Thank You Officer Elton Simmons

TallTom

TallTom

Registered
25,000 tickets. This video should be made a mandatory part of nationwide training for officers.

I particularly like how he describes his view of being a public servant.

Officers, please watch and take note.

[video]http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-18563_162-57518127/no-complaints-about-this-traffic-cop/[/video]

Thank you Officer Simmons for your 20+ years of service.
 
That's an impressive record! I wish I could say the same about the 2 times I've been pulled over in my life.! :dunno:
 
We're trained to be professional and it can come off as attitude. And there's some out there that are butt holes. After numerous complaints and fifteen years I have gone away from the professional and started being a little more of people person. According to my Chief no complaints. I should have close to 27000 citations issued.


Back in the beginning I had a Chief pull me in and say "I should fire you right now, I get complaints on you everyday" " I know this much though, you're not prejudice, because I'm getting complaints from everybody ". He was serious. He's a great guy, but I had to put the training to the side.

I watched the video, and I'm glad he's out there doing a great job, but I worry about him. He's overly friendly and opens himself up to a ton of danger.

And to the OP. If you ride within the law you will never speak to one of us :laugh:
 
dadofthree said:
And to the OP. If you ride within the law you will never speak to one of us :laugh:
Click to expand...

Wanna bet? I lived in Fla for a dozen years. Got hassled a lot by the cops. Before and after I owned a Busa. They figure out something to nit pick you for. Or they are simply cowboys that love to intimidate.

I have never written a complaint out on a police officer. But I have taken them to court, never lost one time when I went. I let the judge sort them out.

Moved to Alabama and have not changed my riding habits one bit. Never had one hassle or been pulled over. They wave at bikes here.

And I come from 3 generations of cops. They don't train you to be a**holes. You do that out of your own choosing. Officer Simmons is trained by the same methods all of his counterparts are.
 
TallTom said:
Wanna bet? I lived in Fla for a dozen years. Got hassled a lot by the cops. Before and after I owned a Busa. They figure out something to nit pick you for. Or they are simply cowboys that love to intimidate.

I have never written a complaint out on a police officer. But I have taken them to court, never lost one time when I went. I let the judge sort them out.

Moved to Alabama and have not changed my riding habits one bit. Never had one hassle or been pulled over. They wave at bikes here.

And I come from 3 generations of cops. They don't train you to be a**holes. You do that out of your own choosing. Officer Simmons is trained by the same methods all of his counterparts are.
Click to expand...

Like I said , ride within the law and you'll never have to talk to one of us :laugh:
 
OK you 2 :laugh: "ding ding" Thats the end of that round, you both got your points across. Lets not take it there. Im sure everyone has come across both kinds of cops before. Lets not make it personal or detract from the good article about this cop. He's definitely mastered his craft and found a way to enforce the law but in a way that doesnt offend people. He's been doing it 20+ years so I'm not really concerned about his approach or his "friendliness" cause its been working for him for a very long time. Bad things could and will happen regardless of your approach, if anything his approach would calm that nervous guy down that is maybe thinking about doing something stupid. I dont necessarilly aggree with the comment "ride within the constraints of the law" because who here that owns a busa has not taken it above the speed limit??? Who here has not been in a hurry or late for work and went a little faster than they should have? im willing to bet every1 so to make a comment like that isnt realistic because we are people and people make mistakes and have lapses in judgement or are careless at times............ nobody is perfect :whistle: That doesnt mean that we shouldnt be treated like a person with respect and dignity. Like the officer said, when he talks to people he does it on their level not from a high horse and I think that goes a long way for most people. When your wrong you know your wrong, all I'm saying is its still nice to be treated like a human being
 
that is a pretty impressive record I will admit. :thumbsup:

when I was in Traffic I would write about 20 tickets a day (yea I know real azzhole...:laugh:) and I'll admit im not that diplomatic and have my fair share of complaints and trips to internal affairs:whistle:.

I have no use of force complaints tho and over 350 drug arrests. that has to mean something....??? all my complaints come from MV stops and running my mouth and coming down to their level vs. staying at mine and keeping my cool.

I do work in a very poor crime ridden city but its no excuse to come down to their level when their just pissed they got caught. 25k tickets and no complaints is impressive period!
 
20+yrs riding here in Fl and I've never been 'hassled'?
Got stopped for doing *** with some guy 'I don't know' who goes by Jinkster and the cop gave me a warning.


Officer in video seems like a decent dude.
 
i've been pulled over way too many times and have experienced all kinds of actions and reactions from LEO's...all except one of them ended up being fairly decent people and that is a better ratio than i can say for just about any other group of people i come into contact with except for my friends on here...not saying i really appreciated being pulled over but i guess i've had pretty good luck by maintaining my cool and calming the officers down sometimes...everyone gets worked up sometimes
 
OK in my experience in the part of Fla where I lived, Central Eastern Shore (Brevard County), you never get a chance to see them do anything but be worked up right from the start.

