North Idaho Law Enforcement

Some of you may recall me complaining about a specific chubby officer who pulled me over for going too slow for conditions. Do to the recent occurrence I'm going to blog about my past experience with Officer ____________.

It was a Friday night (I think) and I was on my way home from work. Mom and Dad were a little ahead of me, but I had to drop the bank deposit by Wells Fargo before heading home. As I come across the long bridge heading South out of Sandpoint, the first road on the right is Lakeshore Drive. A police officer in an SUV was parked there. He pulled out soon after I passed by. The road was terrible. It had snowed quite a bit and the visibility was terrible. I was probably traveling at about 35 mph coming across the bridge. When I slowed down to turn on Bottle Bay rd I noticed he flipped on his blinker also. [side note : he was not following me closely, in fact he was a little ways behind me probably traveling slower than I, and I was in the neon.] As I went to turn, he flipped on his lights. "GREAT!" He walked up to my window, and I knew i surely wasn't speeding. When he asked if I knew how fast I was going I said yes right around 35. He then began to criticize that if there had been traffic, at that speed I would have been holding up other road users. He wanted to warn me that yes due to conditions speed should decrease, but my rate of travel was too slow. Therefore, he was suggesting that in the next winter storm warning I speed up, or pull over to let others by. OK HAD THERE BEEN ANYONE BEHIND ME AT ALL I WOULD HAVE. He was a real jerk. He let me go threatening that he could write me a ticket, but never did. Ohh, police think they have all the power in the world.

Now, Last night....

It was right around 1 am, and I was exhausted. I was returning from a hot tubbing trip out at Carsons parents with Robby, Marissa, Del and Carson. My hair was wet, I was cold...and I just wanted to get home. Once again, it had been snowing quite a bit, and the roads were very slushy on the way out of town. As I was traveling south across the long bridge out of Sandpoint, I once again must have past Officer __________ on Lakeshore. I was following behind a Car, and Semi. I noticed headlights appear in my rear view mirror soon before I moved over into the turn lane to head around Bottle Bay. Once again as I followed through with my turn, here are the red and blue lights. I wasn't even nervous, I knew I wasn't speeding, and my blinkers worked. The only thing I could think of was I got my license plates 2 days ago when my temporary registration expired. I haven't had time to put the plates on, but they are on my front seat. I even went and got screws for them! Knowing I could probably get away with a warning I wasn't too worried. THEN....Same guy. Here is our conversation:

Officer: Good evening?
Me: It is!
Officer: Where are you coming from?
Me: Hot tubbing
Officer: Are you sure it wasn't clubbing?
Me: IN SANDPOINT HAHAHA. No.
Officer: Are you sure you haven't been drinking? I smell alcohol.
Me: I'm positive sir, I haven't drank a thing.
Officer: Do you know why I'm pulling you over?
Me: Nope.
Officer: Well you were going too FAST for conditions. It's trucks like you who think they are invisible and cause accidents in weather like this.
Me: I was following traffic, and the road was clear?
Officer: I'm going to need to see license and registration.

[when he come back]

Officer: do you know you don't have license plates?
Me: Yes I do, there here on my front seat, I just haven't put them on.
Officer: you need to do that.
Me: Yep I know.
Officer: With your bad attitude I want you to know I could write you a ticket for traveling at excess speeds for conditions.
Me: and your not?
Officer: Slow down going around bottle bay, it can be sketchy sometimes.
Me: I know I drive it twice a day!
Officer: Well I go around there twice a day on my rounds so I would know.
Me: Have a great night.

OH MY HECK! Just my luck, are you kidding?! Why!? Trucks like me, OK...all of you know that I drive like a grandma...Especially in bad weather. How ironic is it that he got me for going too slow, and not even a month later too fast? Goodness. On a Saturday and Friday night I'm sure he was just trying to find someone to get on a DUI. Unfortunately for him, I was a waste of time. Haha I was irritated at the time, but after talking to Del and Carson, I laughed it off. It's now a great story.