Does a citizen have to obey all orders given by a cop?

Know Your Rights

Yes the police can pull you over and fondle your wife and your pet chihuahua. It’s just the law and that’s all there is to it.

Watch this video on surviving police encounters.

@colliedog – Is that sarcasm or are you serious?

Only if the orders are lawful. If using a cellphone while driving is an offence in your state then yes, she has to obey (unless she would rather face charges).

If the orders are inappropriate or unlawful then no you don’t have to obey. In fact if a police officer asks you to do something like that you should take their badge number and report them.

The true answers are all at the link above.

@downtide – the driver was pulled over in her car.

@LeopardGecko Just kidding I updated my answer with a video you should watch on protecting your rights.

Some of the above answers are funny. here is the truth: if an officer stops you, 95% of the time you already know why. an officer is not going to ask you to do anything thats not associated with the stop. common sense prevails here. example: i stop you on a speeding violation. i am going to ask only for your driviers license and proof of insurance and registration. i am not going to order you to get out of your car and strip. why? first, its not a legal order and second i do not want to be fired. so, your answer is no, you do not have to obey an officers every command. only those, associated with a violation of the law. you have rights and we know this.

If the police are in the process of investigating a criminal or traffic infraction they can pretty much tell you what to do until they have finished the investigation on the scene. They cannot make you do something that is unlawful, unsafe, immoral or goes against the grain of the U.S. Constitution or the accepted standards of society.

People should understand that we are only trying to do our jobs to the best of our ability and as efficiently as possible so we can be on our way to fuck with the REAL bad people…the ones you want us to go after. Cooperate and we will do just that. Act like a spoiled child or a pain in my ass and I will use up your whole day…maybe even have you spend the night with some of my friends at the station.

That’s a tough one as you might have already heard from the community and the police itself, if a police officer tries to pull you over, you have the right to drive to a well lit area where you feel safe as long as you do not exceed the speed limit but not long ago there was a video of the police trying to pull over an old lady on a dark road since she was only 1 block away from her home she decided to wait until she got there to stop,,,,needless to say she ended up being hog-tied in front of her family and her 80 year old husband, while the cop screamed at her,, Lady,when I tell you to stop, you F*g stop immediately.
The chief of police went on record as saying “They were both right” ????

You don’t have to do everything they say.

Just remember they have tasers.

Look what happened to Skip Gates for getting lippy.

Skip Gates got his 15 minutes and beer with the Prez.

Please don’t tase me, bro!

2nd Answer: you have no idea what its like to be behind the wheel of a police car, unless you have been there. the people you stop on a traffic violation can create a deadly situation in a moments notice. anyone can be driving or riding in this vehicle. rapists, murderers, terrorists, drunks, kidnappers, armed robbers, anybody or anything. an officer has no unfront information. its like going into your home with all the lights cut off and you hear strange noises inside. what do you do? you are on your defensive and so are police officers. its called officer survival. being on high defensive alert is what makes our blood pressure shoot to the moon. we are human, just like everyone else. no respectable officer is going to ask or demand you to do anything that not within the scope of his investigation at the moment. if so, he should be terminated and arrested himself. i went 44 years without a blemish on my police record and i am proud of it.

Know your rights as a citizen

But let’s say a situation does happen where a corrupted cop does try to do something illegal and it’s only you maybe somebody else and the cop. Do you have the right to flee the situation just like you would if the cop where a stranger? Is there anyway to get justice over this situation in court? I’m not saying that all cops or any cops do do this, but I’m asking out of curiosity. Police, I am on your side and always have been. Just remember that there are some weirdo’s out there.

@LeopardGecko – Unless you live on a Hollywood sound-stage, I doubt very seriously that you will have any problems with “weird” police officers. Most people act like an asshole, claim it is their constitutional right to do so, and complain when they are told otherwise (under the law of the state they live in) but it sure makes for good TV. Why would talking to someone on the phone take precedent over dealing with a police officer doing his job under the lawful authority of the state?

@Corporate_Avenger – So it’s basically impossible that their are crooked cops? What if, under the most extreme circumstances something crazy like a crooked cop came up. What would be the legal thing to do?

@LeopardGecko – Let’s take them one at a time shall we?

“So it’s basically impossible that their are crooked cops?” No, I didn’t say it was impossible that there are crooked cops. Just highly unlikely in the vast majority of situations and environments. You seem to think they are lurking behind every bush. I know better. Cops are harder on cops than they are on criminals. We are because we carry a gun and a badge. There is a responsibility that comes along with that. It’s like the doctor who fondles patients while under anesthesia…it is a perversion of their profession. Crooked cops are perversion of mine.

“What if, under the most extreme circumstances something crazy like a crooked cop came up.” You are asking for a hypothetical that has no specifics at all. What is the cop doing? Is he/she menacing you? Is he/she attempting to ass-fuck you? Are they asking you to go rob a bank for them? What…? You mentioned extreme circumstances, what are they? I think you already know the answer, so I will not bother to go through every single scenario that may, has, or will happen since the dawn of man and the invention of police forces. That is a ridiculous request.

“What would be the legal thing to do?” If you have to ask this question, you’d better take a class on situational awareness. I spent a long time in the military and I know when the shit is about to hit the fan, and what I need to do if it does. If you live in a world that is crawling with crooked cops that are just waiting to pounce on you, you’d better learn some of those strategies. Like maybe…move away. I will tell you this, if I wasn’t on duty, in my uniform and was just “Sally Citizen”, and I was forced into a situation where I felt that my life was on the line, I would do whatever it took to survive the encounter. If that meant subjecting myself to a rape, so be it, as long it meant going home at the end of the night. You do what you have to do to survive, and that’s not just with cops…that’s real life, all the time…24/7/365. Most likely, I could take the perp, but that is only because of who I am, my extensive martial arts training, and my mindset.

I reiterate what I said earlier…most people encounter problems with police when they are physically uncooperative, use abusive language beyond the point of common sense (disturbing the peace), and basically act like a childish asshole. If during an investigation a police officer feels that you are hindering the course of the investigation, you are a threat to him, or that you are likely to become physical, he/she will detain you. This is not an arrest…this is to prevent you from doing something so fucking stupid that you will force the officer to go “hands on” and perhaps cause you to suffer physical harm from it, viz a viz, taser, pepper spray, or a 6’4” inch, 230lb cop in a hard kevlar jacket falling on your dumb ass while he swings you to the ground.

Being polite, courteous and cooperative is always the easier road, trust me.

Balls in your court and on your forehead…

Some do some don’t. I know my rights and I am not the least bit intimidated by the uniform, they work for me, I pay their wages. I was pulled over for speeding, more accurately, I blew by a cop and I knew I was caught so I pulled over before he turned on his lights.

When he caught up to me he was pissed and he was spoiling for a fight. Marched up to my car and slapped the hood, aggressively banged on my window and made the “roll it down” motion with his little fits. He asked, “Do you know why I pulled you over?” I answered yes. He said “WELL?” I said “Well what?” He screamed “WELL WHY?” I said, If you don’t know I’m certainly not going to be the one to tell you.”

He said, “That’s some attitude you got there.” I said, “Is that why you stopped me? Are you going to arrest me for my attitude? If I were wearing your uniform would my attitude be okay, because I can’t help but noticing you have quite the attitude yourself.”

He told to to slow down and to watch my mouth before it gets me in trouble. I think we parted as friends. LOL!