Alareth

... I was pulled over by a cop.

I had stayed abnormally late at work cleaning up and organizing the back room of the store I manage. I left at around 3:30 AM and took my normal route home.

About a half mile into the trip there are headlights behind me so I move closer to the right to give the car passing room and after a few moments I realize it's a police car and it's pacing me. I come to a stop at a stop sign and that's when the officer starts grilling me.

Where am I going? How far? Why am I out so late on a bike? Where do I work? What is my first and last name?

He eventually ran out of questions and warned me to be careful before driving off and I get the feeling he's going to follow up on my answers to see if I was telling the truth.

I'm slightly annoyed.

mkeller234

Slightly annoyed isn't that bad. I have a late commute since I work the midnight shift and in the winter I wear a black ski mask and ride a hoopty mountain bike. I am actually surprised I haven't been stopped yet!

mikewille

I got stopped once on my way to work by police looking for a guy who had been groping
early morning female joggers and taking off on a bike. (no, it wasn't me)

Nigal

I would have asked what his probable cause was for detaining you. Jesus, he may as well have asked you in a German accent to, "Please produce your papers.".

Invisibl

you're right, it was me! just kidding

labelcd6

I often go running at 4:30 a.m., something I've been doing for 13 years. Last week, I was stopped by two different police cruisers at two different locations in town. It reminded me of Ray Bradbury's short story The Pedestrian.

I_bRAD

1. None of your buisness where I'm coming from or going to and I'll ride whatever time I please.
2. Am I free to go?
3. Ask to see THEIR ID
4. If you are not free to go, ask why you are being detained.

mickey85

Damn cops.

rhm

I've been riding the same route every morning for 9+ years. The police have pulled me over twice.

First time it was because I had run a red light just as the police car was pulling up behind me (Ooops! I hadn't noticed it was a police car). He was mostly laughing at my embarrassment; I pointed out to him that the light was on a sensor and would never have turned green. He didn't believe me, but he was still laughing when he sent me on my way.

Second time, same place, different officer: wanted to tell me my tail light had burned out. I knew that-- I told him it had happened within the last mile. He said yeah I know, I'm used to seeing that light on your bike.

I get the impression the police are on my side.

frpax

Unacceptable. I'd have gotten his badge # and called the Captain and complained.

sm1960

Maybe they were looking for someone for any number of reasons. Could have been a domestic, or break in..whatever

emperorcezar

Or a bike thief ... hopefully.

O-Town

In my neighborhood there are a fair number of people who ride around late and there are a fair number of home owners filing stolen property reports the next morning (I was one of them). If a cop pulled me over at 3am, I would have answered all his questions and thanked him for doing his job.

Yes everyone has their right to privacy but some common sense would lead most law biding people to the same conclusion. There is a reason the cop is asking the questions (like sm1960 pointed out) and it only took a few seconds out of my commute home.

Artkansas 

Twice, since moving to Little Rock I've had cops pull me over to tell me to get on the sidewalk. The first one ended up getting a reprimand from their sargent and I discovered that it was illegal to ride a bike on the sidewalk in a business district in Little Rock. The second one got a complete refusal to take their advice, specifically because again I was in a business district and would not have a cop order me to do something illegal. He eventually gave up and drove on.

I used to get pulled over regularly when riding on the freeway between Genessee and Sorrento Valley in San Diego. I would explain the situation and the law to the highway patrol officer and promise that they would see the "bicycles must exit" sign at the next exit. They would accompany me down the hill and I would point at the "bicycles must exit" sign and wave to them as I exited.

colleen c

Any chance that cop had any reasonable cause to stop you. Simple small things like running lights can make a difference in how they can discriminate a bicyclist. Obviuos thing like wearing a bike jacket, front light, good bright rear blinkie will give them a better impression and leave you along. However, if you run stealth in the night, then that just more reason for them to give you a hard time.

One of my friends from years back before I started biking was always getting pull over. He was being profile and along with the fact that he only used reflector front/rear/spoke/pedal. He got pulled over just because his rear reflector was pointing down. Soon after he got better setup with cateye blinkie front and rear (that was high tech back then), he never got pulled over again.

woodway

My son is a Seattle police officer and he works third watch (evening and overnight hours). He has told me several times that when he sees someone out at 3am he always stops them to find out what they are up to because "generally people who are out at 3am are up to no good". This assesment comes from long experience. If it was your car/home that had just been broken into, you would be happy that the officer was stopping people at 3am and asking a few simple questions - just doing his job. It's too bad you got stopped because you were just trying to get home, but you really cannot blame the officer for wanting to check you out and it sounds like you were asked a few simple questions and left to go on your way.

