Police exerting their authority? Anyone else had an experience like this?

Question

Driving home from my boyfriend's house last night (roughly about 45 minutes away from where I live) I notice that there's a police Land Rover behind me. Like most people I'm not too keen on being tailed by the police but I stick to the speed limits and try not to feel intimidated (despite him driving rather close). He follows me for about 20 minutes until passing through a residential area, he switches on the blue light and siren and pulls me over outside a pub about 5 minutes away from my home.

He then (in full view of everyone outside the pub) proceeds to tell me that my 'wing-mirrors were a bit close to the parked cars on the left when driving through the residential area back there'. He then proceeded to breathalize me (on the pavement, still in full view) which proved I had NO traces of alcohol in my system.

He then told me that he hadn't logged the check and didn't need to see my licence or vehicle documents. He also stated that he didn't need my name but needed my age.

Answer 1

I don't think he was trying to check you out or not.  I think he was trying to get you for underage drinking (if you looked under the age of 21).  

I wish I could explain this situation further, but I don't want to get into trouble with MY law enforcement contacts...

Answer 2

You should have asked him to show his badge, take his number, and then tell loudly "I think this is a clear example of police abuse" so that anyone can hear you, and ask the other people around to take pictures on their cell phones.

Answer 3

in the early 90s in Birmingham Alabama there was a young  bham cop who thought all woman should give it up he pulled me over and harassed me for months  never gave me a ticket just treated me like i owed him sexual favors i never gave in and neither did he i had to go above his head and make complaints against him which only fueled the behavior after getting news media involved several woman came forward to accuse him of the same thing he was fired and that was the end of that

Answer 4

something sorta like that happened to my mom.

she was driving. she stopped at a red light. light turns green. she drives. then she gets pulled over for running a "red" light.

Answer 5

You should've taken his badge number and reported him. There are fake cops around.

Answer 6

My guess is he did that deliberately but not to inconvenience you (though you were),but to use you to get a message across to The clients at the Pub. He just wanted to be seen by those drinkers at the pub . Nevertheless it was not the way. He did you no harm and I would advise you to keep a look out for the guy and take his ID number . Just in case he makes it a habit .

Answer 7

No, he is just investigating.  It is common for the police to follow cars that appear to be going slow.  It is possible that you unconsciously slowed down or drove more carefully because you saw the police vehicle.  This led the officer to suspect you may have been drinking.  He asked for your age because he was embarrassed at stopping you and hoped to find some reason to scold you as in being out late.

Answer 8

While I wont comment on why or if he could have dealt with the stop better I can explain the rest.

The reason for requesting your age is no doubt to do with a drink drive campain. During these campains logs are created of everyone tested, no details are logged except the persons age and the outcome of the test, be it pass, warn or fail. Its for stats purposes.

Do you feel proud to be another government statistic? :)

Answer 9

Report it to the district commander, you have just been harassed, police have no right to do so, they can check car details in 3 mins flat so there is no excuse.  

If your car was second hand, it may be previous owner issues, or of a certain type, they may have had reports on a similar vehicle, but more than probable they thought it would be entertaining to harass a female.  

If it happens again, pull in and let them pass you, if they wait for you up the road, stop at them and ask them if there is a problem, if you are legal you have nothing to fear.

Answer 10

you should complain to your local police headquarters they will know if it's a real police vehicle and if it was who was driving it == it sounds to me like a policeman just being clever

Answer 11

you were probably nervous and were a bit close to parked cars - they breathalize you everytime they stop no matter what the incident.  Police are di*kheads that are bored stiff ----  when they do make an arrest or pull you they need a stat for the end of year government report.  your probably really attractive too therefore i'm afraid lads are lads not matter what. x

Answer 12

They are NOT "EXERTING THEIR AUTHORITY",.. they are showing their desperete need to feel superior!

Answer 13

Yes, several times cops sitting in a layby on the end of their shift have stopped me when i was doing nothing wrong and given me a "producer" to produce my driving docs at the police station. Just to inconvenience me, and give them a record that they have "done some work".

Answer 14

I guess when the officer first was behind you he was going your way. He decided at a later point that he would stop and breath test you due to the closeness to other vehicles.

The new intoximeters that are now in use record every breath test statistically. This means that we have to input our details and that way we don't have to submit extra paperwork. The results can be downloaded weekly onto a computer. We also have to input a persons ethnicity and age. We do not need any other personal details.

Good on you for not having consumed alcohol, but please don't take offence at the police doing their job.

Answer 15

Unfortunately, you meet one of the few officers that give law enforcement a bad name.  I am afraid he stopped you just to "check you out."  Sometimes you get officers who think the badge will get them a date.  Sorry you had to go through that.

Answer 16

yes, it was a case of a policeman exerting his authority.

in these circumstances it would be best not to confront him directly but to report the incident to the relevant authorities in a more discreet manner

Answer 17

Query it with your local police station. Ask them if this is normal.

xx VP