Tips from the source

By: Angela Rodriguez

Posted: 7/22/08

1Radars: The officers on motorcycles use laser radars (the ones that look similar to a laser tag gun), which are very accurate and can pick you out of a pack. The radars in the police cars can get readings while moving and they can clock you from behind the car. If you see a police car in sight, they already know how fast you are going. No use in slamming on the breaks. Never speed around school zones, police officers are usually around. "Different officers have different standards as far as what they pull over for," Harper said. "I'm not going to pull somebody over until they are a certain amount of miles over. We do not pull people over for one mile an hour over. It's in our policy. We aren't allowed to. If you're not endangering anybody, then for me personally, you're probably OK."

2Police officers have an eye for seat belts. As we were driving Harper said, "See this guy right here, he doesn't have his seat belt on, he sees us, he's going to wait till he passes to put it on to not bring attention to himself." And I thought I was being sly.

3An officer does not need a warrant to enter a home. "We've actually had people open up the blinds because they think we can't do anything - they start mooning us, they're drinking their beer and flipping us off and that is not going to sit too well with officers who are on now their tenth hour of work and are just wanting to do reports and go home and got dispatched to this call because of loud music or whatever. I will say this, without getting too much into it, there are options for us to entertain and to act on. Just because you don't answer the door doesn't mean you are free and clear." Keep the hand gestures to a minimal.

4If you are on a road and a police officer is driving slow, go the speed limit and just go around them. If you aren't doing anything wrong, then you don't have anything to worry about. "I don't go 50 miles an hour on Highway 6 to make people go slower or try to psychologically mess with people driving by," he said. "I'm watching traffic coming at me, and if I find a speeder going 90 miles an hour I want to be able to cross that median at a safe speed. That why I'm driving that slow, and people start stacking behind me."

5Fraternity and sorority letters on your car don't make a difference. "It's freedom of speech." He said he noticed a mustang around town where the license plate says "HI COPR". So, they don't pull people over because of what they drive or what organization they represent.

6They don't have ticket quotas. "I don't get a toaster for giving out a specific amount of tickets. The call load is too high. It's unfair to the general public, we aren't [looking] at people to find something wrong with you."

7Don't try to bribe the police officers to get out of a ticket. "Bribing a police officer will get you a quick trip to jail," Harper said. "Also, the fact that you are a female has no effect on whether I'm going to give you a ticket or not. I've had girls that have cried" "Girls have tried to hike their skirts up, etc. But I guess it comes with the fact that it's a college town. That does happen, occasionally."

8Donuts: One officer I spoke with said he doesn't even like them. Lt. Brock said, "I like donuts, but you're not going to see me eating one in uniform. For that very reason, it's that cliché."

9Police officers are good people. If you ever need anything or are in trouble, they are here to help.