What you had to say

The Frederick News-Post ran an online request for three weeks in February and March, asking readers to let us know about their traffic stop experiences. Here is a brief look at some of their responses.

James Kelley, 26, of Walkersville. He is white.

“I think we have a great police force in Frederick. I expect to be pulled over if I am not obeying the law. I have had some really great experiences and some really bad ones. I don’t expect it to be perfect in this world.”

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Kathryn Berry, 40, of Ijamsville. She is white.

Her 22-year-old daughter was stopped after midnight on southbound Md. 355. A sheriff’s deputy passed her going the other direction and circled around to stop her. She got a warning for not having her rear license plate illuminated on her new Mustang. After the stop, the deputy followed her. She was so frightened, she took a back road and a deer plunged into her driver’s side window.

When she got home, her parents looked at the car and saw the license plate light was fully illuminated. Berry, who said deputies have hassled her family for years for unknown reasons, called the sheriff’s office to complain that the bogus stop was going to cost the family $3,500 worth of repair costs. She was told it was her problem, not the sheriff’s office, Berry said.

“I figure if this is happening to me, I can understand why some people feel they are being profiled.”

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Andrew Linker, 41, of Thurmont. He is white.

Linker got a ticket for driving with expired tags. He had bought new tags that same day but had not yet put them on his car.

“Was it fair? Yes. I had known better but had just become lazy. The ticket has caused me to ensure that I get my renewal stickers for my tags on time now.”

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Kaye Wilgus, 45, of Salisbury. She is white.

Wilgus lived in Frederick County for 33 years and got her first driver’s license as a teen while living in the county. She got a speeding ticket when she was 18.

“I was offended because I knew him,” she said with a laugh.

She managed to escape with warnings every other time she was stopped until last year in Salisbury.

“In the last 26 years, I have been pulled over probably 15 times, and only received one ticket ... the rest were warnings. I was polite, I didn’t try to make excuses ... thank goodness for kind police officers.”

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Michael Talamantes, 44, of Myersville. He is white Hispanic.

Talamantes was stopped in February near Myersville for traveling 43 miles per hour in a 30 mph zone. He kept his hands on the wheel throughout the stop, admitted he was speeding and said he was willing to pay a fine. Much to his surprise, he received a warning.

He believes motorists should remember police officers have a job to do. “A ticket is not a bad thing. It just might have saved your life or someone else.”

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Talamantes’ wife, Christine, 43, also of Myersville. She is white and black.

She was stopped for going 62 miles per hour in a 50 mph zone and got a warning also. About four years earlier, she received a ticket for driving with expired tags. Both times, she believes she was treated fairly and respectfully. “I didn’t have no problems with them.”

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Paula Roberts, 38, of Fairfield, Pa. She is black.

She was stopped twice while living in Frederick in the mid-1990s for what she believes was racial profiling.

“I think that happens more in Frederick than people realize,” Roberts said.

Once she was stopped for allegedly rolling through a stop sign on Market Street. The officer, who is white, asked her why she was in the neighborhood if she didn’t live there. She and her passengers, who are white, were startled by the question.

“My sarcastic mental voice wanted to say that my master had sent me on an errand but I’d forgotten my pass, but I held my tongue,” she said.

Roberts, however, doesn’t believe minorities are the only motorists targeted by police.

“I’ve not only met black people stopped for weird reasons,” she said.

For example, she had a neighbor who had wild blonde hair and drove an old pick-up. The woman was stopped for weaving, but she was a teetotaler.

“I just wonder if they are profiling ... by looking for rednecks, black young person, teenager instead of issues.”

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Moira Weller, 51, of Frederick County. She is white.

She was stopped for speeding on Shookstown Road a few days before Christmas last year. She got a warning because she had an impeccable record.

“I considered that my first Christmas present,” she said.

Weller works for an insurance agency and knows how and why citations can raise rates. Several insurance studies have shown people with citations frequently end up in crashes later, she said.

“I believe officers are just doing their job, they’re not out to get people,” she said.

Weller encourages people to take responsibility for their driving violations.

“If you’re not paying attention, you have to admit it,” she said. “Perhaps that is why I only got warning. I didn’t give him a story or cry or anything like that.”