Is it true that friends and relatives of police officers are given cards that indicate their connections with the police force so that they can get out of traffic tickets? Exactly how does this process work??
Thanks.
Tangentially Related: those Police Benevolent Association or whatnot stickers they sell. Do they work? Who knows – I suspect the only answers will be anecdotal. I don’t have one, but I do carry a magic key chain that keeps me from being attacked by dinosaurs. It works pretty well.
My reason for posting is to give a heads up to the Dopers interested in the topic to keep an eye on the Washington City Paper. A friend of mine writes for them and has a cover story coming out in the next few weeks on those stickers. Should be a good read.
Rhythmdvl
My wife’s father is a police officer in the city where we live and she keeps his “business card” in her wallet so that it is plainly visible when she opens it. She calls it her “get out of jail free” card and although she has been stopped at least a few times in the past couple of years, she has never gotten a citation. Her father is well known in the force so his name is recognizable to most officers I guess. They are an extremely tight knit organization. Yes, it really works.
From my experence - I was pulled over 3x. The 1st I didn’t say anything and got a ticket for $15 for a equipment violation.
The 2nd I told the cop about my uncle (former cop - but didn’t mention the former part) and handed a PBA card and I got a warning for maybe 15-20 over the speedlimit.
The 3rd time (hopefully the last) I told the officer about my uncle and had a state trooper sticker on my car 1 year out of data - this was for 23 mph over in a construction zone and I got a warning.
I have since calmed down quite a bit on the road and havn’t seen my uncle in years (funny how that worked out).
Anecdotally, the answer to Surreal’s question is: “Often, but not invariably”.
A common ploy in my home state is that some (not all) state troopers will punch holes in the driver’s licenses of relatives, friends, or those in a position to exchange favors (mechanics, plumbers, etc.). When a trooper pulls over a person with a punched license for a moving violation or for non-felony speeding, the offender normally gets a free pass.
Common also to my experience (so take it FWIW) is the delinquent-child-of-a-cop syndrome. I’ve known a few policemen who spoiled their teenage kids by getting them out of various legal trouble, usually starting out with petty shoplifting, underage drinking, and the like. This permissive behavior has ugly consequences – the worst of them have no fear of the law and assume carte blanche to commit burglary, assault, automobile theft, and other crimes. Often there comes a regrettable point where the policemen refuses to cover for their child any more. Severely strained familial relations have been the predictable result.
And people wonder why cops don’t get more respect…
My father was a sheriff in Iowa when I was growing up, and one time when I was riding around with some friends in a convertible, sitting on the trunk (it was a two seater) he saw us. He didn’t do anything himself, but later told me that if we’d been stopped he would not have intervened because we would have deserved what we got. He was right.
He was always very fair and was lenient with people when it was appropriate, but the one thing he didn’t want was for people to think his officers could be “persuaded” to look the other way. He wouldn’t allow it even though some of the other local agencies were a little more casual in their view of professional ethics. He was also trusted by everybody in the county, unlike members of some of those other agencies.
As I understand it: A cop gives someone a “Friends of the Police” card, with his name on it. If that person gets pulled over, he or she can show the officer the card. The officer who pulled the driver over then decides what to do about it. If he decides based on the card to give a warning rather than an arrest, he’ll probably keep the card. Remember, the card has the name of the officer who issued it on it. A note gets made in the records, and the card works its way back to the issuing officer, who probably gets called onto the carpet for issuing it to an irresponsible person. Now, the officer can give the card back to his relative or friend, but he’d better be careful. If that person gets pulled over again, there’s going to be Hell to pay for that officer.
Even more anecdotal evidence…
I was once driving with a friend who’s in possesion of a ‘500 club’ member card. He recieved this card following a very generous cash donation to his local police department. He keeps this in is wallet opposite his license. Thus when a cop asks for ID, said friend hands him the whole wallet and the officer sees the ‘500 club’ as the opposite facing. My friend thinks this is clever.
My friend swears up and down that this little trick works like a charm and he’s yet to recive a speeding ticket. The day I’m with him, we get pulled over (speeding and tailgating) and he offers up his wallet to a not so pleased local cop (but not form the district that received the donation). Upon seeing the two documents the cops says (verbatim), “You are a disgrace to the 500 club!” and procedes to write a monster of a ticket. One phone call to his local police station and my friend had the ticket “fixed.”
Point being my impression is that if you’ve friends or family on the force, it doesn’t make a damn bit o’ difference if you’ve got a card that says so.
Cecil on a related topic:
In Los Angeles, why do so many license plate holders say “KMA367”?
