Not once in over 25 years. I don't drive like an idiot though so that could be part of the reason.
Ding Ding Ding! There is a connection between not driving like and idjit and not having to talk to the man or woman in the blue/brown/green/tan. My general rule of thumb was "
Ten you're fine, fifteen you're mine" with the qualifier that became a 5mph leeway in a school or residential zone because no one can really justify speeding in a 15mph school zone or 25mph small residential neighborhood where kids with zero supervision and common sense WILL run out into the street without looking.
Why? I was usually dealing with 5 or 6 stacked calls for service in a high call tempo area and had crime to deal with, not civil traffic. If no other exigencies were present...then we BOTH have better things to do.
I also reject the notion that a "
check your license" stop is constitutional, practical, legal, or a good use of officer's time....and by extension, taxpayer's money. They aren't done here in Arizona. NOTE: The US Border Patrol DOES have several standing checkpoints in the border area, and I even think those suck because as I already mentioned I don't believe in the idea of "let me see your papers". Absent
reasonable suspicion, or an observed infraction, I have no reason to talk to you. Honestly, I can go the whole entirety of the rest of my life/career never having met you and be okay with that. In other words, you had to DO something or fail to do something to catch my attention in order for me to have ANY interest in you as a motorist and decide we needed to have a chat, and that wasn't minor speeding. It had to be something that was a genuine safety concern to other motorists. YOU as the motorist, by your actions, made the decision to talk to me as the man with the lights on my cruiser.
Yes, there have been DUI checkpoints, but I personally have never worked one, been asked to work one, and only know of one actually being done by our department and that was isolated at a specific annual
drinking specific event after several people were killed the previous year....so they decided to set up a DUI checkpoint at the exit of the event. Personally, I have no problem with that one. You may disagree, that's fine.
Do I believe in DUI task forces? Yes, absolutely. But those are different from the "mandated stop", those again, are infraction motivated stops, and reasonable suspicion must pertain before a stop can be made.
Yes...there ARE departments where the brass institutionally pushes officers to write citations....I can mention several here. They have a 4 MPH leeway, and 5 over will get you cited, period. There is one community that still has speed cameras and those stinking vans (both of which I hate) set up on virtually every street/road and they WILL flash at 6mph over and you will get a REASONABLE AND PRUDENT citation in the mail. Some of the vans even shoot on IR so you won't even know they got you. Yes, again, I think they suck and violate the spirit and intent of the law. The former Sheriff in the county in which I reside got rid of them on the first day of his administration, and the current sheriff...a close friend and former partner on a narcotics task force has upheld that ban on them.
Though I worked in a major city, the moment I had the ability to purchase a home WAY out in the sticks, I did. For the first 5 years of my career, we had to live within the city limits. That changed around 1992. After the move, I literally had to drive through six different municipalities to get home and a total of 8 different jurisdictions including 1 county, state, and six municipal departments....and never got pulled over on my commute in 22 years of having to do it. I did get hit with a flashy cam for 7 over in one of the aforementioned communities...I paid the fine. I did it. I know I did it. My smiling face was clear on the photo...did it suck? Yeah, but it was me, I took my medicine. I should have known better and more importantly, not had my head up my ass and kept to the posted limit.
In the last 30 years, I have been pulled over exactly twice by a living, breathing officer/trooper. Once was way back in 90, and the only reason I remember the year is because that is the year my oldest son was born and I was coming home from seeing him and my wife at the hospital. It was a difficult pregnancy/birth and my wife had to stay in the hospital for a week. I was coming home at 0300 on the 4th of July and there were a LOT of drinking specific events around the county so DUIs were naturally increased. I was doing 11 over on my way home on a 55mph stretch of desert. I got pulled over. I wasn't a jerk flashing my badge, I just informed the deputy that I was armed (
This was BEFORE CCW permits were available here in AZ, though open carry was legal and common), handed over my DL, Reg, POI, and waited for my naughty paper so I could be on my way. He came back, gave me a verbal warning, handed back my documents and sent me on my way with the admonishment to "go and sin no more" and congratulations on the birth of my son. The issue of my gun never came up after I told him I had one, my job never came up because I never mentioned it, and the ticket never materialized because I wasn't a jerk.
The second time I got pulled over in the last thirty years was last year AFTER I retired, I was towing my boat to Lake Havasu and apparently my brake/trailer light cable had loosened up and when I stopped, I had no brake lights and a LHC officer pulled me over. We had "the discussion" and when I checked the connection on the cable and found it had merely been loose, we parted ways....no harm, no foul. Funny thing...there was an SBR AR15 laying across the back seat along with a range bag in plain view and I wasn't even asked for my papers on that. I wasn't a jerk to him, and wouldn't ya know....he wasn't a jerk to me. Can anyone else see a correlation in behavior begetting behavior?
The stories that start with "Every time I get pulled over by the cops...." make it seem like you're pulled over every other week...I'd submit that with that kind of contact tempo, it really IS you driving like an idjit. Likewise, every time I hear a "Cops are always effing with me..." story, I have to wonder why you act like a jerk so often as to get the attention of officers.
Most people...and the extreme vast majority....never really have an interaction with an officer unless they call for help/service because most people just don't act like wankers.