I know that my address of my "supposed" traffic violation is of a personal nature and may have some people wondering, "Does this really belong here?"
I would like to say that I believe that it does. Not because it is personal to me, but because I believe that it was a wrongful action. But, it is my word against a police officer's and I am guilty until proven innocent. I can tell you that if any of you have something like this happen to you, I want to know about it. That is what we do here, we want to know about the issues that this city faces and open them up to the public eye.
We had a home invasion two blocks from here, in this neighborhood, the other night. Does it not make some of you wary, when you see the escalation in violent criminal activity that we have seen in the Hickory area over the last several months? Do you think this is an anomaly? Do you think this is going to get better or worse as we move forward in these trying economic times?
I have ultimate respect for our police officers. I know that there job is tough and I am glad that we have people that are assigned jobs to protect us. I do support them. I have never held animosity towards the police and have always been polite, respectful, and cooperative; both when approached and when asked to cooperate with them. I think we should all be, but I also understand why people of certain racial, ethnic, and socio-economic backgrounds have a bitter and wary attitude towards police officers.
It just seems ironic, to me, that we have police officers sitting inside of neighborhoods looking to see if someone stops at a stop sign properly (which can be judged very arbitrarily), when we have all of the crimes of a severe criminal nature taking place a couple of blocks away. Where are the priorities? Is it wrong for me to think this?
I will end this by saying that I will try and not put the letters B and S together or P and O together in my writings in the future. Yes, we all know what those acronyms mean and maybe some of you were offended by their use. To those of you who were offended, I apologize. I follow this action because I respect what Harry Hipps says and he says that it isn't right. I hope that as we move forward on the relevant issues of the day that the public will participate more with comments, whether you agree or disagree with me, because we need everyone to make this thing work and to move this city closer to what we dream of it being.
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Saturday, February 7, 2009
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6 comments:
You need to understand that most peoples only contact ever with the police is a negative one. Whether it is a simple traffic ticket or whatever. Police are there to enforce the law, you do not to get to choose what laws are or are not enforced.
It is very possible that a neighbor complained about people running the stop sign. The officer could have been there at a citizens request.
I understand how you feel, as no one wants a traffic ticket. Evidentally this upset you and ruined your day. It is nothing personal, the officer has a job to do.
I have found out that he was there and pulled over several people. I realize that it is nothing personal, but it didn't just ruin my day if I go before a judge and get convicted for a bad judgment call.
It will put points on my driver's license and my insurance and that bad judgment call will end up costing me several hundred dollars. That isn't something that you get over in a day. It's something that you will never forget and it makes you wary of the police.
Most of us get nervous when we are around police and many people don't care to cooperate with them and want them to stay clear from them. Incidents like this are the reason why.
You don't know how many people that I have talked to about this incident that plain out have said, "I hate cops."
What kind of protection are we afforded when people hate cops? Why can't we have a good relationship in this community (or any community) between average citizens and the police. It works against our city's well being when there is such a bad relationship.
There are a couple of issues here, one easy, one difficult. The first is the specific actions of the police officer. If he acted within the bounds of the law and in accordance with established police procedures then he really didn't do anything wrong. Simple.
Not so simple is the issue you raised on more serious crimes being committed while you got ticketed for a relatively trivial matter. First, we all need to rethink how we view the law. Too many of us evaluate the chances of us getting caught and base our decision on whether to obey the law on whether we can get away with it or not. (I'm saying generally, not specifically about this ticket incident). The law should be about allowing the maximum safety, security, justice, prosperity, and orderliness in society. We should all stive to obey it because the alternative of chaos or anarchy would turn us into animals. Not all laws are just, as not all police officers are honest, but we have to continually work on this in an imperfect world. But we all should voluntarily obey the laws, and when we disagree with the law we should work to change it. This principle is Biblical, Socrates spoke about it, and this has been the consensus for eons. When large numbers of people disobey the law, the rule of law itself erodes. For example, when the speed limit on Hwy 127 is 35 mph and almost everyone goes 43 mph and up, we are all technically criminals and this opens up a door for police to go after anyone arbitrarily since the law is being violated constantly. Furthermore, when there are so many crimes being committed, enforcement becomes a matter of a)the poor luck of being around a policeman while committing the crime or b)police resources being directed towards a particular location or type of crime (some want to get the sex offenders but turn a blind eye to the embezzlers).
