Have you ever been arrested?

markv

@Nikko - iirc the police that dealt with us (see above) were very polite and explained our options very nicely, then left us alone (i.e. retreated a few feet away) to let us decide what we wanted to do. It probably helped that we were a bunch of nicely spoken white boys & girls. They weren't interested in us, they mainly wanted a witness to bust the dealer. It's the method I find a touch suspect - that whole "means justify the ends" mentality.

mellowsun

Yep, couple of times as a youngster. Usual minor drugs stuff.

ThePrettyDamned

Nah, I'm a right boring fart.  

I have had dealings with the police and all have been exceptionally positive - whether reporting or getting a telling off (only once twice though). 

I was pulled over once - I accelerated fast in a small town. I didn't speed, but the police man followed me to tesco and asked if I was in a hurry. I meekly said no, I was just feeling boisterous and, now, a little bit stupid and immature. Let me go - no warnings or anything. He didn't seem arsey or anything - he said there had been a lot of speed related incidents so they were cracking down, but I think it was clear I'd learnt my lesson. 

See? Told you I'm a right boring fart. 

CHRISB50

CloudNine said:

@CHRISB50  ;; Well there seems to be a lot of people with the same opinion. Why is that? And the clear examples of corrupt practices, just on this thread alone, don't exactly dissuade me from my current views. Many people just aren't capable of wielding authority in an appropriate way. It's just the way of the world, hence my view that the uniform turns them into dicks.

I take it you are a copper then? If so, hopefully one of the ones that isn't a dick.

I've found over time it's an automatic response to be hostile to the police, even if you haven't had any dealings with them. It's the for want of a better word the 'trendy' response to an opinion on the old bill. 

Also don't forget, this is a thread about being arrested. It's quite probable people don't like being arrested (it's never happened to me but I'm sure it can't be fun). Hence a negative opinion. 

Although I've never been nicked I've had a few run ins with the police. I've always found if you treat someone with respect it tends to be reciprocated. After all, in their line of work they have to deal with their fair share of wankers. I've found they're pretty happy, when you respond to them in a friendly manner. Maybe I've just been lucky. 

As I said in my previous post, some people are dicks. Maybe the people in this thread who had a negative experience happened to be unlucky and were arrested by a dick. But I'm sure it's not a reasonable assertion that ALL police are dicks.

In a majority of circumstances tarring everyone with the same brush is ignorant. 

If you made a similar detrimental generalisation about a group. Be it a racial, whatever, it wouldn't be considered acceptable. 

And I'm not a copper

mike_l

I know a few, and have had run ins with a few policemen. Never had one be a dick to me.

I did get stopped for speeding once, it started raining, so I invited the policeman to sit in the back of the car. Turned into quite a good laugh, mostly at his expense. Still got a ticket, I think it was because his sergeant was the other police on scene.

lloyd

MY experience with coppers has been mixed, some are great some are shit-like all walks of life.

They do a tough job and I can imagine that sometimes a bedside manner isn't something top of their priorities for whatever reason.

People that moan about them and call them cunts, I'm sure have had many times in their life when they've been thankful that they're around.

Theyre the ones that you're going to be phoning if you find yourself in fear for your life, and they'll turn up and try to help you, despite their own safety.

For that, I think we should all have a certain level of respect or gratitude for.

lloyd

Agree with Nikko too, been nicked when I was young and had bad experience with them-residing arrest etc.

Got arrested for drug offences when a bit older and was fine with them-they're doing a job, had a good chat with the desk seargeant about drugs and how I had no respect (clearly) for drug laws and he agreed.

Next morning, giving me my possessions back, there was traces of white powder on my keys, the whole Nick were joking that as soon as I stepped outside, they'd arrest me again for possession!

They didn't.

Emp_Fab

I've never had anything other than pretty shitty experiences with the police. As a young biker and driver I was being stopped constantly.  There were a couple of other occasions where I escaped their attempts to grab anyone they could in situations where I'd done nothing wrong but knew what the outcome would be if I'd hung around.  South Wales police had a well-dodgy reputation in my youth. Judging from several very suspect convictions in recent years, things haven't changed much either. 

frank1985

I nearly got caught by a sniffer dog with a bag of weed in my wooly hat. He was climbing up my back and the police officer just assumed he was being friendly, i.e trying to dry hump me. 

"I think he likes you mate"
"Oh right I assumed he was just after that half ounce of skunk on my head....shit...."

stickyfiddle

I very nearly got arrested once, at Heathrow Terminal 5. It was the day we moved to AD, and we had a buttload of cases and bags and whatnot. Everything checked in, down to handluggage only, no problems. 

Go through security and my bag got pulled for spot-check. No problem, thinks I. They ask me if I have any weapons packed? No, of course not, I say, being that I'm not an idiot. 

3 checks later they found my pocket knife in my camera bag. I sure as hell hadn't put it there, but we'd been staying with my folks for a couple of days and I can only assume my mum or dad had dropped it in there for safe-keeping. 

I explained the situation, police were called and arrived after a 90 minute wait. They were, to their credit, very good about it, but did explain in detail that it was an arrestable offence that carries a pretty hefty charge. Thankfully they believed it was an innocent mistake and only confiscated the knife. Not a fun experience, but the cops did a good job.

pintspiller

I got let off with a warning at the station after being caught shoplifting when I was 18