So this was early 70s and I was out on a "date" with my boyfriend and another couple (my BFF and her BF). It was a hot summer night in Memphis and just after curfew. We were at one of those small neighborhood parks having a fun time laughing, playing on the swings, and just horsing around. A police car pulled up and two cops got out and started giving us hell about being out too late. To shorten a long story, the cops made me and my girlfriend take our pants off. They never touched us or anything. I think it was more about the humiliation. We had to comply because we knew both of our BFs were holding pot. That was it. They left us after another "lecture" about being out so late. All four of us were white, middle-class teenagers. I've never told that story before.

off of us girls whenever the opportunity presented itself.

At the time I remember thinking he was cute and it was all just a big game but now I just want to tase the bastard.

The cop asked for ID and insurance and let me go with no ticket. When I asked why he had pulled me over, he said my license plate light was out. I asked which one because there are two each on their own circuit for left/right. I also commented how odd it was that the bulb out light wasn't on. That caught that idiot totally off guard. (this was before most cars had bulb out indicators)

Once I got home I confirmed that every light was fully operational. I figure I was stopped because I looked poor.

... drop-dead gorgeous.

let alone a parent or a lawyer, on suspicion of a crime that hadn't actually happened (a burglar alarm at a neighbor's house that hadn't actually been broken into.)

Considering that the cops in the neighborhood were picking girls and women up off the streets and sexually abusing them, it's a thing that fills me with quiet horror in retrospect because it could have been so much worse.

I'm white but I grew up in a multi-ethnic lower working class neighborhood. My interactions with the local cops always fell into one of two categories: what are you doing here (you poor thing!) and what are you doing here (I assume it's buying drugs.)

I was stopped at night on the way home. No reason. He just asked to see my license and then let me go (I was a block away).

Another time I was with a boyfriend and it was late at night. We had a small trailer on our car, and they stopped us -- again, for no reason. They asked us to open the trailer. I knew I could have refused to let them look inside, but I was afraid they'd keep us there for hours otherwise. They looked inside, saw it was household stuff, and closed it up again.

They said afterwards that our rented trailer had a Florida plate -- and so they'd been looking for drugs or other contraband.

I was denied a breath or blood test.

should be legal.It is not in most places.

even though I wasn't speeding. However, I guess some burgs find it impossible to generate enough revenue from bait shops and stump grinding businesses, and must resort to such tactics. I was given the choice of a $75 fine on the spot, or driving 80 miles a month later and pleading my case to the magistrate who could set my fine at anywhere from $0 to $150.
It was worth $75 to never have to return to that fucking hellhole.

I was young in a short dress with long straight hair eating dinner out with a girl friend. I was drinking a coke and eating a nice meal.
There were some young police men there flirting with us. We did not flirt back. I just wanted to enjoy my dinner and talk with my friend. Apparently I was not tactful enough, mind you I never cursed or name called anyone and have generally been found to be polite, and suddenly one cop walked behind my chair and pulled a gun and pointed it at my head and said - Sing the start spangled banner, hippie. I told him I did not sing on key often or very well or something, and he cocked the trigger. A local councilman was sitting near us and intervened and somehow talked this guy down.

We later found that this young cop had been fired for always having pot in his system and he and his other friends were high on coke that night. I, a working stiff, was stone cold sober as usual. Of course that meant we were stuck with the councilman the rest of the night who was also a flirt - what part of I am married do these people not understand?

The owner of the restaurant came over and apologized and begged us to not call the police because that would not end well for us or him. The whole night sucked at that point, so we just left the food and went home. I never went back to that restaurant even though it had been a favorite, who needs these idiots with guns around you. I thought I was safe in a mob hangout, but I guess not.

I mouthed off a little too much and they got into a football huddle, then suddenly attacked me with fists, boots and clubs. I went to jail and was beaten further on the way and in the elevator. I was placed in a punishment cell. I had huge knots on my head where they took their billy clubs to me, and two shiners and a broken nose.

Later, that night, I flooded the jail causing 6.2 million $$ worth the damage, in retaliation for the beating. They held me for months trying to get me to plead guilty to anything.

Finally, when I got to court, the judge asked me if I was tortured or beaten. I was bloody black and blue. I asked him, "What good would it do to complain,"? He just chuckled and started asking me mundane questions about my personal life. But I was finally released that day, no doubt, IMO, because I did NOT complain about the beating.

In Jacksonville Beach Florida.

outside of a club because a coked out cop was trying to flirt with my girlfriend (who was obviously not interested in him). He identified himself as police officer, but was off duty I guess (I hope, he was coked out of his mind). We ran away back into the club. It was pretty scary.