Bottom line is that in a society such as ours, where we indulge individual whims and show less respect for the good of the community, we aren't going to have a really just society until we all work hard to get one. Until then our courts will operate much like a car lot with the deal based on who, what, and how much. To some degree, this comes down to the magistrates and judges to decide whether to hold someone's feet to the fire or to dismiss something that's not worth the trouble. My guess is that since you don't have a criminal record, and this is trivial it would probably be thrown out of court if you were to speak to the DA. Good luck.
Not to beat a dead horse, but I am telling you that I did stop. It is up to you and others to give me the benefit of the doubt or believe that I am lying.
It is not up to me to change your minds or hearts. It is basically up to a higher authority and I know that somewhere in there, that there is a reason for all of this. But, when you go through the day-to-day issues of life, it is hard to not get upset about the arbitrary nature and trivialities of justice.
Remember the episodes of Andy Griffith where he had to talk to Barney about his gung-ho nature? Or the episode where Goober is going around making Citizen's Arrests? I think we have a lot of that going on in this town. This is a common sense issue.
We have some very serious issues with violent crime that need to be addressed before this becomes Gotham City!!!
Too many of us evaluate our chance of getting caught...guilty as charged. I am in total agreement with every word in Harry Hipps' post. As adamant as Mr. Shell is that he stopped, the officer may be just as sure he did not. There are always three sides to a story...yours, mine, and what really happened. As for the officer sitting in your neighborhood specifically looking for people running the sign, he could very well have been. Officers are often assigned to an area where an infraction, such as speeding or running a stop sign, has become a problem. Many people say "why are they pursuing this instead of the larger crimes?" They know where the complaints on a constantly broken law are coming from...they do not know, unfortunately, where the next home invasion or bank robbery will occur or I'm sure they would be camped out, waiting. As far as what kind of protection we are afforded if people hate cops?...officers tend to continue enforcing the law while continuing to be as respectful and considerate as possible even when dealing with hardened criminals.
Mr. Shell, Due to your incessant whining about your citation and your disrespectful attitude toward people who disagree with you. We have decided to call you "Shelly."
You have an attitude just like Sally Fox and the name just fits you perfectly.
You give a half a** apology for calling your ticket "bullshit" and write deragatory comments about anyone who disagrees with you. Sounds just like Sally Fox. You state the following when apologizing, "I follow this action because I respect what Harry Hipps says and he says that it isn't right." I almost vomitted. What about everyone else who told you that your attitude and actions are wrong?
You write that many people hate cops. The only people who hate cops are the criminals. Either criminals who have been caught and punished or criminals who fear having their crimes detected and then being caught and punished. That kind of hateful statement is like saying you hate blacks, whites, doctors, postmen, or any other individual from any given group of people. Anyone who would make that statement is ignorant beyond explanation. Any journalist or person who would print that kind of statement is either mentally disturbed or very immature and mad because they were caught breaking the law themselves. They have a deep seated need to have people feel the way they feel.
I think you are guilty of running a stop sign and I would bet big money that you were disrespectful toward the officer regardless of your claims of innocence. You were late for a doctor's appointment and you ran a stop sign. Most people would accept the citation, go to driving school for a few hours and therefore make sure that they did not receive any insurance or driving points. Not you! You have a small town blog called "the hound". You feel big and important and you use this amateur blog spot to voice how the police mistreated you because they enforced the law.
I bet that when you were a kid you were always chosen last when you were on the playground. You probably ran home with your toys when you did not get your way. We all knew a kid like you. Whiney a** babies. They grew up and are still whiney a** babies.
The police have traffic cops and detectives and specialized units. They all serve a different function. The police officer who caught you was a traffic cop. Get it? A traffic cop enforces traffic laws. That is what he does! Try and grow up. Go take the defensive driving class like the rest of us had to do and be a man for once in your life.
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