Nice job Halifax PD, setting up a licence and registration check on Gladstone St. at 8 am Monday. I guess residential streets will ensure a lighter work load, and the kicker was asking me where I’m headed to, on a street that has residences, a medical building and a grocery store. Having lived and travelled around the world, I can say that Metro has the laziest, most useless bunch of cops anywhere. —A Law Biting Citizen
This article appears in Jun 16-22, 2011.
While you may not agree with their location of choice this morning, and you may think they’re the most useless, lazy bunch I can say in my experience they’ve been anything but useless and lazy. Whenever I have needed them they have come pretty darn quickly and were pretty darn efficient at their job. They have a profession I personally would not want to do. Would you?
Moan and groan all you want. They have a job to do, as do most of us, and while we may not always understand their ways I’d be willing to bet your tune will change the day you find yourself in an unfortunate situation and have to call upon them.
Next time, try saying “thank you” and wishing them a good day instead of bemoaning them. They’re people too.
OP, it doesn’t take that long. One cop looks at your inspection sticker, and the other looks at the sticker on your plate. Whoa….a whole 1-2 minutes. Where they do you have to be in such a rush that you can’t wait for these officers to do a quick check?
You don’t have to answer when they ask you where you are going.
You simply say “Why, officer?”
maybe they were looking for someone that was reported in that area, trying to make your drive safer….and maybe they asked where you were going just to make conversation to make your wait suck less…
If your not doing anything wrong and nothing to hide, just deal with it, not worth getting all bent out of shape over
SOOOO TRUE… In my experiences a lot NOT all are self absorbed, rude and feel as though they are above the law themselves.
Not that we don’t need them, cause we do….just that they would rather sit in the same spot waiting for someone to break the law instead of patrolling. Most could use a lesson in being nice, smile once in awhile….make themselves more approachable.
I don’t have anything to hide & I also still have a few personal rights & one of them is the right to tell them they have no need of knowing what I am up to. My business is my business & neither you or they have the right to question what I’m up to.
But as I see in todays Chronically Horrid, the courts have just upheld the right to seize & hold a persons property or money without charges or a conviction & you have to prove it isn’t illegal or been obtained by illegal means.
This is the first big step in the Police/Governments agenda to make our system go from “presumed innocent until proven guilty”. To we are all “guilty , until/unless we can prove we are innocent”.
i actually like that proceeds of crime bill……………there are soooo many people living the high life on the proceeds of crime. proving a criminal case is so hard these days, it makes sense to go after the assets and ask those criminals to explain how they paid for them. If they cant give a plausible explanation then they lose their ill gotten gains.
Of course there is a slippery slope argument to be made for this type of power, however the media these days are more than ready to jump all over any abuse of process.
Id rather take the one in a million chance of someone innocent getting caught up in a proceeds of crime case, and enjoy the idea that criminals are going to be sitting on a pile of $$ afraid to spend it on anything for fear of getting it seized.
if we want the police to get serious with the ridiculous amount of crime in HRM… we have to suck it up and give them the teeth to take the criminals on.
Maybe the cops were trying to slow traffic down so they could be first in line at the drive through at timmies?
I have no problem with the drunk driving checkpoints or license checks or whatever, but why is it their business where I’m going? I don’t ask them where they’re going so they shouldn’t bother prying into my life. I’m not saying I’d be belligerent but I’d be tempted to give a weird answer like “I have an appointment in Narnia.”
man you guys are all so friggen uptight. Ever hear of this little thing called “small talk or idle chatter” just pleasantries to make time pass faster, or break a silence or uncomfortable moment. It’s something that is common in social situations when you actually leave the computer and interact with another human without the use of a keyboard.
The police ask these little aside questions to judge your condition, it shifts your thinking a little, and you’re judged on your resopnse. A slured answer or belligerence will get you a closer look.
Not uptight personally I just appreciate a bit of privacy and resent the implication that you have to divulge info on where you are going or what you are doing. So long as your not breaking the law, it is none of their business.
If I did something wrong give me the ticket and I will be on my way.
I wonder why they never comment on the weather for small talk…. haha
they decided to use Gladstone for a reason.
Maybe a lot of people use it as shortcut driving too fast, maybe it was small talk, maybe he was just being nosy or maybe it’s an informal road survey. Whatever! only he knows why he asked the question so a polite non-commital response is good like “oh just off to work” or “going for coffee” or whatever. Not every comment from a police officer is an invasion of privacy. Y’all gotta get over yourselves!
I’m aware they want to see if your speech is slurred, but don’t ask me questions like that. They can engage in small talk about anything else, but fuck off about interrogating me when I’m an innocent person.
