German Autobahn Police

[David Morton]

My journey was from Luasitzring (Schipkau) to Herborn on Sunday morning. The police who stopped me were operating in the old East Germany area in the Dresden area and spoke absolutely no English. I was intercepted on the Autobahn and a red light saying 'FOLGEN' and they led me off the Autobahn to some obscure garage area - about 4 miles from my route.
They first decided that I was 'commercial' and I could see them thinking
big cash register numbers. I had overtaken them on the Autobahn as they were doing about 30 to 40 mph on an uphill stretch and its vital to me to keep any speed I had as I was towing a fairly heavy trailer. Then this pratt of an apologie of a man sarted getting excited and became rather loud, shouting 'gewict gewict' at me. I gave him the documents folder
and he became more excited, still shouting at me. This was when I started shouting back at him. I nearly felt like telling hem it was my father who bombed his fathers bratwurst shop. I can see how shootouts can start. A motorcyclist (none police) intervened and told me to take a deep breath and not to antagonise him/them anymore. He got the policeman to look through the documents and asked me to open up the Sprinter van and trailer. When the police saw the inside of the van was configured as an RV they simply walked away and drove off. The motorcylist was so helpful and told me they were police in the old East Germany and still had attitude. He told me that some of them are a bit like the old Volks Polizei. I lost an hour + in total and missed the sailing from Dunkerque at 2200 and ended up driving at 90 mph+ for 4 hours to ensure I could get the midnight sailing instead. Mean while this little f------g bastard was probably tucked up in bed with his Olga. They really are the total pits. I think I might write a letter to his president.
So if you are driving in the old eastern areas of Germany on a foreign plate, beware. They are arch bastards.

[egoman]

They are probably a little POed about getting dropped off with the ruskies for 40 plus years.

[Marcus]

David,

now you might be getting an idea why so many West-Germans would like to get back to the good old days before reunification...

[EGLITOM]

bull???t talk

Could happen to you everywhere in the world. Do you think that majority of british, french, italian or what ever nations cop is able to speak a foreign visitors language.
DAVID:
If they did 40 mph and you overtook them with a heavy trailer you where probably faster than the speed limit of 50 mph ( any vehicle with a trailer without excemption permit) . So whats the story ?

TOM

[David Morton]

Everything was totally in order. They stopped me simply because they can.
The one thing I've found from a previous altercation with these arseholes
is to only have 20 Euros and some loose coin in your wallet. Hide the rest of your money somewhere they cannot ever find. The previous altercation again near Dresden was a no truck overtaking sign carefully obscured by the 60 then 80 Km/h limit going into road works and I was wrong laned by a Polish truck and tried to get over but no one was yielding. ( I hadn't seen the sign but the width was too narrow for me) This vopo on a Honda told me it was €150 but I got away with €30 as it was all I had in the world. He looked a bit gone at me when I asked for a receipt.

Yeah right...............

Marcus - absolutely. I worked with Euroberlin out of Tegel and it was so good as was most of Western Germany. Now I could not believe how totally crap and still totally backward the place previously known as East Germany was until I went to Oschersleben (twice) this year.

[Marcus]

Originally Posted by EGLITOM

bull???t talk

Could happen to you everywhere in the world. Do you think that majority of british, french, italian or what ever nations cop is able to speak a foreign visitors language.
DAVID:
If they did 40 mph and you overtook them with a heavy trailer you where probably faster than the speed limit of 50 mph ( any vehicle with a trailer without excemption permit) . So whats the story ?

TOM

How sad. It seems to me as though a certain sense of irony has left the dark woods of rural Bavaria forever.
But on a brighter note, your post at least suggests that you´ve been privileged to have gathered considerable experience with police forces in many parts of Europe. Please tell us more about it.
And, according to your words, even if such an incident could happen to you everywhere in the world, that certainly is no justification for what happened to David. Strange logic, indeed.
As far as the language is concerned and only just in case you don´t know: English as the international foreign language (come to terms with it, it´s neither French nor italian nor German) is a part of almost every German pupil´s curriculum up from the tender age of ten. So it´s not entirely unreasonable to expect police officers patrolling on roads with international traffic to be capable of speaking at least basic English. If that´s not the case in other countries, what is the point? ("If others are lacking appropriate qualification, I might as well forget about mine.")

