Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Well after reading the many posts below about Jason’s ticket I thought I would try to explain to all those cop haters out there, the normal mentality of a Law Enforcement Officer…
Now I will start that there are with out a doubt a certain percentage of cops who have personality issues, just like there are a certain amount of school teachers, bus drivers, doctors or profession that have people who lack inter-personal skills.
Cops in general became cops to help people. Some became cops because they thought it was cool, but they don’t last long, normally less then five years.
Cops are also suspicious people, by necessity. If you are not cautious you can get hurt very quick. We never know the person that we are dealing with and that is why we require you Driver’s License and vehicle paper work before we explain why we pulled you over. I can’t tell you how many times I have asked for a DL and my response was “well, what did I do.” My response is always the same.. “we will discuss it after I get your Driver’s License and paper work” I do this because if this is the guy who is going to shoot me and leave me for dead, at least I have a chance of getting him Identified.
Most of you folks do not have to worry about getting murdered on the job every day, I choose a job where that is more likely then most other jobs. Cops purposely chase after what most people are afraid of. If there is a guy with a gun, all the normal people are running from him, we go to him.
We for the most part are family people with wives, husbands and children that we want to go home to. You may have to forgive us if we are a bit terse at first, but we don’t know who you are, you know who we are and for that you have the advantage. We willing deal with the worst there is, from traffic violators (the least of our offenders but also the most dangerous thing we do) to someone who just killed his wife and wants to take out any one else in his way, to the disrespectful 17 year old 120 lb Emem wanabe who watches too much TV and thinks it is cool to live the Thug Life (my least favorite group of all) and needs the butt whooping that his dad was never around to give him.
But when it all boils down and the general public needs help, it is that same cop that you love to hate that you are going to call to help you. Because no matter what he/she will still be there when you need them. No one thanks us for handing out the speeding ticket that keeps your streets somewhat safe and the defense attorneys think it is sport to try and make up stories about why their client had that stolen TV in his car.
Even Jason, who was trying to do a good thing realizes that he may have even gotten a break from the rude cop that gave him the ticket for the Turtle. Instead of getting the speeding ticket, which he earned and would have caused his insurance to drastically rise, he got the $75.00 ticket for the turtle. Now he may have felt better right off the bat with the speeding ticket instead, but in the long run it would have cost him Hundreds of dollars over the next three years in added insurance cost and if you don’t think that the rude cop knew that when he was giving him the turtle ticket instead of the speeding ticket your wrong.
I try my best to be respectful of the public when I deal with them, but I also won’t take to kindly to not being shown the same respect that I offer and if you get a stern lecture about your poor driving habits instead of the $173.00 ticket that you earned, be glad that you got the break, instead of bashing the cop who gave you the lecture because “he had not right to speak to you that way”, trust me he does and he has earned that right!
Jim Hopkins

the utmost respect for law enforcement officers. and anyone willing to work with the public for that matter.
great post hoppy, jonathan brady
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Jonathan Brady
My Kingsnake Photo Gallery

when i misspell a word, especially in the "subject" area...
grrrrrrrrr...
jb
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Jonathan Brady
My Kingsnake Photo Gallery

"I try my best to be respectful of the public when I deal with them, but I also won’t take to kindly to not being shown the same respect that I offer and if you get a stern lecture about your poor driving habits instead of the $173.00 ticket that you earned, be glad that you got the break, instead of bashing the cop who gave you the lecture because “he had not right to speak to you that way”, trust me he does and he has earned that right!"

It's worth mentioning that disrespect towards police officers may be a result of disrespect shown by police officers to them. So it might not be wise to assume that everyone should have a high level of respect for police officers, because they may have perfectly good reasons not to.
It's also worth mentioning that, personally, I think traffic laws are severely underenforced, at least here in southern IN. Just give the $173 fine if that's what's deserved. Letting people off easy doesn't do anyone any good, IMO.

Patrick Alexander

plenty of bad cops. I've been lucky that all the police that I
know through school or that have pulled me over have been
really good, exceptional people, but there's plenty of bad cops
too.

