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Well we have cops both good and bad. Some want to set an example and some view the public as guilty of "some crime" and look down at the general population. Your sons unfortunate brush with the law should have never gone as far as an arrest. Lets review the charges for a moment...
1. Excessive speed
2. Drag racing
Both of these charges are nothing more than misdemeanors at best but it looks like the cops wanted to make a mountain out of an anthill. The dense traffic stipulation at 2am would get a chuckle out of the judge and punch a whole in the officers credibility. I dont know where the case stands now but a lawyer might not be a bad idea. It will send a message to the officers 'this kid knows what he's doing', I see it once in a while and I have lost a few cases this way so I tend to leave them alone.
"From this my son learned to watch his lead foot (and he needed to), and that cops aren't necessarily honest and factual in their reports. He is now frightened of the traffic police because he does not trust them."
Your son has every right to fear the cops now and to have no trust in them. I can honestly tell you that many of the beat and traffic cops have a bad attitude and will do anything to have that "one up" notch in his belt. I get rather irritated with our local city cops because they falsify traffic reports and more than a few times I have rewritten the report to reflect the facts. The boy who was shot 4 times last week after a chase in a stolen vehicle had several key facts missing. One was the kid had charged the officer with the vehicle with intent to run the officer down. Another was the officer was trigger happy and at the same time pissed off because he didnt get to do his "militant" arrest of a felon. Arrest procedures for minors are diffrent for those over 18 believe it or not. Procedure for this type of situation is get out of the line of the vehicle not fire upon the driver or vehicle. Hit the fuel tank and it becomes a fireball.
The best thing your son can do at this time is drive like he is on eggs and put no trust into the cops. Later on he will learn who is good and who is bad. There are still officers out on the beat who have a heart of gold. Most also sport gray whiskers and weathered faces but they really do care. Many of the younger officers have a "gung-ho" attitude and are still in the "impress the captain" mindset. In reality they are screwing themselves but they havn't figured that part out yet. While they learn they screw the public over but even cops are subject to public review. Not all of them make it in the long run...
Drive on eggs for a while and establish a reputation of being the good driver. I got nailed for drag racing, I hit 118 one night in 1986 tearing a 5.0 Mustang apart in a 440 powered Dodge Polara then we went for highest speeds. I maxed out at 125 and had shutdown when I saw the squad come around the corner with his lights out waiting to sneak up on us. He wrote me up and followed me home to make sure I told my parents of what happened. The officer was the same guy who took me under his wing when I was a kid. I learned some big lessions that night!
Badge 988
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