Highway Pratrol stopped me

[SheriM]

I was completely dressed with wig, makeup, short skirt, hose, etc, driving 78 in a 75 speed zone on a Kansas interstate. A highway patrol pulls up beside me then backs off and turns on the lights. There was nothing I could do but own it. He walks to the passenger window and identifies himself. He says I was going about 80 but is quick to add that there will be no ticket. I give him my license, he asks for proof of ins and then gives the proof of ins back. He asks for registration and I fumble around because I don't know what it looks like. In the meantime, he is chatting. I find the registration and he returns it. He doesn't like where I have the GPS mounted so I move it. He says drive safely and returns to his car and turns off the front flashing lights. I think that this is my Q to leave and do so. Stop at a gas station and I cant find my license. Now I'm thinking that he has it and was writing a warning when I left and the entire state will be after me for evading an officer, throw me on the ground in my skirt and take me to jail. Well, I cant wait to get out of Kansas and finally do get out. For the third time, I search the car and finally feel some plastic under the seat. It is my license. Thank you lord. The rest of the day was uneventful.

[AndreaS]

I've gotten a speeding ticket while dressed and the officer was very professional. He addressed me as "m'am" when he approached my window. I gave him my license and he didn't bat an eye.
So glad you found your license. I would have worried to death about the whereabouts of it.

[Allisa]

What time of day was it? He saw a female and with an apparatus on the dash, maybe a radar detector which is illegal in some states. You didn't panic which shows your not doing anything wrong so he performed his duty and off you went, no harm, no foul. My heart pounds so hard when I encounter the authorities and test my deodorant. Things happen everyday and when dressed it's no different. Glad you only got a warning, did he address you as a female after seeing your I.D.?

[Territx]

That will get your heart pumping!!!

[MelanieAnne]

driving 78 in a 75 speed zone on a Kansas interstate. A highway patrol pulls up beside me then backs off and turns on the lights. There was nothing I could do but own it. He walks to the passenger window and identifies himself. He says I was going about 80 but is quick to add that there will be no ticket.

I have a real problem with this. It's happening everywhere. They stop you for the slightest reason, or even make up a reason, "We're looking for a vehicle like yours", just to stop you and run you through the computer. It's not much different than checkpoints, which were ruled illegal by the courts. They check your drivers license, registration, insurance, check you for warrants, then let you go with some BS warning for something you didn't do in the first place.

A similar thing happened to me a few years ago, when I was on my way home from work, in guy mode, around 3am. I knew the cops in a certain community were bad, and I was going EXACTLY the speed limit. A cop sneaks up behind me with his headlights out, and suddenly lights me up and stops me. He comes up to my window, and insults my intelligence by telling me I was going about 10 miles over the limit. Then he quickly says not to worry about it, he just needs to check my license and my sobriety. He shines his flashlight around in my car and lets me go. In 1930s Munich, they used to say, "Your papers please". What they do today is no different!!!

[Tracii G]

I was a commercial truck for over 40 years and DOT check points were very common.
Police even pulled me over just to check my bills and log book.
Here is and idea don't speed and keep your paperwork current and if you get pulled over keep your cool.
The police aren't out to get you like some people think.
I have been pulled over while CDing and its not a big deal.
Give the cop your DL and registration if he asks and act like you dress like that 24/7.

[BLUE ORCHID]

Hi Sheri, I was braking out in a cold sweat following along with your story......

[Lana Mae]

Sheri, know you were scared but you did fine! Glad you found your license! Hugs Lana Mae

[Phillipa1uk]

Stop at a gas station and I cant find my license.

Excuse my ignorance but why do you need your license when your at the petrol station? Or was it just at that moment you realised you had temporarily mislaid it? I've been out dressed many times, luckily never stopped. Not sure what I'd do if I was and my license is the old UK paper style lol

[Angie G]

WOW I think I would be pooping bricks. I have family in lawenfocement I woun;t want to find out.Glad it worked out for you Sheri.
Angie

[Julie MA]

Reminds me of the time I robbed a bank in drag. They are still looking for me.

