Guest Post by Eric Peters
Standing up to bullies is usually the best way to end the bullying. But what if you can’t do that?
Legally, I mean.
That’s the dilemma when it comes to dealing with the Enforcers of the Law. No matter what they do to you, “resisting” is not a good idea. Perhaps later, your family will be able to obtain some money as compensation via a wrongful death civil suit against the municipality.
Provided of course a fellow mundane managed to video your execution. And it got enough attention as to cause sufficient embarrassment to make the Enforcer’s handlers desirous of making the complaint go away.
But the Enforcer himself, will not be held personally accountable, as they are largely immune – as a matter of law – from being held personally accountable for the harm they cause.
The relevant thing is that on the scene – your life in the balance – resistance is not only futile, it is unlawful. That most basic of all human rights – the right to defend yourself – is a nullity when it comes to interacting with Enforcers.
We are legally required to submit and obey.
To decline – even to the extent of backing away and trying to exit the situation – constitutes the legal pretext for the application of whatever force they deem necessary to obtain our submission and obedience.
So, what do we do?
We cannot fight them.
We must therefore learn to avoid them.
I bought a top-drawer radar detector (Valentine 1) for exactly this reason. It has greatly reduced my interactions with Enforcers of the Law – and not just in terms of “speeding” tickets, though that’s huge, too.
The detector also alerts to the presence up ahead of “safety” and “sobriety” checkpoints in time to avoid them. That is to say, in time to turn off the road or turn around before it’s too late to do so. That being defined as getting within a few hundred yards, at which point it will either no longer be possible to discreetly turn around/off (no place to do so) or doing so will arouse “suspicion” and that will result in an Enforcer coming after you.
This by the way has nothing whatever to do with a desire on my part to drive “drunk” and “get away” with it.
I hardly drink alcohol at all and never operate a vehicle when I am impaired by alcohol.
My problem is with the presumption of impairment and with this business of having to demonstrate to the satisfaction of an Enforcer that I am not “drunk” – as opposed to the reverse.
Also, I simply do not want to have to talk with these thugs. Keep in mind that “safety” and “sobriety” checkpoints are pretexts for other forms of harassment, such as whether you happen to be wearing a seatbelt, whether all your state permission slips are in order and up to date; whether they can find some minor thing (burned out light over your license plate) that becomes another excuse to extract money, etc. It’s an opportunity for them to search you and your person essentially at will. Whether they “find anything” is beside the point. It’s an indignity – and outrage – to be handled by a costumed goon; to be compelled to let said goons rifle through your vehicle and things … just because they can.
These “checkpoints” are therefore best avoided altogether.
A radar detector is very helpful in this regard – because the Enforcers usually leave their radar on and the detector will squawk a warning, giving you the all-important handful of seconds necessary to evade and avoid.
Another form of tactical avoidance is to limit driving home late at night – when it is more likely that you will encounter an Enforcer and more likely he will focus on you because there will likely be fewer and maybe no other drivers on the road.
Similar logic recommends driving with the pack.
Avoid being the lead car. Do that and you are basically walking point. Not a good idea. Fall back, blend in. This decreases the odds it will be you that’s selected for Enforcement.
It is smart policy for the same reason to drive an unremarkable car. Sedans are better than coupes; bland colors preferable to bright ones. Older better than newer… but not too old. A five or six year-old Camry or Accord or similar – in white or silver or beige – is ideal.
Do not customize the exterior of your car.
This makes it both stand out and makes it specifically yours. It is much harder to claim: “It wasn’t me, officer” when yours is the only car around with that particular style of aftermarket chrome wheels, heavy tinted windows with graphics, etc. And if you do elect to flee – a not-unreasonable decision these days given the over-the-top punishments meted out (vehicle impoundment, arrest, likely jail time) for such “offenses” as driving even 1 MPH faster than 80 MPH on a highway with a posted speed limit of 70 MPH (yes, really) it will be easier to get away if your car is one of dozens just like it in the immediate vicinity.
Avoid blatant challenges to the Law such as a very loud exhaust. Do not provide them with the pretext they need to initiate harassment.
The idea is to avoid even being noticed in the first place.
Remember Winston in Orwell’s 1984. He’s the model. And he would never have seen the inside of Room 101 if he hadn’t gotten stupid and started writing that diary… .
