A new cop in town, our driveway is ½ mile long and our mailbox is at the end of the drive. We use our ATVs to run down and check the mail, been doing it for years. Yesterday for the first time I let my 14 year old Nephew ride along on my other ATV (with helmet and proper training) , we get to the mailbox and turn around and here he comes “the new cop in town”. He stops us and come to find out our mailbox is 10 feet onto public property. This guy tore me a new one in front of my Nephew about riding on public property. We now have to stop at our property line, walk to the mailbox (10 feet) and turn around on our property. His departing words were ”your setting a poor example for your Nephew and the next time it will cost you $100.00 fine per ATV”. I know the law is the law…..but to rip my A%# for that!!!!! Sorry….had to let off some steam.

 

That cop is an ___ hole!

 

Sucks.You are right, the law is the law.A police officer has a powerful tool he should use on the job,it is called discretion.Give the guy a few weeks to learn the ropes of your area.Think of the trouble he'd be in if his boss caught him lettin' things slide already.New teacher,new boss,new forum members,new cop in town, they have to be "tough" so they won't get run over

 

Wish I had a 1/2 mile driveway, must be nice. Sorry to hear about the Jack@ss cop in your town. Some cops just don't know how to use a little common sense. I got a ticket last year because I made a wrong turn on a trail and ended up 100 yards off the trail, he sat at that corner handing out tickets all day to people making the same mistake.

 

Protect and to SERVE??? Whatever happend to the image of a friendly cop helping a youngster, setting examples and being there for help. At what point did the majority seem to feel it necessary to harass the general public? Why cant they concentrate on the criminals instead of bullying the average citizen. Their moto should be "Do as I say, Not as I do"

 

<< Why cant they concentrate on the criminals instead of bullying the average citizen >>

Because it's easier.

 

There are some good cops. And there are bad cops. Absolute power corrupts absolutely. That's where they earned the name pig, because many act like bullies, abusing their power. They are given this power by society to deal with real criminals. But many cops just can't seem to distinguish regular citizens from criminals. They especially have problems with young males and minorities. It is such utter macho bull$h!+
....One of the big problems is inconsistent laws, which cops can arbitrarily enforce. Here in New Mexico there is a law allowing off highway vehicles to ride off the side of the road if they are licensed, do not interfere with traffic and are going to or from a place to ride and there is no other way to get there. But few people know about it.
.....Our kid's club, the Gila Rough Riders, is working with the state legislature to create an Off Highway Vehicle fund which would fund promotion of responsible off roading, preserve and promote riding areas and hopefully create new riding areas. We also want to clean up the statues regarding Off Highway Vehicles so they make sense, can be publicized so people know what they are about, and can be HONESTLY enforced. We have both of our local state legislators behind this and hope to bring this before the state legislature this fall. Wish us luck.
[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-confused.gif[/img]

 

<< A police officer has a powerful tool he should use on the job,it is called discretion. >>



That's 100% right. It's a shame that he has to be such a jerk...It's officers like that, that really gives them a bad name.

Like others said, there are cops that are jerks, and there are cops that are actually more than fair.

For instance about a month ago a friend and I were coming down a dirt road in the town he lives in (and where my parents live). Anyway, we reached the intersection where the dirt road meets the main road. Actually we were sitting on asphalt because the first 20 feet or so of the dirt road is paved. My parents house is about a 1/4 mile down the main road and that is where we were heading, but we were parked talking about racing. Anyway, we were about ready to take off down the road so I looked both ways and I see a cop coming. Trust me, this is a very rare occasion in that neck of the woods. I thought we were going to get in big trouble because we weren't even registered and we were obviously intending to go on the main road. Also another friend of mine got stopped by a game warden in a neighboring down and got a $160 fine and 3 points on his license. Anyway, the cop slowed down and stopped in the road right in front of us, and rolled down his windowed and asked us if we were going on the main road. We both said know, but it was obvious we were lying. Anyway he said that he didn't care if we road on the dirt roads, just make sure not to go on the main roads. We said sure thing and he said take care, and he left. Didn't ask for licenses, didn't ask for registration, didn't ask for anything. He knew that we weren't causing any harm so he used his &quot;discretion&quot; and let us go.

Personally I have more respect for the law when cops act this way. The next week I registered my Banshee so now I can legally ride on the dirt roads....it didn't take a ticket for me to learn my lesson...just a cop being fair. Needless to say we still need to travel on the pavement about 1/8 to get onto a dirt road, but we just make sure no other cars are coming now [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img] .

Take care.

-Josh

 

Don't even get me started about the cops.

This might be just a 16 year-old's point of view, but it seems like the new &quot;young&quot; cops always have too much adrenaline pumping through their veins. Give the guy a couple of years and he will realize, hopefully, that the badge on his chest doesn't make him any better than us, nor does it give him the right to be a tyrant (or plain and simply, an a**hole). He is just another person, a person who has a job to protect and serve. If I were ever a cop, I would definately not be a harda**. While he didn't do anything wrong, there are still moral, common sense ways of going about things.

I just wish all cops would realize they have to control themselves in some situations. SETTLE DOWN!

P.S.
I'm guessing that cop watches too much T.V. on Saturday night. He must have thought he was on COPS or something.

 

I got to weigh in on this one. Memorial day weekend. We were riding on 1100 acres of trails about 2 miles from my kids log cabin. Their were 7 riders in our group but probably 50 or so atv's on the trails. We were heading out of the trails to the hard road to get back to the cabin when another rider stopped us and told us not to go out to the hard road because their were cops every 1/4 mile and every atv they tried to stop RUN FROM THEM and the cops were really upset.(YEE HAW). It's legal to ride on the road in ohio if you have a state sticker,(only to get from point A to Point B) whatever that means. The cops were stopping everyone for drinking and driving (DUI), or so we heard. Had to turn around and try to find another way out. We got lost, it got dark and it took about 1-1/2 hrs to get back. All the time waiting for the 700 to run out of fuel. I have respect for law enforcment but not when their trying to ruin everyones weekend. It's not above me to go through the ditch, through the fields and over the hills. I did stop for a cop one time(before the new sticker law) and he said &quot; why did you stop?, everyone that has those things, runs from me&quot;. He just told me not to ride on the road. The moral of the story: HAMMER DOWN!!