[Dana44]

Sheri, Yeah the transportation police and DOT stuff, they may stop and ask for your information. Crazy stuff and hopefully they will stop that activity after while.

[Nikki A.]

You're doing nothing wrong dressed or not. I must admit I have never been stopped dressed, but I have been pulled over more times than I care to mention. Best advise, stay cool, be professional and courteous and more often than not even if you have done something wrong you can get away with just a warning. Yes some cops are pretty picky but remember they are doing their job and if treated courteously they will be the same.
Best story, I was driving home from work and got pulled over by a trooper late in the evening. Seems when I got gas, I went in for a cup of coffee. As I'm walking out the attendant was walking in and said I was done (NJ is a full service only state). I get in the car and go. Seems the hose was still in the tank and I pulled away and the connector split and the end of the hose was dangling just above ground level. Well of course I get pulled over and he asks me to walk to the back of my car on the passenger's side. Well after it was decided that I did not steal the gasoline and after back-up arrived, the other officer asked me how long was I driving, I duck my head in and say 7.4 miles. At that point they both just laughed, he said there has to be some ticket to be written, but under the circumstances go back to the station NOW, return the hose and have a good night. I went back the guy thanked me for returning his hose and nothing else happened. Other than losing almost a half hour back tracking and paying an extra toll not to bad.

[andreanna]

DOT never rests, they are trying to keep the general public safe. If you drove commercially you would understand that they are trying to find drivers that don't stop after 11 hours driving, driving tired. The general public has no idea of the regulations we are under.

[Lauri K]

I think some of the issue here is KANSAS, a state that has a history of far over reaching the law against ordinary citizens.

And for the police to reprimand you over where your GPS is located is ludicrous and again overreaching.

I think he just wanted to ask for a date.............otherwise he would have not backed off and then pulled you over and been so quick to say "there will be NO ticket"

Glad it all worked out for you though, I try to drive the speed limit and keep my car clean, all the lights working, etc. and have not had any troubles.

[Marianne S]

I'm glad this went well for you, Sheri. Mind you, I AM surprised that the officer even bothered to stop you for going a mere 78 (or maybe 80) where the speed "limit" was already 75. In my experience, apart from a few jerks back in the mid-1970s when they first imposed that wretched 55mph speed limit after the 1974 oil crisis, cops will usually give you another 10mph over the limit before they bother stopping anybody.

I admit we've been spoiled over the past few years here in Phoenix where I live. For some reason very few cops here have been harassing drivers recently. It has made driving nice and relaxing. I do of course mean "relaxing" in the sense of not having to worry about some cop jumping on us for exceeding their speed "limit," which makes spirited driving more fun. Traffic on the freeways routinely moves at 80mph and more in places where the nominal limit is 65. And I've been passed more than once by cars doing 70mph in the right-hand lane of an urban divided highway where the speed "limit" is 40. But if we all pay attention to our driving as we SHOULD (as opposed to the morons who think they can TEXT while driving!) we should be watching out for and expecting things like that anyway. Driving is a full-time occupation, not something we do (like stirring the beef stew now and then) while watching TV.

I'm afraid this MAY be a temporary situation in Phoenix because state budgets have been cut back during the recession of the last few years. So the gallant police officers we are left with have had their hands too full dealing with REAL criminals, robberies and shootings and whatnot, to bother the rest of us otherwise law-abiding citizens on the road. That happy situation may not last if the economy improves and they start beefing up the force of Men in Blue again. Meanwhile, I'm making the most of this relaxing time.

I also know there are those small towns all over America where speed "traps" are deliberately set to extort revenue out of luckless tourists who happen to be passing through at a perfectly safe 29mph--except that the extortionists set their speed "limit" at 25!

In spite of it all, I AM still surprised you got stopped for doing only 78!

What I'm NOT surprised about is that the officer didn't give you any grief about being dressed. Although I myself have never been stopped on the road while dressed, that does seem to be the experience I've heard about from most people. It's not as bad as they feared. I have two observations about this.

