The summer of 2005 was a tough one for me. I have a loaded JCW MCS and was caught in a revenue "sting" one morning out by LAX. Less due to the car than a pre-planned effort to nail every car with expired tags, tint, no front license plate, broken lights, etc. Cars were being pulled over left and right by L.A. motorcycle officers. I was nailed for tint and no front plate on my aero kit. One month later while I was heading up to the Bay Area I was nailed TWICE by the CHP (these are the guys who can be a pain with car mods since they are basically DMV employees). The first time was for speeding but the officer was pleasant (he even chatted with me about the MINI) and cited me for a speed only infraction with a speed which still allowed for traffic school. I was... ahem... traveling a wee bit faster than what was cited. The second time I was nailed I had Mr. CHP following for quite a bit. This time I was doing EXACTLY the speed limit since I decided to react to my radar detector more quickly and still was smarting from the first stop. The officer followed me from a distance and then got right up behind me and continued to follow; no doubt he was still looking for something to nail me with. The red light came on and I pulled over. Turns out he didn't like my clear taillights which are the DOT approved MINI units. I tried to explain the legality of the lights to him (I am an attorney after all) but he wouldn't have it and basically told me I was full of B.S. I was also cited for tint again after I had already removed, cleared the police check, and reapplied my tint from the previous infraction. Mr. CHP had quite the pompous attitude and I decided to challenge him in-court. Bottom line: slam dunk on the taillights in my favor and a fine for the tint but no need to remove. I'll take that as a win.

The last incident with my MINI came during the evening on the 60 East to 605 South freeway interchange. This is a constant radius and slightly cambered corner that I like to take with a bit of gusto when the situation allows. Well, somebody a few cars ahead was going slow in the left lane so I took the inside line/lane and smoothly took the corner. Turns out the car was a CHP and he decided to follow me off the freeway. He followed me for a bit and then just turned around. Hopefully he was impressed by the JCW suspension!

 

Cops are people, just like anyone else. He could have been a cruel streak type person, trying to make you nervous for no reason. He could have been following you, hoping that you'd do something wrong. Your car could have been a close match to one he was looking for. Or he could just been going the same way you were. He didn't pop you, so just cut him some slack and let it be.

Zip

 

This cop following you thing is nothing new. You should be PROUD Maybe he just wants to see your car.

I've had cops following me for many miles in different cars. In Texas, he just had never seen the car (a MR2 Turbo) and wanted to look at it up close.

Yup, cops are ppl too