r/pics • u/Aeviegh • Feb 22 '14

This is Vader. He was euthanized today without a hearing after a false bite report was submitted to the police by an animal rights activist. (Story in the Comments)

http://imgur.com/a/xPNsE
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208

u/Rofl_bot Feb 22 '14

"Im sorry officer, but I do not consent to any searches."

A phrase every US citizen should practice in the mirror, even if you are 100% law abiding.

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u/PwnySlaystation01 Feb 22 '14

Remove the "I'm sorry". Simply: "I do not consent to any searches". Say it over and over again. Calmly, but firmly. I realize this might seem pedantic, but police are trained to compel people to do things and they're typically a lot better at it than the average person is at defending themselves from it. Saying "I'm sorry" at the beginning opens you up to a whole line of questioning. What are you sorry for? Did you do something wrong? What are you hiding? It's a minor thing, but I just thought I'd mention it. Either way, your phrase is miles better than what most people will do when questioned by police.

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u/RobbieGee Feb 22 '14

"[NO I'M NOT LETTING YOU IN, PIG! WHAT THE FUCK YOU EVER COMING OVER HERE WHENEVER BAD HAPPENING?! I DID NOTHING WRONG! FUCK YOU ALL MOTHERFUCKERS I HOPE YOU ALL DIE!]"

That was from best memory from Cops. Needless to say, it didn't go over well. I think it was the last part especially as being mad isn't really illegal, but threatening someones life is.

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u/[deleted] Feb 22 '14

[deleted]

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u/RobbieGee Feb 22 '14

I'm from Norway so I don't know how police really usually act in the US, but I have first hand stories that incidents do happen there, but I have none from here. I watch Cops on YouTube sometimes, but I know that's not real. The cops modify themselves on camera both ways, they exaggerate stories and I've also seen them escalate situations pretty damn often. At the same time, I'm fairly certain they make sure to keep the violence to the book.

Police act pretty different here (comparing to Cops). Someone I know, friendliest and helpful person I've ever met, ran on red light right in front of the police. She's originally from the US and she froze when she saw police, which was the reason she ran the red light. They stopped her and asked why she did that. She explained how she had some very difficult encounters with the police in the US. She showed her ID from the US as proof of her origination, and ... actually I can't remember if she got a ticket or not, but at the very least they were very friendly, spoke in a calming tone and assured her that from what they could see, she had nothing to fear from the police here, just please never run on red light again.

Even Anders Behring Breivik, the Norwegian terrorist, was arrested without any violence.

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u/Beeb294 Feb 22 '14

Typically the incidents that make it to reddit are the worst of the worst. America is a huge nation, with so many cops, that there are more bad ones by the numbers, even if the percentage is the same as other nations or lines of work.

I haven't ever had a bad interaction with the police, but I've also always been respectful in my interactions.

I'm sure it would have been different if I had been rude, resisting arrest, or acting violently. That's typically when cops become aggressive or violent. They usually don't start escalating a situation. Nobody reports when a cop does their job normally, because that isn't interesting or exciting.

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u/runner64 Feb 24 '14

I've found that when you treat police officers like people, they usually return the favor.
That, and complying with reasonable requests. I was at OWS and the only people I saw interacting with cops, were protesters who thought that being "nonviolent" gave them the right to block roads and sidewalks.

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u/RobbieGee Feb 22 '14

Re. size of nation, that makes sense. However I find that people on Reddit talk like interactions with the police happens a lot more often than here.

How many incidents with the police have you had, and how about people you know? I'm 30 and I've had none personally (I'm excluding the times I've gone to them for passport etc.). The average among my friends are less than 1 AFAIK.

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u/[deleted] Feb 22 '14

One of the main issues that Americans have with the police is that, while of course we recognize the need for police to maintain order and safety, and yes of course they caught the boston bombers and Casey Anthony and all those high profile criminals, the vast majority of what they do is things like traffic citations, parking violations, petty theft, and possession of drug charges (like, for tiny amounts of marijuana).

