I'm guessing I'll just chalk this up to the cop having a bad day. I do interface with a lot of cops as I'm quite involved in my community CrimeWatch. I talk to the County cops all the time. For the most part, they are a bunch of nice guys and I've only had to deal with a few pricks. Some of these guys look like they just got out of highschool!
One time I escalated an issue to one of the prick's commander. His boss said it's no excuse for a cop to give anyone a hard time. He said sometimes, they are coming from a terrible situation where someone was injured or murdered and they have a real difficult time separating the issues. Based on what some of these guys describe as experiences, I can understand the separation difficulty. The commander said, this is still no excuse and expects the cops to remain professional and demonstrate respect no matter where they came from.
The local cops do have an issue with the State Troopers. These Troopers seem to be the low man on the totem pole in the police world and have little respect from the locals. I imagine this can also cause a bit of an ego issue with the Troopers.
The local cops tell me about all the stories and excuses people make up. Basically, they don't believe any excuse, so there's no reason to make one up. Just be nice, show them all kinds of respect and apologize profusely. As long as you aren't a major a-hole, often they will let you go with a warning because they don't want to do the paperwork, especially if it's nearing the end of their shift..yes, they are real people too.
I only have the one experience as a point of reference, but it seemed to work well.
-ZCarGo-
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