Sent to me from out of town citizen.

Here is a copy of the email I just wrote to Chief Swanger: Dear Chief Swanger, My husband and I are frequent visitors of Concord. We were residents of Contra Costa County for years and often came to Concord for shopping and other amenities. Every Christmas, we traditionally come to Concord and visit the wide array of houses that go all out with Christmas displays. Despite moving to Santa Cruz a couple of years ago, we have continued our tradition and drive the two hours to revisit our old home and visit our favorite houses in Concord. Tonight though, our tradition has come to an end. One of your cops has humiliated us and we will NOT be returning to Concord. Ever. We got through 3 houses tonight, and around 8:40 PM on a main, busy street in Concord, one of your cops followed us right up against us as we were driving. We didn't understand what he was doing. If he had an issue, we thought he would flash his lights and pull us over. He did not do this. Eventually, he motioned to us to roll our window down. This seemed odd to me as my husband was trying to drive and stopping in the middle of the road to speak to a cop didn't seem very safe. I thought there must be something horribly wrong that needed urgent attention. We submissively stopped the car and rolled our window down. We had no idea what was wrong. The cop was a heavy-set white man, looked to be in his 40's, perhaps 50's. It was dark, so hard to tell. He literally SCREAMED at us. He initiated the conversation by shouting "ARE YOU KIDDING ME? Using your cell phone while driving?! Do you want a ticket?!" My husband did NOT have his cell phone (in fact, his cell phone was in the back seat where he couldn't even reach it). Since there is a law in California prohibiting mounting your GPS to the windshield, we typically keep it on the dashboard or on our lap when we're using it. He had a TomTom navigating us on his lap. He picked it up and showed the cop that it wasn't a cell phone, but a GPS. Please note that our TomTom is 6 years old and while I understand how it could be mistook for a cell phone from afar, it really looks nothing like a cell phone and the cop could clearly see it was not a cell phone when we showed it to him. The cop then shouted, "ARE YOU STUPID?" and lectured us about how GPSes are completely illegal and it has to be hands-free and we're stupid for not knowing this. He kindly let us go on our way, but we were BEFUDDLED by his behavior. Did he need to be so rude? Does he need to put us in harm's way and stop us in the middle of the road so he could berate us and call us names, and over something so minor? Why couldn't he flash his lights and pull us over to educate us about this law, in a POLITE and SAFE manner?! We did not continue looking at houses after this, and just went straight home to Santa Cruz, our night ruined. When we got home, I went online to read about this bizarre law about GPSes being illegal. I read a smartphone law was passed in April 2013 prohibiting GPS apps. I don't believe ANYONE knows about this new law. I know so many people who use their smartphone as a GPS in California. I'd never heard this news until we got yelled at over it by your cop. I think it would be in your best interest to educate the public about this and spread the word, rather than humiliating them and calling them stupid. And regardless, we were not doing anything illegal as we don't even own smartphones. The law says nothing about TomTom/Garmin devices, just smartphones. Please educate your police force of the difference between these technologies. They are screaming at innocent citizens over it. I would greatly appreciate an apology and confirmation that action will be taken so that this never happens again. I am truly appalled by the behavior of your police. If they expect us to respect them, trust them, and take them seriously, then they need to respect the citizens who are paying their salaries and whom they are supposed to be serving. December 22, 2013 at 12:42 AM

An off-duty Concord Police officer abusing his authority

http://www.sfgate.com/crime/article/Man-accuses-off-duty-Concord-cop-of-road-rage-5031921.php