So, last night for some odd reason in the city, there was a random police checkpoint. I was not worried at all actually until I saw a heavily modded Toyota Supra and a Prelude on the side with their hood open and the cops with their flashlights checking under the hood.

Now... it's my turn:

Cop: "Where are you headed"
Me: "Heading back home to the East Bay"
Cop: "License please"
Me: *Grabs license thinking... oh i just installed a high flow pre cat let's not check under the hood eh?*
Cop: *looks at the license, looks at me, shines flashlight in my eye, looks at the license, hands it back* "Ok, drive safe"

*ok.. now easy on the gas pedal.. accelerate slowly... VRRRROOOOOM.. oh there's my ATLP*

I don't know what prompted the cops to check under the hood of those cars... but now this got me worried.

 

Because cops in CA don't have anything else to do better but harass people.

The cops probably knew that they were moddfied and probably running something illegal.

So it was a DUI checkpoint correct?

 

Yikes!

Hows it sound now with the HFCs?

 

I am pretty sure it was DUI. Maybe it's end of the year and they need some bonus checks.

Sounds great! It gurgles when letting off the pedal. A bit louder, but no rasps

 

Hmmm

 

naa the cops were just checking for race wars checking the prelude for a spoon engine and the supra well....

 

prolly looking for stolen parts.....

 

+1 ^^^^^^^

 

You drive a TL. Its a sleeper. haha

 

Glad you got out of there without a fine. I love florida cause we "usually" never have to worry about those types of things.

 

CA stolen engines ..no way ...lol

 

I doubt it. Toretto would have come by doing a 100 mph wheelie in the Charger to distract the cops.

 

They used to do it all the time here when the imports were killing families street racing in heavy traffic. I was all for it. My friends in the CHP got a quick course in what to look for in illegal mods and especially engine swaps. I was never harassed in the GN other than them wanting me to take off hard lol. The favorite thing to do to the imports was to get one with an engine swap and require them to go to the smog referee which would then put the car out of commission until they put the correct engine back in and could pass smog. Sounds like harassment but I remember when those guys were killing people and ruining the whole scene in their slow cars. You can have muscle cars with 600+hp without a wreck in 10 years and a bunch of idiots in imports totaling out a 100hp Civic.

Sorry for the rant but I completely understand the cop's point of view. Oh, and the light in the eyes, that was to see if you were sober.




Want to talk about scary, try driving past a portable smog/dyno on the side of the road with a cop stationed there to pull over the cars that showed high emissions when driving by. They were then subjected to a smog test right there. I was headed right toward one of these things with no cats, no egr, and leaded race gas. I killed the ignition in time and coasted past right in front of another car. I had actually considered running if I saw the cop pull out.

 

I really do enjoy reading your posts. I've never seen a portable dyno smog/dyno before, besides we don't do emissions in FL.

 

^^^^ fixed

 

I have seen that happen here since we have a decent amount of people into the hatchback/civic scene so police like to check their engine bays, but mostly our checkpoints are DUI and for license as many people drive illegaly without licenses where I live. Unfortunately they also like to pull me over and "randomly" make me do a secondary inspection since a young Mexican with an Acura on chrome wheels screams drug dealer grrrr. Thankfully they usually set the checkpoints up where they can easily be avoided and you can turn on a side street or pull into a store before you go into them so I can avoid the hassle.

 

^thats an easy fix.....take off the chrome wheelz.

 

Dang lol I never heard of that one where was this at? At least your GN doesn't look anything like a regular Regal or they'd have made you pull over anyways since its a drug dealer/thug car haha

Well theres a lady around here with a DMM TL with chrome wheels as well so keeping the chrome wheels helps me to be incognito when I'm out if people see another woman in my car I can say they were just seeing the other TL that looks like mine . And its not like I have any drugs in the vehicle any ways so al it does is just make it a little delay at times.

 

When I was young I was pulled over and drug out of the car at gunpoint and slammed into the pavement a few times for suspected bank robbery.......twice. The first time they shut down the whole highway. People were looking at me like I was a criminal and I had never even had a speeding ticket at that point. I got a formal letter of apology for that one. Apparently a Regal was used for the robberies. It made me consider running any time I was getting pulled over if they did not have a chance to get my plate yet.

