Police Officer taking questions and preparing for hate mail

Discussion in 'Non Technical' started by djozzie, Jan 27, 2007.

  1. djozzie

    djozzie Member

    Sometimes it seems that there is an underground war going on between cops and sports car drivers. I am both and have been for a number of years now. I am sure a lot of us have had bad experiences when getting pulled over. I had an absolutely horrible one before I became a cop (funnily enough it was in the Knox area too, but I am not going to go into too much detail about it).

    I will tell you all a little secret that will get you out of more fines and trouble with police than any other trick you may know. The number one thing that gets drivers into trouble when I pull them over is not loud exhausts, big rims, low clearance, or dark tinting. It is driver attitude. I don't care if you don't respect the law or the police in reality. Make me believe you do when I intercept you and you have a much greater chance of leaving with the same amount of demerit points and money in your bank account. There is hardly ever a situation where I have decided that someone is getting a ticket when I pull them over, except when it is painfully obvious they are being disrespectful in their driving in front of me or racing. I won't use the word "hoon" because that has been overused recently by the media.

    A few tips on what not to do when I pull you over:

    Don't call me "mate". I do not know you and we are not mates.
    Don't call me a patronising "sir". That's a bigger mistake than thinking I am your mate.
    Don't get out of your car, that puts me on the defensive straight away. I don't know if you are planning on assaulting me, running away, or even trying to get in front of traffic to commit suicide.
    Don't say words to the effect of "What seems to be the problem officer?" That is possibly the worst opening line any person could ever use on me and I am probably likely to answer "The problem is how are you going to get home without a car and licence?"
    Don't argue the toss with me. Even if you don't necessarily agree, admit you stuffed up and you are sorry and I am more likely to give you a warning and let you keep your car and licence. Even if you end up getting a ticket, you can argue the matter in court. It's not going to change my mind on the night and I am not going to take the ticket back because you are complaining or think that I am wrong.
    Don't tell me I should be out catching real criminals instead of picking on you driving your car home. Road related deaths and accidents cost the community more than all other crime combined. More people die on the roads than get murdered each year. My own sister was run down and killed while crossing the road a few years ago. Do not think you know my job and what I am best spending my time doing better than I do.
    Don't hang around Noble Park McDonald's or any other place with a large bunch of dickheads. Just like all cops look the same in their car and uniform to you, most cars and drivers in that environment look the same to us. It's unfortunate, but it is human nature to generalise and stereotype to an extent.


    Random facts:

    Fog lights are not illegal as long as they are white or yellow, are on a seperate switch to the regular headlights, and are not aimed higher than the regular low beam headlights.
    Red, blue and green lights, especially flashing ones are a massive no-no. I don't care how cool your strobe light looks, do not turn it on while you are driving. Flash them while you are driving and you are look like you are impersonating a police officer, which is not the best terms under which we could meet.
    It doesn't matter whether the light you just went through was red or amber. It wasn't green and that means you can get a ticket for it.
    I don't need to have a radar or laser if I am following behind you to estimate your speed and charge you for it.


    Any other questions I might be able to help you with, feel free to ask. Or if you want to just flame me, my occupation, and my posts, go for it too.
     
  2. sandeep

    sandeep Active Member

    Good advice mate/sir. lol. :D :D :D :D
    Whenever I get pulled over by the police I never give them any reason to give me a fine. I haven't been pulled over for breaking the law, usually its just for a Random breath test. They don't really seem to care about the exhaust. I actually had a good chat to a policement who pulled me over to tell me that one of my lights wasn't working. He was interested in how much money I had paid for the car and I told him about my troubles with the roadworthy and how I was paying the price for previous owners lack of care.
    I didn't know about the fog lights. I thought it was only to be used in the fog. Now I'll be using them all the time because my low beam head lights aren't that great.
    Sandeep:zlove:
     
    Last edited: Jan 27, 2007
  3. Chrispy

    Chrispy Pretentious Upstart

    SO what happens when you come up to a set of lights, your doing 60, the light goes orange. You obviously can't stop in time, so you go through. SO if the nice police man is a nasty police man he can book you for running a red light. That makes no sense at all, what is the point of even having orange lights at all? You might as well make them all red and green...

    And the speeding thing, you couldn't get an accurate speed off your own speedo, sure I can understand if they are doing 200+, but 67 in a 60 zone? A quick trip to the courts and youd be off free (aside the day you spent in the waiting room) I was under the impression that they had to get a driver admission or a definate readoff from a radar/laser, obviously this is not the case.
     
  4. kr4usy

    kr4usy Active Member

    The idea is you should be paying attention to the road, when you see the light go amber, you WILL have enough time to stop...its as simple as that.

    Thanks for the advice djozzie! Its always good to have things clarified, especially by someone who's in the know, not someone who thinks they know ;)

    Cheers, Andrew

    p.s. I should get my driving lights rewired asap then :)
     
  5. markga

    markga Member

    I thought with amber lights.


    The rule was to stop if you can do so safely? I agree with above, what happens if the light turns amber when you are 1 meter from the intersection, you cant stop and would have to go through.

    Regards

    Mark
     
  6. red32

    red32 You talkin' to me?

    Good post, Ozzie...

    And when are we going to see you at one of the get-togethers? There's a few coming up in March. I haven't seen you since that one at Peter's (Wykked) about 2 years ago. Still got the Zed? (Red or Silver, wasn't it? (Memory's going))
    Cheers,
    Doug
     
  7. blackheartedprofit

    blackheartedprofit New Member

    you don't get booked for going through amber lights, you get booked for going through red lights, and djozzie offered some sound advice, especially to some of our younger members, i've been through it all, had a couple of wins along the way but cops can make your life miserable if they so choose, "shut up and don't speak until spoken to" golden rule
     
  8. Shifter

    Shifter Active Member

    According to the rules

    I'll see if I can find the website, that you can only get booked for entering an intersection after the light has switched to red. If you enter when its amber and it turns red while you are inside, you should technically be alright.

