Why has this phrase become a part of my traffic stop routine?

Used to be I would walk up to the car and launch into my "The reason I stopped you . . . " speech.  Occasionally I would have to throw in a "Please put the car in Park" request.  No big deal.

Now it seems like every stop, I have to ask the person to hang up the phone.  Stopped a guy last night - ran a stop sign in a residential area.  Had to ask him to hang up before I could even tell him why I stopped him.  Go back to the cruiser, his driving record is clean, so I decide to give him a break.  Go back up to the car and start in on my warning.  I get as far as "This is a residential area with a lot of pedestrian traffic . . ." when his cell phone rings.  And he answers it!  WTF?

I ended up asking him if the address on his license was current, then I went back to the cruiser and wrote him for the stop sign.

So, am I just too sensitive about this, or is it really a problem?

Dave

Nope, it's a problem.  

I work at a fairly large (350+officer) police/sheriff dispatch center.  What I find more and more common is for people (who watch way too much tv) to call 911 as soon as a they see they're getting pulled over to "make sure it's really a cop who's stopping me".  

That, and the abundance of cell phones has made it so that for every accident, at least 20 people have to call and tell us.   For intoxicated drivers, all the wannabes have to follow them for miles.  We usually just have to say "stop following him, the police aren't coming".


Sad...

I believe College Cop is refering to the rude behavior of some motorist when they are stopped.  They feel that their call takes priority over their interaction with the officer.  I suspect this behavior earns far more citations than warnings as was evident in CC's post.

As to citizens calling regarding accidents, intoxicated drivers or those concerned with the legitimacy of a car attempting a stop, I fail to see how that is a problem other than a temporary increase in call volume.  What would be the alternative?  Cell phones are here and will always be with us.  I believe they do far more good than harm.  

The general instruction that we give to  anyone concerned about the legitimacy of a car stop is to call 911, report their location procede with their four way flashers on to either a will lit/populated area,  until they see a marked unit arrive, or until the 911 opperator can establish the legitimacy of the stop.  I doubt you would find an officer who would react negatively to a driver who follows these steps particullary at night and certainly if the officer is in an unmarked or slicktop.

Regards,
Gary

Definitly an issue.  I have the biggest problem when I reapproach.  They've usually now called a boyfriend/girlfriend/mom/dad and told them "I really wasn't speeding, he just pulled me over" and have already started complaining.  Of course, there is always the stereo still on when you walk up.  You'd think it would be a fairly good idea to be able to hear why you got stopped.

Is that how you usually phrase it when you have people hang up the phone? I don't  think I'm usually quite that nice.  

dp

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Happens alot.

I think most of it is "Hey, bro/girlfriend...I'm getting pulled over right now...seriously!!", with the occasional "Hey, come get me at 35th and MLK...the cops are pulling me over and my car isn't registered. Theyre gunna tow it" thrown in.  Just a nervous response.

One young gal asked me to talk to her father and handed me the phone, One older lady was on the phone with 911, and one guy was on the phone with another officer from my dept (his "friend") who promptly said "Write this guy for everything you can."

You have to be doing somthing pretty stupid to get pulled over by me.  I am not a ticket guy.

NorCal

Ever try looking at it from the other person's point of view?  I can be fired for not answering my phone.z

"stop following him, the police aren't coming".

You actually say this to people?

Yeah it's happened quite a few times.  It does annoy me that's for sure.  I won't necessarily come down on them hard for it but it sure ups their chances of getting written.  

Yeah, especially here in SoCal.  It is exactly how you have described it.  

Depending on the person stopped (I work in the busiest/worst part of town) I will tell them to hang-up or not to call anyone.  I snatched a phone out of a guy's hands before because he wouldn't stop making his fone call to his 'friends'.  I consider it an Officer Safety issue as he/she could be calling for re-enforcements.  

How many times have you stopped someone who says, 'I just live here/there/a block away.'  I have had family and friends come out at me during traffic stops.  

