Nothing happened... could have been some **** citizen complaining about people sleeping in a car or whatever. Sleeping isn't a felony anywhere, except on y'know, military property, sorry civilians can't sleep next to missle silo's. The officers ol' Blank encountered here didn't exactly perform a routine check, they were "Fishing" or responding to a call. And as for the youtube video, there are so many loopholes in there it was funny. There are a lot of reasons to enter a house or search a car without a warrant. But whatever, onto blanks situation.
You responded to all simple commands, most important thing a civvy can do right there, you didn't snap at em, you chose to consent to search, weren't detained. The search, and the way you described it mirrors a contraband search, which supports my theory that the officers were fishing for a drug arrest, said yourself that your vehicle doesn't represent your status correctly, you're coming from LA to CM, lots of illegal contraband flows upstate. As you said it was late night, Costa Mesa, isn't exactly a small place, and from your story sounds like the officers ride single seater, and are lucky enough to have resources available to assist each other, so the other 2 untasked officers coming to help isn't unusual either. The photograph seemed odd, but that was all I saw wrong with it.
Community Thread VI
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Sofa King
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Well a cop buddy did put things in perspective for me. I guess it could have been worse.
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Sedale Threatt
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I always try to give cops the benefit of the doubt -- how many jobs are there where you're in danger of getting shot every time you go to work? But at the same time, I cringe when I read stories like this.
Some of the stuff I see on the Times website about the LAPD is stranger than fiction. Then you read about that SWAT veteran who was killed recently, and it just breaks your heart. There are some extremely nasty people out there, and pros like that are the only thing between us and them.
Not even close to SK's story, but about three years ago I had a cop give me three separate tickets for making an illegal right-hand turn at 1 in the morning on a completely abandoned street. One for rolling through the stop light (BS), one for the illegal turn, and a second one for the illegal turn because it was posted twice. I felt bad about it later, but I couldn't help telling him, "Now you know why people hate cops" as he was leaving. Took it to the judge and it took him about five seconds to bump it down to one citation.
Too bad, because the few bad apples give the other 95 percent who do an extremely demanding job well a bad name.
Some of the stuff I see on the Times website about the LAPD is stranger than fiction. Then you read about that SWAT veteran who was killed recently, and it just breaks your heart. There are some extremely nasty people out there, and pros like that are the only thing between us and them.
Not even close to SK's story, but about three years ago I had a cop give me three separate tickets for making an illegal right-hand turn at 1 in the morning on a completely abandoned street. One for rolling through the stop light (BS), one for the illegal turn, and a second one for the illegal turn because it was posted twice. I felt bad about it later, but I couldn't help telling him, "Now you know why people hate cops" as he was leaving. Took it to the judge and it took him about five seconds to bump it down to one citation.
Too bad, because the few bad apples give the other 95 percent who do an extremely demanding job well a bad name.
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Sedition
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Sedale Threatt wrote:I always try to give cops the benefit of the doubt -- how many jobs are there where you're in danger of getting shot every time you go to work? But at the same time, I cringe when I read stories like this.
Some of the stuff I see on the Times website about the LAPD is stranger than fiction. Then you read about that SWAT veteran who was killed recently, and it just breaks your heart. There are some extremely nasty people out there, and pros like that are the only thing between us and them.
Not even close to SK's story, but about three years ago I had a cop give me three separate tickets for making an illegal right-hand turn at 1 in the morning on a completely abandoned street. One for rolling through the stop light (BS), one for the illegal turn, and a second one for the illegal turn because it was posted twice. I felt bad about it later, but I couldn't help telling him, "Now you know why people hate cops" as he was leaving. Took it to the judge and it took him about five seconds to bump it down to one citation.
Too bad, because the few bad apples give the other 95 percent who do an extremely demanding job well a bad name.
I actually have 1 friend and 1 acquaintance who are LAPD, and all I have to say is that.. some of them have some SCARY ass mentalities. He's my good buddy so I would stand by him at all times, but I'd be damned if i had to be on the receiving side of his bullying.