You've probably seen the case now here in Miami with the
20 something year old who was beaten to a pulp because certain
law enforcement officers thought he had stolen one of their
buddies jet ski. He just got out of the hospital yesterday, they
ruptered his spleen among other things. They said he hurt
himself falling down in his cell. He had to be sliced open right down his abdomen to repair all the internal injuries sustained. (Inflicted). Thanks......tc

I didnt start this to become cop bashing or anything else just needed to vent. As I said speeding I was guilty of, would have paid the fine no prob. If he would have been decent about the whole deal to me I wouldnt have come here to vent. If he would have simply treated me like a human instead of a criminal tared and feathered, it wouldnt bothered me so much. His lack of concern for the animal and treatment of me is what bothers me so( I DONT care who or what he or you have dealt with in the past, I AM NOT THEM AND DO NOT DESERVE TO BE TREATED AS SUCH!!!!!!!!)its one thing to be suspicious and treat people with respect and another to treat eveyone like killers. Maybe he has cuaght people poaching snappers before so he has to be leary of that. But if he could have for 2 minutes knocked the chip off his shoulder, deflated his ego he would have seen that wasnt at all what I was up to. Had there been some concren on his part for the animal and its proper release and I been treated differantly and the ticket presented "as look I am doing you a favor by giving you this ticket(not having a fishing lisense) and a warning for the speeding" I wouldnt feel as I do. The warning for the speeding ticket was handed to me as you pay the animal ticket and this will all blow over and I wont write you up on the speeding. So Jim please learn from this, its one thing to be leary of everyone I understand that in your and his line of work you have to be. You can be leary and respectfull at the same time. This is were hatred stems from, because had I been treated with respect and little concern for the animal shown. None of this would have been posted here. but please lets all not get out of hand with this!
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Jason & Danica
A hit man for the order-when you couldnt go to school-had a skin job for a hair do-yeah you looked pretty cool-had a habit doing mainline-watch the dragon burn-no regrets, youve got no goals-nothing more to learn--now I know you wont refuse-because weve got so much to do-we got nothing more to lose-so take this number and welcome to-Operation : Mindcrime-were an under ground revolution working overtime...Operation Mindcrime, Queensryche.
Classic Dums

Amen to that. I think your particular situation would be even more outrageous if it were an isolated incident. However, it is seems quite typical of most interactions with law enforcement these days. I know this to be true in my own experiences whereas every uniformed officer I have ever met has acted like they thought they were a badass with something to prove. They aren't much better than the "Emenim" wanna-be's that you blast in the previous post. The only difference is that the officers don't just break the law, they act like they think they are above and beyond its restraints. Hell, less than ten years ago I was in the Law Enforcement Explorers Program for people seriously considering careers in that field but the things I've experienced since then amaze me. My two friends and I even saved the life of a campus police officer one night. In return I have gotten harassed on numerous occasions, mostly traffic violations, for which I have had to defend myself in court. I have had a close friend get pepper-sprayed at my house and then witnessed the officer lie under oath. I have been in nonviolent protests that have been brutalized and gassed. After all of that it should come as no surprise that I'm on my way to becoming a defense attorney.

As for calling the police when I really need them...I have been robbed at gunpoint, had my house broken into, and had my car broken into. There were no arrests made for any of these things. I guess they were too busy writing tickets with the radar devices that are given to them by insurance agencies.

I am a police officer of the state of Bavaria/Germany since 1975 and I know what Jim is talking about.

We learned at the academy that the police is a mirror of the society. Therefore you will surely find also some unkind persons with a lack of manners in the service. But this is most certainly the minority. Almost all of the officers are nice guys and gals with a family and they work hard in their job (yes, THEY are the "hard working" men and women).

You can't do this job for a long time without idealism.

But now to your problems with the police:

In the 28 years of my service I met a lot of people who are innocent like you. They behave like an axe in the woodlands on the scene and pose the innocent church-goer afterwards when facing the judge.

You have got harrassed in numerous (!) traffic violations and you have had to defend yourself in the courtroom for this?

A friend of you got pepper-sprayed in your house?

You have got problems at non-violent protests?