Yes, in NY State it’s more insidious than cards. Police officers up here hand out “Courtesy Shields”. This is an actual metal badge, a miniature of their OWN shield, complete with their number on it.
You keep that in your wallet, and it’s seen when you open it to hand over your license and registration and there is no conversation necessary. Since more and more police departments are wiring their officers with body mikes, and mounting Lipstick Cameras on the lightbars of the patrol cars so they can fully videotape all traffic stops, seeing a badge and forgoing the conversation about the name on a card will be more efficient.
I’m not saying it’s right. I’m just saying it’s more efficient. I have a large green EMS light on the roof of my car, it asks drivers to move aside if I am responding to an accident scene as an EMT. When my card expires in June of 2004, I will be legally bound to remove the light, and slow down… I virtually never get stopped by a state trooper for speeding.
Cartooniverse
Oh, andecdotes.
I cop I know was driving down the street. He finished what his soft drink and poured the ice out the window. Shortly, a cop pulled him over. The second cop wrote out a littering ticket after the first guy identified himself as a cop.
Do y’all have any cites for these get out of jail free programs?
More anecdotal stuff-
District Attorneys are required to carry their badges. Many put their license in their badge wallet, so that if they have to give a cop their license, the cop will see their badge without the DDA having to flash it (like a prick looking for a favor). It is within the cop’s discretion whether or not to issue a citation, JUST LIKE IT IS IN EVERY OTHER CASE!
However, cops usually want to have a good relationship with DAs they will have to work with in court, unless the DA is a total asshole. Everyone gives what they get, generally. Most cops are cool to DAs, and good DAs are cool to cops. They also bring the hammer down hard on any perp who commits a crime against a member of a cop’s family.
YMMV, obviously.
In my little town of whitefish bay, a cop was pulled over for drunk driving (within the city I believe), flashed his badge, was let go, and went on to get into an accident. Somehow, the news found out about the whole thing and it became quite a scandal. The news had a field day with it. (Do other cities do this? Has it happened before? Should the officer that pulled him over be in more trouble? Etc Etc…)
As for the OP. When my girlfriends brother became a Sherrif’s Deputy, he told her that if she ever got a speeding ticket to tell him. Apparently he can go into the records nad change a $200 speeding ticket to a $10 parking ticket. (Or something like that, since it didn’t apply to me I was listing to hard, especially since I’M the speeding ticket magnet).
My father is a physician for several State Troopers so I have a couple of those PBA cards. If I’m out of state it’s worthless, but in state it’s saved me from a couple minor tickets. Onetime the cop did a complete 180 when he saw the card. I was pulled over for doing 52 in a 40 by a rather angry cop that yelled at me for not pulling over sooner (It was dark, I thought he was an ambulance at first). IIRC, his words were, “Now I’m pissed, and I’m the man.” When I showed my card he asked how I got it. When I told him his demeanor completely changed. He let me off with a warning and actually patted my back and said, “Have a good one, bud.”
What I’m wondering is are these cards/this system legal? It certainly seems to be real, so why is such an open and easy-to-spot practice of appartent law enforcement corruption tolerated? Especially when it can lead to cases like bordelond and Joey P mention?
As the quote goes, power tends to corrupt. It’s not a good situation, but what can be done about it? A person who receives one of these favors isn’t going to report the cop for it, and the cop has no reason to stop doing it.
I got stopped twice last week, and neither time did I use the fact that my uncle was a state trooper who died in the line of duty. I’m an idealistic cynic; I know that the best way to stop this sort of thing would be for no one to try to get those favors, but I know that will never happen.
My cousins, who were quite good at getting into accidents, used it at every opportunity but have expressed anger that it isn’t always a “get out of jail free” card.
This is just more anecdotal evidence, but yes, every police officer I knew gave out similar cards to their relatives and friends, and yes, they did work.
And, IMO, any officer who gives out such cards, any person who uses them, and any officer who gives a person a “free pass” - all of these people who circumvent justice and create an “elite class” of citizen should go to jail, and for a long time.
IMO.
I apologize for the harshness of my prior post. Unequal justice, whether it be on the basis of race, color, creed, national origin, sexuality or sex - or because you are drinkin’ buddies with a cop - is something that sickens me. And I find them equally repugnant, and deserving of equal censure and punishment in society.
I’ve been a cop in Washington State for 16 years. I’ve never heard of any of these “programs” or tricks here in Washington, though I’ve heard of them in other states.
I don’t believe anyone should get out of a ticket because they are friends with/related to/donated money to or actually are a cop. I decide whether to write a ticket based on the violation, not on who you are or who you know. I once wrote a speeding ticket to our city prosecutor because his speed was just too excessive to deserve a warning.