FCPD

When I was a kid I was raised in a small and charming city called Farmington. Now my city was well known for a few things: The canyon, the amusement park, and the fact that the Farmington city Police Force is brutal! You never wanted to get pulled over in Farmington because these guys went by the books. That means they felt no emotions for others, but instead just stuck to the facts. You were going 3 over the speed limit? Then you were speeding… TICKET!!!

Well, throughout my younger years I started to get stalked by a specific officer named Richardson. In about a year and half officer Richardson pulled me over 11 times and issued me 0 tickets. A few examples of his work are: He once pulled me over, and I said “Hey Ben, I heard that your license was suspended”. Another time was when I was 17 driving with all my windows up he pulled me over for throwing a cigarette out the window… Not only was I not smoking, which he eventually agreed to, and was not of the legal age to even obtain cigarettes, but I had never smoked in my life.

So, now that we have covered some background information, let’s move onto the main story here.  So there I am, on Main Street at about 8 at night, the sun was not all the way down yet but it was close. Suddenly, there were ‘Cherries and Berries’ beaming behind me. I looked in my rear-view mirror and I could clearly see that it was Richardson’s car. I pull over, shut off the engine and flipped off the lights in my ’89 Honda Accord; since it was common for these meetings to take a while.

Suddenly a small blond man comes up to my window. He was about 23 years old and looked like this was his first time pulling someone over. I looked behind me and saw officer Richardson standing by his car. I remember thinking to myself “Perfect, this man is a trainee and what better person to train on then the kid who Richardson pulls over every other day.” The man asked me for my information but I was in no mood to deal with this crap! Officer Richardson never really had a reason to stop me, but rather just made them up on the spot, and I knew that tonight was no different.  So I told the trainee “Sure, I will happily give you all of my paperwork, but first would you mind telling me why you’ve pulled me over?” The trainees eyes went wide and I swear that I could see sweat on his brow. I knew it! They didn’t pull me over for anything at all. Finally he blurts out “Your License plate light is out.” I looked at him skeptically but I handed him my paperwork. I asked “Would you mind if I go check out the light myself?” Again, he looked worried, but he agreed.  So I jumped out of my car and went to have a look… I’ll be damned… it was out.

He let me go with no ticket (Just like every other time). However, after about 300 feet I started to think of something. When I turned off my car I also turned off my lights… Could I really have been that dumb? So I stopped my car, left my lights on and got out to have a look at my license plate light. There was the light shining brightly… Bastards!

I fully support the police force and truly believe that 99% of police officers are good honest people. But there is a lesson here: If you ever get pulled over and they pull some garbage out of their pockets like your license plate light is out, don’t be afraid to go have a look at it yourself… and make sure to keep your lights on.

To sum up my life with Officer Richardson, I eventually spoke to the department Sergeant about what was happening. He took it very seriously, and Richardson did not mess with me again. He was later transferred to another city.