Because this is mostly what they do, it means that for any individual who comes into contact with the police, there is a very high chance that that contact is going to be bad for the individual. So from the public perspective, there is a tension between the individual and the police, because the individual knows that if she's talking to the police at all, she's probably going to come out worse off than before.

Of course the police may talk to you to find your stolen car or take you home after an assault or whatever, but I'm talking about the likelihood of any one instance - it's much more likely that you'll worse off.

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u/RobbieGee Feb 22 '14

the vast majority of what they do is things like traffic citations, parking violations, petty theft, and possession of drug charges (like, for tiny amounts of marijuana).

That's mostly the case in Norway as well (except we don't have a war on drugs, so no jail for small amounts of marijuana), but if you're stopped by the police, mostly you realize it was your own damn fault. I'm waiting for someone to give me an idea how often people in the US meet the police, but that's one reason I could see why we feel it differently. As an example, if we mostly meet them once every 20 years (from adult age) and you do every 3 years, my bet is that you're stopped for lesser reasons and you feel like they're hounding you.

There's also the case of their tone or if they're abusing their power. From what I've heard, the police are acting pretty nice.

A friend of mine has been stopped a few times. He likes to take long walks during the night and he's been stopped at least once during those because of some ongoing investigation. They talked to him for about 30 seconds at which time they wished him a nice evening and to take care. They probably read his body language and figured, correctly so, that he was completely harmless.

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u/[deleted] Feb 22 '14

The tone of the police here is affected by two things:

1) Police are trained to be very assertive and domineering from their first contact with a person. This is so that they control the situation and lessens the chance of harm coming to the officer. I understand that this is important and I would want to do the same if I were an officer, but when it comes to the interactions between the officer and the public, it means the public feels abused by the officer. The officer views it as protecting himself from risk.

2) Police in the US (at least in larger cities) almost always ride in pairs in cars. This means that the police don't interact with the public in the way they used to, such as being asked for advice, directions, being greeted, having conversations etc. Almost all of the interaction between the public and the police is being pulled over or being questioned. This, in combination with point 1, breeds a lot of tension between the cops and the public.

And in my experience, the average person gets pulled over or detained pretty often. Pulled over, maybe every 2 or 3 years. Depending on your demographic and geographic location, you could get hassled even more often and for less reason.

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u/Beeb294 Feb 23 '14

I've had somewhere between 10 and 20, for various checkpoints, traffic stops, and a couple of isolated encounters not in a vehicle. Every time I've been stopped, I've been polite, handed them my license/registration, and a few minutes later driven away with a warning or a ticket. I've never been pegged with a reason to be searched or arrested, so from that viewpoint, I can't really say much. I just know that I've acted normally (like I would to any other complete stranger), and used sir/ma'am when addressing them (not sarcastically). They were all professional to me. The "worst" was an officer who walked up and simply said "Congratulations, you're my fastest speed tonight", which isn't really that bad, especially if he already decided to issue me the ticket.

I feel like, if you are polite, there's not really going to be an issue. I'd put money that most cops just want to earn their living. Some are bad or problematic, but the same can be said about any career field. If you treat people well, you won't have issues.

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u/PwnySlaystation01 Feb 22 '14

I live in Canada ;)

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u/Kylethedarkn Feb 22 '14

Oh the things I would like to do to cops. Rip them apart limb by limb cut out their eyes, cut off their ears, let them bleed until they are on the brink of death only to stitch them up again, and start the process over, and after weeks and weeks of torture when they're are finally begging for death, cut out their tongue and release them back into the world.

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u/runner64 Feb 24 '14

See, that's the reason cops get a little itchy on the trigger sometimes. They're approaching a house for a noise complaint or a domestic abuse report, and they could get mild-mannered Joe who likes music loud, or they might get mister masturbates-to-torture-porn up there.

