A man who was ticketed for driving 3mph above the speed limit says of the officer, “you’re not wrong, you’re just an asshole”, shadowing a quote from The Big Lebowski.
And this is absolutely true. How do I know? I got a ticket for 5mph above the speed limit.
I was driving down the highway about 20 miles south of my hometown. There was little civilization around, and I was in no rush, with my cruise control set firmly at the speed limit.
That’s when I was unceremoniously pulled over by an officer, who was dodgy when I responded to his “do you know how fast you were going?” question with “yes, the speed limit, I had it on cruise control”.
He wrote the ticket for 75mph. The speed limit was 70 mph.
It’s called, “I pulled you over because I need to fill a quota and I’m absolutely wrong but as a stubborn-as-fuck officer I will never admit that”.
Since when did cops become like hall monitors drunk on the mead of power? Remember when kids wanted to become a cop growing up? When cops actually used to protect and serve and were fucking heroes?
Now they just grift along the highways for a fatter paycheck, despite the fact that they will have more pension than I will ever see in my lifetime and get commended publicly for riding around on motorcycles and eating donuts.
What kid would want to grow up to be a professional fatass? At least the portly members of the Mob got shit done and had honor. Kids would be better off using a Corleone than a cop as a role model.
I was fortunate because the cop got transferred out of the department, rendering him unable to respond to my challenge of the ticket and saving my tight monthly budget 300 bucks. But what if he remained and I had to go to court in a county 200 miles away from where I live, wasting an entire day, just to avoid paying a bullshit ticket and keep it from being on my permanent record?
Sitting alongside a highway with a radar gun does not make you a hero, it makes you a fuckin creep. And like the hall monitors who got rightly-deserved wedgies and swirlies, it gives me hope that these are the cops who will receive reduced budgets and pensions.
