ADVERTISEMENT

During a traffic stop

BelemNole

HR Legend
Mar 29, 2002
39,266
84,507
113
Have you been asked if you're on probation or parole? I've been stopped about a dozen times over the past 30-odd years for various things that I can remember. I don't recall anyone ever asking me that question.
 
Have you been asked if you're on probation or parole? I've been stopped about a dozen times over the past 30-odd years for various things that I can remember. I don't recall anyone ever asking me that question.

Nope. Nothing like that. No questions really other than if I knew what I was getting pulled over for.
 
Have you been asked if you're on probation or parole? I've been stopped about a dozen times over the past 30-odd years for various things that I can remember. I don't recall anyone ever asking me that question.

Nope, but I can see it being asked.
 
No. I've only been stopped a handful of times.

One time in my early 20s I was stopped, and immediately several other cop cars pulled up as backup and surrounded my car. Policeman approached my car barking at me, hand on unstrapped gun (but not drawn).

It was pretty terrifying. Clearly my car (or maybe me) matched someone they were looking for in a serious crime. . I don't remember the line of questioning but they let me go pretty quickly. It was my only taste of how scary that situation can be to be assumed guilty. Thank god I wasn't drunk and/or have anything to hide, as it would be pretty easy to see how it spins out of control.
 
Totally depends on what car you drive and what you look like. If you drive a 96 Civic, with shi**y window tint past 1900 hours, and are wearing sweatpants, an old Stussy shirt, and a visor hat, you won’t make it a quarter mile without getting stopped and asked 21 questions. Cops profile based on race and/or wealth. In a cop’s mind, if you are economically disadvantaged you are more likely to be on probation/parole, driving suspended, without insurance, or have drugs in the car. They won’t typically ask anyone in a Lexus and a nice suit.
 
Last edited:
Never been asked if I was on probation or parole. Have been asked if I had any weapons a couple times.

Was also interrogated once after being pulled over for "improper lane change" (I never made a lane change) while driving through Smithville, Texas with out of state plates. A street I previously lived on in the state where my vehicle was registered had the same name as a town in Texas. The officer somehow confused the street and the town and thought I was lying to him about where I lived. As he was getting aggressive and inquiring about searching my vehicle, I put two and two together and explained I thought he might be confusing the name of a street street I used to live on with the name of a town in Texas. He then let me know he was going to "let me off with a warning" for the "improper lane change" and let me go.
 
  • Like
Reactions: TarponSpringsNole
No but have had a cop pull his gun before. I was getting pulled over in Coralville at about 3am coming home from an after hours party. He flipped on his lights right before I was turning into my house. So I pulled into the driveway and right up to the garage (not in the garage) but I lived off Holiday road and it was heavily tree covered and really dark. He pulled his gun and got behind his door and asked me to get out with my hands up, and asked my GF to put her hands up as well and back away from the vehicle.

I followed his commands and he started giving me the DUI routine with walking a straight line and such. Didn't tell me why he was pulling me over. He got a call on his radio, and he told me I just lucked out and jumped in his cruiser and took off.
 
Nope at a traffic stop. A few times when cops were doing a Terry stop-and-frisk when i was in the wrong part of town at the wrong time of night.
 
Never once, but since I was 19, I've always handed over my Military ID with my DL. Oddly enough 90% of the time I get a verbal warning and carry on with my day. I'm also white.
 
  • Like
Reactions: TarponSpringsNole
Have you been asked if you're on probation or parole? I've been stopped about a dozen times over the past 30-odd years for various things that I can remember. I don't recall anyone ever asking me that question.

I never get pulled over. I don't fit the profile for random stops and my speeding is within the normal buffer zone. Even in my college years driving my hooptie around town I didn't get pulled over.
 
Totally depends on what car you drive and what you look like. If you drive a 96 Civic, with shi**y window tint past 1900 hours, and are wearing sweatpants, an old Stussy shirt, and a visor hat, you won’t make it a quarter mile without getting stopped and asked 21 questions. Cops profile based on race and/or wealth. In a cop’s mind, if you are economically disadvantaged you are more likely to be on probation/parole, driving suspended, without insurance, or have drugs in the car. They won’t typically ask anyone in a Lexus and a nice suit.
That's funny. Most of my stops were in the valley driving an old beat to shit civic. But that was near the college campus and they targeted the hell out of that. More recently (7-8 years ago) were driving thru the surface street rush hour gauntlet in a Jetta with heavy tint.

Anyway, the question came up because of a new local video from a stop. Guy was pulled over for "running a stop sign" in front of his parents house in a decent neighborhood. Kid is working on his masters in engineering at a local college. He had all his paperwork ready for the cop but the first thing she asked was if he was on probation or parole. His mom was out front and made a big stink and filmed the whole thing. Cop wouldn't write the ticket until 4 more backup units arrived. She stood there in her thin blue line mask and sunglasses with her hand on her gun and told them she was waiting for backup because traffic stops were dangerous.

You can see all the video including the body camera from the cop here: https://www.abc10.com/article/news/...stop/103-0de792d8-dd68-4471-9846-7794ff96b0b2
 
I’ve never been asked that question but I’ve also never been on probation or parole.

I would imagine that someone who actually is on probation or parole might get asked that question. By the time a cop taps on your window he usually has already run your license plate number through the database and probably knows whether you’re on probation or parole.

And that’s relevant because many times people who are afraid of going back to jail are more likely to panic or resist arrest during the traffic stop.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Irwin Fletcher10
I was pulled over a couple years ago driving from Colorado into New Mexico. I guess I was going a little fast down a big hill. Cop asked me if I had any substances which were illegal in New Mexico in the car. I did not. I guess that was enough for him and he let me go on my way.
 
