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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Vraille Darkfang" data-source="post: 2493606" data-attributes="member: 16989">Yep, Yep, Yep,The great, honorable police department.The whole analogy to a "few bad apples spoil...." is what comes to mind.I was recently pulled over for going 45 in a 30 on my way to work (the way I take every day).  The fact the Speed Limit 45 sign was 100 feet away didn't matter.  You aren't allowed to go 45 until you pass the sign apparently.Never mind the 30 speed limit is at the bottom of a hill where you have to ride your brakes the entire time SLOW DOWN to 30.Never mind that the road in question is a 2 lane highway (could be turned into 4 lane).Never mind it was built in the 70's to become a 4-lane highway (and built with said speeds in mind).Never mind that when I go 30 (I do now), I get people honking at me & giving me the finger because NO ONE (non-local) drives that slow.The Speed Limit is 30.  Since the small town I live in annexed it several years ago, the town sets the speed limits, not the State.  Thus they can set it at whatever they want.  And, since that road is the primary entrance to the Casino we got on the river.....It's a speed trap.  EVERYONE knows this.  (I know it now, when I tell locals about it, they say "Yep, spped trap, officer X sits at one of these 3 spots & tags people going to the casino.")  The only reason that speed limit is what it is is so this small town can generate extra revenue.So the cop pulls me over,"Do you know how fast you were going?""45, that's the speed limit isn't, like that sign right there?" (I'm going with the innocent mistake, I figure ticket town still awaits me."Nope, its 30.  Blah blah blah (lecture here), see your license & insurance"Give it to him, he asks me "Do you have a current insurance card?"  I'm about to have a heart attack as that is the only insurance card I have, but I take it back & get ready to dig throught the glove box in hopes of a miracle.  Then I notice my card has valid through 2006 in BIG LETTERS 5 DIFFERENT PLACES.  So I tell the officer that's the only one I have, is he SURE it isn't the right one (subtley pointing to the HUGE BLACK TEXT).  Officer "Oh, I guess this is right"Goes back into his car & runs my plates.  Clean.  Not a damn thing he further use to entertain himself with.  Then he notices my Driver's Liscense (it's been 6 years since I had to renew it) has one address & my car has another.  YES!  Only harden crimanals ever move!So the officer grills me on why I've moved twice in the past 5 years.  While 'Because' seemed like a really good answer, I don't think that's what he wanted.  So I politely explain (no, justify) why I could possibly need to re-locate, ever.  I tell him how I graduated from the town on my DL.  I then explain how, due to a tough job market we moved in with my mother-in-law for a while, then moved to an apartment, then bought a house in this small, rural town when my wife got a job there.The (not a nice word) grilled me for 20 minutes about why I "moved around so much" after all, only crimnals would live in more than 1 place for their entire lives.  Man, he was a jack (donkey).  But, I remained calm & politely explained, in detail, every move I'd done in the past 10 years.  But, miracles of miracles, I used the phrase "Then we moved to here & bought a house."Yep.  I was no longer a casino bound drug dealer, I was an upstanding citizen.  One within walking distance of the courthouse.  Heck, I helped put in their new computer system & will be doing the same with their new phone system.  The judge is a nice guy.  Suddenly I was a tax payer who could make his life miserable by going to every town hall meeting, and demanding to know why things worked in manner X.Once he realized I was a local person who could fight the ticket (again, by walking down the street and talking to judge bob), he began to lecture me, told me, ignorance is not an excuse, obey the speed limit, blah, blah, blah.  But, he let me go with just a warning.Maybe he never had any intention of giving me a ticket.  Always planned on just giving me a warning.  Maybe he always lets people though the speed trap with just a warning.  But I doubt it.I should point out most of my dealings with police have been extermly positive.  Most police are pretty good guys.  But there are some real jerks out there who get a high off of the power they wield.  And this was one of those.Oh, this is a small town.  Pretty devoid of crime.  Not a lot of violence going on.  More Mayberry RFD than Miami CSI.Thus, I now am sure to obey the speed limit.  Even on the other side of town where the limit drops from 55 to 20 at the city limits (still well outside of the town).  I get people behind me all the time ticked off at my inability to drive a reasonable speed (or, in some cases an irresponsible excess of speed).  They don't realize what us locals know: a reasonable speed doesn't matter, all that matters is what the city WANTS the speed to be.In closing, Remember,A bureaucracy is designed to work independant of personal thoughts or beliefs, thus those incapable of either make the best bureaucrats.Or as my friend puts it "My poor life choices have led me to a career at the DMV."</blockquote>

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