Weird LE Contact...
Posted: Mon Dec 24, 2007 9:05 am
This happened more than a year ago but I figure it's worth sharing. One day, when I was working the "lateshift" I didn't leave the office until around 1AM. Over the next 24hrs I would get stopped by Houston PD not once but three times, all in the downtown area. Not a single citation was issued in those three stops. At no time was I speeding nor did I fail to signal a lane change or turn. I also make it a point to keep all required stickers and safety equipment in order. My truck is also completely void of any stickers that could associate me with any particular interest or group. Being me, I don't blend in well anywhere but, I still try to be uninteresting and not to give an officer any reason to pull me over.
Anyway, the first stop was on the way home out of downtown. A blue and white lit me up just after turning off Main and heading toward I-10 East. The officer aimed his light into my mirrors so as to prevent me from seeing him approach the vehicle. I fully understand the logic but it doesn't make me feel any better about it. That's just the way it is and I deal with it. So, right about the time I'm expecting the officer to show up at my window asking for the usual stuff, he says "Uh, nevermind...The plate came back different," and starts walking back to his vehicle. I'm left immediately wanting to know what the heck is going on when he returns and says "Uh, I'd better take those (the licenses) for my report...I'll be back." A minute or two later, he returns my licenses and tells me to have a good night. I headed home without incident. The stop left me perplexed but I fully understood why he took the licenses before letting me go. The policy may no longer be in effect but, at the time of the traffic stop, HPD officers were required to log the details of every traffic stop. Typically, officers only recorded this information if a citation was issued. But after accusations of racial profiling, every traffic stop required that officers keep a log for every traffic stop stating the reason for the stop as well as provide a description of the driver and any passengers. So back to the traffic stops.
The next two stops came back to back, within fifteen minutes of each other on the way to work the following day. I exited Hamilton from US59-South and was lit up by another blue and white just after crossing Texas by the ball park. This time the stop is in daylight so I actually get to watch this officer get out of his vehicle, draw his weapon and hold it behind his right thigh in a "concealed ready" position. That raised all sorts of hairs but again, the officer gets up to the window and says, "Nevermind..." Just like the first officer, he came back to get my licenses for a report and returns them without incident before releasing me. I turned the corner onto Capital and made it as far as La Branch before being lit up by a third unit. Same ride as the last one, the only difference was this officer didn't have his firearm in a "concealed ready" position.
When I got to the office, I called my cousin and some other contacts at HPD (unfortunately none of them in patrol) to see if something was going on that might explain why I was stopped. Unfortunately, as is often the case, the left hand has no clue what the right is doing. Fortunately, I got an explanation later that day from the news media. A woman had disappeared out of the Dallas area and there was talk of a possible kidnapping. The only initial description of her vehicle was a "blue dodge truck." You guessed it, I've got a big, blue, Dodge truck. The alert was later updated to indicate the missing vehicle was a blue, Dodge Durango but if I remember correctly, by the time this happened, the vehicle and woman had been located by police.
Anyway, the first stop was on the way home out of downtown. A blue and white lit me up just after turning off Main and heading toward I-10 East. The officer aimed his light into my mirrors so as to prevent me from seeing him approach the vehicle. I fully understand the logic but it doesn't make me feel any better about it. That's just the way it is and I deal with it. So, right about the time I'm expecting the officer to show up at my window asking for the usual stuff, he says "Uh, nevermind...The plate came back different," and starts walking back to his vehicle. I'm left immediately wanting to know what the heck is going on when he returns and says "Uh, I'd better take those (the licenses) for my report...I'll be back." A minute or two later, he returns my licenses and tells me to have a good night. I headed home without incident. The stop left me perplexed but I fully understood why he took the licenses before letting me go. The policy may no longer be in effect but, at the time of the traffic stop, HPD officers were required to log the details of every traffic stop. Typically, officers only recorded this information if a citation was issued. But after accusations of racial profiling, every traffic stop required that officers keep a log for every traffic stop stating the reason for the stop as well as provide a description of the driver and any passengers. So back to the traffic stops.
The next two stops came back to back, within fifteen minutes of each other on the way to work the following day. I exited Hamilton from US59-South and was lit up by another blue and white just after crossing Texas by the ball park. This time the stop is in daylight so I actually get to watch this officer get out of his vehicle, draw his weapon and hold it behind his right thigh in a "concealed ready" position. That raised all sorts of hairs but again, the officer gets up to the window and says, "Nevermind..." Just like the first officer, he came back to get my licenses for a report and returns them without incident before releasing me. I turned the corner onto Capital and made it as far as La Branch before being lit up by a third unit. Same ride as the last one, the only difference was this officer didn't have his firearm in a "concealed ready" position.
When I got to the office, I called my cousin and some other contacts at HPD (unfortunately none of them in patrol) to see if something was going on that might explain why I was stopped. Unfortunately, as is often the case, the left hand has no clue what the right is doing. Fortunately, I got an explanation later that day from the news media. A woman had disappeared out of the Dallas area and there was talk of a possible kidnapping. The only initial description of her vehicle was a "blue dodge truck." You guessed it, I've got a big, blue, Dodge truck. The alert was later updated to indicate the missing vehicle was a blue, Dodge Durango but if I remember correctly, by the time this happened, the vehicle and woman had been located by police.
