ChicagoRic Posted May 22, 2005 Posted May 22, 2005 ..........in your town? If not, then what's the most blatant use of a police force that you have ever seen? I was out of town tonight on what I'll call a semi-date--cute girl I've known for years with an on-again, off-again boyfriend. She called me outta the blue looking for a night out, so I obliged her but was careful not to cross ANY lines..........I enjoy her company and can appreciate the whole flirtation thing, but with her in emotional limbo, I don't wanna be an a-hole. So anyway, while we're out, she gets a text message from her on again, off again batender boyfriend-------30+ state troopers have descended on the town and are out in force with the local PD, making life miserable for the beer-swilling population. On a Saturday night at 12:30am, the entire town is now a police state. Coming back into town and dropping the semi-date off, I go into the local pub for what will be my fifth beer of the night (over a 4 hour period), and looking out onto the main drag, I see no fewer than 3 cars pulled over and no less than 5 state troopers cruising the strip. Not only that, the cops are not content to just pull people over----they are walking into the bars to identify who might be drunk so they can catch them on the way out. Cops IN the bar, shining flashlights in peoples' eyes and generally making life miserable. Needless to say, I called my car into the police station to avoid a parking ticket and WALKED home. So, 30 state troopers and 4-5 local cops in a town with 4 bars with a combined total of maybe 100 patrons. Is this extreme, or is it just me? My best, Eric C ChicagoRic
BillnutinHouston Posted May 22, 2005 Posted May 22, 2005 I need to recuse myself from this discussion because I resent cops.
jarthur31 Posted May 22, 2005 Posted May 22, 2005 ..........in your town? If not, then what's the most blatant use of a police force that you have ever seen?I was out of town tonight on what I'll call a semi-date--cute girl I've known for years with an on-again, off-again boyfriend. She called me outta the blue looking for a night out, so I obliged her but was careful not to cross ANY lines..........I enjoy her company and can appreciate the whole flirtation thing, but with her in emotional limbo, I don't wanna be an a-hole. So anyway, while we're out, she gets a text message from her on again, off again batender boyfriend-------30+ state troopers have descended on the town and are out in force with the local PD, making life miserable for the beer-swilling population. On a Saturday night at 12:30am, the entire town is now a police state. Coming back into town and dropping the semi-date off, I go into the local pub for what will be my fifth beer of the night (over a 4 hour period), and looking out onto the main drag, I see no fewer than 3 cars pulled over and no less than 5 state troopers cruising the strip. Not only that, the cops are not content to just pull people over----they are walking into the bars to identify who might be drunk so they can catch them on the way out. Cops IN the bar, shining flashlights in peoples' eyes and generally making life miserable. Needless to say, I called my car into the police station to avoid a parking ticket and WALKED home. So, 30 state troopers and 4-5 local cops in a town with 4 bars with a combined total of maybe 100 patrons. Is this extreme, or is it just me? My best, Eric C ChicagoRic 341949[/snapback] That depends. Does your town have a big problem with drunk drivers running over people or worse killing them?
Alaska Darin Posted May 22, 2005 Posted May 22, 2005 It's a two fold situation. The public bitches about drunk drivers and the town needs revenue. Kill two birds with one stone and don't have to technically raise taxes...
Nanker Posted May 22, 2005 Posted May 22, 2005 Things could be worse. I once saw a sting go down in RaChaCha. It was like somehting out of Hill Street Blues. There had been a series of muggings plaguing a certain area of town for awhile. They put an undercover cop playing a homeless wine-o on the sidewalk as bait. Sure enough, he got mugged. Then the mugger got plugged. There were about 20 cops stationed about in unmarked cars - and even a couple of roof-top snipers in position covering the bait. I heard about ten shots. Made an interesting read in the next morning's paper too. So how bad was this harassing a bunch of wannabe drunken drivers? Anybody get shot? Anybody have nekkid pictures taken of them with ladies undies on their head? Oh, the humanity! It's all relative ya know. BTW - you did the right thing twice. First in not mollesting the sweet young thing, and secondly by walking home. Good job there ChicagoRic. Now, to make up for it, the next time you go out, you can do something really bad!
