In this NJ town, police are pulling over people for being polite

I’m probably the only curmudgeon in the Garden State who would question this. Call me Larry David, but would you want to be approached by a police officer when you’ve done nothing wrong? Let’s say not only if you did nothing wrong, but you actually were being good?

Here’s what’s going on.

In Clifton, the city has announced a special initiative called “Pay It Forward.” They’re arming police officers not just with service weapons but also with gift cards. These gift cards are donated by local businesses taking part in the project.

When a police officer sees you doing something nice for someone, a random act of kindness if you will, they’ll stop you and talk to you, and reward you with a gift card. How Herculean a kindness must you bestow upon a stranger to qualify? Not very.

An announcement on a city website explains that even simply holding the door open for someone can get you rewarded.

But…do you want to be?

I’m probably the only one who feels this way, but if I’m doing nothing wrong, I don’t need to be approached by the police. Ever hear of some departments around the country running those Caught Being Safe programs, where an officer pulls you over if they see you using turn signals and obeying the speed limit? You think it’s a regular traffic stop until they reward you for good driving with a gift card.

I seem to recall at least one town in New Jersey doing this back in the 1990s because I clearly remember doing an on-air topic on this. Even more recently, some Jersey towns have done similar programs rewarding teenagers for wearing helmets while biking, for example.

Sorry, the Larry David curmudgeon in me is not a fan. I mean, what if you hold a door open for someone as you leave a convenience store, then a police officer asks to speak with you? Just curious, what happens if they bolt? Let’s say they think they’re in trouble and suspiciously run for the hills? Is there going to be a reasonable suspicion of wrongdoing based on their reaction?

Running from a cop simply on sight is one element of what’s known as a Terry stop, which can be legal, and I wonder if it could happen. Is it far-fetched? Absolutely. Do I sound like I’m anti-cop? If all you know about me is this article, probably, but I’m not. They have one of the toughest, most thankless jobs in the world, and I’m on record as saying so.

If anything, I think cops have enough on their plate without worrying about making us all sing Kumbaya around a brotherhood campfire. Is it a nice thought to reward kindness with gift cards? Do you think it's well-intended? Of course it is. I just don’t know that this needs to be a police initiative.

But if they instead hand out gift cards for being an ornery curmudgeon, I admit I’ll be getting one.

Opinions expressed in the post above are those of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Jeff Deminski only.

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