What a load of coincidences! I tell you what: I have never got harrassed in numerous traffic violations, I never had problems with pepper-spray or at non-violent protests

AND ALL THE PEOPLE I KNOW DIDN'T HAVE HAD SUCH POROBLEMS EITHER!

I think you should look in the mirror when you are searching for the one who has to take the blame for all this events.

Acting like an axe in the woodlands and posing the innocent afterwards is a most common behaviour in certain circles...

Poor Justizia when you become a defense attorney!
Boa constrictor

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Beware of Commies and Mutts!

My good German Brother,
It is amazing how similar Law Enforcement is half way around the world! Your point is right on the money. I am near forty years old now and I have only once needed the service of my local sheriff’s office once (which is not the Sheriff’s office I work for), that was long before I was a cop and needed to report my daughters bike stolen. That is typical for most people. A ticket or two and a report or two in a life time is all they will ever need.
Those who feel they are being harassed for traffic violations and have a gun put to their face and are victim after victim, have the police come to their house and pepper spray people need to look at the circumstances in which they place themselves. Like it or not, we as a society are judged by out actions and the company we keep. If you act like a jerk and hang out with criminals then you are judged poorly by society. When people who are judged poorly by society don’t behave it is us, the police, that are called out to deal with them.
I have no doubt that you (Nick) have put yourself into the circumstances that required police intervention. Your behavior most certainly justified the pepper spray or gas that was used on you. Please understand, if you are at a peaceful demonstration and it is an unlawful assembly, then it must be broken up. I may agree with your principle but once you refuse to obey a lawful order, you have committed a crime and I WILL spray you and take you to jail. I may not like it, but it is what I am paid to do and what I believe is right. I keep the peace and Enforce the law. I don’t not question the validity of the law, the public voted the laws into place and the public can vote them out, until then I will continue to enforce the will of the people onto those who choose to challenge it.
I suggest that you follow the laws of your land, and try not to bring the attention of your society onto you. Those simple actions will prevent the needless harassment you seem to draw.

"Those who feel they are being harassed for traffic violations and have a gun put to their face and are victim after victim, have the police come to their house and pepper spray people need to look at the circumstances in which they place themselves. Like it or not, we as a society are judged by out actions and the company we keep. If you act like a jerk and hang out with criminals then you are judged poorly by society. When people who are judged poorly by society don’t behave it is us, the police, that are called out to deal with them."

"I suggest that you follow the laws of your land, and try not to bring the attention of your society onto you. Those simple actions will prevent the needless harassment you seem to draw."

"We willing deal with the worst there is, from traffic violators (the least of our offenders but also the most dangerous thing we do) to someone who just killed his wife and wants to take out any one else in his way, to the disrespectful 17 year old 120 lb Emem wanabe who watches too much TV and thinks it is cool to live the Thug Life (my least favorite group of all) and needs the butt whooping that his dad was never around to give him."

Anyone else reading between the lines, here? The message I'm getting is, `Belong to a group I don't like, and I'll bust you. Belong to a group I like, and I'll just let you go with a warning.'

I hope I'm just misreading these posts, because I'd hate to think that the mentality I'm seeing here is typical of the `good' cops.

Patrick Alexander

It has nothing to do with what group you belong to, I don't care if you are a teamster, a black panther, a hells angels, or Christian Coellition (sp) if you break the law you will have to face up to it if you get caught. People are calling in more of what they see and I have seen even more people capture bad guys and then call us. America is fighting back after they realized that hiding in your house and calling 911 is just not good enough. The police are here to help the citizens police themselves and if there is one good effect from the whole 911 incident it is that Americans have awaken and know the see it IS their problem too. If I get the call, I will do my Job. If I see it, I also will do my job, as far as a traffic offense goes, that is largely on the attitude of the driver during the time of the stop. If they want to argue the point, I give them a ticket and the forum to argue (the courthouse) if they are polite and respectful then they may just get told to slow down or pay better Attention(cell phone drivers).
Criminals often feel they are being picked on or harasses and to a certian extent they may be. If i arrested a person for a burglary two months ago and see him speeding today, guess what he is going to get that ticket, because his first encounter with law enforcement obviously did not take. If by a group of people who I do not like you mean criminals, then yes you are right, hang with criminals, act like a criminal, get treated like a criminal............Hang with the average Joe, follow the laws of your land, and maybe get a break on the next speeding ticket that you earned. By the way, most of my "unpolite" people that I deal with are not the young or really old, it is mostly the 35-40ish well to do man that has a bit of an "leave me alone you peasent" attitude about him.
Thanks
Jim

"It has nothing to do with what group you belong to, I don't care if you are a teamster, a black panther, a hells angels, or Christian Coellition (sp) if you break the law you will have to face up to it if you get caught."

