Episode 233: How To Deal With Police During A Traffic Stop

Salty & Spice talk were stopped by a police officer during the recording of one of our podcasts (for a non-traffic registration question... the license bureau screwed up and the officer sorted it out). There are several things people should do when stopped by police, to insure the safety of everybody and the best possible outcome for all, whether tickets are given or not.

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Transcript

Salty: 0:00

Hello, everybody, this is salty, my big comfortable reclining chair and spice is sitting next to me. This is a little pre face before the actual podcast to tell you what's going on, we recorded this podcast in a pouring rain while we were driving and you're gonna hear this weird little noise. That's the wiper blades as they were swiping on the semi dry windshield, it was kind of one of these driving in and out of rain, so I was having to move the wiper blades around. And when they got started to get dry, they start squeaking. So when you hear that sound, that's what it is. I just want to drop a little note here to tell you what you were hearing if there's nothing wrong with your audio system. It's just the car wiper blades doing their thing. Okay, now it's on to the podcast. Hello, everybody. Welcome. Oh, feels unnatural. Let's do it the other way.

Spice: 0:55

Hello, everybody.

Salty: 0:56

Hello, everybody. And welcome to the show the Big Show, critically acclaimed by gas that is recorded in our car, and we're driving along in our car that was recently stopped by a state patrol officer, not because I was actually speeding or anything like that, because I don't generally speed.

Spice: 1:17

Certainly not on these roads,

Salty: 1:18

certainly not on these roads, and certainly not in these conditions. That's when there's snow on the roads. But anyway, we were stopped. And we were actually quite baffled as to why we were being stopped. But let me go ahead and tell you a few of the tips that that I have learned. And these are nothing unique to me. But these are a few tips that I've learned to avoid having hassles with the police clear my way. And I can tell you, there are several things I can do. Or you can do to avoid having to deal with police officers who are not happy with you. And they're very minor things and they will never hurt your chances of of getting ticketed, you may still get ticketed, but they won't hurt your chances. And if the if the officer likes you, you have a much better chance of actually just getting a warning or whatever.

Spice: 2:14

Besides which they do fall into the category of common civility when you think about

Salty: 2:18

Yeah, and you know, and it also calls into to the category of Don't be a jerk.

Unknown: 2:23

Yeah.

Salty: 2:24

I mean, some people are just natural jerks, and they're the ones who get a lot of tickets. So here's salties list of things you most of which I just used to deal with police officers. And the first one is going to be a little controversial. And I know some of you people are going to not like it at all, but I'm just gonna throw it out there. And you can take it or leave it because it is absolutely stone cold. True thing one, to dealing with police officers. Be a white

Spice: 2:54

Better yet, be a white woman guy.

Salty: 2:56

or be a white woman better. Yeah. A white woman who smiles a lot is very nice. It doesn't matter if you act ditzy or not. I mean, you can be as detailed as you want to be. But yeah, be white. All right. No more needs to be said about that. It's just the truth. Okay,

Spice: 3:11

just acknowledging,

Salty: 3:12

just acknowledging that it is what it is. Number two, realize what the officers concerns are your concerns, his or her concerns, and his or her concerns are, first and foremost. They want to go home to the family tonight. traffic stops can be very dangerous. And they want to go home and play with the kids tonight and watch TV, just like everybody else does.

Spice: 3:45

They don't know you.

Salty: 3:46

They don't know you. They don't know anything about you. You're just some random person who's probably in a bad mood, or they just got stopped by a police officer.

Spice: 3:53

In our case, since the problem was the plates didn't get Switched at the license office. They were looking at somebody where the plates didn't match the car they were on. And that probably brings up suspicion of the car stolen. And people who steal cars. had that felony you'll do other felonies too in all likelihood. So I can see why the guy would be concerned.

Salty: 4:16

To be perfectly clear. This was a mistake at the license office. Not and not salt is discarded license. In fact, that's what he did when he discovered when he got out of his computer he found out Oh, well this is supposed to have a different set of plates, which they never gave me on it. But it is licensed. It is insured it is it does belong to me. You know so that's a no, I gotta go mess with the license office and sort that out.

