fargo PD: bad cops or the WORST cops? (Bismarck, Mandan: low crime, neighborhood)

[whoopsie goldburg]

just wanted to see if anyone shares my opinion.

the fargo police are simply ridiculous. here's a story: when i lived there, i was walking to a bar downtown at around 11pm and i noticed a cop driving real slow, half a block block behind me. i kept walking and the cop got closer and closer. i turned a corner and sure enough, the cop followed me. eventually i got sick of this and just stopped and stared at him.

he pulled up to me, asked for my ID and asked "what are you doing?" i said "walking to the empire." he asked, "why?" i said "for a few beers!" he asked "what else are you up to?" and i said "thats all, officer!" he asked if he could search me for weapons and i said "not a chance, why are you bothering me?" he couldn't come up with an answer.

well, this clown spent a couple minutes trying to trick me into letting him search by asking the question 20 different ways, until he realized that i knew my rights and if he searched me illegally, i'd go after his badge. finally the cop said "well, you look like someone who would probably smoke marijuana." i said "based on my looks huh? this conversation is over." he handed over my ID and said i could go, and then he followed me every step of the way to the empire tavern.

i have heard many similar stories from other fargoans.

has anybody else in fargo experienced this garbage? do you realize how the cops in fargo spend their time and your tax dollars? harassing pedestrians and chasing people out of parks at 10:01PM. the force has twice as many cops as they need. i know fargo well, and i know the "crime" that goes on there. DUI's and the occasional drug bust, maybe a garage burglary here and there. nothing to justify such a beefed up force. i hope, for fargo's sake, that the police force is downsized. how long are you willing to pay for these cops screwing around?

[Reziac]

I think it's the same everywhere. Not enough real crime, so they make up stuff to do. And tho quotas are typically illegal, in most departments you need a certain number of arrests every month if you ever expect to get a promotion.

[nemmert]

Maybe things have changed... but Bismarck/Mandan wasn't any better when I was there in high school... I got pulled over for a curfew violation one night (not speeding, just because of the time of night 1:45) and had a cop chase my friends and I out of a Pizza Hut parking lot for "loitering" due to spending 5 minutes outside our cars talking and saying goodbye after having eaten lunch there. There are too many cops in ND and frankly they're bored.

[southfargo]

fargo cops have nuthin better to do. If they pretend your a criminal then they can have somthing to waste there time on. but yes i do agree the police are quite aggresive.

[rich19]

The Fargo cops are terrible, not nearly as bad as the West Fargo cops, but the Moorhead Cops seem to be far better than the rest. For the most part I am not too found of cops in general. A low crime rate is a good thing to have, but why do we need so many cops then? I know someone who actually got mugged outside a liquor store but had been drinking. She called the cops and when she drove away (though she never gave a breathalizer) those same cops pulled her over for a DUI instead of trying to find the person who robbed her! So even when there are real criminals they feel the need to harass people. When there are real crimes here (which there seems to be a little more of lately and the stats indicate that) they don't have a clue what to do and they seem to be rarely solved.