Ask the cop

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
261

Oh, did I get tagged but good on the whole ‘blinking your headlights’ thing.

I drove through the toll plaza near my house, on the way home from a shoot. It’s completely dark out. Just as I drive under a roadway overpass, I see a car drifting into the center median slowly, and its lights go off. I flicked my highbeams to try to see if it was a driver in distress, and as I passed the car, flicked them again to try to have a better view. The time between the two headlight flicks was perhaps 3-4 seconds.

So, I flick my headlights the second time, to illuminate a New York State Trooper vehicle. I laughed, and gently pulled into the right lane, and knew what was coming. He ZOOMED around into my direction of traffic and lit up his light bar.

I got on the shoulder, stopped, rolled down my window all the way and assumed what I believe to be THE only safe position to assume when involved in a traffic stop: Both palms pressed against the steering wheel at 12:00 o’clock, fingers up and out. This shows an officer that you are not hiding your hands, or reaching for anything as he/she approaches.

I recognized the Trooper from a call about two weeks before, but kept my mouth shut on that detail. He asked if I knew why he’d pulled me over and I said yes, of course. I flicked my headlights at you as I drove by.

He said, Yanno MOST drivers are smart enough to wait until they are PAST me to flick their headlights into oncoming vehicles. I said to him, 'well most drivers aren’t looking out for the safety of a car that drifted off the road at an odd angle and lost it’s lights in the process. ’ I gestured to my cel phone on it’s clip. I said, as far as I knew, you were a driver having a heart attack, and I was about to call YOU GUYS- the State Troopers, in addition to being a second or two from pulling over, since I’m an E.M.T. !!

I gestured to the green emergency light on my roof as I said this to him. He looked at me another moment, then smiled and said, ’ don’t I know you? ’ I reminded him of the call I’d taken recently in his Barracks, where he had a prisoner who was faking an athsma attack to get out of the Barracks and into a hospital setting instead.

I asked if he needed my license and registration. My attitude was, while MY intentions were straightforward and correct, he doesn’t really know me, and even if he DID know me ( as pointed out above ), I deserve no special treatment as a result. I was assuming he’d still run my ID.

Instead, he thanked me for keeping an eye out, and sent me on my way.

262

What do you think of criminal defense attorneys?

263

I think they’re excellent when seared over mesquite coals and served with a room-temperature domestic red.

:eek:

264

There’s no official policy that I know of - like most traffic things, it’s left up to officer discretion. Personally, I don’t have a problem with it. Like you said, the oncoming drivers slow down, so it accomplishes the same goal I’m trying to accomplish.

Some cops do hate it, though, and will find an opportunity to punish you. I’ve heard of people being cited for Obstructing a Law Enforcement Officer (a stretch, in my opinion), but they will usually just find some infractions to write you for (few cars are so perfectly maintained that there isn’t something to write up.

So, make sure you’re out of sight before hitting the lights! :slight_smile:

265

For the most part, they don’t upset me much. The innocent definitely need a strong defence, and even the guilty deserve protection from the system and abuses of it.

I get along with most of the attorneys I’ve dealt with, but some are very aggresive and can be a real pain.

266

What are the rules regarding “saving a parking space”. For example, can a pedistrian legally stand in a metered parking space on a public road and save the spot while their friend circles the block?

If someone came along with a car and wanted the spot who would be in the right. What would happen if they decided to park anyway and “force me out” (Assume no physical contact but who is going to argue with a car). I’ve once heard that this could be considered assault…assuming that a cop is watching…

would it make any difference if the person was on a bike or a skateboard?

267

I have some questions.
You say you are a Seargent with 17 years experience. Is there a general number of years experience you need to make a higher rank? its my understanding a good rule of thumb is 10 years experience to make seargent, 20 for Leuitenant, 30 for captain. I don’t know if thats universal or not. What about making investigator or detective, how much experience would you need for those (i have heard 10 years, but my understanding is that in LAPD you can make detective after 11 months).

Does your precient require a college degree to be a police officer? What is your undergrad if it does? If a department requires a college degree can a person have an undergrad in anything or must it be in Criminal Justice (most cops i know whose department requires a degree have criminal justice degrees).

How much leeway does police discretion give you in choosing what you report? can you legally ignore felonies or violent crimes (i doubt it), or just traffic stops & misdemeanors?

268

Hi Badge, two questions

  1. Why is prostitution illegal, I know it is a morality issue, I guess I am wondering about the High Priced Call Girls/Escorts, not the On-The Street Hookers? Isn’t it just a service?

  2. What do you think about Ice-T playing Cops, did you have a problem with his “Cop Killer” record?

269

While were on this topic, i want to add to it.
From firsthand stories of police officers, when a domestic violence call is called in, it isn’t uncommon for the police to only arrest the husband, even if the wife has been violent as well.

Also, in your posts you seemed to give the impression that you could ignore the fact that someone was growing multiple pot plants if you caught them (thats the impression i get). Growing multiple pot plants is probably a serious felony in Washington. Can police officers choose to legally ignore/not report serious felonies?