Last but not least, David did nothing wrong, they let him go, albeit due to the intervention of another motorist. So there is no point in challenging David by quoting any figures...

Kind and peaceful regards,

Marcus

[EGLITOM]

What do you find backward in OSL ? In my opinion one of the best race tracks i´ve been on. great track, perfectly surfaced, perfect pits with pressurised air and even a shower in every pit ( what a pleasure after a 30°C training session in the leather suit) and the best of all no noise limitations ( running my megs there was great).

TOM

[EGLITOM]

Marcus

Yes indeed i learned to behave myself the hard way (ever been taken over by a US cop, posted against a wall, second cop pointing gun to your head, other one searching you everywhere, all this for "no reason", or pulled over by french cop, which by the way wouldn´t speak english even if he could and kept aside the road for more than an hour also for nothing else than a "little speeding").
I for myself decided, as a guest you are always on the shorter lever, so it is better to behave yourself and if one thinks this is not a good rule than don´t complain.

Thanks
TOM

by the way, no sense of humor or irony to expect from my side for such quotes
they just show a lack of sensibility.

"I nearly felt like telling hem it was my father who bombed his fathers bratwurst shop."

Originally Posted by marcus

David,

now you might be getting an idea why so many West-Germans would like to get back to the good old days before reunification...

[David Morton]

Tom,
Nothing wrong with the circuit at all though there are no car parking facilities so the main road becomes jammed. Its the roads through all the local villages that are diabolical, and a lot of the strucures in the local villages seem to be falling down through total neglect. Next time you go to Oschersleben, have a look for yourself.

[Pete.]

Hey Eglitom, could the American cops who pulled you over speak English?
It would be unusual if they could.

[Freewheel]

Dave,

You've run into this kind of character before and you knew what to expect.

Timing notwithstanding, getting antsy with them wasn't going to help you catch the boat was it?

[EGLITOM]

David

Agree to your observation, but people living there didn´t do and don´t do it for purpose. Some part of our history we still have to live with.

BTW next time in OS will be for 4h motorcycle endurance race ( my first long distance) and as always usually arriving late and departing late, so no much landscape to look at :-))

PETE.
If you call "texan" english, than they spoke it. After living there for almost 9 month i could understand some of it. Howdy :-))

Thanks
TOM

[John]

That little altercation reminded me of one of the scareist moments of my life,
while returing to Melbourne from a 3 month working stint in Tehran we had a stop over at Singapore, and while sitting in the lounge enjoying a couple of sherbits with my boss , the owner of the co, and a couple of work mates , just minding our own buisness, i pulled out my drum tobacco and rolled myself a smoke ,next minuite two gun toten strong arms pull me over the back of the couch and carry me a way into some room , all this so quick the others didnt have time to react, and while i went through hell, i couldnt understand one word they were shouting and i dont think they understood a single word i said, the owner of the co was trying to find out what the hell was going on and getting now where, then after about an hr and a half i was literaly thrown back out into the lounge with no appolagy, explanation or nothing, only to find out from Colin the boss that they thought my tobacco was majiwauna, i then found out the only thing that saved me from being carted off to some hell hole jail was colin managed to convince somebody that i was smoking plain ordanary store bought tobacco, first and last time i have ever been there and that was 1972.
wasnt a great experience
John

[roaldin]

Seems like the English would be better worrying about what's going on at home...
‘Big Brother’ database for phones and e-mails - Times Online

Tourist ad's should go something like :-
England, we take photo's so you don't have to.

I saw something scary on Top Gear (I think), a presenter trying to sort out a parking fee didn't know his reg' number, bureaucrat on phone tells him his reg' from public surveillance camera.
Another one had a presenter drop something on the ground only to have a voice from speakers somewhere tell him to pick it up - spied on camera again. I find that incredible coming from England. Sounds more like the East Germany those Police came from.

Imagine those Police officers if they were sitting behind those cameras.

Every society has it's problems. Not surprising that the "authorities" are amongst the biggest of those problems. Always the way.
Sounds like East Germany is finding it hard to lose it's old "soul", while England (amongst others) is finding it all too easy.

Tim.