Spice: 4:45

Yeah, no, that's not fun. That was there last week getting my Real ID and that was traumatic.

Salty: 4:52

But anyway, pushing, pressing right along. I'm getting pulled over. I see flashes by me. I'm confused. But I know the number one thing that officers cares about is their safety. And that stuff's legit. I don't blame them a bit. I mean, why would you? How could you? So I'm driving, I get I see the lights, I turn and look to see if you know if he's popping past me because that's what I fully expect. I'm doing 54 miles an hour on a 55 mile an hour road. You know, I am not speeding, I did not speed through the time we were just in because this is a state trooper, I can tell by the type of car that this is a state trooper. So I'm like, Okay, well, I'm on this little twisty narrow, one or two lane road that has no shoulder, whatever. But fortunately, I know the area pretty well. And I know there's a there is a intersection coming up. So I slowed down immediately, like 45. In an acknowledgment that yes, I see the officer who is behind me, I'm actually being a quarter mile from the from the road, I go ahead and flick on my blinker when I when I confirm where I am, I flick on my blinker to show that I am pulling over, I pull over into this intersection of this rural road. So you know, I know there's not going to be much traffic. And I pull over into the area where it is safest for the officer to walk, I pull over. And even though it's raining, when I see the officer getting out of the car, I put and see which side of the car he's going to he's going to the wife side, I roll down both the front and the back windows because this car has smoked windows. And you know, the officer sees both windows coming down, he's able to come up there and peek inside and see that we have nothing in our back seat that's going to cause him trouble. It can see there's nothing in you know, so he can look at me. And I I was just looking at him baffled like I have

Spice: 7:03

no idea we got nothing.

Salty: 7:05

I have no idea why you just pulled me over. And so he told me that the plates don't match the the car. And I'm like we've got the paperwork in our glove box, I points the glove box, we've got the paperwork in the glove box. Okay, this could be a situation where we also got a gun in the glove box, he doesn't know we got the paperwork. So we're going to open the glove, I tell him this, we're going to open the glove box, and I leave my my arm out pointing to the glove box, I have my other hand on the steering wheel. I do this intentionally so the officer can see one hand on the wheel. The other hand is out and pointing to the glove box. So there's no way I can grab something. Spice reaches out she opens up the glove box. And he can see all the contents of the glove box. I

Spice: 7:58

paused a moment so he could see

Salty: 8:01

there was a there's one funky looking thing in there. That Frankly, I didn't even know what it was when I looked at it. It's the vehicle manual. It's wrapped up in this little black thing. It's the vehicle manual, it's clearly says Chrysler Rama, which by the way, if you're looking for a place to store a gun would be a very good place to store a gun inside what looks like the vehicle manual because nobody's gonna

Spice: 8:25

need it in a hurry because it was zipped up.

Salty: 8:28

I mean, if you're gonna store an extra gun, put it inside the vehicle manual case,

Spice: 8:33

because nobody ever uses those.

Salty: 8:36

And it would be about the right way for a small nine millimeter anyway, opened up and then we're digging through there and like, okay, here's the paperwork. He's looking at the paperwork. And he's kind of got his head cocked a little bit like, Okay, this is a little weird. I can definitely see this. I can see this car is registered. I have the state registration form in my hand for this car. I mean, you can look at the car and see it's this car. This is a I mean, it's there's not that many of these Hemi SRT C's out there on the road. They're just not that many of them. And so it's a pretty good chance. That's what this car is. So anyway, he goes back to his car and he sits there and what do we do? We sit there waiting calmly and patiently and somewhat confused.

Spice: 9:24

While we're waiting, he pulls up the more recent right he says card.

Salty: 9:29

He asked me for my license which I gave him registration with a car which we gave him an insurance card has wired in the state.

Spice: 9:35

The one I pulled out of the glove compartment was a little bit expired. I said now I don't care.

