LETTER: How to respond if stopped by police officers

This is about policing in America.

What I feel, and I fully agree with Commissioner Bratton in New York City about this, is that whenever you are pulled over for an alleged driving violation, or any other reason, you need to automatically do the following.

First, politely comply with whatever the male or female officer wants you to do. And it does not matter what the ethnicity of the officer is. Answer all questions from said officer as truthfully as you can. Do not leave any gray areas for the officer to be uncertain of. Try again politely to fully cooperate with whatever the officer asks or wants you to do. Policemen have rules that may differ slightly depending on the jurisdiction that they are in, but the protocols they use are largely the same everywhere in this country.

Second, if you disagree with the reason for the stop or what eventuates from it, take that up with the judge who has authority in the case.

All approximately 800,000 policemen in this country are very well trained on what probable cause is.

If you are pulled over, you can take it to the bank that the officer thinks he or she has probable cause to do so.

Third, there are myriad rules that all policemen in this country are trained to follow, with mostly subtle variations from force to force. These men and women are truly the thin blue line keeping this great country of freedom and diversity from potentially devolving into anarchistic chaos.

These truly honorable people risk their lives every time they are on duty to perform this absolutely essential service for us. Getting back to the many rules that policemen follow, I think there should be unofficial rules that all drivers in this country should try and follow.

The word Commissioner Bratton wisely used was “compliance.” I would add an adjective to that and say “full compliance” — that is “full compliance” by every driver in America, all the time, every time, whenever they are pulled over by a police officer of whatever ethnicity.

Lastly, I want to extend profound thanks to all policemen in this country and the indispensible job that they do. It is a noble calling. Thank goodness we have people who are willing to risk their lives to do it.

—Virgil Hess, Polson