Then why all the mentions of what music people listen to, whether or not people are `drawing attention to themselves', and whether or not they belong to groups `judged poorly by society'? All that's irrelevant to the law, but has everything to do with what groups people belong to.

"If I see it, I also will do my job, as far as a traffic offense goes, that is largely on the attitude of the driver during the time of the stop. If they want to argue the point, I give them a ticket and the forum to argue (the courthouse) if they are polite and respectful then they may just get told to slow down or pay better Attention(cell phone drivers)."

And, IMO, that's a mistake. The law's supposed to apply to everyone. Not just to people whose personalities you dislike.

"Criminals often feel they are being picked on or harasses and to a certian extent they may be."

From what I've seen, when it comes to the law enforcement arms of the state wildlife agencies of our country (the origin of this conversation, after all), many herpers feel like they're being picked on and harrassed without being criminals. Probably it comes from that `acting like a criminal' bit. Some wardens think that being a herper constitutes `acting like a criminal', I guess.

Patrick Alexander

I couldn't agree more with what this guy is saying.

If a man is speeding he is speeding. Write the ticket. Whether or not he is speeding has nothing to do with what music he listens to, how he speaks to you, whether he likes your hair, or even if he wants to shoot you. If we need to control how respectful the public is to an officer then we should make it a ticket able offence to be disrespectful. Officer's should not have to give speeding tickets for being an asshole. Maybe I'm an idealist but I think a speeding ticket should be for speeding.

I like the comment that "Police officer's are a reflection of society.", this is true. I think our society had developed a serious problem with respect and courtesy. Likewise I think officers have developed the same problem along with an ego, served to them by the omnipotent "judgment call". I'm sorry but when a police officer is given the power of judge, jury, and executioner how can his ego not inflate. This goes back to what I was saying previously. Too much is left to the ego or judgment of the officer. Massage the officer's ego and suddenly you are no longer guilty of speeding. Cop a 'tude and you'd be surprised how bad of a driver you suddenly become.

I'm sorry, nothing against the good people who still want to help the world and their neighborhood, but our justice system is just plain wrong.

-Paul

I would have liked to reply to these posts sooner but I was out of town for the holiday, please forgive me. First off you said, "Those who feel they are being harassed for traffic violations and have a gun put to their face and are victim after victim, have the police come to their house and pepper spray people need to look at the circumstances in which they place themselves." Three of the four times I have had to go to traffic court it has been for unjustified claims. What else is it besides harassment when all of them were dismissed in court? You go on to say, "if you act like a jerk and hang out with criminals then you are judged poorly by society." If acting like a jerk is knowing my rights and demanding that officers follow proper procedure, both of which I am fairly well educated on, then yes I am guilty of being a jerk although I was never rude. As for the hanging out with criminals part, I have never been arrested in my life and besides the pepper-spray incident neither have any of my friends. I can elaborate further on that incident but basically my friend verbally confronted several officers over what right they had to come onto my property and tell people to leave my party. I fully admit that my friend was being belligerent and should have handled himself more tactfully. However, that doesn't warrant getting pepper-sprayed and arrested. It also doesn't warrant the officer testifying under oath that my friend took a swing at him despite the fact that he was several feet away and out of arms reach. Additionally you said, "I have no doubt that you (Nick) have put yourself into the circumstances that required police intervention." So now you know me so well from my short posting that there is no doubt in your mind that I would involve myself in criminal activities? You must be incredibly smart to deduce such a quick conclusion with so little information. Is that the kind of logic most officers use right before they decide to spray or gas a crowd?

