Letter to the editor of the Baton Rouge (LA) Advocate
 

May never get printed, but I feel I must share:

Tuesday last, I was victimized by the infamous Southern Louisiana police 'fishing expedition'. After a long day of driving from Nashville, wanting nothing more than to just get home, I was stopped by one of BR's 'finest' at one a.m., obstensibly for 'crossing the line' a couple of times on I-10 West entering Baton Rouge.

I had my cruise control on 60 and know I crossed no dividers. Actually, my only 'crime' was transiting the city with an out-of-state license plate, as I am sure my fellow harrassee from North Carolina could attest. Certainly nobody with LA plates is worth stopping. Really, I would have thought the national exposure to this scam would have put an end to this unconstitutional ridiculousness by now.

It was obvious from his line of interrogation on the side of the highway that he didn't think I was drunk, and it made your officer look like an idiot. His line of questions were along the lines of 'Where am I coming from and where am I going?". Suspected drunk drivers don't get asked questions, they get a sobriety test. He confronted my passenger (girlfriend) along those same lines. What does that have to do with the alleged infraction? The State of Louisiana used to get my gambling business, but no more. I'm taking it to Mississippi or some other state, bypassing your illegal backwater burg altogether. And I'm telling all my friends to do the same.

What do you think?

You fuckers in the South are something else. That's what I think. :)

Well, from the point of view of someone who worked in customer service for years, and fielded a lot of customer complaints, I can tell you that the "you wronged me so now you won't get my business, and I'll tell all my friends" approch is pretty ineffective from an individual, really. Sad but true. The person who opens the letter usually just doesn't care where you take your business. Somebody cares, but not the paper-handling schmuck who actually reads the letter. The exception is if they get a lot of these in a short amount of time, in which case the trend will draw attention.

Go to MS as many times as it takes to hit a big jackpot. When the TV station comes to "film at 11" tell them your story.:D
Oh...or run for Gov. of CA and do the same.

I thought that every state's highway police did this?

Pa, does. :(

I'm just saying, why single out Louisiana?

Tim, some honest suggestions:

--I would leave the sarcastic quips out. State the facts plainly and simply.

--I would only hint at the possibility that it was due to out-of-state plates.

--Express your general concern with the situation, perhaps find out if anyone else you know has gone through this, then hint at the problems that things like this could cause the state of LA (like losing gambling revenue from Texas residents).

--Send it to the Mayor's office in Baton Rouge as well as the newspaper there.

According to a story I heard, PA Troopers even pick on NY Troopers. :)

As you say, a remarkably ineffective letter which will likely never see the light of day, but goddammit I just had to vent.

I have nothing personal against Louisiana, hell, my mom is from there and I've passed many a good time in New Orleans.

I know this is a scam. I saw a piece about it on 20/20 or 60 Minutes 2 a couple of years ago. They rented a van with out-of-state plates, loaded it up with hidden cameras and drove like angels down I-10. Got stopped for 'crossing over the line'. It's all a bullshit fishing expedition.

The cop looked kinda like Gary Sinise, only not as handsome :rolleyes:. I admitted to drinking a couple of beers, he asked if I felt impaired, I said no and that was that. The the Nazi asshole started this line of bullshit:

"Where are you coming from?"
"Where are you headed?"
"What is the purpose of your trip?" (or something to that effect)
"What is your address?" He had my fucking license by now, didn't even want to see my proof of insurance.
"Who do you work for?"
"What do you do?"
"Who's in the car with you?"
"Who do those dogs belong to?"

Not one of those questions relate to any of his fucking business. Then he went and talked to Lin who was still in the car. The dogs were going nuts. She told me later that she warned him Baron might bite and he said: "Let him." What would you do, shoot my dog, motherfucker? I swear, I would have killed him with my bare hands if he did that.

To tell you the truth, I was a bit worried a search would turn up my pistol in the passenger compartment. I don't think it's illegal when traveling in LA, even though I don't have a CCL, but I wasn't sure and I sure as fuck don't need the hassle. That's why it was all 'Yes Sir! No Sir!' the whole way.

Also, I was a bit perturbed by all the obvious instances I witnessed of 'driving while black'. I counted no less than three searches going on as I passed by during this trip. It all just pisses me off to no end. As much as I hate to say it, it took a personal injustice to truly feel that pain, and now I understand the humiliation and fear that comes with it.

Fucking cops, breaking the law to enforce a bad law. The irony is truly Kafkaesque.