Routine revenue generating errrrr traffic safety stop going into Daytona. Pulling all the bikes over. Ask you for license and registration. No problem. I state "I have to go into my trunk for registration", pointing to the back of my bike. Which means I have to take my tail bag off. I didn't say this as I assumed it would appear evident seeing my luggage on my bike. He immediately assumed I was a problem even though I told him I had to get off my bike to do so. He gets nervous and asked for another officer.

I go through all the dismantling process, get my registration out and show it to him. He is back in his car running my tags etc. I put my trunk back on. my tail bag back on and sit back down on my bike, all in plain view of the assisting. He at no time said, stop. Comes back and says "OK can I see proof of insurance". I didn't understand what he asked me and said "I'm sorry what did you say?" He replied with "What are you f***king stupid or something?" To which I replied "Officer I am 60% deaf, I didn't understand what your instruction was." "Why isn't that on your license?" he barked back. "Because it doesn't affect my ability to hear sirens, horns etc and I passed the DMV hearing test after declaring it". I go to get back in my trunk and he says "You should have taken that out the first time you idiot". I responded with "Officer you didn't ask for it." He looks at his assisting partner and shakes his head and says "F**king DMV will give a license to f***ing anybody" He watches me undo my tail bag again, get back in my trunk, retrieve my insurance card and then states"It's expired!". "No Officer I don't believe it is." I show him that the date he is looking at is the date of issue, then I show him the date of expiration below that.

He sort of shoves the card back at me. He says "Why don't you have a face shield on your helmet?" "Because I dropped my helmet and scuffed the shield. It didn't afford me a clear view." Well you can't wear sunglasses they are illegal. I responded with "They are tinted safety glasses made specifically for riding". "You have proof of that?" "No sir I don't carry my receipt around with me." He at that point walked all around the bike trying to find something........anything. He finally said"Move it out, I hope I catch you speeding while I'm up here."

I have an 03 Copper Busa. The chances of there being 3 there are pretty remote. So he is in effect profiling me if he sees me again.

There were no laws broken here. I did as I was asked in a submissive peaceful and deliberate manner. I complied with exactly what I was asked to. I am not going to apologize for answering in the manner I did. I said or did nothing wrong. I posed no threat to him and acted in his favor in all my movements. I am 6'6"and around 240. I stay in decent shape. I don't walk around with a smile on my face. It isn't personal. It is just the way my face relaxes. Yes I am usually quite a bit bigger than the cop pulling me over. I know by instinct they switch mental gears when they see me. So am I to be punished for that?

I got pulled over once for exceeding the speed limit while passing a slower moving vehicle on a 2 lane road. Speed limit was 55, car was doing about 45-50. I blipped the throttle to get around it quickly while I had a line in my favor. Never required a downshift. Not a huge amount of time but enough to make a safe legal pass. Umm officer if I didn't get it to that speed I would not have been able to complete the pass before it becoming a double yellow and an illegal pass. Well you were still speeding. Really. "OK would you mind telling me how fast that Chevy was traveling when I passed it?" No I can't but you hauled past it pretty quickly. Alright then officer, write me a ticket and I will see you in court. Never got that ticket.

This my friends is pretty typical treatment from my experience in my times in Fla. I won't even go into the speed traps they are notorious for. For all vehicles. But this isn't an isolated event being discussed.

I got to the point where I didn't want to ride any longer for fear of harassment. And that view was shared by more than a few riders there.

Here where I live now, I have heard every biker I have met, discuss a State Trooper named Officer Vogel. They explain plain and simple, he hates bikes and has it out for us. I apparently have never come across him as I have never been pulled over once for anything here. Including a *cough* cough* "Safety Inspection" . But he apparently is an example of the above that I will hope to never meet. Riding has become enjoyment again.
 
#1busa said:
OK you 2 :laugh: "ding ding" Thats the end of that round, you both got your points across. Lets not take it there. Im sure everyone has come across both kinds of cops before. Lets not make it personal or detract from the good article about this cop. He's definitely mastered his craft and found a way to enforce the law but in a way that doesnt offend people. He's been doing it 20+ years so I'm not really concerned about his approach or his "friendliness" cause its been working for him for a very long time. Bad things could and will happen regardless of your approach, if anything his approach would calm that nervous guy down that is maybe thinking about doing something stupid. I dont necessarilly aggree with the comment "ride within the constraints of the law" because who here that owns a busa has not taken it above the speed limit??? Who here has not been in a hurry or late for work and went a little faster than they should have? im willing to bet every1 so to make a comment like that isnt realistic because we are people and people make mistakes and have lapses in judgement or are careless at times............ nobody is perfect :whistle: That doesnt mean that we shouldnt be treated like a person with respect and dignity. Like the officer said, when he talks to people he does it on their level not from a high horse and I think that goes a long way for most people. When your wrong you know your wrong, all I'm saying is its still nice to be treated like a human being
Click to expand...

Good write up. I don't take these things personal. It's a job. I ride a Busa and I ride it hard. No angel here.

My concern for him didn't come from his friendliness, but his position , etc. Not tactical at all. I wish him all the best. Don't know where he's working. I work war zones, so my positioning and habits are high alert at all times.
 
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