... that could be fairly characterized as a DICK, but I have never been subject to anything I would consider misconduct.

In fact, I've been given a break by police a couple of times, one time he could have taken me in and it would have been a real mess, but he found a way to let me go.

That said, this was many years ago and I think the "culture" (for lack of a better word) of policing has changed a lot since then.

I now live in a rural area of north Texas and I have yet to have any interaction with the cops up here, and to be honest I hope to keep it that way.

I was about 100 miles away from home, visiting a friend who was familiar with the town. We were on our way to the beach & she warned me before we entered the town to go slower than the speed limit, that the cops looked for out-of-town license plates. I followed her advice but, sure enough, a cop pulled out from nowhere & signaled me to stop.

When he began writing out the ticket, I told him my friend in the car lived in the area, that she warned me beforehand about the speed limit, & she suggested that I go lower than the speed limit -- which I did. The car in front of me was going the same speed as I was; I asked him why he didn't stop any of the cars in front of me. It angered him that I called him out, I guess, because the old geezer began raising his voice, telling me that he wasn't sitting out in the hot sun all day for nothing.

When he handed the ticket over to me to sign, I had a Lucy-in-BentforkTN moment & signed my name large, which made him really lose it. "That's it. Follow me to jail." Jail?! Now I was afraid.

He carried on at the station to a roomful of his fellow officers that I had been sassy to him. To my surprise, they were looking at him like he was behaving over-the-top & they seemed embarrassed by him; in fact, one of the officers seemed concerned about how I was doing & comforted me, asking where I was from, etc. I felt like they knew I was just another out-of-towner who was stopped because of it, yet no one spoke up when I was told that my driver's license would be kept there unless I paid the ticket.

The following Monday morning, I went to my area's sheriff's office on my lunch hour to report the incident to the sheriff. He was familiar with the town & knew about their reputation. He said he knew the sheriff there & that if I hadn't paid the ticket he could have done something for me, but he would make a call to the sheriff to report it.

As frustrated as I was at the unfairness of this experience & how it has stayed with me through the years, I'm mindful of how this incident pales in comparison to how people of color have been treated by the police. I had a small taste of what it feels like to be targeted & taken advantage of by someone who is empowered by a badge.

But I've had a workman call the cops on me because I was struggling to get into my sister's house. My sister had told me to meet her there and she had a defective lock that had to be opened with the key a certain way. Well, I was struggling with the lock while on the phone with my sister and before I knew it there was a police car on my sister's property. I'm white but that doesn't change the fact that I think African Americans are unfairly profiled much more.

Even the positive interactions.

There are remedies. But resisting the initial arrest is foolhardy at best and suicidal at worst.


I should add there have been several instances where the police have been polite, respectful, and helpful.

Last edited Sun Sep 7, 2014, 12:40 PM - Edit history (2)

I am white, female, and at the time, was 24, and not too bad looking.
Was it a case of being attractive enough to have gotten the attention of this particular
officer? I don't know.

This was in Hollywood in 1975. I had a 4 PM doctors appointment and managed
to find a parking spot on La Cienaga --the side street by the doctors office. Oh, joy!
When I came out, my car was gone. I thought it had been stolen. The only copy of my
masters thesis was in the trunk of the car, which I had picked up from the typist on my way in
to work that morning. I had not yet made any copies, and the rough draft was also in the trunk (pre computer and cell phone days).
Well, an officer responded to the call I made from a pay phone, and pointed out the no parking
after 5 PM sign on the street that I hadn't noticed, and checked to verify my car had been towed. In the course
of talking with him, I told him I worked at Hollywood Pres Med Center, and I guess because
cops and hospital folks often have a pretty good relationship, he took pity on me. He offered
to drive me BACK to the hospital so I could cash a check (banks were closed and no ATM's back
in the 70's) and THEN to the impound lot to get my car out. The impound lot would take cash only, of
course, and I didn't have enough cash on me to get the car. He must have spent close to an hour driving me both places. He was very nice. I never felt like he was putting moves on me--and I was married at the time--and never made any suggestive
remarks. Very nice guy.

If he hadn't done it, I would have had to wait for my husband to get to Hollywood from Santa Monica--during Los Angeles rush hour--
and then shlep me around to get the car out of the impound. We still might have had to go to the hospital to cash
a check, because I doubt my husband had enough cash on him to get the car out of the impound lot, either, plus we would
have had to figure out where it was and how to get there.

As it was, it was probably about 7:30 when I got home that night. Instead of being grateful for me being resourceful
and saving my husband the hassle of bailing me out of my problem, he had the nerve to get mad at me for not
calling him to come get me! Jerk. No wonder he turned out to be my ex-husband in a couple more years.

