Perfect Parade Day - Traffic Stop - Long

[tamangel]

maybe you local guys ought to have an open house at the local PD/SO/SP station some weekend, sort of a meet and greet... You could then answer any questions they have or you have..Bring lots of Donuts...(not 50K lb's worth though.. )

 

[Barney-the-Duece]

Traffic Stop

I would almost bet that there was no 999 phone call from some mysterious motorist but rather some over zealous cop (possibly the first one you encountered on the highway) thought he was about to make a major bust! If you got on I-88 in Naperville then encountered the first cop in Lisle that really is only a couple of minutes time. Doesnt seem like much time for someone to call the cops and have a car in place to meet you. They just said there was a call to cover their a$$.

Hey is your 50 cal. one of those high tech weapons as shown on Modern Weapons on the Military channel? You know those light weight kevlar/PVC guns! Maybe one of those police agencies would be ineterested in buying it.

Living in Illinois all my life I would have to agree with the goofy laws and enforcement in this state. I would prefer to live in South Illinois myself!

Glad everything ended up OK for you!

 

[Rattlehead]

I'm hoping to hear from some of our LEO's on the issue of searching the people and vehicle. What is the criteria? Doesn't seem that an alleged emergency call would qualify.

I used to live in IL, and agree that they have some odd gun laws and other things. Like the Firearm Owner's ID Card to purchase guns or ammunition (must be 21 to get), no handguns in Chicago, and NO deer hunting with centerfire rifles ANYWHERE in the state; supposedly because its too populated. There's a lot of rural farm land outside the metro areas.

 

[No.2Diesel]

Why were you prohibited from taking photographs?

Its amazing how some people of "authority" just say, spew, & pontificate absolute rubbish, and your supposed to take their every word as if it came straight from the books. You certainly showed greater patience than I would have shown

It would have been too tempting to verbally abuse those officers


Thanks for posting your experience.

 

[oifvet]

But as in your case, there is nothing we can do about stupid people calling 911 about something they know nothing about.

BINGO!!!

And, if the police, "don't do anything!," like they are so often accused, then people would complain about that.

Smile, comply, and move on. It's like speed-bumps, and getting a hair in your food. It sucks, but it will happen. What are you going to do?

 

[readyman]

Mike,
You could be right, since the local cop was out of his jurisdiction, everything was conveyed to me second hand thru the State Police. So I couldn't get a read on his face for his honesty.

Rattlehead,
"Well because of 911..." was used to begin a long line of sketchy requests. Maybe that is the new LEO criteria. Hey I'm a 100% patriotic, but it made 'em look pretty lame.
But you know terr's are pretty tricky... using St Pats Day parade banners, funny leprechaun hats, streamers, parade placards, to throw LEO's off on the way to a big 'Nitrogen Bomb' hit(in a big green obvious truck).

No2Diesel,
I couldn't resist the no pics request from the female supervisor after her sensual frisk! I laughed when she couldn't find the top of my combat boots, then thought she found something(laces).
There was a complete lack of 'situational control' during the whole hour long event. First I thought it was because of the big MV roaring away at idle, or the BDU tops? But then I realized all 5 of them were clueless on how to proceed and bring things to a conclusion, where they wouldn't look foolish. No one took control because no one wanted to be reponsible I guess.

 

[oifvet]

Send your story to their local paper and see if you get some press on it.

Get it out the there in the, "Court of Public Opinion."

Any chance of a, "settlement?"

 

[readyman]

oivet,
All I want is a state issued 'Get out of lonnnggg traffic stop cards'... ya know, when the title, license and plates come back clean we could just be let on our way.

 

[JDToumanian]

If the tags are good and your lic. is good and you were doning nothing wrong, WTF?

You certainly showed greater patience than I would have shown

Those are my thoughts exactly. What a story!

I think I'd have made a big deal out of this... demands for supervisors, complaints filed, etc. ....But then again, if I were packing some sort of "heat" that I perhaps should not have been packing.... maybe I'd have "played ball", too.

Jon

 

[oifvet]

readyman,

I know what you're saying.

People out there have, "movie-script" mind sets. They conjure up these crazy ideas of what might be happening, or what someone might do! And their perception becomes reality. If local officials don't over-react, then someone is going to end up in the paper or on the evening news. Political Posturing is the name of the game right now. It's the same reason the governors call out the National Guard after a thunderstorm. Not only is everything, "Post-911," but it is "Post-Katrina" and "Post-Virginia Tech" and whatever else someone is worried might happen.

Personally, I would have enjoyed having you present the answers and everyone could have just "carried on." Seems like a little panic set in initially, followed by a bunch of CYA. The CYA session was probably out of confusion over, "are we missing anything before we get more calls?"

As for the "no photos?" Unless someone is in custody, under arrest, or creating an unsafe situation for themselves, officers, or public (ie: stepping into traffic lanes, creating an unsafe distraction for the investigating officers, etc.), that shouldn't have been prohibited.

We live in a tattle-tale society. Everyone wants to call 911 and "tell." Then they run home, turn on the news and let their neighbors know that they, "were right there!" Ooooooooooooooooooooo! It's all about meeeeeeeeeee!

It's irritating.

Your truck looks good! Did you lengthen the "vertical" portion of the intake?

 

[maddawg308]

If I was sheriff, I'd have his badge. At the very least, I'd have him take a 2-week UNPAID leave and hand him a copy of the Constitution and tell him "Read it, there WILL be a test when you get back, and you better know it WORD for WORD".

readyman, I would write a bunch of letters, to the editors, to the chief of police, the sheriff, the town council, EVERYONE. Cops like this have crossed the line in my book to JBTs (that's Jack Booted Thugs) and must be put in their place before they train any more to be JBTs. DEMAND a written apology. You have rights, whether the police like it or not, and being treated fairly is among one of those rights. If the policeman didn't have enough to ticket you or arrest you, you should get a "I'm sorry" of some sort, not: "consider yourself lucky I'm letting you off with a warning even though I KNOW you are breaking the law" BS line.

