To prove that you should never be honest with Cops, I need some solid grounds to begin. And, I am telling some real life incidents for that.
Incidents
Incident 1
A few days ago, a friend of mine broke a traffic signal. He said that he broke it by mistake, but that doesn’t really matter. The traffic Police miraculously came and caught him. I think this is the major part of traffic police training, you can’t see them when you are following all rules. But as soon as you do some mistake, out of nowhere they come in front of you.
After getting caught, the Officer asked him for his license, so he showed it to him. The police then said come to the police station, pay a fine of 200 Rs and take your license from there. My friend waited there for few minutes, he watched that the officers caught other people too. Some people made the officers to talk on phone and slipped away. And all other people slipped away by tipping 100-150 bucks.
For a moment my friend thought to just pay here and go, like everyone was doing. But, the fine for breaking the signal was 200 Rs, and he anyways had to give 100-150 Rs. So he thought to go to the station and give fine and take a slip for it. One more thing inspired him to do this because he never did this before. Every time when police caught him, he either waited until they return the license without taking money, or just handed out a few buck. Now to experience what it feels like to pay total amount and get the receipt of it, like a responsible citizen, he went to the police station.
At the police station, officer got the receipt and filled it; with it he filled another form. When my friend asked what that other form was for, officer said, “Your license is suspended for 15 days, take it from the RTO office from which you issued it.” My friend got shocked, and asked the reason for it, the police said it is the rule, you broke signal so this is the penalty. Also, my friend is not from Pune, so his license was going to be transferred to the RTO of his hometown.
My friend apologized for what he did, but the policemen were too stubborn to listen. He realized that they want to make an example out of him. And he accepted that they were not going to pardon him. My friend still waited there for couple of hours but they didn’t give him the license.
Incident 2
Well, this is an incident that took place about a year ago. I was staying at a rented apartment. The apartment was of my father’s friend so we didn’t issue any legal documents like, rent agreement. But then, I needed to apply for a driving license from Pune. As I am from other district I needed some address proof of Pune. So, I decided to do the registration of the rented apartment. At the last stage of procedure, I had to take signatures of local police officers on some form.
Police officer asked me since when I was staying at the place. Being honest I told them it’s been a couple of years. Then, he asked why I didn’t do this procedure before. I told him the story. He started to tell me some rules, saying that is a crime. “You can’t rent a home without legal registration. You and your owner both will have to come to court, because you both share equal felony,” he said.
That was the time when I was desperate, and really wanted that document. So I apologized for it and requested him to give me the document, but he couldn’t listen. At the end, I don’t know this, but I think because I never said that take fine but don’t do legal procedures, he wrote down mine and my owner’s details on a paper and told me that I will get a call about the hearing.
Next day I sent my brother, I don’t know how he did it, but he got the signed paper. Maybe he must have called a friend of him, or at the most must have given some pennies.
Incident N:
Well the “N” denotes a number which can be anything. Because I heard so many stories from my friends, and their friends of how they fooled the cops. I don’t understand how people can do these things and tell them to everyone in a proud manner. But, the point is we all have come across uncountable such stories.
Ironies
Everything that happens when you encounter with a police, you experience a series of ironies. Let us cut down the ironies you confront when got caught by a traffic police, to better understand them.
Irony 1
When a Police get someone, the first thing he says that pay the penalty of 200 Rs (“200 chi pavati fad,” this is what they say in Pune, I couldn’t stop myself from writing its Marathi version). The felon first checks his wallet, and says, Sir, I just have 100 Rs (Sir, fakt 100 Rs ahet……hahahaha). Well this amount could be anything. And trust me for most of time, this amount remains 0 Rs. The person literally says that he has no money.
Sorry, I forgot to tell the irony. Now the irony is, while saying that he has just 100 Rs, actually means that he is trying to bribe, and should be scared. He should be scared because the officer in front of him could be an honest officer. He could get angry and could charge more or something like that. But, the person is never afraid of such things.
Irony 2
The second Irony is, the police never get angry. Well he gets angry when someone says he has only 50 Rs because he is expecting something more. But, he is never angry because someone tried to bribe him.
Irony 3
The officer refuses to take the money what the person offers, to get a bigger amount. This is a kind of bargaining. Police try to scare away the person by telling that if you don’t pay the full penalty, the vehicle will be taken to the police station. And, you will have to pay extra charges of carrying your vehicle to the station.
Irony 4
Officers don’t want you to pay the full amount. If you pay the full amount, they will have to give you the receipt and they will not get anything. For this, they charge you with multiple violations. First they will say you will have to pay 200 Rs for not following the signal. They will ask you whose vehicle you are carrying, if you can’t prove that it’s yours, they will add a 500 bucks. And sometimes, they will ask where the mirrors are, or does the horn or headlights work or not.
They will make an amount which will be impractical to pay. And thus, you will just pay 200-300 bucks and get away.
Irony 5
They are not afraid. Consider that you are about to do something wrong, or you just want to light up a cigarette on the street. You first check around yourself whether anybody you know is watching you. But, the police officers never check whether they are being watched. They act like this is the standard procedure.
Why I don’t want to be a Law Keeper
Being an engineer, I get suggestions to choose a career in all the fields. And government jobs are one of them. Most of the people around me suggest me to become a police officer or something like that. But, I never considered it. I don’t like imagining myself doing a government job, and the reason is Hypocrisy.
Hypocrisy
To better understand what I am trying to say here, consider that there are three types of people in India. First, the people working for the government. These are the Law Keepers who are responsible to taking the law to everyone. The second types of people are the people who try to use the rules, or mend them for their personal benefits. And the third type of people are honest people, who leave India as soon as possible.
In a very ideal scenario, Police, Government Officers or the Law keepers will help the honest people. Maybe do them some favors, or make them understand how exactly things work. They will teach bad men lessons by giving them the taste of Law against bribery. But as I said this was an ideal scenario. In the practical world, they should treat everyone alike. Now, I call the law keepers hypocrites because they help the cunning people to mend the law. And, show the power of law to the honest people.
I myself made some infographics to make you understand what I am trying to say.
Why you should never be honest with Cops
I know law has a lot of power and it is placed to give everybody equal rights. The law keepers are placed to ensure this. Instead of showing the real law to the people who break it intentionally, law keepers help them. And the people who mistakenly do something wrong, the law keepers make them examples for the society.
Many of my friends are trying hard to get government jobs, and I am sure they will achieve what they are working for. And, they will lower the gap I have shown in the above picture.
I do respect cops very much. Without them it is impossible to live in peace. They regulate all the systems and all the procedures. We would not be able to enjoy any of our festivals if they are not present to handle the crowd. And because of all these reasons, I do, and all of us must do respect them. But, for the reasons I listed here, for now, I suggest never be honest with Cops.
The post Why you should never be honest with Cops appeared first on Precious Images Of Life.
