Sunday, January 11, 2026

A Lesson From Europe: How American Cops Should Handle "Pullovers." (A re-worked post from 2015)

 

Dear Fred,

As a practical matter, it would be wise to teach the protocols you recommend (in your email below). 

When "pulled over" by police, immediately adopt a submissive pose.

That said, if I were an American black man, I would be several twists beyond crazy, filled with more resentment (if not hatred) than most black people I rub shoulders with.


"The Deadly Oppression Of Black People: Best Pax Posts" - Introduced By Jon Stewart
https://newsfrombarbaria.blogspot.com/2020/07/the-deadly-oppression-of-black-people.html

"Trump's Long History Of Inciting Violence And The Deadly Outcome Of His Inflammatory Rhetoric"

A Comprehensive Review Of Trump's Racism (Featuring "Must-See Mash-Up Of Trump's Racist Preaching")
https://newsfrombarbaria.blogspot.com/2020/08/a-comprehensive-review-of-trumps-racism.html  

"Bad Black People." Why Bill O'Reilly Is Wrong Even When He's Right"

If I were black, I would live in a posture of permanent bitterness so that the prospect of submitting to a white cop's whimsical orders would constitute an unswallowably bitter pill.

During my recent sojourn in Spain, I noticed the absence of police patrol cars on Spanish highways. 

Maybe I just didn't see any, but it seems to me they don't use "patrol" cars. 

Nor did I see any "pulled over" vehicles in cities or towns. 

Let's remember the bottom line here. 

Speeding and other traffic offenses can be controlled as effectively -- or more effectively -- with embedded radar systems that monitor everyone and photograph the license plates of offenders. 

In Spain, there are many well-announced "radar monitoring zones" and drivers immediately slow down upon entering them. 

In any event, there is no "chasing the culprit," and - as a result - no fatal outcomes from the chase, or the aftermath of the chase.

Here in America, we LOVE to play cops and robbers, culminating with The Chase Scene. (Same is true for cowboys in their white hats, battling savage Indians with tomahawks ever-ready to scalp. Consider this surprise! 

Driving in Europe: Traffic Tickets

It's about this business of traffic tickets when driving in Europe. We use the word 'business' advisedly because, in some cases, that's what it seems to be. The great city of Florence, Italy, for example, rakes in more than 50 million euros each year from traffic tickets, a good percentage of them issued to visitors in European rental cars. But it's not just Florence and Italy. All over Europe authorities are using high tech equipment to catch more violators than ever before. No longer must you be observed breaking the law by a live person, pulled to the side of the road and ticketed. Most tickets are now issued electronically and sent by mail. Sophisticated cameras can now catch drivers speeding, talking on a cell phone, not wearing a seat belt, driving in restricted zones, or even following too closely. And the cameras never get tired or have to stop for coffee. A lot more tickets are being issued. Ten years ago we might get two or three emails or calls per year asking for advice in handling a European traffic ticket. Now it's two or three per week.

On the other hand, we gringos are acculturated to "cops and robbers" - a battle royale between "good guys" and "bad guys" that is as integral to America's gun-slinger "national drama" as the amphitheater in ancient Greece. 

"Just as every cop is a criminal and all the sinners saints"
Sympathy For The Devil

Best Pax Posts On Psychological Projection And "The Shadow"

Over-lay this "good guy - bad guy" mythos with conservative Christianity's bedrock passion for punishing evildoers, and it is clear that we train our cops to behave like bullies, who -- knowing they have blanket authorization to act like strutting cocks and to "stand their already-aggressive ground" -- are all trigger happy. 

I will never forget when an armed citizen killed a penny-ante robber at a nearby grocery store. 

The community roared its approval. 

What was Yeshua's actual advice to these "good Christians?" 

“If someone takes your coat, let him have your shirt as well." 

Here is the full context from The Gospel of Luke: 
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke+6%3A+27-42&version=CEB)

Love Your Enemies

43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 [a]But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, 45 that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. 46 For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? 47 And if you greet your [b]brethren only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the [c]tax collectors do so? 48 Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%205%3A43-48&version=NKJV

Where are the biblical literalists when we need them?

