Officer CJ

Not looking to become your pen-pal, just a quick response. First, you had every right to be angry about your close encounter with the police in Ohio. You had a right to ask a question, and asking a question did not warrant the treatment or injury you received. But your experience does not negate my point. While draconian procedures may not be exclusive to the black community, they are too often employed when the suspect is a black male. It happened in Cornell, New York, and in Boston. And who can forget Susan Smith’s accusation and what she did to her poor kids? Fortunately, the police department in that city did not employ the same tactics as Boston, Cornell, or my home town, and rather than earning the ire of the community, gained its respect and cooperation.

Perhaps officers don’t like to be asked questions, but as long as there is no interference with an investigation, citizens may ask questions. In fact, they can be obnoxious — but that is not grounds to be arrested. You may not agree, but the case law is against you on this point. That does not mean that I think officers should be, or deserve to be disrespected, they don’t. I recognize they deal with some very nasty people, and I have appreciation for the work they (you) do. But that does not mean officers have the right to disrespect the people in the communities in which they serve.

As for my own experience several years ago, I never said the officer did not have probable cause to stop me. I had a burned out tail light. I had just replaced that bulb two days earlier and was unaware that it had burned out again. Later, the repair shop found a short and repaired it. What initially annoyed me was, like you did in Ohio, I asked a question: why was I stopped? It took almost 20 minutes for the officer to tell me he stopped me because I had a burned out tail light. It took him 20 minutes because he was looking (and hoping) to find something more. I’ve been driving 40+ years, and while I’ve only had about 3 traffic stops, this is the only time I was not told why I was stopped when the officer asked for my license. When this officer didn’t find anything else on me he should have issued the ticket and I would have been on my way. But no, finding nothing more on me, he then ran the driver’s license of my passenger. I’m sure you know, CJ, that under the circumstances of the stop, unless he planned to lie, he had absolutely no probable cause to do so. The officer ran her license because it was the routine, albeit improper, procedure in that particular community.

You said:
Have the dignity and intelligence to recognize the difference between a TRUE racist incident and one that has the color coordination of one but no probable cause to support it.

Obviously, you missed the point. I claimed it was racist because of where it took place and because he ran my passengers license with no probable cause. To try and make my point more clear: I was NOT upset or accusing the officer of racism because he stopped me. I would have been stopped almost anywhere because of the tail light. And if the incident had ended after my tags and licensed were checked with my receipt of a ticket for the tail light I would never have seen it as a racist incident. But, under the circumstances of the stop, my passenger’s license should not have been run. It was run because that is something that is done ROUTINELY during traffic stops in THAT minority neighborhood regardless of whether probable cause exists — in other words, that particular neighborhood is policed differently precisely because it is a minority neighborhood. This is what is called institutionalized or systemic racism.

As for giving me the original ticket — he initially had the copy in his hand but, after I challenged him on running my passenger’s license, he put it back on the clip board and handed me the original. You may want to defend him by saying he was distracted, but you were not there. He knew he was giving me the original. I’m also well aware that there are multiple copies of a ticket. But, notwithstanding how many copies there are, with few exceptions, under the rules of evidence you must file the original in court. If you file a copy and it is challenged, it can be thrown out and the case dismissed. Besides, even if it had been a mistake, he surely knew at the end of his shift that he had given me the original. Yet, he did not re-write the citation or swear out a summons (both of which admissibility could be strongly challenged in court) — possibly because he did not want that mess to be aired in court.

Now, I am not saying there is never probable cause to run a passenger’s license, sometimes there is. In fact, mine was run only a few months ago. Surprise CJ, I did not accuse the white officer of racism. That was because the circumstances were different. You see, I KNOW the difference. The driver of the car, pulled over for an equipment violation, also had a suspended license due to an unpaid moving violation (haven’t been back in her car since). She could not drive so, if I were going to drive her car the officer had every right to verify that I could legally do so. I thanked him when he returned my license and, unlike my previous encounter, found him to be pleasant and courteous — I think he would say the same about me and the driver.

You seem to disbelieve my opinion that I got away with giving a tongue lashing to the officer because I had a witness. Well CJ, I know people who have been arrested and/or beaten because they mouthed off at or questioned a police officer. These people were not criminals and were not committing a crime when they ran afoul of a police officer. The ones I have personal knowledge of were a doctor, a judge, a public defender, and the wife of a minor celebrity. She was probably the most egregious case. She was charged with resisting (an illegal) arrest with violence. The officer claimed she fought him “like a wildcat.” Yet, all of her bruises were on her back — where she was black, blue, purple, green and yellow (there were 8 x 10 color photos)– stopped where her shorts and tee shirt stopped, and she had none on the front of her body. She said the beating stopped when she said she was pregnant. The officer did have a (1) bruise — in the web between his thumb and forefinger of his right hand (there was an 8×10 color photo) The officer could not explain or demonstrate how the woman had fought him like a “wildcat” when all signs of the fight were on her back.
So yes, I know that there are a few police officers who will retaliate if you mouth off at them, and that knowledge is the basis for my statement that without my witness, the outcome could have been different.

You said:
don’t allow yourself to feel that deep tug of insecurity that tells you to blame someone or something for your failures or the negative events that come up from time to time.

How dare you patronize me. You know absolutely nothing about me, and make unfounded assumptions based upon your own interpretations and clear misunderstanding. The people who really know me would find that statement absolutely ludicrous and when they read it they were probably on the floor laughing their a–es off!