So what is police discretion? Does it only apply to misdemeanors & traffic violations or to anything except capital crimes? What about domestic violence situations where the wife is the violent one but the police don’t pursue an investigation or arrest of her, wouldn’t it be against police regulations to ignore violent crimes due to the status quo?

270

This thread prompted me to check this old thread, and I see that three people posted weeks after I stopped checking it for new posts. So I’ll answer those and see if this thing comes back to life!

271

I’m afraid that I don’t have an absolute answer. I don’t have any parking meter in my town, and there are no specific laws in Washington State that cover this.

However, I would say that a car pulling in has the right of way over a pedestrian standing there, and once the car is parked there is no way I would force the driver to move.

272

That varies widely by department. In large departments, there are far more positions to fill and more mobility, so you can move up much faster. Small departments have much less opportunities for advancement. My department has three sergeants who will probably all stay in that position for several years, if not for the rest of their careers.

My department doesn’t require a degree, just 45 semester hours/90 quarter hours of college. If a department requires a degree, they usually don’t limit it to Criminal Justice or anything related, but degrees in those fields will be favored.
Personally, I have an A.A. with no particular major.

**

There are a few things that legally require a report be taken (domestic violence, child abuse/neglect, elder abuse). Department regulations require a lot of other stuff to be documented. While I suppose I can pick and choose what to report or investigate, neglecting to do so in the wrong situation could be dereliction of duty and have serious consequences.

273

As you said, it is morality (at least someone’s version of it). Personally, I’ve never understood why it is illegal to sell something that you can give away for free.

By the same token, I’ve never understood why men can be topless in public but women can’t be.

**

It bothered me a little, but I didn’t think about it too much. I guess he was just reflecting his culture’s view of the police (which I know isn’t entirely wrong). I know people look at us that way, which bothers me a lot, but I can understand why some of them think that way.

As for him playing a cop, I just laughed. If he really believed what he rapped about, then he is a true sell-out to take that part.

274

In Washington State (and this is probably fairly common of domestic violence laws), we are directed to arrest the primary aggressor. This is the person who is most violent, most aggressive, the primary cause of the problem. The easiest rule of thumb for this is: whoever won the fight goes to jail. If a woman slaps her husband and he takes her down with a roundhouse punch, he’s the one who goes to jail. Determining the primary aggressor can be a lot more complicated, though, and we are very careful in making that decision. I’ve arrested plenty of women for DV assault over the years.

**

It could happen. Just a couple of months ago I found a woman had about 10 small plants growing in her apartment. I destroyed the plants, wrote a report to document it, but did not file charges.

**

See my answer above.

**

As I said in my previous answer, we can indeed get in serious trouble for ignoring our duties. Discretion is somewhat vague, leaving a lot of that to the individual officer. However, we have levels of supervision and administration above us checking all that we do, and we are always cognizant that someone is watching and we’d better do our jobs right.

275

Have you or anybody you know on the force been involved in photographing protests recently? I was at a march in NYC and observed this, and other people I know at other protest have seen the same (although what I saw was photography and they also reported videotaping). Is there a policy at work here? If so, what is it? Is this a new thing?

276

Well, we haven’t had any protests here (well, I did have one woman standing in a parking lot holding a sign that said “No War”, but we didn’t bother her). It is very common to photograph protests and any large crowds, so that people can be identified later if things become violent or crimes are committed. I don’t think (though I can’t positively rule it out) that this is anything more sinister.

277

I wasn’t just referring to anti-war protests, actually (the one I was at yesterday was a budget thing). But that still answers my question.

278

… Thanks. :wink:

279

Ok it’s been a while since I read through the whole thread, but I don’t think this question has been asked:

Are police/fire officials (soldiers too) specifcally taught the way of speaking they use when communicating with the public, and how’s it done (classroom, ongoing practice/instruction, just picking it up)?

I’m talking about the way they use certain words and sentence structures, along with the characteristic straight-faced “zombie drone” when speaking.

Examples are:
“the car’s passenger got out with a rifle. He ran off, but a bunch of cars chased him and we ended up cuffing him”
translates into something like:
“an occupant of the suspect vehicle exited brandishing a firearm and fled on foot. The individual was pursued by mulitple units and susbsequently taken into custody”

or

“some drunk guy was wandering around the neighborhood yelling at passing cars.”
turns into:
“an individual exhibiting signs of probable intoxication was observed engaging in a disturbance to vehicular traffic.”

Is it to do with the way reports have to be written, and the guys are just saying the same thing they write? It’s actually kind of amusing watching Cops, where the officer is talking casually about how he got into the force, what his job is like, using very normal speech. Then you see him go to a call, and when he talks about it afterwords his way of speaking is completely different - like the translations above, whereas before he was talking like the original sentences above.

** And oh yes, do they talk this way to other officers or just the public?**

280

Are you saying that the US police are institutionally sexist? Given the strength of the average man vs the strength of the average woman, the man is going to down the woman. I don’t know about the US but in the UK self defence is an absolute defence, and by arresting only the man surely you are presuming his guilt. I’ve a friend who was arrested simply because his wife said that he had assaulted her.

Just as a corollory, in the US, if someone is fired because of being arrested and is later not prosecuted or vindicated (I’m aware that these may be seperate), are they entitled to their job back or to sue the police or someone?