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A few months ago I was pulled over by police for speeding (in a very rural area). The cop was very polite and handled it well, especially since I was yelling at

A few months ago I was pulled over by police for speeding (in a very rural area). The cop was very polite and handled it well, especially since I was yelling at him quite a bit (family was going into hospital for serious problems, which was the reason for speeding). He took my info and when he came back to my car after running license, told me "Look, I know you don't like cops. It says that when I pull up your file." I don't have any idea where they could have gotten that information at all except from my Facebook years ago when I openly voiced that I didn't like cops at the time. Those posts have since been non-public (for years) and now have been deleted this year. I have donated to police in the last couple/few years, so... there's that... which may come to an end. I sent a FOIA request, requesting as much info as I could get about this clear implementation of a 'social credit' system. They returned the request to me just today saying they didn't have any video on file (convenient!), and included useless standard info like the statute they used to pull me over for speeding and the basic log of the stop. Nothing at all about "I know you don't like cops." This is clearly a violation of the spirit of 'all men are created equal' and 'innocent until proven guilty' and I find it shocking and dangerous that the police keep opinions of the population on file. I'd like to pursue this further but don't know where to go from here.

ccn0p 5y ago
Was that your first encounter with an officer in your lifetime?
- artificialLimbs 5y ago
  No.
2imposingly 5y ago
Oh ! Wait! Somehow related Comic: > (Hotlink:)//i.ibb.co/jzvTYwC/1942-en-A-GOOD-QUESTION-FINAL-Mail.png > Short URl (Https): https://ibb.co/T1BkG0Q https://ibb.co/T1BkG0Q um...? P-:
dharmab 5y ago
Is it possible that the officer was bluffing?
- artificialLimbs 5y ago
  No, he immediately followed up with "... but I'm going to cut you a break on this one." And did. No ticket. He told me as he left "We're not all bad." It was surreal.
  - spicybright 5y ago
    Your experience is horrifying. Not long till you can arrested for thought crimes if this trend keeps continuing.
  - tpmx 5y ago
    I don't see how that makes a bluff implausible, especially since you were yelling initially.
  - adamrezich 5y ago
    really just sounds like a cop telling a small lie based on your reaction in an attempt to spread good PR on behalf of the police all the while establishing a position of authority, unintentionally making you think there's darker forces at play then there really were, when in reality he was just defusing the situation with a lie. obviously one can't know for certain but that seems like the most plausible explanation. I can see this being an informal personal technique a cop might use in situations like this, all the while being completely oblivious to the terrifying implications of what he's saying.
    - ziml77 5y ago
      I doubt there's any way to ever prove what happened here, but this is what I was thinking too. It was a lie to cool things down. Someone who's angry to the point that they're yelling is dangerous, not just to the cops but to other drivers on the road.
  - vpilcx 5y ago
heavyset_go 5y ago
Thanks for sharing this anecdote, I remember it from when you've posted about it in the past and it's stuck with me. > I have donated to police in the last couple/few years, so... there's that... which may come to an end. In my opinion, there's a good reason for it to come to an end that has nothing to do with this. In the states I'm familiar with, PBAs and police unions were the top (and sometimes only) spenders when it came to lobbying against marijuana legalization. They use those donations to lobby and ensure that they can continue to arrest, fine and imprison scores of people for victimless crimes, while also ensuring their job security in doing so.
- artificialLimbs 5y ago
  Ugh now I feel dirty...
  - heavyset_go 5y ago
    In one state where legalization was approved by public mandate, the legislation that passed made it so anyone under the age of 21 could only receive a warning for possession, and no charges or arrests. This is important because any drug arrests, charges or convictions make individuals ineligible for federal student loans or assistance for college, meaning the kids who do get arrested might have their plans to better their lives ruined by a cop who doesn't like the smell of marijuana. Police unions spent months and millions of dollars lobbying the state government so that they could still arrest and charge kids for pot possession.
    - tomc1985 5y ago
      > Police unions spent months and millions of dollars lobbying the state government so that they could still arrest and charge kids for pot possession. But why though? Hatred? Inertia? Culture? Do they get paid per scalp? Do they love their drug dogs that much? The lack of arguments against pot-smoking notwithstanding, what is it that backs this? Because so much of this seems completely arbitrary.
      - 5y ago
pwned1 5y ago
Very interesting. They may be using a third-party service that pulls data in, thus they can say "we don't have that info." So the next step in your FOIA is to get records on how their systems work and contracts with third parties to provide data for driver records.
slapfrog 5y ago
The last time I read your account of this incident, you left this part out: "I was yelling at him quite a bit" I can certainly sympathize with that reaction, most traffic stops are chickenshit and to be interrupted with that nonsense when in the middle of a medical emergency must be infuriating. But I think your FOIA requests looking for this file will never turn up anything, because the cop was almost certainly fucking with you. He figured you didn't like cops because you were yelling at him, not because of anything some computer file said.