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Sedition
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You know to be fair though, the LAPD probably have some of the toughest jobs in the US. LA has about 9000 sworn officers..... NYC has about 40,000. LA is one of the most under-policed cities in the US, by far. Add that to the fact that everyone hates the LAPD (while everyone seems to love the NYPD, tourists want pictures with them, etc.). I think part of the reason the LAPD have to act the way they do is that they are fighting a losing battle every day. Underfunded, understaffed in one of the most gang infested cities in the US. Unfortunate situation. It doesn't excuse some of their officers' behaviors, but its always good to keep things in context.
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TommyTheCat
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Sedition wrote:You know to be fair though, the LAPD probably have some of the toughest jobs in the US. LA has about 9000 sworn officers..... NYC has about 40,000. LA is one of the most under-policed cities in the US, by far. Add that to the fact that everyone hates the LAPD (while everyone seems to love the NYPD, tourists want pictures with them, etc.). I think part of the reason the LAPD have to act the way they do is that they are fighting a losing battle every day. Underfunded, understaffed in one of the most gang infested cities in the US. Unfortunate situation. It doesn't excuse some of their officers' behaviors, but its always good to keep things in context.
don't forget the daily grind of being subjected to some of the worst elements of society on a daily basis. not only that but how many horrific accident scenes and crime scenes do they deal with on a constant basis throughout their career.
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Sedale Threatt
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Sedition wrote:You know to be fair though, the LAPD probably have some of the toughest jobs in the US. LA has about 9000 sworn officers..... NYC has about 40,000. LA is one of the most under-policed cities in the US, by far. Add that to the fact that everyone hates the LAPD (while everyone seems to love the NYPD, tourists want pictures with them, etc.). I think part of the reason the LAPD have to act the way they do is that they are fighting a losing battle every day. Underfunded, understaffed in one of the most gang infested cities in the US. Unfortunate situation. It doesn't excuse some of their officers' behaviors, but its always good to keep things in context.
Absolutely. I could barely handle working the register when I was working at McDonald's back in high school. After about six months as a cop I'd probably be looking to shoot the first thing that moves. Let's just say that while I don't condone corruption or abuse, I empathize with the extreme difficulty of their job.
Sad, sad situation in L.A. with the gangs. Every time they show Staples Center -- the ultra-modern shrine to entertainment, capitalism and our society's supposed advancement -- during broadcasts, I always wonder what's going on seven or eight blocks away.
Judging by what I read, probably nothing good.
About a month ago some kid walked up to a crowded bus stop and just opened up. It wasn't necessarily the act itself that got me, but that general resignation of the people who lived there. They basically just shrugged their shoulders and said, What are you going to do?
And then the ultimate tragedy, that poor football player who was gunned down just a few doors away from home. Kid was doing everything right, and because a few knuckleheads caught him in the wrong place at the wrong time, that's that.
http://www.latimes.com/news/columnists/ ... 220.column
I absolutely love reading the Times -- I hope you native Angelinos realize what a fabulous paper you have (the recent Tupac debacle notwithstanding, of course) -- and unfortunately you see stories like this far too often.
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Sedition
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One of the things that always irks me though is all the uninformed LA bashing you hear in other parts of the country, i.e. people who base their judgments of LA on the occasional stories they read in the paper and off of the movies and TV shows that depict LA as some decrepit, gang war zone.
When you look at the facts, you'd find that despite the fact that LA has a high total volume of homicides (obviously, its the 2nd biggest city in the US), when you look at the homicide RATE, we are consistently below cities such as Chicago (always touted as being such a nice and clean city), Boston (same as Chicago), Philly, DC, Dallas, Houston, Miami, and San Francisco. And the list goes on and on, but you'd NEVER realize that just reading the random articles in the Times about this shooting and that shooting.
