run ins with law enforcement

[kipman]

would like to find out what kind of reactions ss members have had from law enforcement?

 

[dabtl]

I was hauling a cannon one evening in central Texas when the locals stopped me for having no light on the license plate. They spent 15 minutes getting the cannon lecture, showed me a short cut to my destination and told me to get a light one of these days.

 

[cbvet]

They pay no attention.
Eric
CBVET

 

[spicergear]

Got pulled over several time for credential checks in my M715 when I had the Dana's and 37" TSL Boggers on it. After it all checked out the cops usually digged it. Funny; after I put the Rockwells and 1100x20 Goodyear Custom Extra Grips on 211 wheels...nothing-- wouldn't even get looked at twice. I don't get it.

 

[Autocar]

I run around in my halftrack all the time. Even out here on the far Left (Coast that is), I've never been bothered.

 

[kcimb]

Re: RE: run ins with law enforcement

I run around in my halftrack all the time. Even out here on the far Left (Coast that is), I've never been bothered.

Halftrack? Wow.

 

[Blood_of_Tyrants]

RE: Re: RE: run ins with law enforcement

Wear a OD t-shirt and they'll never give you a second thought.

 

[wreckerman893]

Most of the time I get ignored by the city, county and state guys. Sometimes I get a smile and wave.
I rolled into the local National Guard base to buy some cheap fuel and the guard just waved me on through.
When we had our harvest festival I was late arriving and hadn't even registered. The sherriff was at the end of the line and told me to get in line and have fun. The crowd loved the duece and I got a lot of salutes from the vets along the route.
I love my truck.

 

[rmgill]

Hmm, stopped a few times in the Ferret. Usual questions go rapidly from "is that legal?" to "how much was it and where can I find one?".

The Deuce/trailer/dingo combination has made me friends with the DOT inspectors in SC who LOVE the truck and the armored car. They chat amiably with me every time I swing through the weight station. I figure next time through I'll have to pull in and stop and go inside and chew the fat for a bit.

The most unusual stop in the Ferret involved two VERY green cops for our county seat. They did some sort of VERY half arsed felony stop while they both hid in their cruisers until I was fully out of the car. I called to chat with the sgt about it later and she said it was just them being very new. (they were polite the whole time but seemed to be all left feet and mis-guided assumptions and questions).

 

[Jones]

Same old story here. The standard questions first and a check of license, reg and insurance then a lot of questions; what is it, where did you get it, how much have you got into it... If it's a slow evening for them, I've even taken a few for a short road trip with their partner trailing along in the patrol car, waiting for their turn to ride. All in all, they've all been positive encounters.

 

[ida34]

Every time I drive the deuce it feels like there is a cop in the cab. Oops. I forgot. There is a cop in the cab every time I get in the deuce. No problems or stops at all. I did take it to a Boy Scout camp out one year. The ranger came around and asked about it. I talked to him for about an hour before he had to go. I gave the scouts rides around the park and they loved it.

 

[jeli]

One of the local PD loves it. He worked for a house moving company that used MV's to move houses. The State Trooper who lives across the street is cool. Never said a word knowing I hadn't registered it yet.

 

[Tx75Pinz]

I keep expecting to get stopped, especially when I'm pulling the trailer behind my Pinzgauer, but so far I haven't had it happen. The newer Border Patrol guys at the local checkpoint usually have questions and the regular civilians always gawk (in a nice way if you can gawk nicely) and when I'm fueling I get lots of questions. Usually questions about what is it, where did you get it etc. Folks that work on the ranches with regular civilian pickups tend to be slightly envious because of the truck's capabilities. I love it.