- coplover 5y ago
  This is exactly what happened. Only dang will get to read this message and share the laughter, and that makes us almost friends.
  - coplover 5y ago
    Wow, one finally got through, I guess I'm "coplover" now. Cheers dang.
- travoc 5y ago
  Well, if it didn’t say that on his file before the stop, it does now…
- yebyen 5y ago
  "It says in your file that..." ... Uhh, hey, look at that, I think you are right, ...sure had me going there, LOL. I really do hope they aren't "keeping a file on" me but I think I would definitely believe it was true, if they said it was so. I guess I'm easily conned. Generally trust authority. That's a mistake!
reificator 5y ago
Heads up, and not because of any stance I hold on this issue: I don't know if OP posted this story multiple times, or if this is a template that people are using, but I've definitely seen this story with incredibly similar wording and pacing on HN before.
- artificialLimbs 5y ago
  I posted it a couple months ago/ish, once. I had not filed FOIA at that time. It was literally me. If you see it more than there and here, it was not me. *edit: than, not that
- dredmorbius 5y ago
  HN has a very good search feature, and "you don't like police" turns up an earlier mention from the artificialLimbs: https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&query=%22you%20don%27t%20like%20cops.%22&sort=byPopularity&type=comment https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&qu... https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28028743 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28028743
Natsu 5y ago
> I was yelling at him quite a bit ... > "Look, I know you don't like cops. It says that when I pull up your file." ... > I don't have any idea where they could have gotten that information at all except from my Facebook I wasn't there, but this gives me the feeling that stalking your Facebook might not be the only way for them to infer this, especially if you've ever been stopped before this. That aside, I hope your family member was okay.
everdrive 5y ago
>"Look, I know you don't like cops. It says that when I pull up your file." How do you know he wasn't just lying to see if you would unintentionally confirm his lie?
- jazzyjackson 5y ago
  Or it was just his idea of a joke. He doesn't need to pull up a file to know that this guy didn't like him. People are especially dense to punchlines when they're stressed out and don't expect someone to be pulling their leg.
- techrat 5y ago
  > How do you know he wasn't just lying to see if you would unintentionally confirm his lie? Or how much of it was bait? "I never said such a thing." > "Now are you calling me a liar?"
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
bonestamp2 5y ago
> except from my Facebook years ago when I openly voiced that I didn't like cops at the time Hmm, I wonder if this is why Reddit keeps asking for my email address. I'd rather remain anonymous for exactly this reason. I don't hate all cops, some friends and family are cops, but there's no profession where every employee is good and fair all of the time.
joe_the_user 5y ago
He took my info and when he came back to my car after running license, told me "Look, I know you don't like cops. It says that when I pull up your file." Another simple explanation is that ... he made the file part up. Not that the scanning your FB page thing is impossible but one has to consider multiple factors here.
- hncurious 5y ago
  It reminds me of the "permanent record" threat from teachers.
AnIdiotOnTheNet 5y ago
Let me get this straight: You were speeding, and you knew it, and you got pulled over for it, and then you proceeded to berate the cop who's job it is to pull people over for speeding. You sound like one hell of an asshole.
- artificialLimbs 5y ago
  I didn’t berate him at all. I was yelling because he stopped a long way behind me, and I wanted to finish the conversation ASAP because of my bleeding family member. So I started as soon as he got out of the car.
  - AnIdiotOnTheNet 5y ago
    Not really helping your case in my opinion. How was he supposed to know someone was bleeding in your car? And you were speeding, what did you expect to happen? It wasn't his fault you broke the law.
  - alisonkisk 5y ago
    That's not what "yelling" usually means. Now it seems you are trolling with intentionally misleading language.
Justin_K 5y ago
There's probably a note from the last time you berated a cop. You are reaching...
- artificialLimbs 5y ago
  Plausible if I had ever berated a cop before. In fact, I didn't berate this one on this stop.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
dredmorbius 5y ago
Note that the cop may well have been bluffing. They do that. You've mentioned this previously: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28028743 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28028743
HWR_14 5y ago
> I don't have any idea where they could have gotten that information at all except from my Facebook years ago Well, you were yelling at that cop. Maybe he had just added it to your file. Maybe you yelled at other cops. Maybe you had no notice in your file and he was lying to you. Maybe you had a Black Lives Matter or Democrat bumper sticker. Who knows. If someone is yelling at a cop, it's not a giant stretch to think they don't like cops. Meanwhile, unless you were speeding because you were transporting someone to the hospital, were racing to donate an emergency organ or needed to be there to supply a legal signature, I'm not sure you have an excuse. A cop should probably cut you some slack, but there's no "I was in a hurry for a decent reason" exemption. It's a "hurry for a good reason" exemption.