I would NEVER have expected a police officer to be so helpful--40 years ago--and I certainly wouldn't expect it now.
But I do think that there had to have been at least one nice guy on the LAPD and I happened to run into him.

Would I have gotten the same treatment if I'd been black? No. Absolutely no way.

If I wasn't a privileged white male I'm certain some of my police encounters would have turned out much, much worse than they did.

claiming I had run his check point.

He didn't give me any ticket though - I suppose he realized he was not legally allowed to just set up a check point and demand every car stop at it.

I hadn't seen it, and went around the stopped cars, thinking they were just stopped.

But he was yelling at me and that was a bit scary.

work.

I had arranged my senior schedule so I had classes the first 4-5 periods and then was off. I would then either drive or take the LIRR 1 hour into Manhattan, work a 3-11 shift or 4-midnight shift at the front desk of a hotel, then reverse the commute late at night.

One night I had worked a couple of extra hours and was driving home at 2:30am. I began to get drowsy, and, having just taken drivers ed a few months earlier, I knew that the right thing to do was pull over, take a nap and then continue driving when you were not so tired. So I took an exit off of the LIE., drove into a neighborhood, parked on a block and reclined the seat and took a nap.

I was awoken by the noise of someone banging on the car. I raised up my seat, looked into the rear view mirror and saw two police cars behind me. I lowered the window and asked whether something was wrong.

I was told to get out of the car. The police looked at me (I was in a suit since I worked at the front desk of a hotel). The police said they were called because of reports that a shady character was parked in front of someone's house. I took a look around and it became obvious I had inadvertently parked in a very upscale neighborhood. The police told me I had to leave. I was still extremely tired and told them I was worried I was too tired to drive. They said they did not care, I had to leave.

I have always wondered if my skin were white whether I would have been treated that way.

The police are criminal gangs, they go after everyone. Police corruption and racism go hand in hand, it can't be solved by only attempting to correct one or the other issue, both have to be addressed and eliminated or both will continue forever.

Pulled over for "driving while cute"

I was once strip searched at the age of 17 for absolutely no reason.

I was once held for hours because people two blocks away were entering a wooded area, from the opposite end of where I was, with beer and all were under age.

Some small town cops suck.

Another oppressed segment of the population under capitalism.

I'm not a woman and I'm white and I've had problems with cops overreaching from the time I was 16 years old on. The last time was just a couple of months ago when a cop stopped me for having a tail light out. I went to get it fixed and my tail lights were fine.

Cops do what they want without any responsibility and it's up to you to survive the encounter. Life under capitalism.

It was a border agent on the US side of the border with Canada.

And I am white, female.

He was a real asshole.

Got an apology, but not from HIM.

But just being in their presence generally means some at least (minor) bullying. It's their nature.

such a gross guy. he also had a rep for being a very violent guy on the job.

White female:

Called on the phone (must have checked my plates) and asked if I was drunk. Appeared drunk to anonymous citizen in po dunk town.

Stopped in the grocery store of same po dunk town. Asked if I had been drinking. I had a 12 pack of diet Mr. Pibb in my hand. Told cop to his face - I. DO. NOT. DRINK. Could have been a fatal mistake.

Followed once in the same po dunk town to the edge of the city limits. Was "speeding" 56 mph in a 55 mph zone. Once I crossed into the next town the cop made a U turn.

In said po dunk town (I lived in the neighboring town) all 3 incidents were driving my winter beater. While driving my cop magnet maroon sports car with mods was never harassed. Spoke to a cashier and a customer in the grocery store in the same po dunk town and they both said something similar - if driving a crappy car they were also pulled over or followed but when driving a nice car they were not.

In a different state I was living in at the time, a friend and I had just bought a car (for her) and she was driving it home while I was riding shotgun. She noticed her seat belt had come loose / wasn't working so she ended up pulling over, at night, in an elementary school parking lot. Coincidentally it was the elementary school I had attended. Two cops were waiting. Asked what we were doing there. If we were doing / had drugs. Yelled at for the car not being registered - it was just purchased 2 hours ago, with a dated bill of sale, after DMV working hours. WTF, were we supposed to have it towed home or pick it up the next day and drive immediately to the nearest DMV? Also while she was talked to by the cop on the driver's side the cop on the passenger side was talking to me. She told me to open the glove box, in which there was a plastic bag. The cop immediately said "GIVE ME THAT BAG" which the previous owner had left. It was just a bag with a couple of screws in it. Had I known this I would have likely been enough of a smart ass to tell her "what, you just want this BAG OF SCREWS? What is illegal about a BAG OF SCREWS?" I was also accused of being drunk or high because I tend to have bloodshot eyes, but I was neither. In fact, I don't drink or using any drugs (never have, never will).