 

so not disparaging your thoughts or trying to disrespect... but

cops have pulled me and plenty of others that I know just for our skin color... recently I had a friend pulled over in his TL Type S for random check.. he gave his license and other information.. and then the cop asked him if he had any other form of ID.. wtf?

Ya, cops are doing a job but my epxereince with them is that they abuse their power more than do their job.. but maybe that is becuse I am colored and always get the wrong side of what they are trying to accomplish

in PA we dont get smog checks or anything like that, just DUI.. but at airports or near airports we get the random check

 

That's a copout.

I got slammed on the ground and roughed up for suspected bank robbery and I'm as white as can be.

I've had a cop pick a fight with me and try and get me for resisting.

I've had my car impounded because I had a small oil leak on the exhaust which caused a barely noticeable smoke.

I've been put in the back of the cop car and told I was going to jail for spectating at the street races while others were allowed to drive off.

I've been busted in a street fight with a guy of color and I got handcuffed while the other guy was let go.

I can go on and on but there's no point. How do you know yourself and others were harassed because of your skin color? You don't. Imagine if I wasn't white and all of this stuff happened to me, it would be chalked up to racism which it's not. You can't go around using the race card each time you get in trouble. After going on probably a hundred ride alongs, the so called innocent people tend leave out huge details that made the cop suspicious in the first place. I'm not saying it never happens, I'm sure it does but it can't be used as an excuse.

 

IHC.. you got a point too.. I can only speak to what happens around south east PA and NJ.. my experience because none of my white friends go through the same thing.. at all...

and all my friends who did go through the negative expereince are subarban kids who drive luxury cars, do not "thump" their car nor drive fast and furious...

be it color or something else, cops abuse their power.. the ones who dont are the exception.. I am actually friends with a few cops who try to do the right thing

now that said, if you do something wrong I dont care what your skin color is.. stupid is stupid

and on a side note.. damn IHC.. I thought I get into some harsh stuff

 

Yikes ! I'll be more caution for these check points in the future

 

I can't comment on what goes on in your area obviously, only what I've seen around here. If it's really happening, that sucks.

Some cops do abuse their power but there are many good ones. I've seen a good friend of mine abuse his power only once. We were on the side of the freeway and letting anything under 90mph slide. A truck full of girls in bikinis went past us at 4mph over the speed limit. We pulled them over but they didn't get a ticket.

On the flip side, I got jumped, well actually run off the road by a couple guys in a very small town to the East of where I live. I was with the GF's family and were were going to visit the grandparents for Halloween. I literally had a Civic come up beside me running oncoming traffic off the highway and run me off the road. Both guys were huge, according to the police report the driver was 6'9" and 360lbs, the passenger was 6'4" and 250lbs. I ended up being forced to fight them with a 4yr old in the car, the GF, the 12yr old sister and friend and parents watching. I was so pissed that I was forced to do that in front of everyone that I started to really finish the guys badly but I caught the crying of the girls and decided to back off once they had enough. I called the cops and took their keys. The Sheriff that showed up was what you would typically think of when you think small town fat sloppy straw chewing white Sheriff lol. To make a long story short, he wrote a completely false report, I nearly got charged with a felony against two huge guys that had an extensive violent history while I had no history and had to defend myself in court. The Sheriff nearly arrested me on the spot because I was the one with a broken hand so it must've been my fault and he said taking their keys was grand theft auto, what a crock. I later found out he was very good friends with one of the guy's fathers.

I'm only assuming here but if I were a different race I seriously would've blamed it on race too but there are some people that are just that screwed up.

That made me hate law enforcement for a long time but you have to remember most of them are good, don't let the bad ones spoil it for you.


Edit: Not that it matters but I just read my original post on a different board about the above fight. Guys were 6'4 and 6'5 and 230lbs and 260lbs. Funny how things get bigger over time lol. I also forgot the Sheriff said he couldn't arrest them because 7 of them (they called friends while we were waiting on the Sheriff) were gang members and watching his every move. If only I had a gun on me lol.

 

I am no longer going to your neck of the woods for a drink.

 

It used to be like the wild wild west around here in the '90s. One of the most violent cities I've ever been in (for fighting, not shooting or stabbing). The whole city was on steroids. I was lucky that one of my friends got into what's now MMA at a place called Punchout in Irvine early on and got me into it. Back then no one knew how to fight other than the wrestlers. It was just a bunch of redneck hicks on steroids looking for trouble. Myself and my friends were always the happy ones looking for girls, not trouble but that non aggressive attitude is probably what got us in fights. It's calm now. I'm too old for that stuff and the new generation has gone the complete opposite way with the emo stuff.