In one case, I stopped a guy in the alley behind his house.  He jumps out of the car and starts to run inside.  I grab him and hold him against his car.  He is resisting and he starts yelling up to his family that I am harassing/abusing him.  4 of the largest men I had seen come out, followed by a loud mouth female.  They are all yelling and screaming, slowly inching closer.  He is still jockeying for position on me and I don't have him cuffed.  I put out 'Cover Now' and threatened to maace the  five of them. he/she
Scrubb

Quoted: Depending on the person stopped (I work in the busiest/worst part of town) I will tell them to hang-up or not to call anyone.  I snatched a phone out of a guy's hands before because he wouldn't stop making his fone call to his 'friends'.  I consider it an Officer Safety issue as he/she could be calling for re-enforcements.   How many times have you stopped someone who says, 'I just live here/there/a block away.'  I have had family and friends come out at me during traffic stops.   I figure it is just as likely someone will call family/friends during a traffic stop, especially if he/she is close to home and he/she knows they have a warrant/suspended license/no license..... Scrubb

Good point.  I hadn't thought of it in quite these terms before, I think I'm going to start doing this, espically if I think somethings not quite right.

I always tell them... Hang up that Fuckin Phone!



It's just plain disrespectful! I don't take kindly to people talking on their phones!

Quoted: Yeah, especially here in SoCal.  It is exactly how you have described it.   Depending on the person stopped (I work in the busiest/worst part of town) I will tell them to hang-up or not to call anyone.  I snatched a phone out of a guy's hands before because he wouldn't stop making his fone call to his 'friends'.  I consider it an Officer Safety issue as he/she could be calling for re-enforcements.   How many times have you stopped someone who says, 'I just live here/there/a block away.'  I have had family and friends come out at me during traffic stops.   In one case, I stopped a guy in the alley behind his house.  He jumps out of the car and starts to run inside.  I grab him and hold him against his car.  He is resisting and he starts yelling up to his family that I am harassing/abusing him.  4 of the largest men I had seen come out, followed by a loud mouth female.  They are all yelling and screaming, slowly inching closer.  He is still jockeying for position on me and I don't have him cuffed.  I put out 'Cover Now' and threatened to maace the  five of them. I figure it is just as likely someone will call family/friends during a traffic stop, especially if he/she is close to home and he/she knows they have a warrant/suspended license/no license..... Scrubb

Had that happen to one of my deputies. Luckily our reinforcements were much better than theirs.

Heh, I got pulled over the yesterday for "rolling through a stop sign" bullshit.  University cop who's always in trouble with his chief because of me reporting various shit he does is opposite me at intersection -- He was there first, so I stop and wait.  We sit there with a nice mexican standoff for about 30 seconds, give or take a couple.  I finally decide hell with it, and make my turn.  

Before I'm even in the intersection, asshole cop hits the lights siren, so I pull over.  I called the chief about the continued harassment, hung up, waited for him to come up to my car -- he wouldn't let me sit in my car and wait, instead I had to go back and sit in the back of the cop car while he ran my license.  So he does, and instead of getting the no-wants-no-warrants response, he was told over the radio to "give him his license back and get your rear over here NOW".  He got out, opened the back door up, shoved my license back at me and told me he's "letting me off this time" as if he was doing me a favor and I hadn't heard the radio call.

Other than that.....cellphone gets turned off / ignored if I'm dealing with a cop.




And before assholes like johninaustin decide they need to defend asshole university cop and call me a copbasher, the university cops are the only one of four departments in town that have shitty attitudes, and are, for the most part, corrupt.  The other three departments in town have decent guys who are just trying to do the job, not prove how big their balls are.

Quoted: Is that how you usually phrase it when you have people hang up the phone? I don't  think I'm usually quite that nice.   dp

My patrol area is a private university.  If you thought small town politics were bad, try dealing with the priviledged children of priviledged parents.  As a result, I have found myself becoming extremely polite over the years.  It has gotten so bad that I had the range instructor in tears when I politely told a scumbag in the FATS trainer, "Sir, please drop the weapon."  My only saving grace was that I capped him before I finished the word "weapon".