I was recently stopped at a spot check and it took all of 15 seconds. One officer checked my inspection and the other checked my plates. No questioning about where I was going to or where I was coming from. If the latter happened I would have replied with the Book of Matthew Luthor by asking, “Why?”
since when is “where are you off to?” considered interrogation? It’s a simple question, so why does it feel like interrogation?? Hiding something?
I’ve been all over the world and lived in some MAJOR cities. The cops here are egotistical, lazy, rude and they DO PROFILE!!! Don’t let anyone tell you any different, I’ve witnessed a great deal of overt bigotry from them and they think they’re like God’s. NOT SO!
In addition, such stops are huge cash grabs … nothing more!!!
How are they cash grabs? Are the officers shaking you down for bribes? That would be serious misconduct and you would be wise to go to either HRM council or the media with it. Assuming of course that you actually have some proof. Or is it a cash grab because they are issuing minor tickets that can be paid by mail, with little inconvenience to you, other than the cost af a stamp and the lesson learned that you can’t just obey the laws that you agree with and disregard the rest.
ajdube – the cops in HRM, based on the few interractions I’ve actually had with them, were courteous, professional and treat me well. I suspect that they are like most people, you treat me with respect and I’ll treat you in a similar manner.
I certainly would not want their job, they are criticised no matter which approach they take (See Vancouver as an example).
Cash grabs? – they set up these blocks to catch imbeciles who are either too stupid or think the law does not apply to them regarding issues such as insurance and licensing and vehicle inspections. I am pleased when scofflaws like this (you maybe?) are caught and fined.
All I’m saying is that I’ve lived in many many places and the police here think thy are above the law themselves! Case in point, officer that was recently arrested for selling drugs. In addition, I had a friend backing out of my driveway the other day when an SUV barelling down the road almost ran into him. I live on a quiet residential street off Quinpool .. he was SPEEDING BIG TIME. When he got out, he accused my friend of being an ignorant driver and when we proceeded to tell him he was in the wrong this is what came out of his mouth … “I’m a cop , do you seriously want to get tangled with me, I’ll have you arrested”. Of course I took his license plate and reported him. But this is a prime example of how a major portion of them think that they are above the law becasue they truly believe they are the law. I have never witnessed as many cops with God Complexes as I have here, it’s just ridiculous!
P.S.. Edward Cornwallis: I’m a Federal building Inspector, my car is up to snuff and exceptionally maintained. I take offense to cops sticking their noses where it doesn’t belong when there is no reason for it.
And I guess no other police officer in any other department in the world has never been charged or convicted of an offence. The fact that officers here (and other places) are charged and convicted of offences shows that they are not above the law. So you friend is reversing into a busy street and almost gets hit and it’s the other vehicle’s fault (your friend must be Peter Kelly. And how do you know it was barrelling down the street (did you have a radar or lidar or have experience in observing what various speeds look like). I wonder how many contractors think you an asshole when they don’t do something right and you tell them to fix it resulting in more costs to them.
I love HRP! Saved my arse a few times. Great guys and gals (for the most part). Except for Constable C. Bruce… you’d know him if you ever dealt with him. Think: arrogant version of the Old Spice Guy
HRMPD broke 12 of my Universally Declared Human rights in 18.5 hours, because they came barking at me one day, I asked them to use manners, and one hella pavement head pounding later I was in a jail cell with a bunch of fucking pieces of goddamn shit using every cheap shot psychological trick in the book…
One day I would like to see their rotted corpses hang from the street poles…
Before this I just considered Cops to be… Cops… Now the are less than human, they are monsters keeping wicked men in control of corporations and money… They are nothing more than pathetic mindless robots, for even a beast can entertain more creative thought patterns than these soulless goon squads.
In short, HRMPD is sewing more than enough seeds that when they sprout there will not be a PD for long…
@Bro_Tim
You are such a fuckwit…
Look up just how many internal investigations lead to punishment for ANY illegal actions these fuck heads take… I’ve seen cops getting charged over child porn/molestation and get a paid suspension for a few months…
The criminals all wear suits and uniforms in this country…
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_V6K4fnZSzxE/SFfX…
I was stopped for another spot-inspection last Friday night and it was over in three seconds. The officer just asked me to pull-up, asked how I was doing and if I were wearing a seat belt. He then wished me a good evening and I wished him the same.
They’re very simple to get through. If asked where I was going I still would not feel compelled to tell him/her where I was going though. Then again, I don’t like “strangers” asking me about my personal business.