The intent of my original post wasn't to jump on the cop bashing bandwagon. Instead, I only wanted to offer a brief explanation as to how one individual who was once considering a law enforcement career and at one point even saved the life of a campus officer, could end up having a negative disposition to uniformed officers. Essentially, what I'm saying is that if you disrespect people and treat them like they are below you then you shouldn't be surprised when they hold you in distain.

Yes, I'm sure those ungrateful @sses are harassing you on numerous occassions BECAUSE you saved an officers life! DUH!
Could it be that you did something to draw attention to yourself? I know that I always "harass" people who do something to draw my attention to themselves. As for the crimes you have been a victim of and remain unsolved....property crimes have a lower clearance rate than crimes against persons, but the fact remains that even some armed robberies and, yes, even murders, go unsolved. Not to minimize what happened to you, but we simply cannot solve every crime.
A) we are not there to witness, and subsequently testify to, every crime that happens
B) there is not always a good witness to every crime ("good" meaning providing enough reliable information for us to work with)
C) there are defense attorneys trying to get the bad guys off the hook when we do make a good arrest!

Don't want to be "harassed" for those pesky traffic violations where you have to go to court and defend yourself? DON'T COMMIT THE VIOLATIONS!
"Nonviolent" protesters many times become "violent" protestors, especially when the cops show up.
You are definitely headed for the right line of work for your psyche. You will fit in well with the conspiracy theorists and cop haters that usually work in the public defenders office!
I have, on occassion, met (drumroll please...) good defense attorneys. I hope you turn into one of these good attorneys, as I hope you someday meet a (drumroll please...) good cop. We are out there. Maybe you could go to the scene of a serious accident (you know, following the ambulance) and observe how the cops interact with those hurt, or see who is running TOWARDS the guy on Meth or LSD that is slicing his mom up with a butcher knife. (Although in court I'm sure it will be pointed out that this was not actually his fault. He was an abused child!)
I have never seen a DEFENSE ATTORNEY running towards an attempted homocide in progress!

Here's an idea.....let's not have cops anymore. Wouldn't the world be a better place? Oh, wait, then you would have to pick a different career! Maybe the function we perform is important. There are two of us on the planet(Hoppy and myself) that DO try to do our jobs to the best of our abilities, without getting the wrong person, being rude, or violating someone's rights.

Love,

A "badass", "Eminem wanna-be", lying, pepperspraying, non-crime-solving, brutal, above the law cop.

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"I am a cop, and you will respect my authoritae!"-Cartman

I didn't see your post till after I posted mine!)
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"I am a cop, and you will respect my authoritae!"-Cartman

no text
Boa constrictor

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Beware of Commies and Mutts!

Several years ago, before I had my knee kicked inside out, I applied to the second installment of survivor (The Australian one) I figured that it was pretty much my only chance to get to go to Australia. After filling out a three or four page application about what I like to do and what my job is, one of the last questions was, “if stuck on a desolate island, what kind of people would you want to be stuck out there with?” My answer was simple, other snake raising cops LOL, who would have guess there were actually others out there. Good to know and good to see the support.
Jim Hopkins

The best way to “rescue” a native animal found in the highway is to carry it in the direction it was originally travelling, and release it well off the road. Putting it in your car and taking it out of its home range is probably doomed to failure for several reasons, among which are that it will try to return and that it will compete with already established animals in the new location.

Bringing animals into a state park for release is probably a violation of the law. Having any native wildlife (whether live, dead or parts thereof) in your vehicle in a local, state or national park is a very poor idea. Volunteering this information when you are stopped for going 12 miles over the speed limit is also a poor idea. Having native wildlife in your possession without the proper permits or licenses when you are stopped by a conservation officer is also a real non-starter.

Sometimes our best intentions don’t work out quite the way we’d planned it. Sometimes other folks are just doing their jobs. And maybe even in the farthest reaches of a tiny reptilian brain, a snapper is trudging through the woods right now thinking “what the hell was that all about?”

