Complaint Review: Jason Villardo

Most rational people would agree that in general, traffic laws are for the safety of all of us who use the roads. Traffic laws are specifically necessary because some people are inconsiderate and foolish. Ordinarily I would not complain about a speeding ticket. However, I make an exception for officer Jason Villardo and the Holly Ridge Police Department in NC.

I was driving northbound on a long boring stretch of hwy 17 and suddenly without realizing it and without any real discernable change in landscape I was entering a township. The town is kind of in the middle of nowhere and has I gather, a great need for municipal funds.

So the town has a reduced speed limit, fair enough. What is infuriating is that unless you are from there or really paying specific attention and trying to locate the town of Holly Ridge, you are in it's center of past it without even knowing you are near it. There should be a flashing caution light over the highway if safety is really the main concern. There is only a sign informing you of a sudden and drastic change in the speed limit. Really, if you don't pay attention and look for every sign, you will likely miss it. We all know the tedium of driving long distances and if there are big rig trucks blocking your view, it is easy to miss signs. The town consists a few small buildings that blend into the trees and roadway and literally within about 120 seconds you are through it and back to the normal speed limit.

I contend that Holly Ridge is unfair and taking advantage of motorists in this regard and officer Villardo is the perfect joyless, soulless pawn to carry out the towns unsavory act of highway robbery. I have rarely received tickets in my life but in my experience and those of friends and acquaintances, there is a consensus that there are two basic types of cops. There are generally good cops who have empathy who way situations and are at least polite when you are cooperative and some who are just jerks. I'm talking about people who suffered one or a combination of deficiencies in their formative years that cause them to relish power and control. You can tell this when you are being respectful and cooperative and they continue to act like they are saving the universe from you and your evil deeds. You know the ones you can tell they maybe felt unpopular growing up, are not well endowed or were just cowardly and never felt empowered so they went to the academy for the wrong reasons. This is officer Jason Villardo.

He sits and waits just past the sign you may not notice and hits you with his radar. When he got me, I was completely unaware that the limit had just changed only so many yards behind me. Holly ridge he would later inform me is 45 mph. So, since I didn't see the sign I was a bad speeder. I consider myself a fair and rational person but this kind of speed trap is neither.

My car is very clean, I am clean cut and I don't have tinted windows. It was a bright sunny day and officer Villardo used all of his training when approaching my vehicle which I had pulled into a gas station, where I sat with seat belt still buckled my hands placed on the top of my steering wheel so that he could see them. Villardo examined my car carefully as he crept up so that he could see me while gazing into the back seat. I was thinking that I should avoid doing anything that would make his job harder and I waited for his instruction. I sat without moving around or getting out of the car. When he got to my window he seemed angry and he blurted something. I have very poor hearing so I had to ask him to repeat it. At this point I watched his mouth as he said with in a surly tone "pull onto the road". I started to realize that he was maybe having a bad day by his attitude but I remained upbeat and cooperative.

I pulled back onto the road and over to the side and again waited with my hands in clear site. Again he stealthily crept to my window. He was completely officious as he took my license and registration. I thought to myself either they get a lot of hardened criminals who are very ordinary, clean cut and cooperative in this little town or this guy is just very green and not good at reading people and situations. He is trained to deal with the worst and deadliest scum on the planet I get it.

He ticketed me and when her returned to my car he informed me that in his divine magnanimity he had decided not to arrest me and impound my vehicle for my horrible crime. I thought to myself that it seemed a shame that he could care less that I had been polite, calm and cooperative. He seemed to pay less attention to my agreeable behavior then I did to the sign I never saw. I'm not saying the guy needed to give me a warning instead of a ticket or even reduce the violation any. But if he had just said "thank you for your cooperation" or just didn't act like a jerk...

In a stern tone he told me to put my seat belt on and drive safely. when I got back on the hiway I could see the next sign just up the road, it was 55 mph. I felt like I had been raped without even a "Have a nice day".

Now I have to spend a day to travel to Jacksonville and sit in court and possibly another day in traffic school in another town. I just wish the guy could have been a bit more cognizant of the fact that he is causing great damage to many people to get funds for his town.

I implore Holly Ridge to put up a caution light that lets you know that you are approaching a town, if it is indeed safety they are concerned with. If they decide that would cut into the towns revenue by reducing the number of tickets they can write at least train it's officers to be courteous.

Celeste
Sacremento, California
U.S.A.