Excellent advice. Be the Gray Man/Woman. Don’t bring attention to yourself. It’s kinda boring but I figure I’ve given the worthless fuckers enough of my hard-earned FRNs through taxes. I don’t need to contribute any more to the system in the form of traffic fines.
The Japanese have a saying: “The nail that sticks up gets hammered down”.
It’s good advice.
You don’t need to go along or cooperate with anything, you just need to keep a low profile to avoid attracting attention the the fact that you aren’t.
I was pulled over a few weeks ago on I-81 in southwest Virginia while driving a dark red Ford Explorer. There were few other cars on the road that early afternoon. I was in the middle of a 600-mile trip and 10 miles per hour extra over the course of nine hours makes the drive measurably less.
I was in right lane with no one in front or behind me. Suddenly, a sheriff’s cruiser is on my tail with its lights on. This snake was well hidden in the grass apparently. I immediately pulled over and was asked for my license, as well as if I knew why I was being stopped. I said I figured I was going about 80. I felt no reason to lie or act surprised. I could have played dumb and apologized profusely, but that’s not my style. She said “I clocked you at 82. I’ll be right back.” In the half dozen tickets I’ve received during my 18 years of driving, I’ve never engaged the officer in conversation, made excuses, or begged to never do it again if they let me off with a warning; I take it like a man. Speaking of which, she returned with a ticket in hand and said “anything over 80 is reckless driving, but I recorded you at 80 on the ticket so you only have to pay a fine.” I quietly smoldered. I looked at her, took the slip, and didn’t say a word. She said something along the lines of drive safely and slow down and that was that. Like I should be grateful she didn’t require me to get a lawyer and go to court for my egregious infraction… Apparently my clean driving record saved me from a more severe penalty.
The ticket was for $60, plus a $50 “processing fee” and some administrative nonsense that made the final tally $134. Before I exited that county I saw three other cruisers who had pulled over motorists on that stretch of a long and boring highway. Bottom line: I’d recommend listening to the author’s advice. The second responders are out there… and they’re hungry.
Returning from the Sunshine State one spring day I saw two large sandwich board signs along the Interstate in South Carolina. “Drug Inspection Ahead” was written in large black letters, hard to miss. Off to the right, alongside a field above the highway, sat a car with a single occupant. The highway then curved sharply to the right and there was a sign for an exit ahead. The exit ramp also curved sharply to the right. Anyone attempting to avoid being checked for drugs by taking the exit would have arrived at the check point, where a large circus tent had been erected and fifteen or twenty police cars were parked and a gaggle of officers were ready to conduct a thorough inspection. There were no gas stations, restaurants or other excuses for anyone but a local to take the exit.
As a kicker, there was a cop car at the top of the hill on the Interstate, with two cops conducting an inspection on a van while the elderly owners stood and watched. We were in a fully packed station wagon and would have been an obvious target for a random search.
http://nypost.com/2016/04/14/obama-just-gave-cops-the-ok-to-simply-take-your-stuff/
http://www.newschannel5.com/news/newschannel-5-investigates/policing-for-profit/policing-for-profit-reforms-defeated-in-Tennessee
A Brief Commentary by Professor Preponomics
Property rights are not only enumerated within and protected by the Constitution, they are essential to economic liberty. I hope you will follow the subject of civil forfeiture with attention and interest, and proactively (and with all due respect and civility) communicate with your county and municipal authorities, state legislatures, and members of Congress. Write editorials and post them to your local papers. Vigorously encourage the protection of property rights. The need to bridge budget shortfalls should be managed with responsible and grounded financial stewardship and never justify the discretionary taking of property based on accusation without benefits and protections of due process.
Just another brick in the wall – and the more they consider us “perps” and potential perps, the more we consider them thugs.
Payback is a bitch, when it comes.
Hey guys, you will all be happy to know that Detroit has a new “street code” to make that city safer! Read and enjoy!
http://stuffblackpeopledontlike.blogspot.com/2016/04/life-in-2016-detroit-83-black-city.html
John Angelo,
That wasn’t Wyeth County, was it?
Or Eric, you could just follow the law. You do know radar detectors are illegal in virginia, don’t you?
Yes, Yancey Ward, it was in Wythe County. Apparently their reputation precedes them.
I have received two speeding tickets in my lifetime (I am almost 50), and one of them was in Wyeth County, VA. I used to drive down 81 through VA to TN about 2 or 3 times a year, and Wyeth was one of the worst spots for hidden cop cars.
