once again, be careful how you answer

So if there's one thing I've learned on this job, which would be a lie because I learn new things daily, most of the time hourly, it's this: don't admit fault to a violation. This is not to say lie, however, sometimes we law enforcement types like to use what is called verbal judo. Let me give you an example of this verbal judo.

I was looking straight ahead at a stop sign and out of the corner of my eye saw what looked to be a car speed through a stop sign to my right. So we pull her over and I tell her why we stopped her. She immediately says, "Where? At the park stop sign back there? I stopped completely and my sister was driving right behind me and can vouch for me." Well, needless to say, I immediately doubted myself and thought, "Well, I didn't see her approach the limit line, so maybe she did stop." So I cut her loose with a warning. Next example.

We're stopped at a stop light when the light turned green. I wasn't watching directly the car approaching the left turn lane opposite me, but after a second of green light, the car turned left (to my right) in front of me without speeding, just nonchalantly driving through the intersection. Again, did not see him approach, but assumed he ran the light. We light him up and I make my approach and state what I thought I saw. "Evening sir, the reason I stopped you was because you ran that red arrow back there." Period. The end. Next question coming that didn't escape my lips, "Can I see your license, registration and proof of insurance?" Never happened. The violator replied to my statement about the arrow by saying, "Yeah I thought I was too far away but I risked it anyway and ran it." Case closed. Thanks for the stat. Sign in the red box.

Here's the lesson. If you did something wrong, answer only the questions asked of you. If you didn't do something wrong and you know it, make your case, after you give the officer your license, because he may not have seen what he's claiming, but merely caught a glance of what he thought was wrong. After all, we're human and just as undeserving of God's grace as everyone else. And speaking as one who's been humbled too many times to count already in a month of official law enforcement duties, I can always be humbled again by stopping an innocent person. But it is still kinda fun to catch a guilty one I must admit. Ok, really fun.