The lady cop had us sit down on the curb while the guy cop searched the car, even pulling up sections of the carpet. Thankfully the previous owner didn't leave any contraband in the thing, though I think it would been very hard for them to prove in court given the same day bill of sale...

I was trying to get my first driver's license when I was 15 and you could get a small motorcycle license at that age. The state trooper in charge of the DMV refused to let me get one even after we pointed to their own manual saying I could. He spent the day and most of the next doing everything he could to stop me. And when he finally relented after nearly 2 days at the DMV, some asshat called in a bomb threat, meaning I had to go back for a third day at the DMV.

The second was a couple of years ago. I was trying to find an apartment and I was meeting a guy to see about a place. I was early and he was late, so I spent 15 or 20 minutes pacing. Apparently somebody called the cops because after I was leaving, two big plainclothes cops come up behind me, splitting off so they are on each side of me. I'm wearing headphones but I see them out of the corner of my eye, so I assume a defensive position before I see a badge. They spent the next 30 minutes searching me for drugs. I pointed out that as I had only 5 dollars in my wallet, I was probably either not involved in drugs, or I was the worst dealer ever.

The most recent was when driving. I was on a divided road, at a stop light with several cars in front of me and cars in the other lane. A cop pulls up behind the stopped traffic and turns his lights on. I obviously can't go anywhere because there are cars stopped in front of me and beside me and the cop behind me. He gets on his loudspeaker telling everybody that we need to go back to driving school. When the cars finally get out of the way, the cop speeds off to parts unknown.

So relatively minor stuff, but annoying all the same.

When I was 19, a (white) male friend and I were walking down a sidewalk during the middle of the day, when a police officer with a dog in the back seat rolled up next to us with his lights on. The officer got out and informed us that the canine had "alerted" to the smell of marijuana as he was driving by.

Obviously this was a giant pantsload of BS - the dog could smell drugs on us while locked in the back seat of a cruiser with the windows up and driving down the street?

Anyway, then he tells us that he knows we are carrying pot and that if we just confess he will throw the pot in the gutter over there and let us go with a warning (yeah, right!) I was naive enough at that time to have possibly believed him, except that neither of us were actually holding any drugs.

So we tell him we don't know what he's talking about, and he says something like, "ok, I guess we have to do this the hard way", and searches our persons. Then he dumps all of the stuff in our bags all over the sidewalk. Of course he doesn't find anything, which makes him angry. He stomps off to his cruiser, gets in, slams the door, and screeches off down the street, without so much as an apology or anything. We were left there surrounded by all our stuff strewn all over the sidewalk.

I thought at the time that we had been profiled - he probably thought he would meet his quota or whatever by stopping and harassing a couple of college kids who were statistically likely to be doing something he could bust us for. I also feel in hindsight (20 years later) that we were very lucky that the cop didn't plant any drugs in our stuff while he was searching us.

The incident definitely did not improve my already dim view of the po-po at that time in my life, and it's one of the things that make the stories of the Michael Browns of this world completely believable to me. Of course black youth get treated unfairly by the cops - *I* got unfairly treated by the cops as a young adult and I had all the advantages its possible to have in this country. I always wonder if anyone who automatically sides with an officer is just lucky enough to not (yet) have gotten on the wrong side of one of the many bad cops out there.

Also, I have an uncle who was a cop for nearly 20 years. He served on the force in two different cities. He was a good guy, but he left the job because the police force in the second city (a notoriously right-wing area) was completely corrupt and racist. He felt that he couldn't live with himself if he continued to support and work with the other cops in this department, and he was afraid for his safety if he spoke up, so he completely switched careers. I don't fault him for his decision at all, but that's how bad cops flourish in this country.

and never problems with the police when I'm either in Humboldt County or the Bay Area, but I wonder how my relations would be with the police if I could actually drive.

I'm a friendly white person who, when stopped by local police, has pleaded successfully "I'm late for work," "I just didn't know" and "I just didn't see" after being pulled over for speeding, once having expired tags, and rolling through a stop sign. That I got off with a warning is police misconduct and it reinforces a common mindset that some of us can get by with certain things while others can't. In this way, I benefited.

As to being a real victim of police misconduct, I've been that, too, but it was more a matter of local law enforcement corruption than any violation of my being or person.

coincidentally.

I had just moved to Georgia and had bought a used Camaro off a car lot. I still had Kentucky license and the car had Florida tags on it. I had not had time to get new tags or drivers license and I was pulled over and taken to jail.

Yes, police misconduct and I am white 61 (58%)
No major issues with police being out of line and I am white 34 (32%)