Fan in San Diego Posted May 22, 2005 Posted May 22, 2005 No it doesn't sound like excessive force to me. In San Diego, occasionally they will put up a checkpoint on different roads to screen for drunk drivers and they always catch a bunch. No one seems to mind or complain. In my wild and excessive youth, I came out of Birdie's 19th hole in Allentown drunk as a skunk. For whatever reason there was a cop there and he grabbed me and threw me head first into the side of the car and then threw me into the back of the car. The impact gave me a black eye. People around were jeering about police use of excessive force, Brutality even. But nothing ever came of it. Thats what I would more define as excessive use of force.
Thailog80 Posted May 22, 2005 Posted May 22, 2005 Sounds like you were loaded if you called your car.
KD in CA Posted May 22, 2005 Posted May 22, 2005 Things could be worse.I once saw a sting go down in RaChaCha. It was like somehting out of Hill Street Blues. There had been a series of muggings plaguing a certain area of town for awhile. They put an undercover cop playing a homeless wine-o on the sidewalk as bait. Sure enough, he got mugged. Then the mugger got plugged. There were about 20 cops stationed about in unmarked cars - and even a couple of roof-top snipers in position covering the bait. I heard about ten shots. Made an interesting read in the next morning's paper too. So a violent criminal was killed by the cops in commission of yet another crime? I guess I'm missing the meaning of the "things could be worse" reference. Sounds to me like the RPD deserved an atta-boy. btw....5 drinks in 4 hours would put most people over the legal limit for driving, so it sounds like the cops prevented Eric from driving home drunk.
cåblelady Posted May 22, 2005 Posted May 22, 2005 Where the heck have YOU been, Eric? Nice to see ya.
RunTheBall Posted May 22, 2005 Posted May 22, 2005 Why would you drive back into the town and go get a drink when you knew the police were running a major enforcement operation? I respect your decision not to drive but why put yourself in that situation in the first place? RTB
mead107 Posted May 22, 2005 Posted May 22, 2005 this past fri night saratoga county had big push on dwi check points . they put it on the radio and news papers for a week a head a time and they still catch lots of people driving drunk.
Pete Posted May 22, 2005 Posted May 22, 2005 Total police abuse. I would not let them shine a flashlight in my eyes if I was in the bar. Fug them
shibuya Posted May 22, 2005 Posted May 22, 2005 They have no right to be inside the establishment shining lights inpeoples eyes. They can patrol the roads and identify cars in a parking lot, but to walk into a place of business is not OK. They over stepped their boundaries on this one, but who is going to get into the face of a cop.
Sound_n_Fury Posted May 22, 2005 Posted May 22, 2005 Name of town, please? I'd like to check out the newspaper account of this "sting."
Tux of Borg Posted May 22, 2005 Posted May 22, 2005 I remember one time I went through a road block at 2am. I made the mistake of telling the officer I had a glass of wine at dinner. He asked me if I would take a breathalyzer and I said sure. Well he couldn't get his to work, so he had to call his supervisor on the radio. (who was most likely sleeping) 45 minutes later there were 8 police cars there and his supervisor finally shows up. I took the test and had no alcohol in my system. His supervisor was pissed!
