I was at dinner with friends over the weekend and one of the spouses was a police officer. He was telling us about a “professional courtesy” he recieves when driving whilst off duty. That if he were pulled over he’d not get a ticket… I asked if he were blatently breaking the law going 80mph in a non-highway 50mph zone would he get a ticket then… He said no, that it’s an unspoken thing with cops that they do not give eachother tickets… This struck me as particularly odd as someone going 80mph in a 50 zone is being extremely unsafe and blatently breaking the law… I could see going 60 in a 50 may be fine to let go, but blatent reckless driving like this scenerio??? That would still be tolerated amongst cops?
Does this strike anyone else as particularly odd and wrong or is it just me?
Not at all odd, definitely wrong, and it’s not just you. Cops will protect each other regarding drugs, stealing, and even murder. A traffic ticket doesn’t surprise me in the slightest.
Of course they should. I’d take it further and say that any cop who abuses his position while on duty should also be held accountable.
I’ll give you a for instance: I currently reside on a one way street amongst a tangle of one way streets that are difficult and time consuming to navigate. It is very tempting for some people to shorten their ride by cutting up my street going the wrong way, and some people do, including a semi-regular offender in his cruiser.
If he’s got his lights on because he’s in a hurry to get to the scene of a crime, that’s one thing, but this guy is just lazy and takes the shortcut because he feels entitled. Hypocritically, I’ve even seen this guy writing out a ticket to a motorist he caught going the wrong way down a one way.
Granted, it’s a quiet little street in a quiet little neighborhood with few children and the risk of causing an accident is relatively slim, but that does not make it okay to disobey the street signs to save a couple of turns just because they’re cops.
When they’re off duty, they’re civilians and should be treated as such. If they want to be treated as officers of the law even when they’re not functioning in that capacity, they should act like officers of the law and abide by the laws they enforce upon others.
Everyone should be given speeding tickets if they are doing so. Offhand the only exceptions I can think of, cop responding to a crime/accident, emergency services responding to a call,other emergencies (your kid is bleeding all over and you’re going to the ER, etc) Other than that, ticket em all.
And this is why many people hate cops. Not because they uphold the law, but because they uphold the law selectively. I would see both cops involved in such an action lose there jobs and in serious risk of jail time. I consider corrupt cops to be some of the lowest forms of criminal scum, and even ‘minor’ coruption should be stamped out.
A police officer here where I live got forced into a sort of early retirement because he was a decent human being. He cut you deals if you actually deserved it (for instance, someone hit me and it was an accident, I didn’t mind, there was no body damage, and it was the other girl’s first accident too - there was, once again, no damage and it was a complete accident, not due to anyone’s fault and I was totally against her getting a ticket, and he cut her some slack and just gave her a warning), arrested people who actually deserved it, and didn’t cut police officers any slack because they’re supposed to be the example. He’s no longer in law enforcement because the police officers around here hated that crap.
That annoyed me to no end. He was a decent guy and he got dumped on.
A friend of mine who once worked in a civilian capacity at the local police station told me she was once driving on the interstate, stopped, and backed up because she missed her exit. (I don’t know which exit she wanted, but the next one wouldn’t have been more than 3 miles away.) She said a cop did stop her, but since he knew her, he just yelled at her a bit and let her go. I don’t believe I would have received such treatment if I ever did anything that stupid.
By the way, around these parts, this courtesy extends to firefighters and their spouses as well. And that’s wrong, too.
I was a movie theater manager, and I knew if I wanted to go to another theater on a non-weekend night and see a movie for free, I generally could. That was a professional courtesy.
Speeding tickets? Not remotely in the same category.
A cop giving a speeding ticket to another cop. No way! Even if they did it would probably be kicked by a court appearance and the cop who wrote the ticket would look like a jerk.
Yeah, I know they’re suppose to set an example, but something like 80mph on the freeway is silly. I can’t imagine one cop writing another cop a ticket for traffic violations.
And remember Cops don’t write tickets for everyone. How many times have you heard “civilians” brag about getting off with a warning. It’s not that big a deal.
My cousin always wanted to be a cop. He was an Eagle Scout and very honorable and never did much wrong a day in his life. He became a cop in a mid-sized city. He made a number of high-profile busts and he was made rookie of the year, on the front page of the papers, got to meet the governor, etc. The next month he just walked off the job never to return. The only reasons he gave were that law enforcement didn’t operate at all like he thought it should and he was being forced into being someone he couldn’t.
Absolutely they should get a ticket or warning when doing something illegal off duty, but, also, when they are on duty. They, after all, are supposed to set an example for others to follow. I was thinking about this when I read the other thread. I see cops park in bus stops and other no parking areas when just in a cafe for coffee or lunch. I know one cop who consistently parks at a meter (without paying) while he’s in eating lunch. One thing that I’ve wondered about: Colorado has a law which limits the time a vehicle can run idle to 15 minutes. The parking meter cop (who hasn’t paid) runs his car the entire time he’s eating lunch. I wonder if that shouldn’t be a ticketable offence also.
My sister gets out of tickets just because she is married to a cop. A friend of mine who is a nurse get the “professional courtesy” too. It sucks, but cops have such an “us against them” mentality that I don’t see it changing.
Not only off duty, but on duty as well. Just because they’re cops, doesn’t mean they can break the law. With the above exceptions, emergency, etc, they aren’t allowed to speed. Of course, that doesnt mean they’ll get a ticket.
Exactly. I don’t hate cops, but I hate this kind of shit. The last people who should be breaking any laws (including speeding, not using turn signals, etc.) should be the people whose JOB it is to enforce those laws. Not giving tickets to other police officers caught breaking laws is bogus. Not giving tickets to police spouses caught breaking laws is ludicrous.
I have a lot of respect for police officers in general - it’s a tough job and I damn sure wouldn’t do it - it doesn’t pay enough. I saw a cop getting cussed out tonight while he was writing a ticket for a car parked in a fire lane. Woman was giving that poor policeman all kinds of shit - because she had parked the wrong way in a shopping center in a fire lane. Some of what I overhear: “I’m sick!! I can’t walk all that way in this heat!” Lady, if you’re that sick, why are you wearing 4 inch high heels with 2.5 inches of makeup on? If you’re that sick, where is your handicapped parking permit? “I was just in there for a minute!” No, you were in there at least 15 minutes, because you were parked there when I went into another store, and I was shopping for at least 15 minutes counting checkout.
I laughed. She kept yelling and he kept writing.
On the other hand, cops not using turn signals drives me up the wall. And yes, if they are in a private vehicle and are speeding, they should be ticketed.
My uncle is a police officer. Sometimes he had to sit by the motorway with one of those speedguns. He’d point it elsewhere if he knew the driver was a police officer. If he accidently got one, they were very annoyed. The guys with the speedguns got a lot of abuse. This also goes for if they caught the police officers wife etc. What where they supposed to do, memorise all the cars?
And yes, his wife has been pulled over and then let off when they realised who she was.
Personally, I think they should get tickets just like anyone else.
A police officer is a civil servant who is trained and made to swear that they will uphold the law, etc. They should not be above the law. Ever.
But unfortunately that isn’t always the case.
A friend of mine (cop) file a grievance against another officer for abusing his power. The guy got fired. Now she is worried because they published her name in the paper as the whistle blower. (It was supposed to remain anonymous.) She said if she ever gets pulled over by a cop in that guy’s department she knows that she will be harrassed and get a ticket even if it’s unwarranted. She’s a bit frightened.