0:00

Hello, everybody, this is

0:00

salty, my big comfortable

0:03

reclining chair and spice is

0:03

sitting next to me. This is a

0:07

little pre face before the

0:07

actual podcast to tell you

0:11

what's going on, we recorded

0:11

this podcast in a pouring rain

0:15

while we were driving and you're

0:15

gonna hear this weird little

0:19

noise. That's the wiper blades

0:19

as they were swiping on the semi

0:24

dry windshield, it was kind of

0:24

one of these driving in and out

0:27

of rain, so I was having to move

0:27

the wiper blades around. And

0:30

when they got started to get

0:30

dry, they start squeaking. So

0:33

when you hear that sound, that's

0:33

what it is. I just want to drop

0:37

a little note here to tell you

0:37

what you were hearing if there's

0:39

nothing wrong with your audio

0:39

system. It's just the car wiper

0:43

blades doing their thing. Okay,

0:43

now it's on to the podcast.

0:49

Hello, everybody. Welcome. Oh,

0:49

feels unnatural. Let's do it the

0:54

other way.

0:55

Hello, everybody.

0:56

Hello, everybody. And welcome to the show the Big Show, critically acclaimed by

0:57

gas that is recorded in our car,

1:03

and we're driving along in our

1:03

car that was recently stopped by

1:09

a state patrol officer, not

1:09

because I was actually speeding

1:13

or anything like that, because I

1:13

don't generally speed.

1:17

Certainly not on these roads,

1:18

certainly not on these roads, and certainly not in these conditions. That's when

1:20

there's snow on the roads. But

1:23

anyway, we were stopped. And we

1:23

were actually quite baffled as

1:28

to why we were being stopped.

1:28

But let me go ahead and tell you

1:32

a few of the tips that that I

1:32

have learned. And these are

1:34

nothing unique to me. But these

1:34

are a few tips that I've learned

1:37

to avoid having hassles with the

1:37

police clear my way. And I can

1:45

tell you, there are several

1:45

things I can do. Or you can do

1:48

to avoid having to deal with

1:48

police officers who are not

1:54

happy with you. And they're very

1:54

minor things and they will never

1:58

hurt your chances of of getting

1:58

ticketed, you may still get

2:04

ticketed, but they won't hurt

2:04

your chances. And if the if the

2:09

officer likes you, you have a

2:09

much better chance of actually

2:12

just getting a warning or whatever.

2:14

Besides which they do

2:14

fall into the category of common

2:17

civility when you think about

2:18

Yeah, and you know, and

2:18

it also calls into to the

2:21

category of Don't be a jerk.

2:23

Yeah.

2:24

I mean, some people are just natural jerks, and they're the ones who get a lot of

2:26

tickets. So here's salties list

2:30

of things you most of which I

2:30

just used to deal with police

2:35

officers. And the first one is

2:35

going to be a little

2:38

controversial. And I know some

2:38

of you people are going to not

2:42

like it at all, but I'm just

2:42

gonna throw it out there. And

2:46

you can take it or leave it

2:46

because it is absolutely stone

2:49

cold. True thing one, to dealing

2:49

with police officers. Be a white

2:54

Better yet, be a white

2:54

woman

2:54

guy.

2:56

or be a white woman

2:56

better. Yeah. A white woman who

2:59

smiles a lot is very nice. It

2:59

doesn't matter if you act ditzy

3:03

or not. I mean, you can be as

3:03

detailed as you want to be. But

3:06

yeah, be white. All right. No

3:06

more needs to be said about

3:09

that. It's just the truth. Okay,

3:11

just acknowledging,

3:12

just acknowledging that

3:12

it is what it is. Number two,

3:16

realize what the officers

3:16

concerns are your concerns, his

3:24

or her concerns, and his or her

3:24

concerns are, first and

3:31

foremost. They want to go home

3:31

to the family tonight. traffic

3:35

stops can be very dangerous. And

3:35

they want to go home and play

3:40

with the kids tonight and watch

3:40

TV, just like everybody else

3:44

does.

3:45

They don't know you.

3:46

They don't know you. They

3:46

don't know anything about you.

3:48

You're just some random person

3:48

who's probably in a bad mood, or

3:51

they just got stopped by a police officer.

