Have You Had a Bad Experience with a Police Officer?

I think the biggest thing we have to remember is that Police Officers are people too. They have bad days, make mistakes, and some are just not nice people. On the other hand, there are those out there that are really great people and take the oath seriously and truly want to help people. The best we can do as civilians is respect the law, respect their authority, and when we encounter a bad one...do everything in our power to be respectful and honest. At the end of the day, if you've done that, then everything will turn out for the best.

Without knowing what happened between you and the officer, the only advice I can offer is to not hold the mistakes of one officer against the entire profession. Just stay strong in your convictions and provide a positive example for your children. Remember negativity breeds negativity. Good luck!

A.

I just heard a story where my friend's sister in law opened the door to this hysterical little four year old girl saying her mommy did not come back. She looked around and asked the little girl where she had come from and calmed her down enough for her to point towards a school.
She took her by the hand and was met by an 18 year old kid who tried to grab her hand saying they had been looking for her for 30 minutes. My friend's SIL did not know the boy so said she would follow him but not just release her until they found the mom.. The mother, a hard looking blonde with roots and tatoos came rushing up and grabbed the little girl, surrounded by squad cars and local police. I guess the mom had been registering an older sibling for kindergarten and had told the little girl to wait in the playground and took longer than expected.
The SIL started to try to give a woman officer her information and tell her what happened and the woman started actually YELLING at her telling her she should never have touched the little girl and just called 911! Never by the way, taking any information.
Okay so I can understand informing this good Samaratan that perhaps she made an error in her judgement but the school was less than a block away and I'm not sure any of us would have done anything differently? I know I probably wouldn't have thought to call 911~! And that woman's delivery was inappropriately delivered to say the least. She needs an official reprimand as far as I'm concerned.
So the SIL was a little ruffled to say the least and relayed the story to her husband who in turn felt the need to make sure her information was given and took her to the station that next day... and the police did not seem the least bit interested. It made me want to march down there and complain that our taxes need to pay for an extra class for roadside manners! I can see getting harsh with criminals or uncontrolable characters but this was inexcusable.

I must say first that last week I had a very NICE experience with a police officer, and I was completely in the wrong (completely preoccupied and ran a red light -flat out ran it), but I viewed the outcome as karma for this:

Three springs ago, I was leaving our local science museum with my then 2 year old. I was pregnant with the second baby, and I REALLY had to pee once we got on the road. Traffic was backed up down the main road, so I cut through this neighborhood to get over to where we needed to go. I CLEARLY remember seeing the cop as I pulled up to the stop sign and making sure that I came to a complete stop and WAITED before turning, because I didn't want to give him any excuse to pull me over (since he was just hanging out in a really nice neighborhood in the middle of the afternoon on a side street -he seemed like he may need to write a ticket). Well, the next thing I know, blue lights -there he is! I pulled over, and he informed me that I failed to come to a complete stop. Taking a very deep breath and smiling, I nicely explained to him that not only did I come to a complete stop, but I waited because I saw him, and I wanted to be sure to come to a complete stop. He just looked at me and said, "Huh." He wrote me a ticket, and I was shaking I was so angry. It's a really good thing my toddler was in the car with me, or I would have probably gotten myself in trouble. I knew it was just a "he said/she said" thing that I had no chance of winning in court, but I did file a complaint against him because I wanted it in his file.

Two police officers pulled me over for no reason. I told them off (kindly), asked for their badge numbers, they apologized, got in their cars and drove off. They made us do sobriety tests (we hadn't been drinking at all) and everything. When I asked why they pulled me over, they didn't have a reason and started to ask me about what kind of music I liked.

I'm pretty sure they pulled us over b/c they were bored and wanted to flirt. It was back in my younger days!

It doesn't always turn out so great, but that's how mine went. Really though, you need to stay calm at all times. If you are being harassed, you can call 911 and tell them the situation.

To the previous poster, sharing a negative story is not bashing. All the people on here had legitimate stories to tell, which is what the original poster was asking for. Just because police officers are people who have bad days and have dangerous jobs doesn't give them (or any professional for that matter) free reign to behave any way they please. They are not above reproach.

I have not had a negative experience as a parent. There was a cop in my area who would look for my car, pull me over for a bogus offense and ask me personal questions and try to get me to say where I lived so he could follow me home. He was trying to be all sexy, and it totally backfired on him. I reported him to my friend, who happened to be the county Sheriff and the guy ended up in some hot water!

I have several friends who are wonderful police men and women and I know a couple of terrible cops. It's too bad they ruin it for the brave men and women who work hard to protect and serve. If you have a bad experience, you need to report it. That same officer can't do everything in her power to get your kids taken away, because that is harrassment.