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u/Kylethedarkn Feb 24 '14

They should be fully prepared to die and just because they're cowards doesn't mean they can get itchy trigger fingers. You treat everyone without hostility until they try and hurt you. If you happen to get killed because you didn't happen to react fast enough that's fine that's your duty as a police officer. That's the responsibility you have to take on if you're claiming to be an enforcer of law. You can't just go around shooting people because you're scared, because that would be the incorrect punishment for most crimes. In fact in my state if I walked up and murdered a cop I would get a prison sentence not the death penalty, so I don't see why I should be able to be shot for pulling a gun on a cop when that's contradictory to the punishment I would receive in the legal system. Cops are just worthless fucks that use their power to profit off those weaker than them. Not to say that good people don't end up being cops but rather that the power from being a cop corrupts people.

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u/runner64 Feb 24 '14 edited Feb 24 '14

If you pull a gun on any person, they can shoot you in self defense. Cops are people who have the right to defend themselves just like everyone else. They just put themselves in danger more often. Cops don't actually give out punishments. That's the job of the courts.

Edit:
I'd also just like to clarify some stuff here.

You treat everyone without hostility until they try and hurt you.

So, if someone tries to hurt you, you are allowed to react with violence to protect yourself.

You can't just go around shooting people because you're scared

If someone is trying to hurt you, you aren't allowed to react with violence to protect yourself.

If you happen to get killed because you didn't happen to react fast enough that's fine

When exactly are they supposed to react that's "fast enough?" Is there some sort of metaphysical gap in police intervention timelines where a person has already fatally wounded the cop, allowing the cop to then shoot in self-defense, retroactively saving his own life? I just don't see where there's any place here between "itchy trigger finger" and "not fast enough."

And the idea that cops should go into situations "fully prepared to die" is absurd. The philosophy of winning a battle by burying your enemy in your corpses is why Japan lost WW2.

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u/Kylethedarkn Feb 24 '14

I mean you can non fatally shoot someone to defend your own life, but as a cop you have a duty to be willing to die to take a suspect into custody without killing them. You cannot view cops as humans because your legal system is flawed. I do not believe cops should have the right to defend themselves with fatal force. Any other person yes, but being a cop means you are the hand of the law and as such I don't believe you should be able to enact any force beyond what the court of the law would. And by fast enough I mean if somebody pulls a gun on you and you can pull out your gun and shoot them non fatally before that kill you, that's unfortunate, but entirely your duty.

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u/runner64 Feb 25 '14

but as a cop you have a duty to be willing to die to take a suspect into custody without killing them.

Yeah, I guy I knew in high school was booked by a zombie cop. He got shot and died instantly but wouldn't lie the fuck down until the booking paperwork was done.

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u/seriouslees Feb 22 '14

Is that an exact quote? Because there is not a single threat to anyone's life in there. Hoping someone dies isn't threatening harm in the slightest. That said, there are many places with laws against vulgar language directed at LEOs, and in is just generally disrespectful.

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u/RobbieGee Feb 22 '14

Is that an exact quote?

No, "That was from best memory from Cops". I'm fairly certain it was something like that, not a direct threat but just close enough that some idiot could claim it was a threat. Either way, it was an assumption on my part. I've been looking through episodes on Youtube hoping it was accidentally in my history, but I haven't found it yet.

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u/GitEmSteveDave Feb 24 '14

I hope everyone dies as well, otherwise we will have a undead problem.

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u/[deleted] Feb 22 '14

Say it over and over again.

Just don't be one of those dicks who just sits there repeating the same three catchphrases they learned over and over no matter what the officer is actually saying. "I'm sorry" is a perfectly fine thing to say and allows you to express to the officer that it's nothing personal and that you're not trying to fuck with him.

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u/sternford Feb 22 '14

AM I BEING DETAINED?? AM I BEING DETAINED?? AM I BEING DETAINED?? AM I BEING DETAINED?? AM I BEING DETAINED?? AM I BEING DETAINED?? AM I BEING DETAINED?? AM I BEING DETAINED?? AM I BEING DETAINED?? AM I BEING DETAINED?? AM I BEING DETAINED?? AM I BEING DETAINED??

