OT Police when and now

BANDITFARMER · Feb 26, 2015

Yesterday I watched the first Rambo movie and it struck me about something in the movie. Guys my age (In your 50's or older) will remember how going threw any small town you minded your P&Q's and you did your best to go around any of these small towns. They were traps for sure! If the cops didn't know your car or truck you were going to get pulled of for something no matter what and get a ticket. You know like going 36 in a 35 or your muffler is to loud or your back bumper is to high. Of course it wouldn't be or you didn't speed the muffler was new but you had to go to mayors court witch was once a week. Most of the time the judge (mayor) would say charge dismissed pay the court cost, Well the court costs were $75 in the late 70's and early 80's and if you made $2.25 an hour for a weeks work that was your whole check! And the town was raking in the money! It would not be 1 or 2 people there but more like 40 or 50 people waiting there turn.

And like in the movie these cops acted just like the cops in the movies with the "We don't want your kind in our town" crap. I made the mistake of asking what kind is that? Witch got me a night stick up side the head! Lucky for me a State Patrolmen seen this happen and stopped to see what was going on. He asked the town cop what the deal was, He answered that I was moving towards him in a threating manner and he was protecting himself from a bum vagrant. Bum Vagrant my A$$! I just got off work and stopped to get something to eat at the dinner. Well things went south from there. It ended up with the Chief of Police the Mayor and all 5 of the police officers of the town and fire dept and EMS along with 5 more State Patrol officers. IT GOT UGLY! In the end I went to the hospital for some stiches and get checked out (and went home), The officer who hit me and the chief (he got real aggressive with the state boys) got arrested by the State boys for abuse of power and assault and excessive force. This incident caused a big uproar and investigation into the town by the state and everything changed in the town! New Mayor and the whole police dept!

I'm sure this kind of thing still goes on but nothing like it use to be and I don't think cops now would dream of doing this now because of everyone having cameras these days and as sew happy as people are. Today you dive into any town and you see bums and vagrants and homeless every ware and they don't seam to do anything about it. OH how times have changed from then to now.

You guys know what I'm talking about there were towns you just flat stayed away from back in those days when you were young and dumb driving around back in the good old days. Bandit

Goose · Feb 26, 2015

Back in the 50's and 60's, Colonial Heights, VA was a town Marines avoided like the plague. The cops had a habit of locking up Marines on any trumped up charge they could find and maybe a few weeks later dealing with them.

Story was, the Mayor's son got drunk, wandered into the street, and was struck by a car and killed. It just happened to be a Marine driving the car.

If a Marine absolutely HAD to drive through Colonial Heights, he stayed 5 mph under the speed limit and watched every street sign, even looking for hidden ones. (Which there were).

Billy NY · Feb 26, 2015

I could write a book about those times and things I remember. There was a town in NC or SC, early 70's along I-95. I-95 was not complete yet, so you had to get off and go through this town, my father remembers the name I am sure. We went through there with our tractor trailer back then, got pulled over, fined for being over length and one bulb of 2 out on a clearance or running light. Judge took payment and gave the patrolman his cut right in front of us, that was something else. I went by there while on I-95 about 10 years ago next month, can't recall the name of the town still.

I don't think it would matter if everything was 100% on your vehicle then, they'd find something on ya, and you had best mind your business with these people. Its hard to imagine that today.

Trucking in those days was something, you could have a license in every state LOL !

01gentdc · Feb 26, 2015

Montrose Arkansas, will always be in my memory ,,left there with less than 40 bux to get back home on ,charges dismissed , pay the court costs , dirty thieves,, I will never go thru there ever again

49716 · Feb 26, 2015

people complain about big brother watching what we do, but it sure is better having the police being watched also. popo gets out of line today, he's on youtube by tonight.

Ultradog MN · Feb 26, 2015

Reminds me of a song...

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/yUPqASrmeYs" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

01gentdc · Feb 26, 2015

yeah,, and google johnny cashs time in Sparta Mississippi just for pikin flowers ,,don't forget Charlie danials , Wichita jail

casecollectorsc · Feb 26, 2015

Mena, Ark. deserves honorable mention!! Speed trap county mounties.