About what the turtle thought! I've rescued many,over the years,and,though to us,it seems like they are wandering aimlessly,they actually seem to know exactly where they are going,(imagine that? their ancestors were doing it long before we got here!)the best thing to do would have been to simply stop,and,place the animal on the opposite side of the road,in the direction he/she was headed...it was probably half way back home from the last well intentioned release,when Jason found it,and,was no doubt,screaming "NOOOOOOO,not again!!!,what is it with these biped things!!!??? *LOL* (kinda like a turtle twilight zone!)*DOHHHH* they are equipped with the *original* GPS device,right in their tiny little brains

And I have no concerns with your statement. I have no doubt that the Wildlife officer that you were talking with was stern and maybe even overly rude and for that there is no excuse. I take no exception or offense to your post, it was the onslaught of cop bashing from those who advocated violence towards that officer that I take offense to. Carlos suggested to jump they guy after work, some other person suggested that cops are nothing then former criminals that go into law enforcement for the money? And Nick, just below this post, suggest that he is being harassed for saving an officers life?
I have no beef with your post and frankly I think it sucks that you were ticketed for saving the turtle, maybe you could have suggested to the officer to not give you the break and cite you for the speed instead? Not being sarcastic, I too have a strong sense or right and wrong, in fact in court you can request the officer to amend the ticket to the violation of speeding instead. I’m sure he would not mind changing it.
I hope you continue to rescue turtles from the road way, I do and my wife does, in fact I worked a traffic accident just two weeks ago where a turtle caused the crash…….
This nice couple stopped because a turtle was crossing the street and they were going to move it. The car behind them also stopped in time, but the third car in line did not, it hit the middle car witched pushed into the first car that stopped in the middle of the street. The person at fault for the accident was the third car that first struck the middle car and he was mad! He thought that no way in heck should he be responsible for “some nut” that stopped to help a turtle cross the road. I simply told him, what if it had been a child instead of a turtle? It would have not changed the fact that he was not paying attention enough to see the sudden stop in traffic. Luckily no one was hurt and the cars were not to bad off. I thought that you would like to know that some turtle supporters turn out ok.
Keep up the good work, and slow down in that park LOL
Jim

"And Nick, just below this post, suggest that he is being harassed for saving an officers life?"

Perhaps by saying "in return" I gave the wrong implication. That situation was completely seperate from the rest and was in no way connected to the others. Although it is true, I stated that part of my post as evidence that I don't come from some sinister background that would give me some strange disposition to hate policemen.

Two of my neighbors (husband and wife) are both CHP officers...and very honest and decent folks. Another guy up the hill from me is a local police officer (geez, I'm surrounded!!!). He's a bit full of himself, but I still respect what he does. My buddies who have more often than not had repeated run-ins with law often view it as "the cops are out to get me!". My response is, "slow down (stop running stop signs, stop drinking and driving, etc.) and they won't have a reason to stop you!". I'm not saying there aren't officers of questionable conduct (there certainly are, as with any group of people) but I've found that sometimes stories about how unfair a cop was will occaisionally have details left out. Should the cop have taken more time in the incident with the snapping turtle...probably. Should we all go out and bash cops because of incidents like it...only if we desire chaos. Personally, I wouldn't want the responsibilty of a law officer. Protecting people from themselves, and many of whom can't stand you, can be a heavy burden. At any rate, thanks Hoppy, for your service!

Steve
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Nature - the original Master Planned Community!

Cop bashing is and has been one of my favorite pass times for many years now but there is a time and a place for it. My favorite time and place is on Saturday afternoon backyard BBQ's when I have about 10 or 15 of my buddies over (75% of which are either city cops county sheriffs or highway patrol)and I go to town giving them all a ration regardless of which agency they work for. However I have a hard time bashing unknown people of any background online and in a forum that is designed for the exchange of information relating to and for the benefit of my beloved reptiles. Cops are just people after all with alot of responsibility granted, but they are still just human beings, and everyone is entitled to have a bad day. Some can be jerks but so can anyone who deals with the public on a regular basis.So lets give the boys in blue a break here, keep the conversation on herps, and if we must bash someone lets bash someone that really deserves it......the Checkers at WalMart!

