I got pulled over by a cop last year for having out-of-date tags. They were a month out of date and I had just moved so I forgot to register my car again. Anyway, the cop pulls me over. I pull into a parking lot, instead of the side of the road. It's safer there from the speeding traffic and there's no where for me to escape to if I decide I'm gonna go berserk and peel out. I turn off the engine and the lights and I turn on my overhead light and hold my keys out the window to show that they're no longer in the ignition. My other hand is on the steering wheel and has a lit cigarette in it.
He gets out of his over-pimped SUV and walks to my car window. His first words to me were, "mind putting that stinky fucking thing out?"
"Yes, officer." I flick the cigarette away and he gives me a dirty look.
"You know why I pulled you over?"
Hint: never answer this question. They're just looking to get you to implicate yourself. If you fight the ticket later, it's that much harder to get it overturned.
"You pulled me over. Don't you know?"
"Don't get cute with me, son. I'll have your car towed."
"Son?" The guy couldn't have been more than a year older than me. So, raising my eyebrow Rock-style I state, "I didn't do anything wrong, officer. You asked me a dumb question. I gave you a dumb answer."
(Now, mind you I had long hair and a beard. I looked like a roadie from the Grateful Dead tour, and I had just finished a 12hr shift at my job. It was around 11PM. I looked and felt tired and was in no mood for some annoying cop.)
"I pulled you over because it looks like your tags are out-of-date."
"Ah."
His face became a bit more stern.
"Do you have anything in the car that isn't supposed to be there?"
"No, officer."
"You sure?"
"Yes, officer."
"Lemme see your license and registration."
"Yes, officer." I reach into my glove compartment and get the documents he asks for and he walks off. I light another cigarette and wait for the obligatory five minutes of scare tactic to end and just as I finish my butt, he comes back.
"I thought I asked you nicely to put out that stinky fucking cigarette."
"You left. I knew it would take you a while to process my tags and check whether the car is stolen. I guessed I had time to smoke another one before you came back. I was right. I just finished this one, see?" Demonstrating the already-finished cigarette, I then flick that one away, too.
"The sticker on your tag is expired by one month. I'm gonna write you a ticket for driving an un-registered car."
"OK."
He pauses, shining the flashlight directly into my eyes again (remember, the light is on in my car and he can see everything) and asks, "are you sure there's nothing in your car that's not supposed to be there?"
"Yes, officer."
He looks suspiciously at me and walks off again. He comes back a few minutes later with his really awesome pink slip of carbon paper and a $500 fine!
"Five hundred dollars!??!?" (The car cost me twice that amount)
"Yeah, that's the fine for driving an un-registered car. If you hadn't given me attitude, I might've written it for a lesser offense."
"I didn't give you any more attitude than you gave me. In fact, I'm giving you less attitude than you're giving me."
He gets that stern face again.
"Sir, are you completely sure you don't have any thing that's not supposed to be in your car."
"Yes, officer."
"I'll ask one more time. Are you 100% sure."
At this point I'm fed-up and I realize I'm dealing with one of the biggest douche cops ever. "Listen, officer. The dead hooker, the un-registered (I emphasize this word with a real tone of disdain) AK-47's, and the five kilos of coke in the trunk are SUPPOSED to be there. Anything else you find you can keep. Feel like searching? I'll help."
"Alright, sir, step out of the car."
I roll my eyes and get out. "I was being sarcastic."
"I'll be the judge of that."
Once I'm out of the car, he then proceeds to handcuff me and search me. He doesn't read me my rights or set me in the back of the cruiser. He gets his partner out of the car who smells like coffee and too many glazed donuts (fact: he had sugar glazing on his copstache). The partner grabs my arm and pulls me to the side while the officer begins to search my car. The whole time I'm pointing out places he's neglecting to search. One whole hour later, he finishes his search and hasn't found a goddamned thing.
He has his partner take the cuffs off and let me go. I get back in my car and he says, "I'm gonna treat this as a warning. Next time, don't give us an attitude and we won't have need to search your car and waste all our time."
I said, "well, considering that I was totally cooperative and polite and that I gave you no grounds to search my car you did. You also failed to state your original suspicion before searching my car (A police officer MUST state his original suspicion for searching your car before doing so, or he is in the wrong), so I have grounds to file police harassment.... and I will. Lastly, I know that once your lights are on your cameras are rolling and this whole incident is on tape. Your foul language and mistreatment of a cooperative US veteran won't go well in court, officer."
I turn on the car engine and drive away calmly.
The next day, I called his police station and reported him for misconduct. Now, if you're not aware of this, if you call a police station and report that a police officer has done something harrassment-like, they'll send a babysitter with them for two weeks questioning EVERYTHING they do up to and including taking restroom breaks. For a cop, this is hell.
I see the cop a few weeks later in district court. I smiled and winked at him and asked if he enjoyed his "ride-along friend." He looks at me with a sudden realization and gives me the dirtiest look I've ever seen. "Don't get mad at me. You're making overtime for this. I'm not getting paid at all."
The judge enters the room and we proceed to review the tape. The officer explains his side. Then I explain mine. I also proceed to tell the judge everything the cop did wrong. Cursing at me and taking an aggressive stance before I even utter a word. Excessive bad attitude/language. And finally an illegal search of my car. The judge reduced my ticket to an $80 fine (the fine for having expired tags... the REAL ticket he should've written me) and verbally reprimanded the officer.
The moral of this story?
Most cops are douchebags with tiny penises and think that carrying a gun gives them the right to treat people like shit. If you know even the slightest bit about their system, you can prove with words that the gun doesn't compensate for anything. And at the end of the day, they're still some annoying douchebag with a tiny penis. Finally, have fun trolling the cops. They need assholes like us to keep them in check.