During my many years of driving I have been stopped a number (6-8) of times by Police. In every instance I have been polite; addressed them as Officer (Name) or Trooper (Name).
Not once have I ever got a ticket, but probably deserved one.
When very young I had a friend on a state police force. He advised me. "When stopped place your hands on the steering wheel, if at night turn on your inside lights. The officer will know you have friend in law enforcement."
If its raining I will offer to get out of my car and sit in the trooper's car. Some will let you, some will ask you to remain where you are for saftey's sake. But they will understand that you are trying to be considerate by not making them stand in foul weather will performing the initial enquiry.
I doesn't take a raving intellect to understand that our law enforcement officers face danger everyday and that they never know when approaching someone what to expect.
I have always found that when treated with respect the most stern officer will modify their attitude.
How about it you officers, ex-, retired, or not, how does a contact's behaviour effect your treatment of the contact?
The beneficial part of this is that I have had some brilliant conversations with officers who have stopped me and in one incidence made a life-long friend.
I have also always thanked them for doing their duty and that was not done from a weening point of view. Just imagine if you had their job. How would you want contacts to behave?
Agreed. I guess that it's an extension of the rest of my life, I actually do try to treat othere as I would like to be treated. That being said, I I am being an a$$hole, I WOULD like someone else to treat me accordingly, so keep that in mind.