Quoted: Ever try looking at it from the other person's point of view?  I can be fired for not answering my phone.z

Unless you are 18 years old, drive your dad's Jeep Cherokee, and wear your hat sideways, I don't think this situation applys to you.  Most phone calls that HAVE to be answered don't start with "Dude, I just got pulled over by the cops!  Yeah, no shit!".

Quoted: I had one guy actually tell me, "Hold on a minute bud." You can pretty much guess I hit him for every infraction I could find.

Wow, your guy actually talked to you?  I have actually had someone use the "just a minute" gesture (you know, one finger in the air while they continue their conversation).  I used the time to get their ticket started.

Dave

A variation of this has been happening to me quite a bit lately.  I get to an accident scene and one or both of the drivers is too busy talking to their insurance company to give me their info.  What's the rush?  You can't answer all the company's questions until I finish anyway.  Christ.

Quoted: Nope, it's a problem.   I work at a fairly large (350+officer) police/sheriff dispatch center.  What I find more and more common is for people (who watch way too much tv) to call 911 as soon as a they see they're getting pulled over to "make sure it's really a cop who's stopping me".   That, and the abundance of cell phones has made it so that for every accident, at least 20 people have to call and tell us.   For intoxicated drivers, all the wannabes have to follow them for miles.  We usually just have to say "stop following him, the police aren't coming". Sad...

Ya, the police arent coming is not a problem. Ya, people getting pulled over and murdered or other by a fake cop is not a problem. Complaining that you are paid to answer calls at a dispatch center by 20 people per accident is crazy. I read that as you would rather hear from no one, and not be bothered by someones accident....

Now, CollegeCop, I agree. That is just rude. I am glad you wrote him up a ticket. I bet he wont even think about it again...

It's not what they're saying into the phone, it's what they're telling you by continuing to talk.

"Officer, please write me for everything you can think of!

The thing I run into alot is when I get to the car, they are calling mama.  I mean even 40 yo males...  I tell them hang up and through in the safety issue.  There are cell phone guns and zappers...  Totally sucks...  The ones I hate also are the rude ones and give me the one more minute finger as if they will be with me shortly.  I letem go andthen work the stop on my slow ass terms...

Dealing with people talking on their cell phone during a traffic stop has been added to our training. Seriously.

I consider it an officer safety issue too. We've got some crazy drug trafficking and militia guys around here that seem to think they need to call their buddies to help deal with the cops.

Quoted: A variation of this has been happening to me quite a bit lately.  I get to an accident scene and one or both of the drivers is too busy talking to their insurance company to give me their info.  What's the rush?  You can't answer all the company's questions until I finish anyway.  Christ.

Same deal on the FD/EMS side. Had one guy in a minor 10-50 (MVA) actually give me the "wait a minute" one finger in the air gesture when I approached him, because he was too busy on his cell.

Documented it that

Subj. (not pt.) too busy talking on phone to answer questions. Subj. was calm, A&O, ambulatory, and by attitude and physical activity displayed no obvious signs of injury. After repeated requests subj. refused to acknowledge paramedics or sign refusal. This activity witnessed by Officer Friendly, XYPD, who acknowledged subj's lack of cooperation.

This is a lot like the televison at volume level ninety nine when you get on location. People get pissed when you have to repeat yourself, or ask them to repeat themselves, and then get more pissed when you ask them to turn it down ?!

It's not just you, it ticks me off to no extent too. The best way to guarentee that I will not give a person a warning is someone jumping out of their car after we pullover (a rant for another thread!) and talking on the phone. I'll stroke someone for every darn thing I can when they pull that crap. I'm pretty easy going about traffic violations (except with truckers) but showing a complete lack of common courtesy on a traffic stop burns me up to no end.