ccn0p 5y ago

Was that your first encounter with an officer in your lifetime?

artificialLimbs 5y ago
No.

2imposingly 5y ago

Oh ! Wait! Somehow related Comic: > (Hotlink:)//i.ibb.co/jzvTYwC/1942-en-A-GOOD-QUESTION-FINAL-Mail.png > Short URl (Https): https://ibb.co/T1BkG0Q https://ibb.co/T1BkG0Q um...? P-:

dharmab 5y ago

Is it possible that the officer was bluffing?

artificialLimbs 5y ago
No, he immediately followed up with "... but I'm going to cut you a break on this one." And did. No ticket. He told me as he left "We're not all bad." It was surreal.
- spicybright 5y ago
  Your experience is horrifying. Not long till you can arrested for thought crimes if this trend keeps continuing.
- tpmx 5y ago
  I don't see how that makes a bluff implausible, especially since you were yelling initially.
- adamrezich 5y ago
  really just sounds like a cop telling a small lie based on your reaction in an attempt to spread good PR on behalf of the police all the while establishing a position of authority, unintentionally making you think there's darker forces at play then there really were, when in reality he was just defusing the situation with a lie. obviously one can't know for certain but that seems like the most plausible explanation. I can see this being an informal personal technique a cop might use in situations like this, all the while being completely oblivious to the terrifying implications of what he's saying.
  - ziml77 5y ago
    I doubt there's any way to ever prove what happened here, but this is what I was thinking too. It was a lie to cool things down. Someone who's angry to the point that they're yelling is dangerous, not just to the cops but to other drivers on the road.
- vpilcx 5y ago

heavyset_go 5y ago

Thanks for sharing this anecdote, I remember it from when you've posted about it in the past and it's stuck with me. > I have donated to police in the last couple/few years, so... there's that... which may come to an end. In my opinion, there's a good reason for it to come to an end that has nothing to do with this. In the states I'm familiar with, PBAs and police unions were the top (and sometimes only) spenders when it came to lobbying against marijuana legalization. They use those donations to lobby and ensure that they can continue to arrest, fine and imprison scores of people for victimless crimes, while also ensuring their job security in doing so.

artificialLimbs 5y ago
Ugh now I feel dirty...
- heavyset_go 5y ago
  In one state where legalization was approved by public mandate, the legislation that passed made it so anyone under the age of 21 could only receive a warning for possession, and no charges or arrests. This is important because any drug arrests, charges or convictions make individuals ineligible for federal student loans or assistance for college, meaning the kids who do get arrested might have their plans to better their lives ruined by a cop who doesn't like the smell of marijuana. Police unions spent months and millions of dollars lobbying the state government so that they could still arrest and charge kids for pot possession.
  - tomc1985 5y ago
    > Police unions spent months and millions of dollars lobbying the state government so that they could still arrest and charge kids for pot possession. But why though? Hatred? Inertia? Culture? Do they get paid per scalp? Do they love their drug dogs that much? The lack of arguments against pot-smoking notwithstanding, what is it that backs this? Because so much of this seems completely arbitrary.
    - 5y ago

pwned1 5y ago

Very interesting. They may be using a third-party service that pulls data in, thus they can say "we don't have that info." So the next step in your FOIA is to get records on how their systems work and contracts with third parties to provide data for driver records.

slapfrog 5y ago

The last time I read your account of this incident, you left this part out: "I was yelling at him quite a bit" I can certainly sympathize with that reaction, most traffic stops are chickenshit and to be interrupted with that nonsense when in the middle of a medical emergency must be infuriating. But I think your FOIA requests looking for this file will never turn up anything, because the cop was almost certainly fucking with you. He figured you didn't like cops because you were yelling at him, not because of anything some computer file said.