 

[KVFC_241]

I was driving the duece around town one night when i lost all of my lights except for the convoy lights. Local PD had been following me around anyways and finally came up with a reason to stop me. I monkeyed around with it in the dark for a while with the cops helping me look for the problem. Finally one cop said "Hey, we can follow you home with our lights on so you can get it out of here". Sure i said and jumped in and turned on the convoys. They turned on their lightbar and we headed out of town the 5 miles to my house. Unfortunately about half way home they turned on their siren and bugged out in the other direction! Leaving me and a friend of mine with a streamlight spotlight hanging out the window. after a somewhat scary 15 minutes we managed to crawl our way down the backroads to my house. I later talked to the two officers who said they had an actual call and had to leave. Later found out that the driving light hot wire in the rear of the truck came loose and arced itself to the frame shorting all of the lights out. Fixed it and haven't had a problem with it since, except for the repeated requests for rides by the local PD. They just won't ride with me when they are on duty! Oh Well

 

[BillIdaho]

I am a county Deputy. I drive my MUTT, my 5ton(usually towing an M103 with a searchlight on it), and my Gama Goat, all over the place. Most of the cops from the other agencies don't know it is a cop driving it. If it is one of the guys from the agency I work for, they know its me, and could care less.

One thing you guys (NON-cops) need to consider: When you are driving down the road, in anything, no matter how legal you are, when you see a cop car, the first thing everybody does (usually) is let off on the gas pedal, and then the thought process takes over."Hmmm, oh no, he knows I don't have my wallet with me, and I didn't use my turn signal a block ago, and my insurance is expired by a few weeks,etc." You KNOW that cop is praying to find anything so he has a reason to pull you over. ANYTHING. That cop is looking for any equipment violation.....checking to make sure you are exactly on the speed limit......
In reality, most of the time, unless you GIVE THE COP A REAL REASON... that cop is worrying about paying the rent, where his gas-can is for the weedeater he can't find, who borrowed his tools, where his teenage kid is, who is home with his wife...and so forth. Odds are he(she) is on their way to a call.
Unles it's a STEP team cop, whose primary duty is to find a traffic violation, it's just a rather oddball vehicle, he sees a gaggle of them every day. Yours just happens to be green (or desert in my case).
Please, consider cops have hobbies, and I personally know a bunch that collect MV's. The fear of a government intervention should be focused on legislature, not the street cop. Like I said, just drive good, and don't do anything to buy a citation. There is certainly no shortage of way-more deserving recipients of my attention than an MV.
My $.02-as a cop and MV collector.

 

[sailor2000]

Well said BillIdaho!!!

 

[Manstein]

I have never had a problem with any. I too, used to be a peace officer and still know tons of them. They don't want to hassle with a MV. There is something unpatriotic about lighting one up and making a traffic stop.
How many people stop at the weight stations? I've always blown past them and never had a problem.

 

[zak]

Like any proffession Law Enforcement has its share of idiots, but 99.9% are no different than anybody else. Most probably didn't even notice that you passed or if he did you were just another oddity that he sees every day. I get calls from the guys telling me that they just saw a " neat old army truck" or where there's one for sale. Never have I got one about somebodys driving habits.

 

[halftrack]

OK, so there is this local car show at the Stadium that I decided to attend. Well, as we all know, getting a MV ready is not like driving a garage queen sports car or hot rod on a trailer and just ditty bop on down to the show. Especially not the case with a Halftrack. Rather than being rushed in the morning, I decided to load the track on the trailer the night before and park it in front of my house (dummy guns mounted) trailer and tractor.

After a 4 hr prep job (cleaning, checking fluids, loading radios, etc) I decided to call it a day and spend some time with the family (they were getting pretty jealous at this point that I was spending more time with the Halftrack). No sooner that I sat down for dinner I hear the loudest knock at my front door and I thought if they knocked any harder it was going to break the glass. I knew immediately that it was probably the police. Sure enough it was the police. Not one car, not two, not three, but SIX police cars in front of my house.

The first words out of their mouth was "Nice Halftrack, we had to come by because we received no fewer than 6 calls to 911 about machineguns on a tank." He started to laugh and I knew common sense was then going to prevail. They knew about the car show the following day and expected it was most likely for that event. They asked if they could climb aboard and take pictures. I said "Knock yourself out. Take as many as you like."
They than started to call their buddies to show them.

They were very nice and more interested in talking about the halftrack than giving me a hard time about anything. They didn't even mention anything about having a tractor trailer parked in a residential area (a big no no and I knew better).

After about a hour they were gone. I could of talk all night with them but they had a job to go do and the wife's patience was at the limit at this point.

 

[m-35tom]

drove down I83 from harrisburg and around the baltimore beltway with "this" in the bed and tailgate hooked straight out as it is 14' long. no one said anything.