******
if you get a stern lecture about your poor driving habits instead of the $173.00 ticket that you earned, be glad that you got the break, instead of bashing the cop who gave you the lecture because “he had not right to speak to you that way”, trust me he does and he has earned that right!
******

Horse [bleep]. Cops should be in the law enforcement business, not the holier-than-though business. Write a ticket or don't, but shut up.

A few years back, on my way to traffic court to answer a speeding charge I was passed at a very high (and illegal) rate of speed by two police cars. On their way to a bank robbery? Nope. On their way, as it turns out, to traffic court to testify against me, and a bunch of other people like me. Hypocrits, plain and simple.

I'm very sick of the "few bad apples" argument when it comes to cops. There are no doubt a lot of good ones, but an entirely unacceptable number of bad ones. And even most of the otherwise good ones participate in a pervasive culture of silence that protects the bad.

I tend to agree that the intentions of most police officers are good. However, I have witnessed several incidents in which reptiles have been harmed by or because of cops because they were thought to be dangerous. Police officers, especially those living in climates where reptiles are common, should be trained to identify dangerous and harmless reptiles.

About 6 years ago I got a call from a friend who told me there was a huge (4-foot) plains garter snake slithering on a sidewalk near his house a few miles away. He told me that the neighbors were petrified and that they had called the police to remove it. By the time I got to the scene, all that was left were the crushed, bloody remains of a gorgeous garter snake. Evidently, the cops had slaughtered the animal in front of many children. This incident sickened me, not only because of the ignorance of the police officers, and of the demise of he snake, but also because the kids that had witnessed this then thought it was right to slaughter any "unwanted" animal.

Another time, when I was about 12, I called the police to report a group of boys that had caught a bucket full of frogs and were playing frog baseball near a creek. When the police arrived, they basically joined in on the fun- not actually batting the frogs, but laughing and telling me how small of a deal it was and how I had wasted thier time.

Though some police officers do the right thing in these types of situations, most don't because they are either unfamiliar with the animal in question or because they possess that ago problem Jason mentions. I understand Jason's anger toward the cop who forced him to release the snapper in the middle of the woods.

Joe

I agree and do wish that more training with the wildlife in the area was provided to the officers. The one true issue about police work is that it requires you to be a jack of all trades. I happen to be an animal nut and being so I get most of the animal complaints in my area, but there has been a time or two where the Judgment call of a superior interfered with the knowledge of a subordinate…. Here is an example….
I have many of the guy “trained” (for lack of a better term) that if you have run across an exotic snake and know it to be a non-venomous one and are not afraid to capture it, then bag it, call me and I will pick it up from you in the morning. (If not then I will get up in the middle of the night to retrieve it). I had a LT that heard them talking about “bagging the snake for Hoppy” on the radio and deemed that to be a monetary benefit not allowed by the agency (My agency is Huge on this kinda thing, no free coffee, discount lunch or any other Benefit from our jobs that is not approved by the Sheriff) So he told them to drop of the snake in the holding cages at the local conservancy. So the officers did what they were told to do, they dropped off a 4-5 foot Boa Constrictor of at a “Nature Conservancy” You know the place where birds try to recoup because they have broken wings, or the orphaned baby raccoons stay until they can fend for themselves. Well, I guess it took about two minutes for the snake to escape the cat carrier that they use as a night time drop off holding cage. I can’t imagine what damage an Exotic animal could do to the disabled native animals that stay there, but I imagine they are still losing animals there. The Boa has been feeding on the bird (mostly) now for about 4 months, they have not been able to locate the snake yet and the director of the conservancy was not happy, well a new policy is in place (or I should say the old one) they again call me up for the Exotics to find a home for them, as a return, I do a couple of presentations a year at our youth summer club on the snakes.
My point is though, the LT thought he was doing the right thing, he did not have the needed training or knowledge to make the proper judgment, his intention was wrong (much like the whole turtle thing) just the way it worked out.
Police can not possibly be trained for everything they are required to handle, we do the best we can and make a lot of “common sense” judgment call based on our own experiences. They will not always be the best possible answer and sometimes they will be down right bad answers, but the intentions are normally good even if the attitude is not always “customer service pleasant”
Thanks
Jim