Pair-a-dice farm · Feb 26, 2015

I know where that is. I was raised about 30 miles north of there. Lawrence CO. Arkansas is still that way. If you drive 30 miles across the county you will likely see 15-20 cops....or should I say tax collectors. I've got a lot of respect for real cops that try to catch real crooks but I have no respect for those that wear a badge and go by the motto "to detain and tax" instead of "to serve and protect"

JMOR · Feb 26, 2015

(quoted from post at 14:50:02 02/26/15) Yesterday I watched the first Rambo movie and it struck me about something in the movie. Guys my age (In your 50's or older) will remember how going threw any small town you minded your P&Q's and you did your best to go around any of these small towns. They were traps for sure! If the cops didn't know your car or truck you were going to get pulled of for something no matter what and get a ticket. You know like going 36 in a 35 or your muffler is to loud or your back bumper is to high. Of course it wouldn't be or you didn't speed the muffler was new but you had to go to mayors court witch was once a week. Most of the time the judge (mayor) would say charge dismissed pay the court cost, Well the court costs were $75 in the late 70's and early 80's and if you made $2.25 an hour for a weeks work that was your whole check! And the town was raking in the money! It would not be 1 or 2 people there but more like 40 or 50 people waiting there turn.

And like in the movie these cops acted just like the cops in the movies with the "We don't want your kind in our town" crap. I made the mistake of asking what kind is that? Witch got me a night stick up side the head! Lucky for me a State Patrolmen seen this happen and stopped to see what was going on. He asked the town cop what the deal was, He answered that I was moving towards him in a threating manner and he was protecting himself from a bum vagrant. Bum Vagrant my A$$! I just got off work and stopped to get something to eat at the dinner. Well things went south from there. It ended up with the Chief of Police the Mayor and all 5 of the police officers of the town and fire dept and EMS along with 5 more State Patrol officers. IT GOT UGLY! In the end I went to the hospital for some stiches and get checked out (and went home), The officer who hit me and the chief (he got real aggressive with the state boys) got arrested by the State boys for abuse of power and assault and excessive force. This incident caused a big uproar and investigation into the town by the state and everything changed in the town! New Mayor and the whole police dept!

I'm sure this kind of thing still goes on but nothing like it use to be and I don't think cops now would dream of doing this now because of everyone having cameras these days and as sew happy as people are. Today you dive into any town and you see bums and vagrants and homeless every ware and they don't seam to do anything about it. OH how times have changed from then to now.

You guys know what I'm talking about there were towns you just flat stayed away from back in those days when you were young and dumb driving around back in the good old days. Bandit

n some of these little Texas towns, you don't need to remember back to '50s.........just last week will do!! :x

Goose · Feb 26, 2015

Seems to me that back in the '50's, before the Interstate and when US 17 was the main drag up and down the east coast, there was a little town of Bologn, Florida on the Florida side of the Georgia border.

The town's main industry was running a speed trap on US 17. A town of a couple hundred residents with a police force of 10 or 12, with all new cars and equipment.

As I recall it, the Florida State Legislature got so many complaints about the town that at one session of Legislature they passed a bill and abolished the town. They nullified the towns articles of incorporation and told them, "As an unincorporated town you cannot have a police force".

End of problem.

Steve@Advance · Feb 26, 2015

Not a personal experience, but heard several stories of small town cops in east Texas, stopping people passing through on their way to the casinos in Oklahoma and Louisiana.

They would be arrested for some concocted reason, searched, if they had any cash money on them they would have to show proof it wasn't drug money, (and how do you do that?). They were then interrogated, threatened with seizure of the vehicle, seizure of their home, charged with money laundering, drug dealing, threatened with criminal record, CPS removing their children, etc...

Or they could plead guilty, hand over their money, and go on their way.

This went on for a while, finally enough complaints were filed. What got them caught... All the "criminals" were found to be driving luxury cars, and were African-American!

Billy Shafer · Feb 26, 2015

Palmer Texas has a nice speed trap set up.I am
sure they have a deal working with the local
wrecker service.Arrested my daughter in law
after a BS stop. For a traffic warrant from
Sherman Texas. Over a hundred miles away.