[Brian Hamilton]

Originally Posted by EGLITOM

PETE.
If you call "texan" english, than they spoke it. After living there for almost 9 month i could understand some of it. Howdy :-))

Thanks
TOM

Hey hey hey now...
Ain't nuthin rawng wit da way we tawk daywn hear...

Sorry, I live in Texas and still can't understand some of them sometimes. LOL I'm originally from Alabama, and whenever I go back, I can't understand them at all. Oh well.

As for the whole police incident... I have had my fair share of run in's, I won't go into details. But one in particular stands out in my mind. And trust me I understand both sides, but what happened was uncalled for.

The summer of 1997 (my high school graduation year) my friends and I were hanging out one night, not really doing much. One of my friends decides it's time to go home. He got in his car and left. On his way down one of the neighborhood streets, a man with a shotgun jumps out in front of him. He slams on his brakes and stops the car. The man demands he get out of the car and starts babbling about someone throwing beer bottles in his yard. My friend gets out of his car, but only after the man says that the police have been called and are on their way. He figures they will arrest this lunatic for threatening him with a shotgun. Police show up and by that time the man has slipped away for a moment while my friend talks with this guy's roommate, or whoever he was. By the time shotgun guy gets back outside the police are there. He starts screaming that my friend Mike threw beer bottles in his yard and so he took it into his own hands to catch the offender. Mike starts telling the officer that this guy jumped in the middle of the road with a shotgun to stop him. The officer said, "I don't see no shotgun boy". About this time my other friend Todd was driving by. They both had Red Mustang's at the time. The shotgun guy screams, "That's him!" and the police instantly stop him. The officer asks Todd for his license & insurance and Todd takes off his seatbelt to get the wallet out of his pocket. The officer takes it and tells him to stay in the car. About 10-20 minutes later, another officer comes over to Todd and tells him to get out of the car. When he does, the officer slams him up against the car and tells him he's going to jail. Todd asked why and the officer said, "Uuuuuh.... Oh, you weren't wearing your seatbelt."
Todd said, "And you can take me to jail for that?"
The officer replied, "Boy I can take you to jail for whatever the f*** I want!"
Then Todd tried explaining that he WAS wearing his seatbelt and only removed it when the other officer asked for his information. Well that officer was nowhere to be found and so they haul him off to jail. They let Mike go and didn't say anything to shotgun guy about pulling someone over at gunpoint. Well in the midst of taking Todd to jail, they placed the handcuffs on him so tightly his hands turned purple and then they proceded to lead him around by twisting or turning the cuffs so they cut into his skin. He still has scars on his wrists from this. They took him to jail at 12:30am and at 4:30am told him he could go, but his car was impounded and if he wanted to go home he could either walk or call someone. He called EVERYONE, but noone answered. So he was forced to walk home, at 4:30am, on the side of the highway, for about 7 miles. The next day his mom called the department to file a complaint with the head honcho over there. After searching, the lady at the department said, "There's no record of Todd ever being here last night."
At this point Todd's mother was extremely irritated and said, "He came home with ink on his hands and cuts on his wrists from handcuffs and witnesses who saw him be carried off in the back of a police car!"
"I'm sorry ma'am, we have no record of him ever being here." was all she could get out of the department.
After that, they decided to persue a lawsuit, but no lawyer in the area would touch it because, according to them, "It'll do no good and they'll just make your life hell for trying."
So, I'm sorry about the rant, but if you're ever in Texas...
STAY AWAY FROM THE TOWNS OF CEDAR PARK, LEANDER, OR WILLIAMSON COUNTY!!!
I have other examples, but I know you don't wanna hear them all. LOL

[David Morton]

Brian - that is scary.
Do the Masonic lodges (Freemasons) figure much in the USA?
They figure quite widely in the UK in all manner of structures - the military and the police force to name just a couple. The last Royal Air Force Station I was on there was a huge Masonic Lodge. I'm not going to start on about how people get on and up the ladder in these sort of careers by being in the correct Masonic Lodge but - oh dear - I've just said it.
Well, if you are wearing the ring ( they all do ) you will never ever have any bother with the law. Recently I heard of a guy so totally pissed and pulled over to the side of the road, who was taken to his home and his car was driven by the second 'officer'. Was he in a lodge? We may never know as it's deemed to be a secret.

[Chris Simpson]

Its called corruption David, pure and simple.

Chris