I think in large part, it has to do with the way we're portrayed in the media. Despite that many of the major production companies have their studios in LA, they are typically controlled from the east coast (mostly NYC). It's not surprising then that you have all these shows that depict NYC as such a fun and pleasant city, a cultural mecca (Sex and the City), whereas the shows about LA will tend feed off the negative stereotypes (shows like The Shield, movies like Training Day, etc.). The gritty, violent version of LA is a proven successful product in the entertainment business. Think of how much film noir had drawn upon LA as a source of inspiration (Roman Polanski's Chinatown for example, or even Blade Runner).
And if you get bombarded with it enough, you start to believe it. I've heard people say stuff like "Man, I hate LA, all that violence and crime and gangs." But then you'd ask them if they'd ever actually visited and they'd quickly say NO.
Really sad.
When you look at the facts, you'd find that despite the fact that LA has a high total volume of homicides (obviously, its the 2nd biggest city in the US), when you look at the homicide RATE, we are consistently below cities such as Chicago (always touted as being such a nice and clean city), Boston (same as Chicago), Philly, DC, Dallas, Houston, Miami, and San Francisco. And the list goes on and on, but you'd NEVER realize that just reading the random articles in the Times about this shooting and that shooting.
I think in large part, it has to do with the way we're portrayed in the media. Despite that many of the major production companies have their studios in LA, they are typically controlled from the east coast (mostly NYC). It's not surprising then that you have all these shows that depict NYC as such a fun and pleasant city, a cultural mecca (Sex and the City), whereas the shows about LA will tend feed off the negative stereotypes (shows like The Shield, movies like Training Day, etc.). The gritty, violent version of LA is a proven successful product in the entertainment business. Think of how much film noir had drawn upon LA as a source of inspiration (Roman Polanski's Chinatown for example, or even Blade Runner).
And if you get bombarded with it enough, you start to believe it. I've heard people say stuff like "Man, I hate LA, all that violence and crime and gangs." But then you'd ask them if they'd ever actually visited and they'd quickly say NO.
Really sad.-
Sedale Threatt
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Point taken; I hope I didn't offend in any way as that was definitely not my intent.
I've been to L.A. three or four times, and I love it. Like any other city, there are good parts and bad parts. I'd put L.A.'s good parts up against just about any place I've been. And the weather...ridiculous. About the only things I didn't like was the traffic (no way would I put up with that on a daily basis) and air quality. One time I stayed at the Hyatt on Sunset and you couldn't see downtown for an entire week.
I also wasn't trying to infer that gang problems are specific only to L.A. As you pointed out, you could substitute any major city in the country into my previous post and they're dealing with the exact same issues. I was referring more to the specific scenarios I've read about.
My bottom line is that I feel bad about all the innocents and the kids with no futures involved in these situations, and the cops whose job it is to clean up the messes. I couldn't imagine living like that, on either side of the equation.
I've been to L.A. three or four times, and I love it. Like any other city, there are good parts and bad parts. I'd put L.A.'s good parts up against just about any place I've been. And the weather...ridiculous. About the only things I didn't like was the traffic (no way would I put up with that on a daily basis) and air quality. One time I stayed at the Hyatt on Sunset and you couldn't see downtown for an entire week.
I also wasn't trying to infer that gang problems are specific only to L.A. As you pointed out, you could substitute any major city in the country into my previous post and they're dealing with the exact same issues. I was referring more to the specific scenarios I've read about.
My bottom line is that I feel bad about all the innocents and the kids with no futures involved in these situations, and the cops whose job it is to clean up the messes. I couldn't imagine living like that, on either side of the equation.
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Blame Rasho
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Blame Rasho
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Kno wrote:
Was that today?
If so, the heat mustve made it 2x worse.
It was when I went to LA for a wedding a year ago during the summer....
I thought it was ludicrous the amount of traffic during the day...
Honestly why doesn't LA or Cali in that matter have UTurns on their highways? It drove me nuts as well if you missed your exit.
