Some people have all the luck -- I was driving back from a 4-day trial in Baton Rouge about 18 months ago and looking forward to relaxing with a glass of wine when I got home -- I do tend to drive fast on the interstate -- so there I am driving a dark blue Cayman about 85 mph just west of Welsh -- go past an overpass and my radar detector gets blasted by "instant-on" -- La State Police unit hidden behind the overpass -- I smoke the brakes (and trooper only has to drive about 40 yards to come up behind me -- I think this helped me because he did not have to chase me any distance) -- I get out with license and insurance card, my pistol is in a holster between console and passenger seat (legal in Louisiana) -- trooper walks up with a huge smile on his face and sunglasses on (he had already run my plate before he got out of his vehicle -- SOP in LSP) (I have a LA Iraq Campaign Veteran plate) he asks for license, insurance card and registration (which is glove compartment) -- I hand him license/ins card and tell him registration is in glove box -- but I have a holstered pistol next to my console -- he thanks me for telling him -- tells me to go ahead and get my registration -- he is still smiling broadly -- I lean over pistol near console, open glove box, get registration, lean back out of car and hand him same. Still the huge broad smile -- He says:
"COL McLaughlin, do you know how fast you were going?" I tell him the truth (usually the best option) and answer "At least 85 mph" -- he smiles and says "Well, your speedometer is accurate" -- he then hands me back my license and ins card -- and then takes off his sunglasses --and I realize that out of the 42 troopers in Troop D (Lake Charles area), the trooper that has just stopped me -- I am representing his wife in their divorce. He says "When I ran your license tag, I couldn't believe my luck" -- I reply "I can't believe your luck either" -- he tells me to watch my speed and lets me go. We shake hands and he then tells me there is another trooper 2 miles down the road (a common LSP tactic) -- who won't have his sense of humor. Thankfully, his divorce was not acrimonious -- he was also prior military and he knew of my background -- I have found that good manners, straight answers and military bearing often helps in a LEO stop (they quickly figure out that you are "not the droids they are looking for"). I laugh about that encounter quite a bit and the trooper later made a duck hunt with us -- really good guy.