 

[DanMartin]

OK, I'll chime in.

IMO: Choose your battles. Yes, it was wrong/unfair/stupid/waste of time. However, aside from a bit of grief, embarrassment, and your valuable time there was no real harm.

I would write a carefully worded letter to the duty officer or sheriff explaining what happened, that you felt it was probably not correct procedure (especially the part about the picture taking), and that you support law enforcement and hope that with the help of (duty officer or sheriff) that this sort of thing will be a one-time occurrence.

That's how I would handle the issue.

Of course, I feel much more strongly about what happened, but take the high road and try to turn this into something constructive.

 

[gimpyrobb]

I agree with Dan. I didn't catch if this was near where you live, but if it was, you will have it happen everytime from now on. You don't have to be a dick about it, just make sure everyone else knows you were in the right.

 

[readyman]

Jon,
No, no, no, I had an serrated pocket knife for cutting the Parade banners paracord in my pocket(but bad enough in Cook County,IL). And with the two State Police girl Supervisors doing the 'Barney Fyfe' holdover for at least 15 minutes solid(whew). Well, they were making up for their petite stature and low-ground postioning with a humorous/failed attempt at intimidation. Then the frisk, which really didn't help.

I really wish I had a 'back up camera' on the truck for all this, we'd have a blast with it on the SS forum here. Can I get a copy of a Squad car window cam on request? I want to see the guy flying out of a 7 foot high tailgate sideways(Chris and I caught him). Lt-I have to get a flashlight-there's a crate of Nitrogen in there(I guess it could look like an IED in the dark).

oivet,
Yeah, the intake is a couple right angle tube corners welded together, takes it up to just under 'scuba gear' height.

iovet/Dan,
I'm telling the story so we all can have some fun and learn what goes on, no hard feelings on my part(might of been different if we were on the way to the Parade). But even waving off the squad car ambushes further up the road! See how far this thing got outta hand in no time. I just gotta laugh sometimes.

And where do I start, anyway. Car-cell *999 dispatch, Lisle local police, State police, county(ambush car), Elk Grove local police. Shoot man, everyone was out lookin for the south suburban terr's drivin' to Chicago on the Tollway.

 

[Michael]

"You seem like a nice guy, so...I'm not gonna call a tow truck and report this. This will save you a $4,000+ fine, for driving out of class." But I'm sure this truck weights in at 40,000 to 50,000 lbs. My kissa** mode went on... before the weight gets any heavier and there won't be a tow truck big enough to take it to the impound. Rolling Eyes "You seem like a nice guy, so... I'm going to let you go and get the truck weighed and you get a CDL to drive this truck because its over 25,000 lbs.

I think I would start with this one's supervisor. Because, after it was all said and done he still thinks you are doing something wrong. What are you going to do the next time you are out and he say "well I warned you ..."

I do agree with what the others said about keeping it positive. You don't want every cop in the state trying to get even with you.

 

[readyman]

Michael,
Avatar - Tank Girl was on cable yesterday, they don't play it that often around here.

 

[ronfry261]

I have no idea if this is part of why all this happened in the first place, AND, unfortunately, I can't go into any great detail, but...

I'm the Asst Fire Chief of our local volunteer fire department. We receive info thru the county here in Colorado that is considered
'unclassified, FOUO'. We had a notice come thru within the last 2 weeks of some stolen MV's that are collector vehicles. They are
very good restorations. Evidently, there is a worry that these thieves might try to use these vehicles in some 'official' capacity. I'm
sure 'Elmer Fudd' was thinking he was gonna catch himself some 'tewwowists' out there in IL.

Sorry to hear about all that nonsense. As has been discussed above, a simple registration and license check would have been
more than sufficient.

Ron

 

[readyman]

Funny, Ron

Update

I called the Illinois State Police to see if the squad window cam video was available for my traffic stop. Well apparantly in IL they are turned on or off at will, so there isn't one(x3 state police squads). No paperwork was filed for my traffic stop, so it never happened as far as ISP was concerned.

And then he said, and I kid you not, "Because of 911 you can understand why we have to fully investigate these *999 calls". Somehow I knew that was coming.
And what about the St Pats parade banners, funny leprechaun hats, streamers, parade placard I showed your people. He said terrorists are clever and his officers should not have been fooled by that.

He said I do not have to get a certified weight/revised title for my '50,000' lb Deuce, nor a CDL to drive it since my plate wasn't flagged in the system by anyone.

If I had gotten the name of any of the 5 officers a complaint could be filed for the hour long stop, but I didn't have one. He could not figure out the logic of disregarding the dataplate and operator manual weight. But this guy did apologise for my inconvenience and the behavior of the officer.

So after talking with them I don't know if I want to go any further with this and the ISP, since I don't really have any officers' identification for a complaint(I will be smarter about that next time).

But... in a strange turn of events, if you look real close at the photo I was 'prohibited' to take at the scene, ISP cars with license plates #15-10X and #15-11X. I know what you did last Saturday. And again, maybe that's why photos are prohibited.

 

[FreightTrain]

ummm,question.Did they ask to search the vehicle?Did you say ok,sure?If not Illegal Search and Seizure.AKA Criminal charges against the JBT wanna be......I hate cops that think that cause they have a shinny badge and a gun they are GOD.Gives teh other 95% of cops a bad name.

 

[readyman]

FreightTrain,
Sure, I let em, I've got nothing to hide. But don't forget "Because of 911 you can understand why we have to..." carries a lot of weight with a patriotic american. OTOH when they used it for the frisking...well.