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Sedition
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Sedale Threatt wrote:Point taken; I hope I didn't offend in any way as that was definitely not my intent.
I've been to L.A. three or four times, and I love it. Like any other city, there are good parts and bad parts. I'd put L.A.'s good parts up against just about any place I've been. And the weather...ridiculous. About the only things I didn't like was the traffic (no way would I put up with that on a daily basis) and air quality. One time I stayed at the Hyatt on Sunset and you couldn't see downtown for an entire week.
I also wasn't trying to infer that gang problems are specific only to L.A. As you pointed out, you could substitute any major city in the country into my previous post and they're dealing with the exact same issues. I was referring more to the specific scenarios I've read about.
My bottom line is that I feel bad about all the innocents and the kids with no futures involved in these situations, and the cops whose job it is to clean up the messes. I couldn't imagine living like that, on either side of the equation.
Yeah dude, I was definitely NOT referring to you with that post. Sorry if it sounded like that.
Honestly why doesn't LA or Cali in that matter have UTurns on their highways? It drove me nuts as well if you missed your exit.
Where do you live that they have U-turns on the freeways? I've been to both Dallas and Houston (both cities I love btw) and I don't remember seeing any U-turns on those freeways either.
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Blame Rasho
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Sedition wrote:Where do you live that they have U-turns on the freeways? I've been to both Dallas and Houston (both cities I love btw) and I don't remember seeing any U-turns on those freeways either.
On the frontage road/access roads adjacent to the highways... You guys don't really have those as well...
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Sedition
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Hm, interesting. I must have missed that. You learn something new every day.
*Edit: Though from what I've experienced, it only takes about 1-2 minutes to get off a freeway, make a left (usually) and hop back back onto the freeway. I guess I've just gotten accustomed to it, so it's never bothered me.
*Edit: Though from what I've experienced, it only takes about 1-2 minutes to get off a freeway, make a left (usually) and hop back back onto the freeway.
I guess I've just gotten accustomed to it, so it's never bothered me.-
Sedale Threatt
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The underpass U-turns in Texas are extremely ingenious. Most everybody I know who's come down to visit (I live in San Antonio) comments about how convenient they are. They're starting to sprinkle roundabouts throughout town as well, which are another great way to increase traffic flow.
Unfortunately, there isn't really much you can do about traffic once a city gets so big. Houston is almost as bad as L.A. I've been stuck to a dead stop on eight-lane freeways in the middle of the afternoon there. Austin traffic can be horrendous, and San Antonio is rapidly deteriorating as well as the city continues to grow.
Other than the sheer size of the metro area, DFW always seems very easy to get around to me. Dallas has to be one of the best-planned cities in the world.
Unfortunately, there isn't really much you can do about traffic once a city gets so big. Houston is almost as bad as L.A. I've been stuck to a dead stop on eight-lane freeways in the middle of the afternoon there. Austin traffic can be horrendous, and San Antonio is rapidly deteriorating as well as the city continues to grow.
Other than the sheer size of the metro area, DFW always seems very easy to get around to me. Dallas has to be one of the best-planned cities in the world.
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Sedition
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Sedale Threatt wrote:The underpass U-turns in Texas are extremely ingenious. Most everybody I know who's come down to visit (I live in San Antonio) comments about how convenient they are. They're starting to sprinkle roundabouts throughout town as well, which are another great way to increase traffic flow.
Unfortunately, there isn't really much you can do about traffic once a city gets so big. Houston is almost as bad as L.A. I've been stuck to a dead stop on eight-lane freeways in the middle of the afternoon there. Austin traffic can be horrendous, and San Antonio is rapidly deteriorating as well as the city continues to grow.
Other than the sheer size of the metro area, DFW always seems very easy to get around to me. Dallas has to be one of the best-planned cities in the world.
Yeah I really enjoyed Dallas the few times I've been there. Very nice place. Unfortunately, I've never been to San Antonio... but I've heard you guys have some of the best Mexican food in the US.