3:53

In our case, since the

3:53

problem was the plates didn't

3:57

get Switched at the license

3:57

office. They were looking at

3:59

somebody where the plates didn't

3:59

match the car they were on. And

4:03

that probably brings up

4:03

suspicion of the car stolen. And

4:08

people who steal cars. had that

4:08

felony you'll do other felonies

4:12

too in all likelihood. So I can

4:12

see why the guy would be

4:15

concerned.

4:16

To be perfectly clear.

4:16

This was a mistake at the

4:19

license office. Not and not salt

4:19

is discarded license. In fact,

4:24

that's what he did when he

4:24

discovered when he got out of

4:27

his computer he found out Oh,

4:27

well this is supposed to have a

4:30

different set of plates, which

4:30

they never gave me on it. But it

4:35

is licensed. It is insured it is

4:35

it does belong to me. You know

4:39

so that's a no, I gotta go mess

4:39

with the license office and sort

4:44

that out.

4:45

Yeah, no, that's not fun.

4:45

That was there last week getting

4:49

my Real ID and that was

4:49

traumatic.

4:52

But anyway, pushing,

4:52

pressing right along. I'm

4:58

getting pulled over. I see

4:58

flashes by me. I'm confused. But

5:02

I know the number one thing that

5:02

officers cares about is their

5:07

safety. And that stuff's legit.

5:07

I don't blame them a bit. I

5:11

mean, why would you? How could

5:11

you? So I'm driving, I get I see

5:16

the lights, I turn and look to

5:16

see if you know if he's popping

5:19

past me because that's what I

5:19

fully expect. I'm doing 54 miles

5:23

an hour on a 55 mile an hour

5:23

road. You know, I am not

5:26

speeding, I did not speed

5:26

through the time we were just in

5:29

because this is a state trooper,

5:29

I can tell by the type of car

5:32

that this is a state trooper. So

5:32

I'm like, Okay, well, I'm on

5:36

this little twisty narrow, one

5:36

or two lane road that has no

5:41

shoulder, whatever. But

5:41

fortunately, I know the area

5:44

pretty well. And I know there's

5:44

a there is a intersection coming

5:49

up. So I slowed down

5:49

immediately, like 45. In an

5:57

acknowledgment that yes, I see

5:57

the officer who is behind me,

6:02

I'm actually being a quarter

6:02

mile from the from the road, I

6:05

go ahead and flick on my blinker

6:05

when I when I confirm where I

6:10

am, I flick on my blinker to

6:10

show that I am pulling over, I

6:15

pull over into this intersection

6:15

of this rural road. So you know,

6:20

I know there's not going to be

6:20

much traffic. And I pull over

6:23

into the area where it is safest

6:23

for the officer to walk, I pull

6:28

over. And even though it's

6:28

raining, when I see the officer

6:32

getting out of the car, I put

6:32

and see which side of the car

6:35

he's going to he's going to the

6:35

wife side, I roll down both the

6:40

front and the back windows

6:40

because this car has smoked

6:43

windows. And you know, the

6:43

officer sees both windows coming

6:47

down, he's able to come up there

6:47

and peek inside and see that we

6:51

have nothing in our back seat

6:51

that's going to cause him

6:53

trouble. It can see there's

6:53

nothing in you know, so he can

6:56

look at me. And I I was just

6:56

looking at him baffled like I

7:03

have

7:03

no idea we got nothing.

7:05

I have no idea why you

7:05

just pulled me over. And so he

7:08

told me that the plates don't

7:08

match the the car. And I'm like

7:15

we've got the paperwork in our

7:15

glove box, I points the glove

7:21

box, we've got the paperwork in

7:21

the glove box. Okay, this could

7:25

be a situation where we also got

7:25

a gun in the glove box, he

7:29

doesn't know we got the

7:29

paperwork. So we're going to

7:32

open the glove, I tell him this,

7:32

we're going to open the glove

7:35

box, and I leave my my arm out

7:35

pointing to the glove box, I

7:39

have my other hand on the

7:39

steering wheel. I do this

7:43

intentionally so the officer can

7:43

see one hand on the wheel. The

7:47

other hand is out and pointing

7:47

to the glove box. So there's no

7:50

way I can grab something. Spice

7:50

reaches out she opens up the

7:55

glove box. And he can see all

7:55

the contents of the glove box. I

7:58

paused a moment so he could see

8:01

there was a there's one

8:01

funky looking thing in there.