Hopefully you never answered that question.
I answer it, but with something different than what I "know" is the truth.

Officer, "Do you know why I pulled you over."
Me, "Well, I know I was needle on the exact speed limit. Do I have a taillight out or something!?"
 
  • Like
Reactions: ICHawk-I
No. I did have my car searched once in high school. I thought the guy was going to look in the tail pipe. He searched every inch while his partner chatted with my friend and I about a local murder investigation.
 
No and what's the point of asking? They're gonna run your info anyway.

"Are you on probation or parole? No. Well shit, no need to run your info"
 
  • Like
Reactions: iahawks10
Been years since I've been stopped. Last interaction with police in public, there was a warrant for my arrest in Johnson county for misdemeanor possession they never bothered to tell me about (they had my address as they had raided my apartment to serve a search warrant on my roommate). I was stopped in a small town west of Waterloo because I was riding my bicycle at night and the local cop had received complaints in the weeks previous about some kids vandalizing the local little league diamonds near where I was riding. He asked me name then let me drive off. Put my name in the system and pulled me over again on my bike. Had me in cuffs ready to take me to Butler Co sheriff's office but Johnson Co didn't wa t to send anyone to get me so I went home and got to turn myself in after I talked to a lawyer. Got a year probation from that deal, accidentally violated by missing mail on one of my random UAs and judge gave me a break because all my other UAs were clean (including when I turned myself in on the warrant).
 
In a cop’s mind, if you are economically disadvantaged you are more likely to be on probation/parole, driving suspended, without insurance, or have drugs in the car. They won’t typically ask anyone in a Lexus and a nice suit.
Well that just makes good sense.
 
Well that just makes good sense.
Sure, but there are plenty of law abiding poor people, just trying to survive, that don’t appreciate getting pulled over on a pretext stop, and their car searched, 10 times a month. When all they are doing is driving while poor and/or black. There is a reason the public’s relationship with the police is so fractured.
 
Nope. I have been pulled over a few times but never been asked that.

One time in college I was leaving a gas station and where I just picked up a case of beer. I made it a little more than a block and some lights popped on. The officer gave me a ticket for 38 in a 35. /csb
 
I mean i guess they could ask to see if you were lying....? as in he knows you are on probation(from running your license) and you lie about it? i don't know.
 
Never, but if they did I would laugh my ass off. But I'm a white guy, not a black man.

I don't talk to LE, never, ever, ever. At times though, they sure like to talk to me.
 
Been years since I've been stopped. Last interaction with police in public, there was a warrant for my arrest in Johnson county for misdemeanor possession they never bothered to tell me about (they had my address as they had raided my apartment to serve a search warrant on my roommate). I was stopped in a small town west of Waterloo because I was riding my bicycle at night and the local cop had received complaints in the weeks previous about some kids vandalizing the local little league diamonds near where I was riding. He asked me name then let me drive off. Put my name in the system and pulled me over again on my bike. Had me in cuffs ready to take me to Butler Co sheriff's office but Johnson Co didn't wa t to send anyone to get me so I went home and got to turn myself in after I talked to a lawyer. Got a year probation from that deal, accidentally violated by missing mail on one of my random UAs and judge gave me a break because all my other UAs were clean (including when I turned myself in on the warrant).

Holy nanny state Batman! So glad the courts and officers are keeping us safe from the likes of you!:p
 
last time I got a ticket (16 years ago), the Marion cop was asking me where I was going like it was his business
 
Once, sort of.

One night, I was driving a buddy of mine from California around Oklahoma City, showing him downtown and touristy areas. Totally innocent evening of getting out of the house. We turned down a side street and drive by a couple of really skanky looking hookers walking on the sidewalk. Buddy of mine laughed and insisted I turn around and get another look at these birds just for kicks.

So I loop around and - BOOM - cop lights me up. Cop was a total dickhead. Comes running up and yells...
'You ever been arrested?'
'No, I've never had a ticket.'
"Well, you're getting one tonight!!"

Ended up getting a 'failure to show intent' (no signal) for $185. I guess this idiot thought my friend and I were gonna tag team a crack whore. Then he tells me that my car - a 3-year old, black Ford Escape - would get me shot in that neighborhood. I'm not kidding.

Friend of mine still laughs about this to this day and considers it the highlight of his trip to Oklahoma.
 
  • Like
Reactions: BelemNole
no to the question.
only 1 ticket in my life time of-driving. Had Just tune up the Chevell and took it on a test run on 13 north of Marion.
could swear the patrolman came out of my trunk.
only been pulled over 5-6 times in my life. Got off with a warning.
 
Only once, when a state Trooper asked me if I knew there was a warrant out for my arrest in Jefferson County. He let me slide and I'm at large to this day. True story.

Police don’t have the luxury of letting you slide on a warrant. I can only assume that the warrant In Jefferson Co was non-extraditable from where you were pulled over.

Most police don’t ask if you’re on probation or parole because 1) they really can’t do anything if you are and 2) being on probation comes up on NCIC when they run your name.

Most likely if a cop is asking you this question it’s for no other purpose than to see how honest you’re being with them.
 
Totally depends on what car you drive and what you look like. If you drive a 96 Civic, with shi**y window tint past 1900 hours, and are wearing sweatpants, an old Stussy shirt, and a visor hat, you won’t make it a quarter mile without getting stopped and asked 21 questions. Cops profile based on race and/or wealth. In a cop’s mind, if you are economically disadvantaged you are more likely to be on probation/parole, driving suspended, without insurance, or have drugs in the car. They won’t typically ask anyone in a Lexus and a nice suit.
You're so full of shit. I don't understand how sometimes you can be right on and sometimes you are totally off base. I have never asked anyone on a normal traffic stop this question.
 
  • Like
Reactions: NI hawk
ADVERTISEMENT