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pedalman wrote:I have no experience in law enforcement, but I would be willing to bet that most "lucky breaks" that result in fugitive apprehensions come from "benign" traffic stops.

And they do. You would not believe how many warrants are confirmed because of a non-functioning tag light.

I was in a national chain tire store the other day because I had noticed that I had a nail in my right front tire when I came out of a restaurant. After telling the tire guy what I needed, I went over to look at some of the tires that were out on display. A gentleman, who was setting down waiting for his vehicle, noticed that I was wearing my battleship Texas cap – BB-35 – which I acquired while visiting the Battleship Texas several years ago; it’s in pristine shape for being as old as it is! It was my day off so I was just in jeans and a t-shirt.

He was very pleasant and he started up a nice conversation about national security and how he worked on some navy ships before he retired; I’m assuming in a shipyard from the nature of his conversation. I set down beside him and we talked about how lousy the Cowboys were doing this year, then he stated that he had gotten a ticket for running a stop sign the other day and how bad the ‘cops’ were because they could be out looking for dopers and rapist instead of giving him a ticket. He was going to write the mayor, city councilmen (his had just passed away here in Ft. Worth), the state representatives, the state senators and the governor about how he was being singled out by this cop and the ticket – just because he was a senior citizen.

I asked him if he’d stopped for the stop sign.
His answer: “No, I didn’t.”

“Then you deserved the ticket.” I said.

He then proceeds to go “off” on me and asked who I worked for.

I told him. (And just so you know: I’m not a Trooper, but, my uniform does say: “Texas Department of Public Safety, Highway Patrol” on it.)

He gets up and storms out of the door all the time cussing me from head to toe.

The lady who was setting next to me congratulated me, and said that she was fixing to tell him off but I was nicer about it while still telling him that he was wrong.

Another gentlemen setting on the other side of the showroom said that just the night before he’d been pulled over by a State Trooper and that he knew that he deserved the ticket and congratulated our department on doing a good job of trying to keep our highways safe.

I said thanks to both the gentleman and the lady and that’s the end of this backwards contact.