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Notyours's avatar

Considering that I pretty much always exceed the limit when not in a residential area, it's somewhat incredible that I'm not regularly nabbed for it, although I've had half a dozen stops over decades. All deserved, and not something I'm proud of necessarily. I drive a lot, but am highly focused on it while doing so, which leads me to believe I have spotted the traps far more frequently than I have been caught in them.

Regardless, when it happens, I certainly don't enjoy it, but I can't say it was ever unreasonable, despite an occasional power tripper.

In the mid-90's I was returning to the DFW area from a hunting trip near Rocky Mountain National Park. My sedan was loaded with 2 rifles in the trunk, cases of beer in the back seat (good beer was hard to find in TX at that time), and a .357 (unloaded in a case with a full speed loader) under my seat. I still had CO plates and DL, having recently moved. It's a fairly long drive, and I was hauling ass just East of Amarillo on a relatively uncrowded State highway with 2 lanes/direction. A trooper in a Camaro was Westbound and saw me passing a semi and couldn't help but notice the difference in speed. He blew through the median and caught up shortly thereafter.

I had the windows down, hands on the wheel, and paperwork on the seat when he approached. I admitted that I knew why I was stopped. He saw the beer and asked if I was aware of the laws on transporting that much, to which I honestly replied that I did not.

He then asked if there was anything else of which he should be aware, and I disclosed all of the firearms. He asked to see them all, which I happily obliged. He called in the serials to see if any had been reported stolen.

Once cleared, he complimented the revolver (a limited edition), and asked if he could look it over more closely. He aimed it out in the distance while we stood by the side of the road, played with the cylinder and checked the action (I often wonder what passersby thought might have been going on). He really liked it. I jokingly asked if I could have a look at his pistol in exchange. He chuckled.

Having asked my destination, he said that it would be in my best interest to slow down, and that were he to discover that I was popped for speeding down the road, he would be there to haul me off personally. A warning.

I can't say that I didn't break the limit afterwards, but I sure as hell kept to what other drivers were doing rather than being the outlier - so he did his job.

I have also been railroaded by one that blatantly lied about circumstances (to such a degree that it could have been easily disproved had the judge been interested in anything other than the officer's word). So I'm aware there are bastards out there. But anecdotally I believe most just want to get through the workday like anyone else does. No one is out looking for sass, obstinance, and disrespect. If that's what one is offering, one shouldn't be surprised if one only encounters bastard cops.

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