Albany,n.y. Posted May 22, 2005 Posted May 22, 2005 ..........in your town? If not, then what's the most blatant use of a police force that you have ever seen?I was out of town tonight on what I'll call a semi-date--cute girl I've known for years with an on-again, off-again boyfriend. She called me outta the blue looking for a night out, so I obliged her but was careful not to cross ANY lines..........I enjoy her company and can appreciate the whole flirtation thing, but with her in emotional limbo, I don't wanna be an a-hole. So anyway, while we're out, she gets a text message from her on again, off again batender boyfriend-------30+ state troopers have descended on the town and are out in force with the local PD, making life miserable for the beer-swilling population. On a Saturday night at 12:30am, the entire town is now a police state. Coming back into town and dropping the semi-date off, I go into the local pub for what will be my fifth beer of the night (over a 4 hour period), and looking out onto the main drag, I see no fewer than 3 cars pulled over and no less than 5 state troopers cruising the strip. Not only that, the cops are not content to just pull people over----they are walking into the bars to identify who might be drunk so they can catch them on the way out. Cops IN the bar, shining flashlights in peoples' eyes and generally making life miserable. Needless to say, I called my car into the police station to avoid a parking ticket and WALKED home. So, 30 state troopers and 4-5 local cops in a town with 4 bars with a combined total of maybe 100 patrons. Is this extreme, or is it just me? My best, Eric C ChicagoRic 341949[/snapback] Extreme would have been if you were in your car, half drunk & another patron, fully drunk, slammed into you with one of you dead & the other facing hard time in prison. That's extreme. Next time you're in the same situation without the police presence, do the same thing & walk home. Too bad it took the police presence for you to do the right thing.
CoachChuckDickerson Posted May 22, 2005 Posted May 22, 2005 Yeah the cops are all a-holes unless it is your familiy member or loved one that is killed by some drunk. Don't drive drunk sh-thead and you'll have nothing to worry about.
col_forbin Posted May 22, 2005 Posted May 22, 2005 Yeah, yeah, yeah about the cops........Got any pics on the girl
Crap Throwing Monkey Posted May 22, 2005 Posted May 22, 2005 ..........in your town? If not, then what's the most blatant use of a police force that you have ever seen?I was out of town tonight on what I'll call a semi-date--cute girl I've known for years with an on-again, off-again boyfriend. She called me outta the blue looking for a night out, so I obliged her but was careful not to cross ANY lines..........I enjoy her company and can appreciate the whole flirtation thing, but with her in emotional limbo, I don't wanna be an a-hole. So anyway, while we're out, she gets a text message from her on again, off again batender boyfriend-------30+ state troopers have descended on the town and are out in force with the local PD, making life miserable for the beer-swilling population. On a Saturday night at 12:30am, the entire town is now a police state. Coming back into town and dropping the semi-date off, I go into the local pub for what will be my fifth beer of the night (over a 4 hour period), and looking out onto the main drag, I see no fewer than 3 cars pulled over and no less than 5 state troopers cruising the strip. Not only that, the cops are not content to just pull people over----they are walking into the bars to identify who might be drunk so they can catch them on the way out. Cops IN the bar, shining flashlights in peoples' eyes and generally making life miserable. Needless to say, I called my car into the police station to avoid a parking ticket and WALKED home. So, 30 state troopers and 4-5 local cops in a town with 4 bars with a combined total of maybe 100 patrons. Is this extreme, or is it just me? My best, Eric C ChicagoRic 341949[/snapback] It used to be their regular MO in Virginia: go into the bars, identify the drunks, and if they (the police) were in a generous mood they'd wait in the parking lot and bust you for DWI as you went to your car. If they were pissy that night, they'd check the drunks for car keys, and arrest them in the bar for DWI. There was a huge flap over it - and rightfully so, as legally (and by any remotely sane and rational measure) you can't be arrested for DWI if you're not behind the wheel - so I don't know if they still work that way anymore. But it was a nice example of horribly stupid law enforcement...I mean, at least wait out in the street for the drunks to pull out of the parking lot; then the case doesn't get thrown out of court because you ignored the fact that "driving while intoxicated" requires actual driving.
Bill from NYC Posted May 22, 2005 Posted May 22, 2005 They have no right to be inside the establishment shining lights inpeoples eyes. They can patrol the roads and identify cars in a parking lot, but to walk into a place of business is not OK. They over stepped their boundaries on this one, but who is going to get into the face of a cop. 342008[/snapback] Pete.
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