If your back porch is a safe place, don't feel bad letting your kids play on it.
HUGS!

Well my husband is a police officer. People say such horrible things about them and most of the time they are just doing their job. They work long hours for crappy pay and only get people ranting about what they did wrong. Ever had a bad experience with a sales clerk, bank teller, anyone on the phone. There are bad apples out there but most are hard working people who get a bad wrap cause they are generalized. But most of don't generalize like that in other jobs.

I had a bad experience with military police officers (PMO). I got in a fight with my ex and drove away.. well there's a curb that jets out on the base and I forgot about it so I jerked the car a bit to miss it... the military ball was going on so they stopped me thinkin they caught someone drunk. I was not. BUT my insurance had apparently been suspended because when I sent the payment in something got confused, they posted it to the wrong account (awesome *sarcasm*) and it had been suspended literally the night before. Well PMO wasn't having that and when I went to the officer who would decide my punishment he gave me the MAX punishment (2 years not driving on base) even after I showed him what happened. Made me so mad. especially after my co worker got caught drunk driving on base and didn't lose any of his privileges and just had to go to a dui class for like 3 weeks (twice a week).. total BS!

I agree with 2under2, I don't hate all PMO, but I'm not too thrilled with the individuals I encountered. I can't stand crooked or power-tripping individuals and with crooked people I tend to do a lot to knock them off their pedestal (like tell their commander and get them out of the force), we have enough problems without a crooked justice system

Wow Di, that's crazy! The cop should've taken your sister's info because what IF she wasn't a good samaritan, she could've caught a criminal... know what I mean. I would've did the same thing as your sister, but I would've been more mouthy with the mom about being an actual mom to her daughter and I probably would've told the cop, "what if I was a child molester, shouldn't you pull a check on me to make sure I'm not?" I know I'm not but no one else knows I'm not (except people I know and my daughter of course). I don't know maybe I would've called 911 just so I could bring attention to her mom's neglect (I don't think a child should suffer any neglect). Who the hell just leaves their child in a playground?

Yes. We had these terrible neighbors who liked to say mean things to us for being an interracial couple, the old lady would pull up my roses, walk across our yard to destroy flowers, yell in front of our house just because she said she didn't like our kind and her husband was worse. So we called the police and informed them of situation due to who wants a crazy lady yelling in front of your house. The police officer came out and said he would go talk to the lady. Well once he returned to our home he stated, "it must be some misunderstanding she said she was trying to be friendly and we should try to get along with her." A neighbor across the street told the officer everthing that happend and how this lady & her husband harassed us and all the officer stated was, "well back in my day people got along, so try and get along." I looked at him and said, "what are you in your 20's" he replied 'yes' and I told him "well in my day and time when a crazy person harasses anyone based on race, religion, or any thing it's just plain wrong and special treatment shouldn't be given just cause they are old." The officer replied, "well we don't want to come out here again. she's old give her a break." Needless to say, we immediately put the home up for sale that we built and moved. Thank goodness the cops here in plano are better than those in mckinney.

Sorry you went through such an experience; that is terrible. It seems like some cops, not all, but some forget what side they should be on. The oath is to protect and serve not to harass and ignore.

I had a mixed police experience recently. I experienced both good and bad. This happened in Santa Monica, California. In my building (I am renting), there is a rule that bicycles are not allowed in the elevators. It is because some tenants were careless and scratched and damaged the elevator with their bikes. It is not really a problem not to use the elevator as there are only 3 floors and the staircase is wide. One day two teenage guys entered the elevator with a bike and I told them that bikes are not allowed in elevators. They ignored this, called me names, followed me into the garage and threatened to beat me up. One of them was under the influence of weed. I reported to police. The officer on the phone was nice and sympathetic, diligently wrote down what happened. He told me that I can come to the police station to talk more. I went to the station, but at the station, there was another officer of duty (young female officer). She was dismissive and told me it is my fault. She told me to mind my own business and that why do I care about my building so much and that landlord should care, not me (I actually do care about my building, I've lived here for 3 years.. maybe most tenants don't care in general.. but I do). She was totally different than the first cop on the phone. I explained that I don't know if these people live in my building or not, and that I just want a record in case they are violent to me again. She mistrusted that also -- interpreted as if I am "seeking trouble". I stayed calm and towards the end of the conversation, she changed her tone somewhat, and in the end even said she is sorry I had such an experience. However, the experience with her was still overall not good -- I did not feel she tried to protect me, or listen to what happened. I will definitely be less willing to report anything to police from now on. Better to stay away from them. I will just mind my own business :)