Am I the only person in the world that gets thoroughly pissed off at private businesses/churches hiring off-duty police officers to stop traffic and take away my right-of-way for the convenience of their fucking employees/members/customers? Specifically, I’m referring to the Eastbound I635 service road and Coit Road here in Dallas. There’s a fucking high-rise on that corner that has been doing it for years. And the kicker is, there are multiple other entrances that people exiting the garage can take. But fuck no. The police block traffic at the exit closest to the red light, so that 5-10 people can get in front of me. I’m usually patient, but I take this road every day, and only around 10-15 cars can get through a green light cycle there. Cars are usually backed up 20-30 deep there, so my inconvenience is not just a few seconds, but often a full 3-5 minute light cycle. The people exiting the garage can very easily take the exit 200 yards back and get behind me, but they fucking don’t. Because they’ve rented a cop to abuse their power and take away my right-of-way.
If I had $35/hour to pay, could I rent a cop to stop traffic in each intersection as I go through it? I fucking think not.
I don’t live in Dallas but I know exactly where you’re talking about. Next time, tape one of their security hats to your grill and see if you’re shown a little more courtesy.
They do that at the mega-churches up north here in Plano. It doesn’t usually cause a problem though. I’m sure without the facilitators at the intersection you mentioned there’d be more accidents, and that’ll sure slow you down more than 3-5 minutes.
I live in Allen, and those are the churches I was thinking of (big Methodist church on Custer at Legacy comes to mind). Don’t mind those too much, as they’re not a big inconvenience. Usually Sunday morning, light traffic, not on my commute home after a long day’s work, only a couple seconds of inconvenience. Same principle, though.
The police at this garage are not in the intersection, they are at one of the 8 or so exits from the garage exiting out to the street. Without them, street traffic would not have to stop for the garage traffic, and the garage traffic would be forced to use the garage exit that would dump them out on the same road, but behind me.
There’s a church near where I live, in the western suburbs of Chicago, that needs traffic directed when it lets out service. It has one or two exits from its huge parking lot, and seriously snarled traffic until this was started. In this case, at least, it’s a great improvement to have this happen.
Well, if this happens every day, why don’t you take a different route home? I’ve been to Dallas - it’s a pretty big place - surely there’s another road going in the right direction.
The point is that this is the easiest way for me to go, and I should not have my right-of-way taken away for someone else’s convenience.
If you were standing in a long line at the grocery store, and the police walked up, broke in line, and let five people go ahead of you, and did it every day for years, wouldn’t you be pissed off?
What would happen if I just blew past the cop? would I get a ticket? What would it be for?
The point is that this is the easiest way for me to go, and I should not have my right-of-way taken away for someone else’s convenience.
If you were standing in a long line at the grocery store, and the police walked up, broke in line, and let five people go ahead of you, and did it every day for years, wouldn’t you be pissed off?
What would happen if I just blew past the cop? would I get a ticket? What would it be for?
It’s possible. One of the reasons that off-duty cops are hired is because they are still peace officers, even when off the clock. A lot of businesses hire off-duty officers, and some police departments handle these jobs officially (and cover officers who are injured in the line of off-duty, so to speak), and part of the money goes to the department as well. Directing traffic probably isn’t the main use – all of the jobs I’ve known cops to do in my area were security jobs, such as at businesses open late, or sporting events (one hockey venue was particularly notorious for brawls until they started hiring a mass of cops to cover each game).
I’m not sure what the ticket would be for – probably the same offense as if you blew past a cop who was directing traffic while on duty.
Here in Los Angeles, they use on-the-clock police to handle the exiting church traffic which is okay by me. It seems like its just one of the ways people in a society helps each other out. I know I’m glad when they do it at the sporting events I go to.
However, the fact that it only happens one day a week on Sundays probably makes it easier to stomach. If they’re doing this to you every morning, I’d definitely say they’re favoring one group of people over another. That would royally piss me off and I would complain to the city.
I really wouldn’t have a major problem if this were the only exit to the garage. If it were a traffic light, it would mean that traffic engineers have determined that, for the flow of traffic and safety, it was in everyone’s best interest. My main point is that this particular instance is strictly for their convenience, at my detriment. I say this because there are at least 7 other exits to this garage, one of which dumps the people out at the end of the line on the same street, with literally no congestion to speak of.
And RadioWave, are you sure they’re on-the-clock, as opposed to just in uniform? if they are using on-the-clock police for this, I’d be royally pissed off, especially for a church, no matter the time. You did make me think, though: these cops had better fucking be on their own time! Otherwise, that adds a whole other layer to my aggrevation!
Next time, pull over, park, and ask them. Politely. Then call the church, and ask them, politely. If it makes you feel better, tell them you’re having a huge event, and want to know how they get the cops. Then call the PD and ask. Then call the local news station, tell 'em what you learned about the blatant violation of the seperation of church and state, and watch people with dreams of one big story breaking them go after the church.
The rent-a-cops are there because otherwise, all the assholes already on the road wouldn’t let anyone out of the company parking lot. They are too busy riding the bumper in front of them so that no one can merge into traffic.
I have hired Police officers as security for events previously. This is how I know their approximate rate. Actually, I kind of think RadioWave is wrong about the on-the-clock thing. Police officers in malls, directing private traffic, etc. are all on private payroll, AFAIK.
And Jean, please reread my previous posts. In my specific example, there are multiple exits, including one slightly less convenient one that dumps them out on the same road behind me. As far as churches go, given the time of day on Sunday morning, I usually see the cops stop 1-2 cars on the main road to let the churchgoers out. Hardly bumper-to-bumper.
