Garbage Police Stop in Arkansas
I got pulled over by the police for a traffic stop on my trip to Arkansas a few weeks ago. I believe it was a garbage stop, targeting me because a cop thought I might be an outsider.
The stop happened outside a small town in rural Arkansas. As I came in town I saw a police cruiser alongside the road at the town's main intersection. I reflexively glanced down at my gauges... where I saw I was doing 9mph over the posted limit. I slowed down right away, but it was too late. The officer pulled his cruiser into traffic behind me.
Now, if the officer had pulled me over right there, that would have been the end of this story. I was driving too fast at that point and I got caught. My bad. I would have accepted the consequences. But that was not what happened.
The officer instead followed along behind me for several more miles. I was very conscientious about obeying all driving laws, as I felt badly about speeding in town (it was not my intent to speed that day, especially in a small town with pedestrians nearby!), so I scrupulously drove no faster than the posted limit and watched for all regulatory signs.
I passed by a turnoff for a state park. I considered stopping there briefly to "shake" the cop if he wasn't looking to give me a ticket, or give him a safe place to write me a ticket if he was. Again, if he was going to give me a ticket for doing 9mph over the limit in town (though more likely for anything under 10mph it would be a warning) I was prepared to accept responsibility for my actions.
I continued along the highway. About 4 miles outside of town the officer put his flashing lights on. I engaged my turn signal, slowed down, pulled off the road at the first safe spot, and turned off the car with the windows down and my hands on the wheel.
"Do you know why I pulled you over today?" the officer asked upon approaching the car. Standard first question for a traffic stop.
"No officer, I really don't," I responded, choosing not to volunteer that I inadvertently drove too fast in town because I was doubtful he'd have tailed me that long if that were his reason.
"Well, you just drove through a school zone at 55mph. School zone speed limit is 25mph."
I politely protested that I'd seen no school zone there. Cop insisted there was, and it was marked. I was pretty sure there wasn't, as I'm a very observant person in general and was doubly watchful the whole time he was following me, but I chose not to argue the point.
The cop collected my driving license-- and my wife's, too-- and went back to his cruiser to check them.
During the next few minutes I considered everything that was wrong with this stop. Not only 1) was I pretty sure I'd seen no school zone-- not just the speed sign for the school but the entire school itself-- despite being extremely watchful, but 2) it was almost absurd to imagine there even was a school zone where the officer said it was. The town limits had long since given way to undeveloped forest. Why would the school be out there? 3) The speed limit on the road had risen back to 55mph. Generally when there is a need to drop the limit from 55 down to 25mph-- such as for a school zone-- there are multiple signs indicating this significant change. It's unimaginable that I could have missed them while I was watching. I was so sure that I planned to drive back to down and drive back out recording a movie with my phone to prove there were no school signs. Finally, 4) collecting my wife's license made it clearer that this stop was at least as much a stop-and-identify thing as it was a deal-with-a-real-infraction thing. Oh, plus 5) the cop didn't ask for vehicle registration or proof of insurance. These are routine things police check during traffic stops. The fact that he didn't check argues even more that it wasn't really a traffic stop.
The cop came back to my window and announced he'd let me off with a warning. I accepted, of course-- and politely-- but his letting me off with a warning only strengthened my belief that the school zone was a lie and it was a garbage stop. Why? Because 55-in-a-school zone is a serious violation. In many jurisdictions it's not just a traffic infraction but possibly a criminal misdemeanor and/or grounds for revoking a license. My reading of the Arkansas Motor Vehicle Code section 27-50-301 et seq. is that Arkansas is one such jurisdiction.
Now, we all know that cops exercise discretion in citing drivers for lesser violations than they committed. This is where being polite and contrite (and not black or brown) helps. But even so, cops will reduce a citation by one category, for example ticketing a driver for 10mph over the limit instead of 16, or occasionally two categories. But to let me off cleanly for an alleged offense several notches up the scale is hard to imagine. Unless the cop knew it was phony and that it wouldn't hold up.