Took her to the county jail. Which refused to
book her. Because as they told her Sherman is
not going to send someone on a two hundred mile
trip. For a traffic warrant. Cost us three
hundred dollars to get her car from the impound
yard.

bison · Feb 26, 2015

Sounds like the mafia back then.
Thugs with a badge.

Back in Holland in the fifties and sixties most cops there where still riding bicycles, they couldn't catch me if they tried!.
My dad knocked one off his bike once for being rude to him.

BANDITFARMER · Feb 26, 2015

Its funny what you remember from all those years ago. We all had nice cars of course it had air shocks with 60's on the back 70's on the front and good sounding duals exhaust. Ah it does bring back the memories! I still remember my buddy Pat, He had the hottest running GTO Judge there ever was! It would run high 9's and low 10's at the track. One night in one of those little towns we had a CDB Uneasy rider night, Son we tore up that town! An hour of the duke boys fun YE=HAAAA! That was a night I will never forget. We went back the next weekend with a repainted GTO like nothing ever happened and they never figured it out and us LOL the hole time. I don't think I want to try that today, But boy it was fun back then! Bandit

redtom · Feb 26, 2015

In 78 our township progressed from a constable with literally one arm, to a real cop with cop car. He rented our old farmhouse and hid his car in our barn. I'm not sure if all that bought me much favors. One night our elderly neighbor around the corner awoke to noise in the road (not a lot of air conditioning in houses then). It was our cop, he had a kid not from our area pulled over. Had him bent over holding his collar and was bashing his head against his car. She was mortified. He ended up getting fired for stealing gas. Got a job in neighboring twp- got fired for public urination.

JOB · Feb 27, 2015

Back in the early 90's I was stopped because I was driving the speed limit and stopping for all the stop signs, just driving very careful. And I was driving a car that bad people drive (84 Ford Tempo) At least that is what he told the judge.
I should consider myself lucky, a relative of his St. Paul officer Paul Strong shot a mentally retarded man in the back for refusing to drop a knife he was holding. Paul Strong received his 3 days off with pay. It's nice to have your co-workers as judge and jury.

JOB · Feb 27, 2015

Today they are known as the blue gang with a
chapter in every city and town. The chapter
president is the mayor.

The blue gang is more feared than the Oakland CA.
based motorcycle club the ____Angles.

GeneMO · Feb 27, 2015

Some areas of Missouri were pretty bad in that regard a few years ago, till they arrested a state legislator.

A law was passed that no city/town can derive more than 30% of its income from traffic fines.

Now they are getting ready to change that law to make it 10%.

They are putting the speed trap towns out of business.

So take that Curryville Missouri !!!!

Gene

FBH44 · Feb 27, 2015

Was Mack's Creek MO. like that too? At the bottom of two long hills, and no other town income?

jimg.allentown · Feb 27, 2015

Just to help even things out a bit...
There are (or were) speed traps in the north as well. Some that come to mind are the county mounties in the Owego, NY area. I got a speeding ticket there while driving 10 under the limit. The cop told me that this was a bad stretch of road with too many accidents. Wrote me a ticket. I objected, stating that I wasn't speeding. He told me to tell it to the judge. Two miles farther down the road, another county mounty pulled me over and wrote me another speeding ticket. Slyly informed me that it was really for objecting to the first one.
Another one to watch is the stretch of I-81 near Lafayette, NY near the US 20 exit. It only takes 1 mile over the limit to get a ticket. Something like Ohio.....

Dean Olson · Feb 27, 2015

Boy does that bring back memories. As a young man I delivered salt for water softeners around northeast IA back in the late 70's. I had more than one of the mentioned incidents. Our company canceled routes in one area due to small town cops. Local citizens complained so loud we went back to the area and never had any problems thereafter.

On the other side of the coin our local cops took care of us kids. When caught in the wrong it was a scolding and to report to the old man before they had coffee together the next morning. The real punishment happened at home. Today's kids get hauled off to jail.

Buddy and I got caught drinking on a back road by the local cop the next town over. We where on our way to jail for sure. Next thing we know our town cop shows up takes over and sends us home. (we weren't too drunk) He did however call Dad, woke him up, so I did get a boot in the Azz that night.

I don't think too much of the cop bashing. They have helped me waaaay more than they've done me wrong over the years.

OT Police when and now

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