I've been blogging for less than a year, and this is already my third post about getting pulled over.  I think it's fair to say that the force here is . . . active.  I can, off-handedly remember being pulled over at least 6 times in the last 4 years here.  Imagine if I actually did something wrong!

Enjoy the latest installment.

Friday was my friend's last day of work at the bar.  We all turned up for his last shift, and over the course of 3 hours i consumed 3 drinks, and bread and anchovies.  Afterward, I got some pizza.  As i was walking back to my car, i saw that a cop had pulled over a car just outside the town center.  As I pulled my car out and onto that same road, I realized that the cop was waiting for me to go by before he pulled out.  I have a headlight out, and since i knew it, i had my fog lights on.  Even so, I am smart enough to realize that broken headlights are exactly what cops are looking for at night as an excuse for pulling you over (apparently i wasn't smart enough to take a different route home, however).  I drove about a mile with him behind me before he decided to hit the lights.  I sighed to myself.  "Again!" i thought.

He told me he was pulling me over for the headlight, and he asked if i'd been drinking.  I said I'd had a drink but also had eaten food.  He realized that things were legit, and headed back to his car to do his cop stuff.  I sat there.  I soon realized that I hadn't even turned off the radio when the cop came to the window.  I'm that desensitized to it.

Now, up to this point, while i may not have appreciated being pulled over, i totally understood it and was ready for my warning and ride home.  As he hands me my written warning, he drops this on me, "Now i want you to know that you said you'd been drinking and I smell alcohol on you, but i followed you for awhile and you're driving fine so i'm going to choose not to pursue it . . ."  that pisses me off.

A) I knew i had scotch, and that it smelled.  I either had to lie and say i didn't have a drink -- which i think looks worse-- or just be honest (apparently this is not a good thing to do, but the entire interview is geared around making you admit to doing something wrong.)

B) He's essentially saying, "I know you're not drunk, but you should know that I could pursue this interaction as if you were."  And I resent it.  And because of the f'd up power dynamic I just have to sit there and take it. 

I just don't feel that the police should be reinforcing a culture of fear, and every interaction i have with them, has at least one "fear statement" involved.  In fact, i'm pretty sure that it's "part of the script."

When I get home, I look at the written warning.  Under name is says, "Matthew Zimbler."  Which means, that the same asshat that was implying that i might be drinking and driving, can't even transfer my name from my license to a piece of paper correctly.  Fuck the police. 

Epilogue:  At 10am the next morning I went out on my porch and found my landlord (who i really like) and his buddy drinking a beer and chatting.  I remarked that I had gotten pulled over etc etc, and my landlord commiserated that "those friggin police, huh." I decided not to go all "fuck the police" on him and instead said (honestly) that i had resented their need to induce fear.  My landlord kept with his "damn cops" demeanor.

Later that day when i returned to the house, my landlord told me that the friend he was drinking with was the chief of police.  I'm glad I didn't take the bait.