As we parted company, he said "Do you know your alphabet?".
I said "Wha'?"
Badass Cop: "Say it"
Me: "A-B-C-D-E-F-G-H-I-J-K-L-M-N-O-P-Q-R-S-T-U-V-W-X-Y-Z" (in about 5 seconds)
BC: "Get out of here"
Me: "F-U-C-K-Y-O-U" (well, I was in the car by then)

If you got stopped in PA and admitted to a couple of beers, it probably would have gone further.

Also, the time to consider if a weapon in the passenger compartment is legal in a jurisdiction is before you go there.

You did the right thing. Be polite. Answer questions. Always remember that if they ask you if they can search your vehicle you are allowed to say no. If they did not need to ask because they had 'probable cause', they wouldn't bother to do so.

What exactly are they stopping you for, do you presume?

Looking for drugs, duh! There were a least 3 cop cars in the vicinity, one of which was a K9 unit, I can assure you.

Ah.

See, I'm not exposed to that kind of thing, so I have no idea.

Nothing But Net, another casualty from the front lines of the drug war. :)

One of these days, I suspect you'll get a taste. After all, all long-haired people do drugs. Especially those driving Volvos.

Only if they're cute.:D
Not necessarily, I've had state cops tell me they ask for reaction. Someone hiding something will quite often look in that direction.

OnyxCougar, are you Thelma, or Louise? Because I really like Louise, you know...

My friend and I were stopped and searched outside of Kansas City in a classic white rental car with Texas plates. Three squad cars. They were very nice, pulled over for "speeding". we were not speeding, but we played the full-on we-are-sweet girls thing. They searched the back and trunk then let us go without a ticket.

Mr. warch, traveling with a, granted, greasy looking crew of guys in a van (with Texas plates- maybe that's it?)crossing into New Mexico, got the full stop and search, with dogs. Like 2 hours of search. The cops found nothing but insisted the dog was "indicating something" turns out it was hipster Chris's funky smelling pimp oil. Eventually they were allowed to leave, no ticket.

Hmm, Texas plates...

Which, incidentally, would be a great name for a rock band.

One of my coworkers has always wanted to name her rockband "Brief Reactive Psychosis" but says she has to learn to play an instrument or sing first.

Hmmm... there are many rock musicians that hasn't stopped. Perhaps I should encourage her.

If the folks had known how to play their instruments, punk would have never happened.

When my ex- was doing her rotation though your Esteemed Place of Employment she and her coworkers were fond of reminding themselves that the salient diference between them and the more permanent residents was:

"Not Much, But We Have The Keys"

If not a band title, certainly a song title.

One of my favorite band names: "Euripides Pants"

I saw the 60 minute segment on the Louisiana state cops and well as the one on the New Orleans cops and it appears to me that Lousiana has a serious problem. Its obvious that some sort of retardation has infected much of the law inforcement there. I can only surmise that low pay equals low IQ and that stopping the hapless motoring public somehow plugs the gap-- perhaps by kickbacks, political favors and the like.
I do know that I will avoid visiting the place at all cost which means that I won't be attending my nephew's wedding there next summer in New Orleans. Who needs that kind of hassle when there are many more less intruding places to visit where the police actually want to help the taxpayer. Let them drink swamp water I say.

Really, just look what happened to Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper down there.

Tim just simply can't drive! trust me! i've ridden with him b4! :D

no seriously, it's an out-of-state plate thing. they're looking for drug trafficers. one of my friends had something similar happen to him in arkansas and they were asking him and all of his travel companions all kinds of questions, the same ol' same ol' they asked NBN......

     As an Arkansas resident with family in Louisiana I can assure you the speed trap that makes up the stateline between the two is legendary. I use speedtrap loosely as they'll give you a ticket because their wife told them to cut back on the donuts. I got stopped coming back from my Grandfathers funeral and the only reason I didn't get a ticket was that just as the bluelights came on I got passed by the cops nephew, who also pulled over. I was going about two mph over the limit. Not sure why the kid stopped since the cop was behind me, but his uncle sure went to bitching him out while I stood there. That's how I know the relation.
     Word is that New Orleans has cleaned up a lot since I living there as a kid, back then the cops would rob convenient stores in uniform. Wearing a ski mask and tape over their badge name/#. Who really knows though?
     Oh yeah, I got stopped in Oklahoma a while back, for speeding when I was traveling in the slow lane in a line with a bunch of Oakies. Yes, Warch, I had Texas plates at the time. Anyway, I mailed in my payment by check, the check was cashed and the ticket was never put on my record. I guess the city didn't want to share the cash with the county/state. Works for me. No ticket on my record.