    Otherwise many trucks and bus drivers would no longer have a licence :p And I guess thats also why it takes 2 seconds after switching to red before any other light turns green
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Jan 27, 2007
  9. EvZ

    EvZ 1BAD300

    Good post.

    I always thought that it was better to get out of the car though, I'll keep that in mind if there is a next time.

    I've been driving a Zed for 7 years and I've never been pulled over without reason. I certainly don't feel like there is a war between cops and me.

    Evan.


     
  10. WOKBURNER

    WOKBURNER Bringer of fun and mayhem

    I thought the same! Good points Ozz!

    Have always got out of the car and it seems to be ok most of the time! I agree, a smart arse attitude is one of the biggest things they hate and being more melow than I was 10 years ago has got me out of quite a few tickets:D . You **** up admit it, say I was a twat (god knows I say it all the time LOL! - at home too:D )

    Funnily enough I got pulled over the other day by a motor bike cops and he actually said "You've passed the attitude test today" and we had a good chat about the car, and I left with no ticket!

    Yes hanging out at Macca Nats with all the dickheads is bound to make life harder for you (even if you arent an inbred Commodore burnout hero),

    MattB:cool:
     
  11. zed4life (zedcare.com)

    zed4life (zedcare.com) Ω vicarious zedder Ω

    Great post DJ Ozzie. *** Please all read this ***

    Good to hear that the force has people like you on it.

    Everyone- Just pre-empting that lets keep this thread on topic and not turn it into a flame war. Legalities of road rules in each state aside (which may vary from state to state), DJ Ozzie is offering some really good advice.

    Remember, any hassles you may have individually had at one time or another with police remain with the officer who ticketed you and should NOT be directed at DJ Ozzie. He is only offering some good advice in good intention.

    I've never been even looked at by police in my zed. Last ticket I got was totally deserved (and over 7 years ago which was exactly 10 minutes after I had just taken posession of an LX 308:eek: ).
     
  12. Shifter

    Shifter Active Member

    I have heard to never get out of the car

    (unless ordered to do so of course), for all the reasons DJ Ozzie said.

    I heard one guy on another forum got out of his car and was yelled at to get back inside. I guess he failed the attitude test!! Another one I heard is that the guys electric window was broken so when the policeman walked up to the car he opened the door ajar and the policeman jumped back and put his hand on his gun.

    Best thing is to have the window wound down and both hands on the steering wheel (so he/she can see them). Dont pre-empt an order





     
  13. RedTT

    RedTT New Member

    Who?s watching the police? Laws are there to be policed, there should be no if or buts (unless in certain circumstances). This is their job. How they perceive a person should not influence their decisions!!!!!!

    I treat everyone with respect but demand the same from people. I?ve noticed that some officers have a power complex.
     
  14. Shifter

    Shifter Active Member

    Partly found what I was after

    Found the website (www.transport.act.gov.au/ pdfs/redlightcamerasadvertisement.pdf) that used to be the page anyway. Its gone now, but got the reprint of the relevant bit in regards to amber lights

    I guess the keywords are pulling up safely. If it does turn red while you are exiting the intersection, it is technically still allowed but for a car, they would have had time and enough warning to stop safely before the intersection. (unless its an 80km/h zone and heavy rain etc but in which case, do you want to travel that fast in those conditions through an intersection?)
     
  15. NickTT

    NickTT L E X U S

    but don't you need to provide the driver with proof? how can you tell exactly how fast they are going? what if you assume its 30km/h over but they are only doing 22km/h and they lose thier license because you assumed they were going faster?
     
  16. MikeH

    MikeH smeg

    nice but I'd rather take a fine and points than suck up or show respect to someone that doesn't respect me.
     
  17. MikeH

    MikeH smeg

    what the.. sounds like you've got american cops over there.

    they're more like the army than police.
     
  18. Evil Twin

    Evil Twin Time to 'Suit Up'!

    my thoughts exactly!

    Theres actually a song that comes to mind! A nice little ditty by NWA. :p
     
  19. MikeH

    MikeH smeg

    I can't help myself, always had a problem with authority.. been like that since school.. maybe it has something to do with almost being strangled by a teacher after punching him in the balls.. hmm.

    Anyway, it's weird cos I don't tend to get my back up with anyone else, I mean I probably seem a total wuss and a push over! but when it comes to police it's like we're automatically enemies and I just go on the offensive.

    Sometimes it works out, maybe I make them feel like they're in the wrong or something? of course it usually doesn't but I still feel better if I put them in a bad mood.
     
    Last edited: Jan 27, 2007
  20. SIM300

    SIM300 FAKE MODERAT0R

    I got a ticket that way...

    I couldn't work out the logic! The officer wrote me out a ticket for doing 80kph in 60 zone. When I read it, I asked him if I could see the radar read out, as I knew I wasn't traveling at 80kph. He said he did it off his speedo, he explained that he had to do 80kph to catch up to me. I then tried explaining to the officer that he wasn't going to catch up to me if he was doing the same speed as me LOL.

    He didn't like that, specially me being a little P plater in a done up VL at the time. He said that he'd be more than happy to see me again in court. I didn't want that floating over my head for months so I took it on the chin :mad:

    I do think that P platers in modified cars are very much targeted!
     

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