What is your experience with an incompetent police officer?

14 comments

1. Getting annoyed with us bc we called the cops after two dudes were at our door in the middle of the night saying they were having car trouble and insisting we let them inside to borrow a phone, and getting annoyed when we’d say no we can just call someone to help you. Like I get that by the time the cop gets there, they’re gone and not much he can do. But being like “two people were at your door and you called the cops?” is pretty fucking stupid imo

2. I got pulled over for going the posted speed limit, not speeding up after as I was less 20m to a stop sign, actually stopping at the said stop sign then not speeding up quickly after since I was going to a friend’s house less than 30m from the stop sign.

   I’ve also been pulled over for waving hello.

3. Got a ticket in Rochester like 20 years ago for texting while driver, except that I was using my phone while at a red light. The law there explicitly stated that the car had to be in motion, so I took it to court and it was thrown out by the judge.

   Competent police have been way scarier. I had a friend assaulted by police and then left at a gas station in the middle of nowhere.

4. Ex got pulled over one night after we left his cousin’s wedding. They ran our IDs and saw I had a warrant, which was inaccurate since I had recently taken care of my legal stuff. Their shitty system just wasn’t updated. I was arguing with this cop and he took me and didn’t even give me a chance to grab my purse. My ex went home and we go to the station, and not even a full 2 minutes in they realize I was right and he wasted my time. I didn’t have my phone and I’m really not good at remembering numbers so I couldn’t call my ex. The cop dropped me off at a random gas station and I had no choice but to hitch hike home in the middle of the night, a 100lb girl walking down the highway while wearing a dress and sandals. Like at least he could have offered to take me home… I’m very lucky that I was picked up by a normal person and not a rapist or something.

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6. When my parents were getting divorced my father broke into our house, stole things that belonged to us, slashed my moms tires AND stole her license plate. We even had video evidence since my neighbors had security cameras. My mom called the police and when they got there they said there was nothing they could do because the house and car were under his name.

7. I don’t think I’ve ever had an experience with a cop that wasn’t incompetent or worse, here’s a few instances in no particular order….

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   1. At 15 I worked at a truck stop fast food restaurant. I had a man in his 50s+ stalking me. He got my phone number from a coworker (she was a piece of work herself, in that she thought I needed to “loosen up” more and gave him the number and told him my schedule and where I lived) and he proceeded to text me graphic fantasies, both sexual and violent. He threatened my coworkers and told me exactly how he wanted to hurt them. Alternated between telling me how amazing I was and swearing and threatening me. I showed the messages to my parents. They called the cops. Because I didn’t know exactly who it was, they couldn’t do anything (fair enough). But I mentioned carrying a pocket knife and they said if I used it, they’d arrest me for it. And informed my parents the whole situation was my fault anyway, because us cashiers were flirty and he probably got the wrong impression. (Not cop related but same instance: once we knew who the guy was, because he brought me a shower/bath gift set at work, my boss offered him free food vouchers to not come in during my scheduled hours because I was being dramatic and hysterical).
   2. My husband was being threatened by a local guy (dude is a felon with a long history of violent crimes) and started full out harrassing our family. Driving out to our house and putting his headlights on full blast at our windows and revving the engine at 2am, spreading rumors that I was a child bride and calling my husband a pedo because of it, etc. We called the cops and they wouldn’t allow us to make a report. Said we couldn’t prove any of it, and anything we could prove was just talk and not grounds for filing a report or anything.
   3. My husband’s ex wife went into a mandatory psyche hold on Christmas eve (they had been divorced for 2 years at the time, I was preg with our first kid). She was threatening to kill my husband, me, our baby, and my husband’s parents. In graphic detail. Because of it, they were required to notify us of the threats. I suggested a restraining order and they talked my in-laws and husband out of it, insisting it was pointless and she was probably just drunk and angry and suggested she was justified for being angry, hinting at my relationship with my husband as a valid source for her anger. (1. She IS violent. The marriage between her and by husband ended when she stabbed him. She’s a bipolar alcoholic with a history of violence and abuse. 2. Not that it should be relevant to the situation in any way, our relationship didn’t start until AFTER theirs ended).
   4. As a teen, I had a rather unpleasant homelife and often spent time wandering around outside after dark. My mother worked at a grocery store nearby the apartment we lived in, so I usually walked over about an hour or two before she got off work, hung out playing on my phone or just enjoying the quiet and dark until she got off, then walked her home so she wasn’t walking alone. Cop stopped and shined his flashlight at me. Suggested I was a prostitute and too young and “pretty” for that life. I corrected him, told him I was waiting for my mom and how old I was. He went on to suggest some rather lewd ideas of ways to pass the time with him.

