What Not to Say When Pulled Over by a Cop
In what he calls an "educational video" that's widely
circulated on YouTube, comedian Chris Rock offers advice on what to do
when you get pulled over for a traffic violation.參見 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uj0mtxXEGE8
"Obey
the law" he says. "Stop immediately" and "stay in your car with your
hands on the wheel." Finally, "if your woman is mad at you, leave her at
home. There's nothing she'd like to see more than you getting your
[you-know-what] kicked."
a dead-on spoof of a hard truth: Respect authority. If you don't, you increase the odds of a pricey ticket.
"Everything
in that video is absolutely true," said Sgt. Matthew Koep of the South
Plainfield, N.J., Police Department. "It's funny, but it's accurate."
Citizens
who are generally law-abiding are likely to come into contact with the
police only under two circumstances: If you're a crime victim or you get
pulled over for a traffic violation.
Police
officers are not out to make your life miserable, but to make sure
you're following the rules of the road and not endangering yourself or
those around you.
With a few exceptions, and an egregious traffic
violation is top among them, cops aren't mandated to write tickets. Most
would rather send you on your way with a friendly warning -- that can
save you time and money.
But handle the situation with an
aggressive or arrogant attitude and you can expect to squeeze an
expensive court date into your busy schedule.
Play Nice
First rule: don't argue.
"I
get this all the time," said Karen Rittorno, a nine-year veteran with
the Chicago Police Department. "'What are you stopping me for? I didn't
do nothing.' If they try to take charge of the traffic stop, they're not
going to get out of it without a ticket," she said. "We ask the
questions, not them."
Accept that the police have caught you doing something that's against the law, such as speeding or gliding through a stop sign.
"All
we do is react to what people do when you pull them over," said Dennis
Fanning, a homicide detective and veteran officer with the Los Angeles
Police Department. "We don't instigate the stuff, but we will react to
you. The situation will escalate or de-escalate depending on how that
person reacts."
To argue with cops is akin to calling them idiots.
Don't do that. "That's implying that I pulled you over for no reason
and that bothers me," Koep said.
Keep It Honest
Don't
lie, either. Cops are trained to note the human characteristics of
lying, including twitching and looking to the left, and they know the
right questions to ask to suss out the truth.
Fanning estimates that nine out of 10 people lie to him. "It's an attack on our intelligence," he said.
Moreover, the truth can set you free. Koep recalled an incident when he pulled a young guy over for speeding.
"He
looks straight at me and says, 'You know, officer, I wasn't even paying
attention. I just had the best date of my life. I just met my future
bride. I'm just on cloud nine right now.'
"The guy was completely
serious," Koep said. "How are you going to write that guy up after that?
Who makes that kind of stuff up?"
Of course, don't use
pejoratives when addressing the police, unless you're eager for a
ticket. But other words may backfire, too. Rittorno works in a
crime-ridden section of Chicago where the majority of people she pulls
over for traffic violations don't have licenses or insurance, she said.
"So
I get a lot of, 'I'm sorry, baby. I didn't mean it, sweetheart,'" she
said. "I hate being called 'baby' or 'sweetheart.' I'm 'officer' to
you.''
The police don't like being talked over, either. "Be
polite," said Chicago Officer Mike Thomas. "You have your rights as a
citizen, too, but it doesn't do you any good to talk while he's
talking."
Cops know that people are nervous when they get pulled
over, and they expect a certain amount of jumpiness when they approach a
car. Rittorno even admitted she's intimidated in the same situation.
"I'm the police and I get scared if I get pulled over," she said.
But
did you know they're on edge, too? You know who they are, but they
don't know whether you're a good guy or a bad guy. "The only thing on
his mind when he approaches you is safety," Thomas said. "You know you
don't have a gun in your lap, but the officer doesn't know it."
Rittorno,
for one, said she assumes everyone has a gun. "I'm always on 10," she
said, referring to her high level of vigilance. "I take it down
depending on their demeanor or what I see."
[See the Most and Least Expensive Cars to Insure ]
Stay Calm
When
those headlights go on, it's best to pull the car to the right, stay in
the car, turn the interior lights on if it's dark and put your hands on
the steering wheel.
Don't make any quick movements, and don't
turn to grab your purse or put your hands in your pocket or under your
seat to retrieve your license -- until the officer instructs you to.
Then, do it slowly.
Don't move to open the glove box either, until
directed. And do that slowly, too. Let the police shine a light inside
the box before you reach in. Many criminals hide guns in glove boxes.
"What's
going to cause the situation to get worse is for the fear factor to
rise in that officer," Koep said. "The officer is more likely to cut you
a break as long as you can reduce that fear. …If you're friendly with
me, not arguing or denying what happened, that lowers the fear factor
and will make me a lot more cooperative with you."
Don't boast
about who you know, either. That can infuriate cops. They consider it a
veiled threat to their livelihoods. Fortunately, most municipalities
have laws in place to insure that an officer is not fired or reprimanded
for ticketing, say, the mayor's daughter.
Finally, never try to
buy off a cop. "In those instances where they've offered me a bribe,"
Fanning said. "I loved making those arrests."
Jennifer Waters is a MarketWatch reporter, based in Chicago.