Still, I imagined riding off in handcuffs if I were black or brown after such a stop in the middle of The Hate State.
The stop happened outside a small town in rural Arkansas. As I came in town I saw a police cruiser alongside the road at the town's main intersection. I reflexively glanced down at my gauges... where I saw I was doing 9mph over the posted limit. I slowed down right away, but it was too late. The officer pulled his cruiser into traffic behind me.
Now, if the officer had pulled me over right there, that would have been the end of this story. I was driving too fast at that point and I got caught. My bad. I would have accepted the consequences. But that was not what happened.
The officer instead followed along behind me for several more miles. I was very conscientious about obeying all driving laws, as I felt badly about speeding in town (it was not my intent to speed that day, especially in a small town with pedestrians nearby!), so I scrupulously drove no faster than the posted limit and watched for all regulatory signs.
I passed by a turnoff for a state park. I considered stopping there briefly to "shake" the cop if he wasn't looking to give me a ticket, or give him a safe place to write me a ticket if he was. Again, if he was going to give me a ticket for doing 9mph over the limit in town (though more likely for anything under 10mph it would be a warning) I was prepared to accept responsibility for my actions.
I continued along the highway. About 4 miles outside of town the officer put his flashing lights on. I engaged my turn signal, slowed down, pulled off the road at the first safe spot, and turned off the car with the windows down and my hands on the wheel.
"Do you know why I pulled you over today?" the officer asked upon approaching the car. Standard first question for a traffic stop.
"No officer, I really don't," I responded, choosing not to volunteer that I inadvertently drove too fast in town because I was doubtful he'd have tailed me that long if that were his reason.
"Well, you just drove through a school zone at 55mph. School zone speed limit is 25mph."
I politely protested that I'd seen no school zone there. Cop insisted there was, and it was marked. I was pretty sure there wasn't, as I'm a very observant person in general and was doubly watchful the whole time he was following me, but I chose not to argue the point.
The cop collected my driving license-- and my wife's, too-- and went back to his cruiser to check them.
During the next few minutes I considered everything that was wrong with this stop. Not only 1) was I pretty sure I'd seen no school zone-- not just the speed sign for the school but the entire school itself-- despite being extremely watchful, but 2) it was almost absurd to imagine there even was a school zone where the officer said it was. The town limits had long since given way to undeveloped forest. Why would the school be out there? 3) The speed limit on the road had risen back to 55mph. Generally when there is a need to drop the limit from 55 down to 25mph-- such as for a school zone-- there are multiple signs indicating this significant change. It's unimaginable that I could have missed them while I was watching. I was so sure that I planned to drive back to down and drive back out recording a movie with my phone to prove there were no school signs. Finally, 4) collecting my wife's license made it clearer that this stop was at least as much a stop-and-identify thing as it was a deal-with-a-real-infraction thing. Oh, plus 5) the cop didn't ask for vehicle registration or proof of insurance. These are routine things police check during traffic stops. The fact that he didn't check argues even more that it wasn't really a traffic stop.
The cop came back to my window and announced he'd let me off with a warning. I accepted, of course-- and politely-- but his letting me off with a warning only strengthened my belief that the school zone was a lie and it was a garbage stop. Why? Because 55-in-a-school zone is a serious violation. In many jurisdictions it's not just a traffic infraction but possibly a criminal misdemeanor and/or grounds for revoking a license. My reading of the Arkansas Motor Vehicle Code section 27-50-301 et seq. is that Arkansas is one such jurisdiction.
Now, we all know that cops exercise discretion in citing drivers for lesser violations than they committed. This is where being polite and contrite (and not black or brown) helps. But even so, cops will reduce a citation by one category, for example ticketing a driver for 10mph over the limit instead of 16, or occasionally two categories. But to let me off cleanly for an alleged offense several notches up the scale is hard to imagine. Unless the cop knew it was phony and that it wouldn't hold up.
Still, I imagined riding off in handcuffs if I were black or brown after such a stop in the middle of The Hate State.