John Barney of the Ames Police Department is Bad at his Job and a Disgrace to Law Enforcement

I am not in the mood to write nice things like poetry today. This is because of what occurred yesterday on my way back from a frisbee scrimmage. I rolled up to an intersection devoid of cars, hit my brakes, looked around to make sure nobody was coming, and continued on my way, only to be pulled over for a rolling stop violation. I was thinking that would probably be a warning, since the car in front of me and the car behind me did the exact same thing, and there was no chance I had put anyone at risk. It certainly wasn't as though I intentionally ran the stop sign. I just made sure there wasn't any traffic coming and did what most people do when confronted with an empty intersection.
To make things worse, my driver's license was in a different bag. I gave the officer my name and birthday, as well as my registration and insurance information, and he came back with a ticket. At this point, I knew there wasn't anything I could do to avoid paying a fine, so I decided to enter into some dialogue. What followed was this:

He said he just sits at that corner to catch people. He mentioned that he had been there for quite some time. Perhaps he saw the disapproval in my expressions, because he went on to try to justify this use of time by saying there had been a fatality recently from someone running a stop sign. Now, I live in this town. I hear about fatalities. The only fatality that has happened occurred when a person stole a tank of gas and fled the scene, pursued by police. Yes, he disregarded traffic laws, and yes, a person was killed in the ensuing accident, but in no way is a police car sitting hidden at a corner preventing that from happening. So really, his proffered justification was nothing of the sort. He is basically wasting taxpayer money sitting around doing nothing. I said none of this. Instead, I inquired why he had chosen me specifically, when the car in front of me and the car behind me did the same things at the same intersection. My motivation behind this was mostly one of curiosity. If there was something I obviously did differently that could prevent this from happening again, of course I would like to know.

He responded by avoiding the question completely. He said he turned his video camera on, and that he had evidence of me performing a rolling stop. I deferred, acknowledging that I had no problem with this occurrence, but reiterated my question, still hoping for a response. He repeated his response, again avoiding the question.

What happened next was where things became a little more interesting. He gave me my citation, saying it would be $195, but that he knew I had a driver's license, and wouldn't give me a ticket for driving without it. He said that would be an additional $200 fine. He said this in such a way as to indicate he was being a very nice person for not giving me this fine. I said, "That's not actually true, is it? I can just provide proof of my license within twenty-four hours and avoid the fine, right?"
He said I didn't have to pay, because he wasn't citing me. I pressed the issue, saying "I wouldn't have to pay it either way, though, right?"

He said I could "probably" avoid paying the fine, but that it would mean extra driving and take up some of my time.

I said I understood that, but that I didn't like being misinformed by the police. This did not sit well with him. His voice elevated instantly. He yelled, asking whether or not I could do his job. I said no, and broke eye contact, looking at my lap to show I wasn't trying for direct confrontation or trying to be threatening. Then he said he didn't like my attitude, and that I had better not interrupt an officer. This seemed rather threatening. I said, "That's not really true either, is it? Because of the first amendment?"

At this point he calmed down noticeably. His voice returned to a normal volume, and he said "We're done here." I said okay, and he repeated himself, "We're done here." After he said it a third time, I drove off.

The whole encounter left me in a terrible mood, as I'm sure it does with everyone in that sort of situation. I'm not even that mad about getting a ticket. What I do have a problem with is the way the officer was spending his time. And furthermore, the way he deliberately mislead me to make it seem as though he was doing  me a favor. I'm sure many people without a decent head on their shoulders would just crumble in that situation, and actually thank the officer for his generosity. That's what happens when a person is put in such an incredible imbalance of power. But I at least know my rights, and I've been told it's always to my benefit to enter into a dialogue with the police. This was ridiculous.

I wonder now whether there might have been some other motivation behind choosing me as the person to pull over. Perhaps, as he is a young officer (of the same age and gender as me, approximately), he feels most comfortable pulling over people with little risk of a bumpy interaction. I know for a fact I was leaving a practice where there were mostly women leaving, and it seems reasonable to assume that a man of his demographic would hesitate to pull over women, as they might be seen as more prone to make a scene or something. Also, I know a driver behind me was Asian, and in Ames there are a lot of Asians who don't speak English well, which could account for his targeting me. In absence of an adequate explanation, even after I asked twice, I can only assume there was something about me in particular that made me a more appealing target.

In conclusion, I am upset with the officer. His name was on the ticket he issued me. It is John Barney. If you know him or encounter him, please remember that he does his job poorly. I have no idea what sort of person he is, but I am disgusted with the way this particular situation was handled. I put nobody at risk, and it seems like a cowardly way to go about the job of being a police officer. To delude oneself into thinking sitting on a corner and pulling over people who only come to a 98% stop is saving lives is stupid. And to deliberately mislead the citizen afterward is unforgivable.

Update 10/10/2014: This post has been read four times as much as any other post I've written. I was going to re-title it to avoid attracting undue attention, as it was written a long time ago and it is quite likely the same officer is no longer as frustrating to deal with. I actually encountered him again when my friend's dad died and the police were called to her home. I doubt he remembered me. (I noticed right away, as my interactions with police officers are undoubtedly much less frequent than his reactions with random people who don't like police officers.) I wish I could say the interaction completely redeemed him, but really he just stood around and said he was sorry a couple of times. Not that there was much for him to do.

I googled "John Barney Ames" and my blog entry was the second search result. The ones surrounding it talk about his valiant effort saving a girl in a frozen river. Like I said, I was tempted to change my stance so as to avoid future attention. Then I re-read this post and remembered how frustrating it was (both the interaction itself, and the ensuing comments). I still genuinely believe that was not a good use of an officer's time, and still genuinely believe he handled things poorly. If he has gotten better at his job, that is fantastic to hear, and I certainly hold no grudge. The fact remains that this is an experience I had (the whole point of the blog), and I don't want to compromise myself by altering it now, even though I feel awkward that the title might be too harsh. It's how I felt at the time, and that's worth preserving, if only to me.