8:05

That Frankly, I didn't even know

8:05

what it was when I looked at it.

8:07

It's the vehicle manual. It's

8:07

wrapped up in this little black

8:11

thing. It's the vehicle manual,

8:11

it's clearly says Chrysler Rama,

8:15

which by the way, if you're

8:15

looking for a place to store a

8:19

gun would be a very good place

8:19

to store a gun inside what looks

8:23

like the vehicle manual because nobody's gonna

8:25

need it in a hurry because it was zipped up.

8:28

I mean, if you're gonna

8:28

store an extra gun, put it

8:30

inside the vehicle manual case,

8:33

because nobody ever uses those.

8:36

And it would be about the

8:36

right way for a small nine

8:39

millimeter anyway, opened up and

8:39

then we're digging through there

8:42

and like, okay, here's the

8:42

paperwork. He's looking at the

8:45

paperwork. And he's kind of got

8:45

his head cocked a little bit

8:49

like, Okay, this is a little

8:49

weird. I can definitely see

8:52

this. I can see this car is

8:52

registered. I have the state

8:55

registration form in my hand for

8:55

this car. I mean, you can look

8:59

at the car and see it's this

8:59

car. This is a I mean, it's

9:02

there's not that many of these

9:02

Hemi SRT C's out there on the

9:08

road. They're just not that many

9:08

of them. And so it's a pretty

9:12

good chance. That's what this

9:12

car is. So anyway, he goes back

9:15

to his car and he sits there and

9:15

what do we do? We sit there

9:18

waiting calmly and patiently and

9:18

somewhat confused.

9:24

While we're waiting, he

9:24

pulls up the more recent right

9:28

he says card.

9:29

He asked me for my license which I gave him registration with a car which we

9:31

gave him an insurance card has

9:34

wired in the state.

9:35

The one I pulled out of

9:35

the glove compartment was a

9:38

little bit expired. I said now I

9:38

don't care.

9:43

And so anyway, when he

9:43

came back, I had taken a picture

9:46

and I do this with all of my

9:46

insurance cards. I take a

9:50

picture and put it on my phone

9:50

in case I couldn't find the

9:52

actual card and I don't want to

9:52

be digging around through stuff

9:55

while the officer is you know, I

9:55

could be going for a gun. As far

10:00

as the officer knows, so I don't

10:00

want to be digging around for

10:03

stuff in front of a police

10:03

officer. So I put the insurance

10:09

papers on my, my phone. So I

10:09

don't have to do that, I can

10:14

always just flick to my phone,

10:14

open it up and hand them, hand

10:17

them the copy of it that way.

10:17

This is intentional, I did this

10:21

for this reason. And the officer

10:21

is much more at ease. He sits

10:27

back there for quite a while,

10:27

we're beginning to wonder what

10:30

in the world is going on, he's

10:32

got a printer in his car, who knows.

10:35

So anyway, he gets back

10:35

out of the car comes back. And

10:37

again, I have pulled over in a

10:37

position where he is in no

10:40

danger of traffic coming up and

10:40

hitting him in the rear. And

10:44

they notice the sort of thing.

10:44

As long as you'd make look like

10:48

you're you are a bang, the pull

10:48

over side. And you're obviously

10:53

looking for the safest place to

10:53

pull over, which could be a

10:57

parking lot of a business. Okay,

10:57

as long as you signal and go

11:01

very slowly, and then just pull

11:01

over as soon as convenient

11:05

inside that parking lot. You

11:05

know, they recognize that you

11:09

are doing this for their safety.

11:09

This is a good thing.

11:14

It makes everybody more

11:14

comfortable. By the way when he

11:16

was coming up from behind. I

11:16

intentionally took both my hands

11:20

and I put them up on the

11:20

seatbelt I was wearing as I

11:24

turned around, so he could see

11:24

where my hands were when he

11:27

looked in the back window. I

11:27

mean, I don't look like a

11:30

hardened criminal, let's face

11:30

it. But still, you know, he's in

11:38

a situation where he deals with

11:38

lots of people who do lots of

11:42

bad things. And, of course, it

11:42

tends to make a guy suspicious.