For those of you who want to give the cops a bad time, all I can say is if you heard 1/10th of the stories that my son has to tell, you would cut them a little slack. They deal with situations and people that the rest of us would never want to. If you get stopped, are not doing anything wrong just answer politely, you'll soon be back on your way - no harm no foul.

ollyisk

Agreed. No need to be some knee-jerk anti-government reactionist hard ass because a cop pulls you over and asks you a few questions. Just cooperate and they'll usually send you on your way just as quickly as they pulled you over.

There could be a myriad of reasons he stopped you. Maybe you matched the profile of someone that committed a crime. As an aside: I was driving once with my girlfriend and got pulled over by 4 cop cars, was told to turn the car off, throw the keys out the window, put my hands in the air, and state my name, all while police dogs were barking and a police officer clutching his gun was cautiously walking up the side of my girlfriend's car. It was a simple misunderstanding--her car matched the description of a murder suspect who had fled from the scene of the crime. They asked us a couple of questions and when it was obvious we weren't murderers fleeing the scene of a crime, we were let go without incident. At least we're not in Russia where being mistaken for a suspect can land you a beating and some time in the clink (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a4UuQf3j3XI).

You obviously had nothing to hide, and it's not as if he really hassled you, assaulted you, or hauled you away in handcuffs; I fail to see the annoyance here. He was probably just doing his job.

ModoVincere

Welcome to 'merika, home of the free

CliftonGK1

I worked closing shift at a video rental joint and didn't finish my shift until 1:30 on weekends, 12:30 during the week. Afterwards, I usual snag a drink and a snack at a bar on my ride home. My commute took my through an industrial area where there really wasn't any reason a person would be at that hour, except for passing through on a commute, and until the officers and security patrols knew my routine I think I got stopped a dozen times and asked the same questions.
Showing my work ID and telling them where I was headed settled everyone down, and eventually they'd just see me and wave.

Was it a slight annoyance for a while? Sure.
Did I really care? Nah. It's nice to know someone's doing their job, not just sitting on their butt waiting for their shift to end.

pathdoc

You have to strike a balance between public safety and civil rights. I don't think anyone's civil rights are infringed by being asked a few simple questions.

AlmostTrick

I don't blame him, you sound like quite the trouble maker!

Seriously, this would not have bothered me at all. I would use it as an opportunity to get to know each other. I like having cops on my side.

mickey85

It would have bothered me. Cops, IME, are like pit bulls. They can be super nice, loving, fantastic family dogs, until they snap and bite your face off. And this is coming from a guy whose brother-in-law is a cop.

If he had no reason to pull you over, he shouldn't have held you there. If he did have a reason that wasn't apparent, he should have told you. "Well, there was a bike stolen in the area with a description matching yours, and I wanted to make sure." If not, he had no reason other than he was just wanting to mess with someone during his slow patrol.

Dan The Man

I was out on a ride in some suburb of L.A. and got pretty lost. I ended up coming back after dark and got pulled over for running a stop sign in a residential neighbourhood. The police searched me for drugs, but they never looked in my water bottle which had my ID, keys, and patch kit, and would realistically be the only place I could have carried drugs. Then they sat me in the back of the squad car and talked to me in Spanish for a while and asked me about gangs and certain neighbourhoods. I didn't understand what they were saying. When I explained that I would leaving their country in two days, they let me go.

RogerB

As far as you know...

Seattle Forrest

You really can't blame him. It wasn't that long ago that 19 terrorists hijacked bicycles and crashed them into the World Trade Center, killing thousands.

I bet you even had shoes. And liquids. And underwear, even. How could a bored police officer at 3 am not think you were a mass murdering terrorist? Or at least want to entertain himself and pass some time by making sure...

Like pathdoc said, there's a balance between public safety and civil rights. Detaining and questioning people just for breathing, does nothing for public safety. I mean, it'd be nice if the police were detaining the guy who actually broke into some house in the neighborhood, rather than the people cycling home after a long night at work. If their plan to find criminals is to detain every person they see until they find the needle in the haystack, then that means public safety is in much worse shape than we thought.

If the officer had any reason to believe you were involved in any sort of crime, he should have told you. Or not released you. Something along the lines of "Well, I stopped you because there was a burglary in the area..." Honestly, though, it sounds as if you were stopped because it was a slow night, and you were an excuse to pass some time.