coplover 5y ago
This is exactly what happened. Only dang will get to read this message and share the laughter, and that makes us almost friends.
- coplover 5y ago
  Wow, one finally got through, I guess I'm "coplover" now. Cheers dang.
travoc 5y ago
Well, if it didn’t say that on his file before the stop, it does now…
yebyen 5y ago
"It says in your file that..." ... Uhh, hey, look at that, I think you are right, ...sure had me going there, LOL. I really do hope they aren't "keeping a file on" me but I think I would definitely believe it was true, if they said it was so. I guess I'm easily conned. Generally trust authority. That's a mistake!

reificator 5y ago

Heads up, and not because of any stance I hold on this issue: I don't know if OP posted this story multiple times, or if this is a template that people are using, but I've definitely seen this story with incredibly similar wording and pacing on HN before.

artificialLimbs 5y ago
I posted it a couple months ago/ish, once. I had not filed FOIA at that time. It was literally me. If you see it more than there and here, it was not me. *edit: than, not that
dredmorbius 5y ago
HN has a very good search feature, and "you don't like police" turns up an earlier mention from the artificialLimbs: https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&query=%22you%20don%27t%20like%20cops.%22&sort=byPopularity&type=comment https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&qu... https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28028743 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28028743

Natsu 5y ago

> I was yelling at him quite a bit ... > "Look, I know you don't like cops. It says that when I pull up your file." ... > I don't have any idea where they could have gotten that information at all except from my Facebook I wasn't there, but this gives me the feeling that stalking your Facebook might not be the only way for them to infer this, especially if you've ever been stopped before this. That aside, I hope your family member was okay.

everdrive 5y ago

>"Look, I know you don't like cops. It says that when I pull up your file." How do you know he wasn't just lying to see if you would unintentionally confirm his lie?

jazzyjackson 5y ago
Or it was just his idea of a joke. He doesn't need to pull up a file to know that this guy didn't like him. People are especially dense to punchlines when they're stressed out and don't expect someone to be pulling their leg.
techrat 5y ago
> How do you know he wasn't just lying to see if you would unintentionally confirm his lie? Or how much of it was bait? "I never said such a thing." > "Now are you calling me a liar?"

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

bonestamp2 5y ago

> except from my Facebook years ago when I openly voiced that I didn't like cops at the time Hmm, I wonder if this is why Reddit keeps asking for my email address. I'd rather remain anonymous for exactly this reason. I don't hate all cops, some friends and family are cops, but there's no profession where every employee is good and fair all of the time.

joe_the_user 5y ago

He took my info and when he came back to my car after running license, told me "Look, I know you don't like cops. It says that when I pull up your file." Another simple explanation is that ... he made the file part up. Not that the scanning your FB page thing is impossible but one has to consider multiple factors here.

hncurious 5y ago
It reminds me of the "permanent record" threat from teachers.

AnIdiotOnTheNet 5y ago

Let me get this straight: You were speeding, and you knew it, and you got pulled over for it, and then you proceeded to berate the cop who's job it is to pull people over for speeding. You sound like one hell of an asshole.

artificialLimbs 5y ago
I didn’t berate him at all. I was yelling because he stopped a long way behind me, and I wanted to finish the conversation ASAP because of my bleeding family member. So I started as soon as he got out of the car.
- AnIdiotOnTheNet 5y ago
  Not really helping your case in my opinion. How was he supposed to know someone was bleeding in your car? And you were speeding, what did you expect to happen? It wasn't his fault you broke the law.
- alisonkisk 5y ago
  That's not what "yelling" usually means. Now it seems you are trolling with intentionally misleading language.

Justin_K 5y ago

There's probably a note from the last time you berated a cop. You are reaching...

artificialLimbs 5y ago
Plausible if I had ever berated a cop before. In fact, I didn't berate this one on this stop.

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

dredmorbius 5y ago

Note that the cop may well have been bluffing. They do that. You've mentioned this previously: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28028743 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28028743

HWR_14 5y ago

> I don't have any idea where they could have gotten that information at all except from my Facebook years ago Well, you were yelling at that cop. Maybe he had just added it to your file. Maybe you yelled at other cops. Maybe you had no notice in your file and he was lying to you. Maybe you had a Black Lives Matter or Democrat bumper sticker. Who knows. If someone is yelling at a cop, it's not a giant stretch to think they don't like cops. Meanwhile, unless you were speeding because you were transporting someone to the hospital, were racing to donate an emergency organ or needed to be there to supply a legal signature, I'm not sure you have an excuse. A cop should probably cut you some slack, but there's no "I was in a hurry for a decent reason" exemption. It's a "hurry for a good reason" exemption.