Tonight, On "Cops"

Friday night I got pulled over by the po po. I got pulled over for not signaling a lane change. The car that pulled me over was an undercover car – I didn’t even realize it was a police car until he turned on the lights that he had on the inside of the front windshield. The funny thing is that he had been behind me for a while, and I was on a street where it’s not smart to speed, so I was driving the speed limit. There was a real slowpoke in front of me though, and I was really ready to get home (the only reason I was in that part of town is because I exited the highway due to a wreck and massive traffic jam on the highway), and I changed lanes in front of the cop without signaling. He said I was driving "erratically". Which is about par for the course around here.

Getting pulled over definitely sucks, and my natural inclination is to be pissed off. However, I’ve learned to keep my cool and be polite as possible. I have an uncle who used to be a police officer, and when I was in high school I was in the Police Explorer program, so I’ve spent a lot of time around police officers. I used to want to be one when I grew up, but I’m glad I’m didn’t do that because I would make a terrible police officer! Anyway, if you’ve been pulled over, at that point there’s really nothing to be gained from being an asshole. And being nice, or at least not being rude, gives you the chance to actually not get a ticket (unless you’ve been pulled over for something way over the top). I’m guessing that the officer was on a fishing expedition, because he asked me if it was my car (trust me, if I was stealing a car I would not steal the POS I drive!), if I had ever been arrested, if I had ever gotten a ticket (when I answered “yes” he wanted to know how long ago), etc. I think he just wanted to know if I had any warrants or unpaid tickets. I didn’t, and he let me off with a warning. Which I greatly appreciated. I guess sometimes it pays to not be a jerk!