John Angelo
Lucky you only gotten written up for 80.
VA is royally fucked up, over 80 is automatic wreckless and i want to say your car is impounded, lose your license for 30 or 90 days and the insurance mafia will rape your ass until its a corpse with am increase in premiums.
starfcker, spoken like a true statist. Id expect no less from you.
“Or Eric, you could just follow the law. ”
Very well, sir, but what if the law is an ass? – George Mason
Look, eric has a problem with speed limits. Speed limits aren’t the heavy hand of the state. They exist for a reason. Cars going too fast in a particular situation are a hazard to the general public. They can kill you in an instant. Happens every day. Does eric think it should be OK to go 70 down a residential street? Go spend some time in a black neighborhood. That’s how they drive, and if they hit a pedestrian, they keep going. Heavy hand of the state can be a good thing.
I and another car were speeding along one day a number of years ago. Not racing, but going ten over the limit side by side.
We came over a rise and there was mister police, who flipped his lights on and started after us. I did the only sane thing – I sped up and got in front of the other car. Mister police could not stop us both. He took the other guy. I got off at the next exit and took a different route, just in case his buddies were in front of me.
It was him or me – eat or be eaten. Him it was.
Nowadays I never speed. I am a plodder.
Another time in my youth I pulled up to a light in the non-descript family sedan next to a guy in Dodge Charger or sumesuch. The sedan had a big eight, and when the lights changed I gunned it for a second, screeching and smoking tires. Across the road were the police, which I had not noticed.
They flipped on the lights and duly pulled the charger over. They obviously had not seen it was me, and assumed it was him. I can only imagine how that conversation went. Again, I turned off and beat feet, in case they wished up.
Bwahahaha! It pays to be unobtrusive at times. Fire engine red Charger got the heat, brown family sedan skated.
starfcker “Does eric think it should be OK to go 70 down a residential street?”
Where exactly did you infer that he thinks thats ok? You are a douchebag statist.
“Look, eric has a problem with speed limits.”
I have a problem with assholes defending unjust laws. If a law can’t show a victim, it isn’t a just law at all, it’s a money trap. You should go to eric’s blog and answer him there. That’s where he discusses his articles.
I like reading eric’s stuff. But he is a pinhead in many respects. Oh, but I certainly enjoyed his pro mass immigration piece the other day. I bet he’s a Hillary voter.
I’ve known Eric Peters for several years. He’s no pinhead, and he’s much further from being a Hillary voter than you are. You’re a liberal democrat compared to him, on a political level. You’re also nowhere near being in his league intellectually. Every time I see one of his articles being trashed here, it’s because those trashing him can’t understand what he writes.
Go to his site and post the same observations on the thread for this article that you posted here. He can explain himself and he’ll do it without trashing you.
Ed, calm down. I don’t honestly believe eric is a Hillary voter. Just a throwaway insult. I understand perfectly, everything that he writes. Lots of it is embarrassing, considering he is a grown man. I’m giving him a shove towards adulthood. Doesn’t mean he’s not a good guy.
But I’ll give you thumbs up for going to bat for him
” I’m giving him a shove towards adulthood.”
It looks more like you’re just talking shit about him instead of going to his blog to talk to him.` If that’s easier for you, fine. It just makes you look like you’re the one who needs the shove toward adulthood. Whatever blows your skirt up, kiddo.
Ed. We’re talking about a grown man who rants on an almost monthly basis as to why he doesn’t think he should have to obey a speed limit. Please
Actually, if you are going to be speeding along with one or more other cars on major highways, your position in the pack (front or back) doesn’t matter if you use the appropriate strategy. If in front, make sure those pacing you are close behind – usually a single cop will pull over the one in back and you keep going. If you are following “bear bait” in front of you, be sure to leave the most space between you possible while still being able to judge that you are pacing them (a half mile generally works), so that you will see the hidden cop enter the road in front of you when the bait is nabbed, or see the bait car hit their brakes when they see the hidden patrol car.
Also, if you do get nabbed, try for a plea bargain! While the fees are still the same, any decent excuse (my child was screaming, trying to get away from a “road raging” driver, getting around a truck weaving on the road, etc.) could reduce the speed for which they fine you. I’ve had a 74 in a 45 mph “Work Zone” charge reduced to 49 in a “regular” zone just my asking and using my first example above. YMMV, of course.