First of all, I don’t view anything in my life as a failure — only experiences. It is my belief that there are errors in judgment, but, if you learn the lesson, there are no failures, only experiences. Additionally, it may be more comfortable to blame someone else for what goes wrong because accepting that you are the author of your problem can be painful. But, I strongly believe that failure to accept responsibility for the choices you make, means you never learn the lessons, and will continue to make the same choices. Finally, I believe to assign fault/blame/responsibility to someone else for what happens in your life gives them too much power and control over you. The people who KNOW me, know that it is not in my nature to ever knowingly give that kind of power or control to anyone. Which is why I find your statement so amusing.

You, rather smugly, suggested I look back over my life. Like I said, you don’t know anything about me. Those who do, know I have never allowed anything, not even racism or sexism, to stop me from accomplishing any goal I’ve set. Indeed I’ve achieved despite the obstacles that racism and sexism placed in my path.

I realized long ago that education was the key to my independence. So, I fought my high school guidance counselors to be placed in college prep courses rather than general education classes, where most of the black students in my school were placed. I then fought my father to go to college because he felt educating a girl was a waste of time and money when she was only going to get married and stay home to raise children. (In fact, my education has afforded my child better opportunities than he might have had). After college I worked in more than one job where I encountered people who thought nothing of using derogatory terms to refer to minorities, including me, in my presence. I’ve even been paid less money to do the exact same job as a man — not because I was black, but because I was a woman — and it was, at that time, legal. Thank God things have changed and are better. So, yes, I’ve worked very hard for everything I’ve accomplished and have not for one minute ever considered not attempting something I decided I wanted to do due to racism or sexism, or because it was difficult. But, just because I’ve not allowed racism or sexism to stop me does not mean they don’t exist. They do. I’ve lived them, fought them, know them when I see them, and call it what it is.

Finally, I like what you said in dealing with that difficult motorist. I think if you had been the officer who stopped me, it probably would have been a different experience for us both.

By Charlene on Sep 28, 2009

Officer CJ

I wanted to give additional thought to your explanation of what probably occurred during my stop and I was prepared to concede the point except for a couple of things.

But before I get to that I will first reply to your question about officer safety since you insinuated that it was not important to me. Like I said, you don’t know me. I’m well aware that there are some people out there who are dangerous, and I’m also aware that traffic stops (along with domestic calls) are probably the most dangerous part of an officer’s job. I have never wished harm on any officer and recognize the need to take safety precautions.

I would agree to your explanation of what occurred if my vehicle had not passed a required state inspection with 10 days of the incident. If there had been a problem with the tags or other paper work it would have been caught during the inspection because no inspection could have been perfomed if something had been wrong with the vehicle’s tags/registration. I knew the officer would not find any adverse information on my vehicle. I also considered the possibility of computer problems. However, the officer did not ask for my passenger’s license until after he ran mine. I know he found no violations, warrants, suspensions, etc. because my last violation had been in 1992. Moreover, by the time he asked for my passenger’s license the other officers had been long gone. So, there must not have been too much concern about safety by the time he asked for and ran her license.

Notwithstanding all of that, I still might have been willing to accept your explanation if I had not had that experience as a passenger a few months ago. In that incident the driver did have a problem — a suspended license (She was originally stopped because the car was missing its front license plate). Yet, the officer had checked the registration and license of the driver, written her ticket and had discussed with her what procedures she had to do to get her license reinstated. He told her that he could arrest her, but wouldn’t as long as she did not drive. Up to that point, the officer NEVER asked for my license or any other ID. It was not requested until I said I could drive a stick shift and could drive the car. Once I said I would drive, he asked for my license to verify that I could legally do so. A few minutes later he returned the license and we were on our way. It appears that this situation several months ago was similar to the one I experenced several years ago. But the neighborhods were different, as were the procedures. The procedure in this stop a few months ago was very similar to the procedures exercised when my then boyfriend was stopped for speeding in 2006. He received a ticket, and although in addition to me there were two other people in the car, and it was late at night, no one was asked for ID/license and no other officers came to the scene. Once again, we were in a different neighborhood. I could continue to recount the experiences of other people who have received traffic stops I’ve collected a few over the ensuing years — none resemble the experience I had a few years ago. Thus, under the circumstances, your explanation, while reasonable, does not appear to adequately account for what happened.

Now, for your personal attacks on my competency. I was not at the top of my class at the top tier law school I attended and graduated from. But I did well for someone who worked full time while in law school, had a job that required me to travel so that I accumulated enough miles to have a frequent flyer gold card, and I had a baby during my second year of school. I have passed two bars and am licensed in two states. I’m also admitted to the Supreme Court Bar.

You seem to place a great deal of emphasis on prosecutors. However, only a few attorneys practice criminal law and only some of them are prosecutors. The vast majority of attorneys practice law on the civil side. I am not saying any particular type of law practice is better than another. They are just different and, having done both, I think I can comment on them. Yes CJ, I once was a criminal defense attorney and, before you leap to unfounded conclusions about me and my mindset, you should consider that after I switched to the civil side, I also represented police officers. In fact I was in private practice for a number of years and joined the federal government after becoming a single mom and needing to be able to better control my time.

Currently, I enjoy my work as an attorney at Social Security and it is respected by my supervisors, co-workes, and opposing counsels. It seems that you think its not much, but keep in mind that Social Security touches the lives of every citizen from the moment they are born until after they are gone. The people who work here are dedicated public servants who provide a valuable service.