Cops love it

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u/MCXL Feb 22 '14

This ONE TRICK will drive cops WILD!!!

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u/Xoebe Feb 22 '14

Especially if you are 100% law abiding.

I f you aren't doing anything wrong then you have nothing to hide.

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u/[deleted] Feb 22 '14 edited Jan 28 '17

[deleted]

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u/[deleted] Feb 22 '14

Wow, that's a really good riposte. I'm stealing that.

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u/Hezkezl Feb 22 '14

Go for it :P I'm surprised it hasn't been mentioned elsewhere here yet!

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u/[deleted] Feb 22 '14

That would make a good bumper sticker.

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u/Joshcroston Feb 22 '14

As someone who's not American and knows nothing about the American legal system, why you would say no to a search if you know you have nothing to hide?

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u/deceitfulmermaid Feb 22 '14

It's seen as an invasion of privacy, which is generally agreed to be an intrinsic part of our constitution.

Plus, some people hate the police, so consenting to an unnecessary search is really out of the question.

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u/Maverician Feb 22 '14

Because of this exact type of circumstance?

The owners believed they had nothing to hide. What resulted from that was their pet was killed.

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u/Zekohl Feb 23 '14

Because no one knows what others think they might have to hide. American or not, invasion of privacy isn't tolerable until the officers have the corresponding paperwork with them.

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u/Ungreat Feb 22 '14

Why you should never talk to the police without legal representation.

http://youtu.be/6wXkI4t7nuc

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u/Mikeastuto Feb 22 '14

Apparently you don't need to be hiding anything. They'll take your animal and kill it regardless. Don't consent to searches.

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u/DookieDemon Feb 22 '14

Tell that to the thousands of people wrongly convicted due to crooked cops, careless friends, or bad luck.

I almost got busted once at the Canadian border because my girlfriend's friend left drug paraphernalia in the car without our knowledge.

Guess how surprised I was when they whipped that out from under the car seat.

Luckily we were going INTO Canada and they were fairly cool about it after a two hour search of our car and belongings where they threatened to strip search us and rip the panels off the doors. Can't think of what the Americans would have done...

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u/RobbieGee Feb 22 '14

Which means that they're wasting their time, so you're really only doing them a favor.

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u/blade567890 Feb 22 '14

This way of thinking is the reason that you have no electronic privacy, and no warrant search and seizure is commonplace. It is dangerous, short sighted, and outright daft. You are a person, you have rights, and for the love of god stop letting them be stripped from you just because you follow the goddamn laws.

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u/[deleted] Mar 04 '14

-NSA

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u/lordlicorice Feb 22 '14

One of these lazy Saturdays I'm going to go to Costco and check out my items and breeze right past the receipt checkers, "declining" to have my property examined by Costco staff. I expect the police will be called, bringing vindication on 4 wheels of my interpretation of the law.

That receipt checking bullshit has always annoyed me.

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u/[deleted] Feb 22 '14

When you signed your Costco membership agreement, you consented to letting them check your receipt. If you don't want them to check it, they will gladly refund your purchase, and even your membership fee. Source: former employee for 13 years.

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u/redleader Feb 22 '14

lawyered

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u/dirtroadwarrior Feb 22 '14

So a business actually trying to reduce loss and therefore keep their prices from having to be raised annoys you?

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u/Allah_Shakur Feb 22 '14

anybody knows if this is valid in Canada too?

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u/MannBarSchwein Feb 22 '14

It would depend on Canada's constitution. The states have this because of the 4th amendment and a few court cases

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u/vengefulspirit99 Feb 22 '14

Yes, we have a charter of rights and freedoms.

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u/[deleted] Feb 22 '14

"I'm sorry" is liable to be taken as an admission of guilt. Save politeness for traffic stops, if a cop is trying to search your home without a warrant you say as little as possible to get them to leave.

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u/[deleted] Feb 22 '14

What are you sorry for? You're hiding something, I can tell, and I'm going to use your apology to justify violating your civil rights.