So make sure you come by for a drink the next time you pass through.

 

I miss these days(not really). I would never drive my 5.0 at night, I would be begging to be pulled over.

And to the power trip on cops, honestly I can't be mad at it, cops have to do it, if they don't to many things would go unnoticed.

If 85% of the people driving the same style car as you are driving illegally how could you get mad when they pull you over to check you? Not saying that to you pizzaman, just saying in general.

 

Psh, I'm sorry, but checkpoints are a type of intrusive law enforcement I can't agree with....stopping everyone regardless of any suspicious activity/wrongdoing is not admirable.

 

LOL at going the opposite direction: emo.

 

This kind of stuff is just keep busy work. It really is a shame. There are so many violent convicted criminals out on parole and have gone missing from check in. If police were a bit more proactive in finding them rather than waiting for some traffic stop. Sure it is harder and more dangerous but it a better service to society.

 

...not really. driving is a privalege, not a right. there are too many drunk drivers out cruising around for their NOT to be check points. if you haven't been drinking, or have nothing to hide, it shouldn't bother you.

it's their job to make sure people should or shouldn't be behind the wheel of a car.

2 nights ago i was having dinner with my girl at PF changs (located adjacent to a popular shopping mall). while we were eating, we noticed a whole sleu of cop cars driving around the area. as we left, we saw the cops had blocked off every entrance and exit to the mall. it took us over an hour to get back on the main road bc the police were checking everyones car. someone had been shot and killed leaving the mall.

i was more than happy to wait and i was glad to see them doing such a thorough job.

so what's not admirable about someone looking out for your safety and well being?

 

You're talking about two completely different things. They checked your car because an incident occurred, not because they were looking out for everyone's well-being randomly.

How far can they go before you consider it, not "looking out for your safety" anymore? If you were walking down the street and a cop came up to you and asked to search you, would you oblige? Using your logic, you would say yes, yet I find that hard to believe. I agree that driving is a privilege, however your car is your personal property and unless you're using it in an illegal manner, I do not agree with them randomly stopping you to check if you've been drinking.

 

i was just using a recent experience as an example. i wasn't trying to tie together different scenarios.

if a cop came up to my person or car and asked to search i would say no because i know my rights as a citizen. but do i mind that they have checkpoints? of course not. there is a major difference between a cop searching my car and giving me a DUI. i don't drink and drive, so i don't have a problem there. but i might have a joint in my cigarette pack that i don't want him/her finding.

i love the fact that police randomly check people for drinking. you shouldn't be drinking and driving anyway, you could seriously hurt yourself or others or worse.

 

Wow that scared you. I would have revved it when I pulled up. Whoops ossifer by foot slipped.

 

So you don't think there is a possibility of the cops finding these criminals in check points? Yes I'm sure they find plenty, along with plenty of other people breaking the law that was put there to keep things in order.

Why do you think these are in place still? Because they work!!!

 

Sad but true Police work at this level is primarily tax collection. Sure stops like this bring in revenue. Easy work, get some sunshine. No money in looking for the dangerous bad dudes in any kind of methodical way. Not going to change, just the way it is.

 

If you're not breaking the law, you have nothing to worry about. I've watched so many people throw a fit about getting a ticket when they were cruising at nearly 100mph in a 65 like it's the cop's fault for doing his job. Especially with DUI. I'm glad they have check points. As for violent criminals that are missing, most are repeat offenders and you would be surprised at how many of these types of people they find at check pionts and routine traffic stops.

 

That's completely different! I'm talking about them saying "in this group of people, someone might be doing something wrong"

In your situation, they could easily say "In this group of people, someone DID shoot somebody"

 

Wow, I'm lucky living in Canada not having to go through all this crap. All we have to worry about is the RCMP tasering you to death when you don't look the part/can't speak the language.

 

ok forget my situation. i shouldn't have even said anything about it. consider ANY situation and they are still justified to do so.

why do you have a problem with LEO's conducting random checkpoints? i don't get it.

oh wow...another random checkpoint. i'm going to be 5 mintues late to the gang bang. ...such an inconveinence.