Salty: 9:43

And so anyway, when he came back, I had taken a picture and I do this with all of my insurance cards. I take a picture and put it on my phone in case I couldn't find the actual card and I don't want to be digging around through stuff while the officer is you know, I could be going for a gun. As far as the officer knows, so I don't want to be digging around for stuff in front of a police officer. So I put the insurance papers on my, my phone. So I don't have to do that, I can always just flick to my phone, open it up and hand them, hand them the copy of it that way. This is intentional, I did this for this reason. And the officer is much more at ease. He sits back there for quite a while, we're beginning to wonder what in the world is going on, he's

Spice: 10:32

got a printer in his car, who knows.

Salty: 10:35

So anyway, he gets back out of the car comes back. And again, I have pulled over in a position where he is in no danger of traffic coming up and hitting him in the rear. And they notice the sort of thing. As long as you'd make look like you're you are a bang, the pull over side. And you're obviously looking for the safest place to pull over, which could be a parking lot of a business. Okay, as long as you signal and go very slowly, and then just pull over as soon as convenient inside that parking lot. You know, they recognize that you are doing this for their safety. This is a good thing.

Spice: 11:14

It makes everybody more comfortable. By the way when he was coming up from behind. I intentionally took both my hands and I put them up on the seatbelt I was wearing as I turned around, so he could see where my hands were when he looked in the back window. I mean, I don't look like a hardened criminal, let's face it. But still, you know, he's in a situation where he deals with lots of people who do lots of bad things. And, of course, it tends to make a guy suspicious.

Salty: 11:48

Now, we're not sure we are not your typical profile for people who are going to be getting into trouble with the law, we're quite a bit older than most of them. We were obeying the traffic laws. We we just don't, frankly, look like people expect hoodlums to look like. We're why we're old. And I mean, I know that makes some people mad. But it's the truth.

Spice: 12:15

I have been with a black driver when the black driver guts stopped. And the tone of the interaction changed quite a bit when the police officer leaned down and looked over and saw me in the passenger seat. So I know it's a thing.

Salty: 12:35

It is a thing. And I've been I've been in the same situation and they were stopped for no reason. Whatever the car I was at

Spice: 12:42

mine too. Oh, maybe it was like failure to signal a lane change or something incredibly dinky like that.

Salty: 12:52

Yeah. I think that tomorrow was pulled over for. He looked like he may have crossed the center line. You know, on here I was in the car with Tamara and his two kids, we were going to a ballgame. You know. Anyway, long story short, we're, the best thing a person can do to deal with being stopped by the police is to first and foremost, make them safe, not just feel safe, but safe. And know that they are safe with you show them that you are not going to be a threat. Now if you have a gun in the car and you are you are perfectly legal in some days we do. And some days we do. I'm not gonna say right now whether I do or don't. You people know me probably have a pretty good idea of okay. This officer didn't ask, but if the officer asked, you tell them? Yes, I do. And it is located where? Because this is poor safety information for them.

Spice: 14:02

When I carry when I'm in the car, I don't keep it within arm's reach when I'm in the car, because I know that's, that makes people really itchy.

Salty: 14:13

Yeah, and yeah, keep in mind, we're in a different area than you are. You know, if we meet somebody out on the road, there's a much higher percentage, like, almost unimaginably higher percentage that it's going to be an Amish person, that it's going to be a person who's a danger to us is that's just the area we live in. We live out there amongst God and His creatures, and I'm not calling you out as God's creatures. But you know what I'm saying? This is the area we live in. And it's a very safe area. So, long story short. You keep you keep the officers Safety First and foremost,

Spice: 14:58

and you're likely to have a good out At least more likely,

Salty: 15:02

at least likely, or you're going to have as good outcome as

Spice: 15:04

you're going to have. There's no bad outcome that's going to come out of making the officers feel safer. And nobody likes to be stopped. And who knows, I couldn't say whether a reason you got stopped was just one or not. But it really doesn't matter because the interaction is then going to happen. And the mission is to make it as successful as possible for all concerned. And one way to do that is by making sure everybody's safe in the situation. And the safer they are, the safer you are. Let's face it.

Salty: 15:37

There are other tips out there. I'm not saying these are the most, these are the ones I just used. So there you go. Okay, thank you for listening. We appreciate it. And we'll catch you

Spice: 15:47

next time. Bye bye.