First, cops in their occupation get to see the WHOLE GAMUT of human variations. Robbers, gangsters, murderers, alcoholics in the gutter, domestic violence, child abusers, junkies and drug dealers, prostitutes and pimps, gay people, straight people, psychotics and other mentally ill people, pedophiles and other perverts, psychopaths and weirdos of every kind. Seen against the background of that "human zoo," a guy who's only crossdressing is downright NORMAL! Cops have seen it all, and they've seen it all before! Danny Reagan might not even bother mentioning to his wife Linda that he stopped a crossdresser today, because in New York City it's so routine.

Second, let's put ourselves in the shoes of a cop who's just stopped a car for whatever reason. What's he most afraid of? That there might be some scumbag with a GUN in there who's going to shoot him! Next to that, he probably wants the encounter to go smoothly. If the driver gives him a load of grief, that's going to tick him off and he won't be in a good mood.

If it turns out to be some guy who's crossdressed, it wouldn't surprise me if the cop actually feels RELIEVED! "Is that all it is?" Barring prejudice, it may be just an "entertaining" encounter to a cop, no more than if he'd stopped a guy wearing a clown costume. "It's all in a day's work..."

Just as important, anyone who's stopped by a cop while crossdressed is likely to feel nervous about the encounter. But that's fine from the cop's point of view, because the crossdresser on that account is likely to be POLITE and RESPECTFUL during the exchange. It's the jerk who gets aggressive and comes on with an "attitude" who's going to get the cop's back up: more likely to get a ticket or even get arrested. If it's been the cop's experience in the past (as it may well have been) that crossdressed males are "easy to deal with," he's quite likely to have a benign attitude toward us.

These are just my own thoughts on the topic. Cops are only human beings, the same as the rest of us. Of course, a few of them are jerks too, just as a certain minority of all human beings are jerks, and need handling all the more carefully for that reason. But my own experience of cops (even though I wasn't crossdressed) has been benign enough.

It would be interesting to know from anyone here who happens to have a personal friend in the police force (whether they're "out" to that friend or not) what cops themselves have to say on this topic. Including, of course, whether they've had any "training" about what somebody has dubbed the "alphabet community." "Prejudice" can be one factor affecting their attitudes, while "training" is another. But let's not forget all the "ordinary" factors in the life of an ordinary human being who simply has a particular job to do.

----------------------------

Queen Anne was considered rather a remarkable woman... Besides being dead she was extremely kind-hearted and had a very soothing Act passed called the "Occasional Conformity Act" which said that people only had to conform with it occasionally: this pleasant trait in her character was called Queen Anne's Bounty. (The Occasional Conformity Act was the only Act of its kind in History, until the Speed limit was invented.)

- W. J. Sellar and R. J. Yeatman, 1066 And All That

[Ressie]

I'm sure many officers have seen many CDs driving.

[MelanieAnne]

I've been stopped several times while dressed and had no trouble. My beef is that in Michigan, at least, they stop people for little or no reason just to "check their papers". In northern Michigan, they were stopping people for having snow on their license plates, during a blizzard! They were writing tickets for "obstructed plates". Apparently we are supposed to stop every quarter mile and brush off the license plates.
The Michigan State police were having a beef with their bosses over perceived quotas. They were ordered to make 2 1/2 "contacts" per hour, unless they were busy with something else. Not necessarily writing a ticket, but they had to make 2 1/2 stops per hour. And that leads to stopping people for nothing, just to fill their log books. I have a clean record and don't get tickets. But people conducting themselves in a lawful manner, with current plates or tabs, have a right to be left alone, and not stopped for some BS reason, just to show activity in some cops daily logbook. My ex wife used to be a LEIN [computer] operator, for MSP and I know how those guys think. The more stops they make, the closer they are to making an arrest. It's just like fishing. The more often you go, the closer you are to catching the big one.

