Rant

[06 Greyhound]

Rant

On Saturday I was in Calgary looking for a lost Greyhound along with about 10 other people.  I had to drive as the lost dog is a spook and will not go near people, so I took my grey as a greyhound will go to another greyhound.  Long story and we did find the dog.  
Anyway, I get home and take the bandit down to gas it up and stop by the bank, a total trip of about 15 minutes.   I turned the corner onto our side street and see my son who lives one house away.  He was loading his van to go wind surfing, so I pulled over to talk about our ride today.  While we were chatting, he stopped and said "Dad heads up."  
I turned to see a cop standing beside me.  

Now the rant –  
He said “do you have your license with you”
I said “yes” and pulled out my wallet.
He asked “how long have you riding today?”
I said “about 15 minutes”
He said “It seems that some people think that they don’t have to stop for the police”
I thought “He must be right or this jerk wouldn’t be busting my chops, he'd be using a rubber hose on the guilty person”
I said “not me I’ve been in Calgary looking for a lost dog for most of the day”
He said “he was riding a blue sport bike like yours and a blue jacket like yours”
I thought “holy crap! I saw lots of people while looking for the dog but it’s a huge park and I didn’t talk to anyone that knows me. Just people passing by.  These cops are famous for making a case regardless of guilt or innocence.
He laughed and said “now that I see how old you are I know it couldn’t be you” more laughing.
I thought “Oh yeah, - you complete jack a**”
 
He gave me back my license still laughing.
 
I thought “Oh yeah – you complete jack a**”
I said “no problem”
He left.
My son said “So do you want to go down and do a couple of burnouts in front of the cop shop?”  
Then my son said “Oh wait, you’re too old to do a burnout.”

I’m furious. I’ve been the victim of Sport Bike profiling!  And age discrimination!

[CWO4GUNNER]

[rmtcook]

I know a police officers job is thankless and they put in very long hours for very little pay or pension benefits."

An excerpt from an article in my local paper here in NJ, USA.
Englewood can't afford more high-paid cops
In Englewood, officers earn a median salary of $104,000, excluding overtime. Counting overtime pay, 85 percent of Englewood officers make more than $100,000.

The rate at which their pay rises helps to explain the city's reluctance to hire more officers. A new patrol officer starts at $32,237, but within five years earns a base salary of $96,054. That kind of pay jump is unheard of in most jobs.

Englewood police also have a generous amount of time off. A beginning patrol officer gets 20 vacations days, 13 holidays, one personal day and an additional 17 days from a revolving schedule that regularly gives them three days off at a time. That totals 51 days off -- or the equivalent of 10 five-day vacation weeks. For ranking officers, the number of days off may climb as high as 59 or almost 12 weeks."

Now don't get me wrong, I like cops. My next door neighbor is a motorcycle cop in Hoboken, NJ and is a great guy as are most of the cops I know. But at least around here the "low pay for little money" excuse just doesn't cut it. I expect them to treat me with the same respect and consideration that I give them. End of unsolicited opinion

[CWO4GUNNER]

[06 Greyhound]

I think my point has been missed here.  I was trying to have a little fun with what is really a serious issue.

In fact I’m still angry about the whole thing with the cop - If they had any evidence of the real guilty party they would have passed me by.  The sole reason he stopped me was to give a young guy on a sport bike a hard time.   The fact that I have a blue bike and jacket is not grounds to roust me, there are thousands of blue bikes and jackets.  This is another small town cop pushing his weight around with young guys whom he perceives, in his dim witted way, as trouble makers.
Had my son been riding my bike – he would have had to spend a couple of days proving he is innocent, not to mention the fact that being pulled over by the police on the street where I live, if front of the neighbours carries a stigma.
The mere fact that I didn’t fit his small minded image of law breaking biker was the only thing that deterred him from reading the riot act to me, or worse, charging me with the crime.
Now that’s a rant.

[CWO4GUNNER]

[ZenMan]

Greyhound, I understood your point very well, but in light of the blue-butt-kissing that came afterwards, I chose not to get into it. Well, I changed my mind.

Don't get me wrong... there are good cops, usually the older ones, that truly believe that their job description entails the "protect and serve" motto, and act accordingly.

But there are too many of them who's sole reason for becoming cops was to be able to push people around. Maybe because they got pushed aound themselves in school, and now it's "paypack time"? Who knows.

Cops can change your whole life in in instant if they choose to... pull you over for "probable cause", give you a load of sh!t and treat you like garbage until you object, then arrest you for any percieved lack of "cooperation", tow your bike or car, makes things so miseable for you that it costs you an arm and a leg hiring lawyers to defend yourself, cause you to lose your job, Even physically harm you to the point of crippling you for life...

And get away with it.

And they do it all the time. If they don't like your "looks", or they decide to put you in one of their stereotypical "criminal categories", or maybe they just think you're having too much fun.

Look at recent events... the infamous LAPD for example. I've been watching video on TV of black uniformed, helmeted and armored thugs, armed with nightsticks and riot guns, beating the crap out of innocent women and children during a peaceful, legal protest. over 200 rubber bullets fired and ZERO arrests. You  dress 'em up like commandos and they turn into brutish animals. Don't tell me I don't understand what I'm seeing with my own eyes... it makes me sick to my stomach.

It's too bad we don't have a better way to phsychologically screen these guys before we give them so much power over us. Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

Secondary rant added.  

[rmtcook]

I thought I kind of agreed with you in my last post,  but now I'm re-thinking it. I was in town the other day sitting at a light with a GSXR 750. When the light changed he popped and rode a wheelie for about 25 yards through the middle of town. Now I know it's not a particularly bright or safe thing to do but I laughed my ass off! Safety aside I admired his spirit. Our chosen ride is marketed as a Hooligan bike. If we didn't want cops to bother us we could buy a Beemer or a (gasp) Gold Wing.
 

[dgc]

baltimore is known for stupid shit happening daily, there is even an hbo show, written buy two ex baltimore sun editors, 'the wire', that deals with stupid shit and corruption around town.  also only town i know of where cops drive in cars with bumpers falling off, talking on cell phones with unbuttoned uniforms, with sleeve tattoos- all while on duty.  and if you walk into suzuki dealship gixxers and icon jackets are going like hot cakes.  
throttle jockeying a wheelie down the main street, daytime, is 9 times out of 10 just stupid.  
i noticed one of the good things that comes with age is when  you talk about the bike, people tend to listen.  automatic experience comes with every gray hair.