8. Not exactly incompetence but.. When my sister died she was a ward of the state. The state said “our custody ends at the time of death, you are responsible for paying for anything to do with the body.” Meanwhile the police said her belongings now belonged to the state. Which included the only known copy of her autobiography. The cops continued to strong arm her dad’s lawyers until the statute of limitations was up. Their excuse was that they couldn’t release her belongings without a case and despite the family’s suspicions and desire for a case, we couldn’t build one without her writings.

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10. Got robbed at gun point in New Orleans while on vacation/girls trip. Had nothing after the robbery. We asked a cop for a ride and he said no and left.

11. Reposting as I’ve now verified my email lol

    I have a pretty tame one. My car was stolen and they didn’t believe me. Sent parking services instead of a cop and had them drive me around because they were convinced I just forgot where I parked. Finally an officer shows up but he’s still not convinced so we drive around some more. It was about 3 hours before they let me file a police report. Such a waste of time.

12. Being sexually assaulted by another girl after first coming out as a lesbian. Talking to several police officers about it and being told it was a waste of time to file a report.

    Then that girl started stalking me. Now if there are previous police reports it’s much easier to get a restraining order. I had to deal with her stalking me and assaulting me till I could get a restraining order.

13. I was about 13 years old. I stayed after school to work on a science project. My school didn’t have hall ways and I was working outside on it. My abusive step mom was circling the school like a shark in her white mini van.

    I was terrified to go home. So I confessed to my teacher about my home situation. Suddenly all the times I came to school with no food made sense for her. She tells the school police officer. I get called up to the front and I’m asked to write down my experiences at home from the neglect of not eating for days to grabbing me and swinging me by my hair.

    I asked my teacher if I could go home with her because I’ve never told anyone and I didn’t want to imagine the beating or punishment when I got home. She said she couldn’t promise that. So I had no guarantees that I’d be safe.
    The police officer sat me down in his office and invited my step mom to sit next to me. Then told me to say everything I wrote right in front of her. In front of my abuser.

    So with no guarantee of safety, I backed out. I pretended I lied. It would be less trouble then going home with her after saying everything.
    The police officer then proceeded to tell me that she could leave me in a tent in the backyard and she would still technically be providing shelter. So in the end, he empowered the woman who beat, neglected and emotionally abused me since I was 9-10 years old up until I was 18. He made sure that it continued another 5 years.

14. This happened like 8 years ago but—I have Epilepsy, had it since I was 16ish.. One day, when I was about 19, I was driving home when I felt the beginning of a seizure coming on; I’d gotten to where I can tell one’s coming, so I pulled over at a gas station, go out of my car, sat on the curb and called my mom to let her know so she could come get me-her house was less then 5 mins from the gas station. If anyone has ever been around someone who has seizures then you know how “out of it” the person seems before the actual fall over & shake part.. Anyways, as I’m waiting for my mom, 2 cops walk up to me and ask me what I’m doing. I told them I was waiting for my mom to come and get me but obviously it didn’t come out right because my brain wasn’t working! They instantly started asking me if I’d been drinking, what drugs I’d taken, asking for my id and car stuff but I couldn’t answer them. I could barely comprehend what was going on as I could feel myself “fading.” I start pointing at my medical bracelet that clearly stated “Epileptic/Fall Risk” but they were having no part of that. They grab me by the arms, lift me off the curb and start putting handcuffs on me “since I refused an officers orders.” The last thing I remember seeing before everything went black was my mom pull up, jump out of the car, running over to me and yelling “no, don’t do that shes having a seiz…” I wake up in the hospital 2 days later with a broken nose, broken wrist and a dislocated shoulder because the handcuffs were on during my seizure. All I got was a card from the police station saying “get better soon”… no apology, nothing..