What's Wrong With The Abrahamic Religions: 

"In The United States Of Barbaria, We Train Our Cops To Kill"


The photo above reminds me the 1968 Democratic National Convention riots on the streets of Chicago. Mayor Dailey finally made a public appearance in which he said -- as the Freudian slip of ALL TIME: "The policeman is not there to create disorder, the policeman is there to preserve disorder."


Americans, Especially Catholics, Approve Of Inquisitorial Torture

Did you see my post from yesterday?

"The Department Of Justice Should Issue Police Hiring Guidelines To Preclude Bigoted Cops"


Consider.

How often do we really need to "pull people over?"

I suspect "reckless driving" (which includes "DUI") may be the only necessary circumstance.

Everything else can be handled by photo-fining.

And if other infractions actually require "pull-overs," do cops have to get out of their cars?

Killing Good Black People Over Dysfunctional Tail Lights


Why not devise a "new normal" in which the mere fact of being "pulled over" lets the civilian driver know s/he is, in fact, being ticketed? 

And if s/he gets out of her car, the fine will triple.

Cops and citizens will both be safer. 

Or, do we WANT the human sacrifice? Does our national identity require human sacrifice? 

(Same goes for capital punishment...)

Diane Rehm Guest Gets To The Nub Of Police Violence And How Easily It's Prevented

"In The United States Of Barbaria, We Train Our Cops To Kill
... Especially Black People"

American Police Shoot An Unarmed Black Man Every 72 Hours
(Taking police and vigilante shootings together, we find that an unarmed black man gets shot every 29 hours.)

Compendium Of Best Pax Posts On Miscarriage Of Justice And Misplaced Punishment

There's Never Been A Safer Time For Cops Nor A More Dangerous Time For Criminals

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2014/11/theres-never-been-safer-time-to-be-cop.html

Americans Are 9 Times More Likely To Be Killed By A Policeman Than A Terrorist

American Cops Fire More Bullets At One NYC Man Than All German Cops Fire In A Year
http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2014/09/85-shots-us-cops-use-more-ammo-per-man.html


1 Small Town's Cops Have Killed More People Than Combined Police Of Germany And U.K.
http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2015/02/1-small-towns-cops-have-killed-more.html


Am I missing something?

Pax tecum

Alan

Sign in Sandra Bland's home town

On Thu, Jul 23, 2015 at 9:31 PM, Fred Owens <froghospital911@gmail.com> wrote:

The smart thing to do when you're pulled over by a cop is to go into a mode of total humility, both hands visible and on the steering wheel, yes-sir, no-sir.
A good thing to remember, as implausible as it might sound, is that the cop walking up to your car is scared of you. He doesn't know anything about you. You could be a homicidal maniac. Make sure that every gesture and every word you speak addresses the cop's fear. 
(These instructions should be carried in a plastic cover in your car's glove compartment.) 
The cop on TV had no legal right to ask her to put out the cigarette. She was pulled over for no reason. In that case, you especially don't want to insist on your right to a smoke. You have that right, of course. But you want to turn off the radio and put out the smokes if the cops pull you over. 
Doesn't everybody know that?


Fred Owens
cell: 360-739-0214

My gardening blog is  Fred Owens
My writing blog is Frog Hospital


Follow-Up Correspondence:

Dear Fred,

American hubris is at its most egregious -- and most self-destructive -- in its dismissal of "Old Europe."

We need more Europe, not less.

Alistair Cooke And Comparative Democracy

"During the last decade of his life, Alistair Cooke  insisted that the most important function of the world's universities would be the institution of Departments of Comparative Democracy to insure that individual democracies not suffer the hubris of construing their own experience as "the only way" to manage a commonwealth. According to Cook's vision, no nation would be limited to the tunnel vision of its own experience, but instead, each would remain conscious of evolving democratic process in Ireland, Scotland, Denmark, Norway, Iceland, Belgium, Costa Rica, Uruguay, New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, Israel, Italy, Trinidad and Tobago, etc. Currently, the study of Comparative Democracy would be illustrative by pointing out that American "Democracy" is not how it's done."

Pax tecum

Alan


On Fri, Jul 24, 2015 at 11:18 AM, Fred Owens <froghospital911@gmail.com> wrote:

a lot of these suggestion are very good. Having cops pull over vehicles is poor policing in many ways.


 

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