[Karyn Marie]

Marianne S, very good assessment of police officers. As I have mentioned before on other posts, I am a retired deputy sheriff, having been on the job for 29+ years. I retired six years ago. I am sorry to see some of you are kind of bitter toward the police, but I can only believe you had a bad experience or two when interacting with them. Most officers are very cordial and respectful, and do their jobs to the best of their abilities and within the scope of the law. I would be remiss if I tried to convince you all that there are not bad cops out there, because there are, just like all occupations. Bad apples do slip through the cracks, but usually they are eventually weeded out. Every bad cop that was ever hired on my department, was eventually fired or asked to resign. It is, however, hard to fire a cop, and administrators and IA must have all their ducks in a row, or the bad cop could get his job back.

I was not a big ticket writer. I was a patrol deputy and always felt I had better things to do with my time. Like coffee and donuts....hehehee....just kidding, but seriously, while I might be tied up on a traffic stop, I always felt it gave a bad guy a chance to commit a crime. That being said, I did make stops, but it had to be a major violation of some type. Traffic stops are dangerous, only second to domestic violence. I was never scared or concerned about the stop, or the violator, however I was very cautious and really watched and approached the vehicle slowly. To me, it was not a time to let your guard down. This was often mistaken for arrogance or being discourteous. This was far from the case. I had a wife and children that I wanted to go home to after every shift. I was always polite and courteous to the violator, unless there was something to make me be otherwise. In other words, you get the same respect from me, that I get from you. Many times I received a thank you from the violator even after I wrote them a infraction or citation. I will admit though, the more discourteous a violator was or hostile they were, the odds of getting a ticket went up considerably. We were taught that always know what your are going to do before you exit your patrol vehicle. I usually tried to honor that concept, but many violators "talked" themselves into a ticket.
As for the person in the vehicle, I could care less if they were gay, straight, transgender, crossdresser, black, white, Hispanic or whatever. I strived to treat everyone with respect and dignity. Just because a person violated the law, does not mean they have to be treated with disrespect. Heck, I even received thank you's from people I arrested for not being a jerk to them and leaving them with some dignity. Of course, being a crossdresser myself, and a closet transgender woman might have had something to do with it. On a side note, I am seeing a counselor and am considering transitioning to become a female, having gender affirmation surgery in the future.

Yes, being a police officer can be a difficult job, but it was a very gratifying and honorable job. I would do it all over again. I miss it, and would do it all over again.

[Lux]

I have only been pulled over once while dressed. Coming home late, I changed lanes without signaling and not noticing a state trooper right behind me! I pull off to the side of the road and did what I remembered to do when I read about getting pulled over. Semi-calmly (yeah right!), I rolled down the windows, turned on an inside light, turned off the car and put my keys up on the dash. He asked for my ID/insurance card and asked if I had been drinking. I said I did have a drinks but much earlier in the evening (it was now 1-2am). He then walked back to his car for what seemed forever! Soon enough another younger trooper showed up to put me through a quick roadside sobriety test. Took off my 4" heels and easily passed. The younger officer was SO polite and as he handed me my drivers license back, smiled and said;"you look amazing". Never figured out why the older officer called the younger guy in and had him do the roadside....

[CarlaWestin]

Once on a late night dressup drive I was approached by the police.
When one officer asked me why I wanted to dress like a woman, I looked at his female partner wearing an identical uniform and said, "I'm not the only one crossdressed here!"

[Stephanie47]

OK Carla. I have to ask. What was the retort from either officer.

I will agree the vast majority of stops do involve courteous and professional officers. Occasionally, you do run into a person who should not be an officer. I think it is fairly evident officers are expected to make stops unless he or she is responding to a call for assistance. From what I've seen on the road lately that should not be a problem. I was told by a Washington State Patrol officer (long time family friend) that it is easy to find a reason to pull somebody over. All you have to do is follow behind the car and sooner or later the driver with get so spooked he or she will make a driving infraction. That becomes fairly obvious when your car is the only car on a country road or highway late at night.

[Judy-Somthing]

You heart must have been pounding, LOL!

[MelanieAnne]

I looked at his female partner wearing an identical uniform and said, "I'm not the only one crossdressed here!"

Was that when they tazed you?

[Lea]

Many states have regulations against suction mounted cups for gps units. Some states cover them under view obstruction.