11:48

Now, we're not sure we

11:48

are not your typical profile for

11:54

people who are going to be

11:54

getting into trouble with the

11:57

law, we're quite a bit older

11:57

than most of them. We were

11:59

obeying the traffic laws. We we

11:59

just don't, frankly, look like

12:06

people expect hoodlums to look

12:06

like. We're why we're old. And I

12:12

mean, I know that makes some

12:12

people mad. But it's the truth.

12:15

I have been with a black

12:15

driver when the black driver

12:19

guts stopped. And the tone of

12:19

the interaction changed quite a

12:25

bit when the police officer

12:25

leaned down and looked over and

12:31

saw me in the passenger seat. So

12:31

I know it's a thing.

12:35

It is a thing. And I've

12:35

been I've been in the same

12:37

situation and they were stopped

12:37

for no reason. Whatever the car

12:41

I was at

12:42

mine too. Oh, maybe it

12:42

was like failure to signal a

12:47

lane change or something

12:47

incredibly dinky like that.

12:52

Yeah. I think that

12:52

tomorrow was pulled over for. He

13:00

looked like he may have crossed

13:00

the center line. You know, on

13:03

here I was in the car with

13:03

Tamara and his two kids, we were

13:05

going to a ballgame. You know.

13:05

Anyway, long story short, we're,

13:12

the best thing a person can do

13:12

to deal with being stopped by

13:16

the police is to first and

13:16

foremost, make them safe, not

13:24

just feel safe, but safe. And

13:24

know that they are safe with you

13:30

show them that you are not going

13:30

to be a threat. Now if you have

13:33

a gun in the car and you are you

13:33

are perfectly legal in some days

13:38

we do. And some days we do. I'm

13:38

not gonna say right now whether

13:41

I do or don't. You people know

13:41

me probably have a pretty good

13:45

idea of okay. This officer

13:45

didn't ask, but if the officer

13:51

asked, you tell them? Yes, I do.

13:51

And it is located where? Because

13:58

this is poor safety information

13:58

for them.

14:02

When I carry when I'm in

14:02

the car, I don't keep it within

14:06

arm's reach when I'm in the car,

14:06

because I know that's, that

14:10

makes people really itchy.

14:13

Yeah, and yeah, keep in

14:13

mind, we're in a different area

14:16

than you are. You know, if we

14:16

meet somebody out on the road,

14:20

there's a much higher

14:20

percentage, like, almost

14:25

unimaginably higher percentage

14:25

that it's going to be an Amish

14:28

person, that it's going to be a

14:28

person who's a danger to us is

14:35

that's just the area we live in.

14:35

We live out there amongst God

14:38

and His creatures, and I'm not

14:38

calling you out as God's

14:41

creatures. But you know what I'm

14:41

saying? This is the area we live

14:46

in. And it's a very safe area.

14:46

So, long story short. You keep

14:54

you keep the officers Safety

14:54

First and foremost,

14:58

and you're likely to have

14:58

a good out At least more likely,

15:02

at least likely, or

15:02

you're going to have as good

15:04

outcome as

15:04

you're going to have.

15:04

There's no bad outcome that's

15:08

going to come out of making the

15:08

officers feel safer. And nobody

15:14

likes to be stopped. And who

15:14

knows, I couldn't say whether a

15:19

reason you got stopped was just

15:19

one or not. But it really

15:22

doesn't matter because the

15:22

interaction is then going to

15:24

happen. And the mission is to

15:24

make it as successful as

15:28

possible for all concerned. And

15:28

one way to do that is by making

15:33

sure everybody's safe in the

15:33

situation. And the safer they

15:35

are, the safer you are. Let's face it.

15:37

There are other tips out

15:37

there. I'm not saying these are

15:40

the most, these are the ones I

15:40

just used. So there you go.

15:44

Okay, thank you for listening.

15:44

We appreciate it. And we'll

15:46

catch you

15:47

next time. Bye bye.