In college 5 of us got pulled over for what seemed to be a DWB. One of our friends was an auxiliary officer. Our university cops are real but auxiliary officers are student interns who are typically criminal justice majors. They don’t have any police powers. We all have to give up the IDs and when they get his, they see his badge. The cop immediately goes into oh shit mode like he had done something wrong.
They discuss it a little and let us go. The cop tells our friend, next time give us a heads up. We all laughed heartily afterwards.
I have been in a policeman’s private car When he was pulled over several times for speeding. They never wrote him a ticket. He was one of the worst drivers you ever saw. He totaled 2 cars in one week when he was in high school. He never slowed down. He hit a pedestrian when he was a cop. The man died. The investigation said the ped was at fault and the cop was not speeding. Everybody who knew him laughed in shock at that.
I thought the correct answer to the OP was, "Yeah, pretty much, and you’d save yourself a lot of trouble by, like most pols and MDs, acting like you didn’t want to kill the fuckin’ pig.
I mean, most people get out of tickets by:
Knowing, as any child should know, that you should play nice, admit when you are wrong, and present yourself at the mercy of the cop, who is hoping you do not want to kill him.
Knowing, as most kids figure out quickly, that a bag of White Castles, only presented when it is suggested, is cheaper than a ticket. Especially if, after the transaction, you don’t try to kill the cop.
The wheels of justice, at the low end, require an understanding that, if certain rules are followed (and traffic ticket “rules” are tossed out at the end of the month; nothing personal implied because he has a quota to meet), neither party will attempt to either ticket or kill the other party. Play by those rules by being polite and contrite you will probably do well, and continuing to follow the traffic laws demonstrates how contrite you are (they have computer connections and are like St Peter or Santa Claus when checking up on you).
Yes, I see how this goes against the letter of the law. I suggest legislators spend some time confronting the public and we’ll see how far taking judgement calls from the hands of officers gets.
While the cops letting fellow cops (and others) off is not perfect, I do not see a way to fix this that would not be worse.
Do we make the cops file paperwork for every warning? Do they have to profile the person with the warning (Please check race, estimated Charisma score on a scale of 3-18, profession)?
If we take away ALL discretion, then we just have automatons - not the world I want either.
I am willing to live with some getting off in exchange for our police having some leeway as well.
First off, I don’t think this belongs in GD. This is an opinion and should be in IMHO or in the Pit.
Second, the thread title should be appended with ** (not giving each other tickets)**
Third, no, not all cops are “corrupt” as the OP claims. Sure, some cops will let other cops slide on minor infractions but they also do it for the average Joe. I’m not a cop but I’ve received warnings instead of tickets.
Watch Speeders on TruTV some time and you’ll see cops letting some people go with warnings despite them giving the lamest excuses. They also show a cop from Oak Lawn, IL who gave his own mother a ticket (that must have made Mother’s Day awkward).
As other people have said, there is a matter of professional courtesy. I work in tech support and help out people at work who are having problems with their personal computers. I know that if I have a problem with accounting or travel that they’ll return the favor. Do you mean to tell me that you never cut someone you work with a break?
I’m not saying they should let a cop get away with going 80 in a 25 zone or with a DWI or leaving the scene of an accident. But just giving a person a break because he went 8 over the limit or forgot to renew his license plates is not tantamount to them looking the other way while his partner beats the crap out of a suspect.
So…it is ok for someone to speed? Does this cop who speeds and then gets off as a ‘professional courtesy’ give speeding tickets? Does he lecture speeders as he gives out a ticket? Isn’t that hypocritical? Why should someone honor a speeding ticket/listen to a lecture from someone who does the same?
Sorry guy…you are in law enforcement. If you are in law enforcement you should be squeaky clean. If you are not, you should be fired immediately as you are in the wrong career.
Sting operations should be done as a matter of policy and done frequently to find these corrupt police and the penalties should be severe (at the very least immediate termination and can never work in law enforcement again).
So you effectively want ZERO cops in this world? Your desire for cops who have never ever broken even a traffic law would make it next to impossible to field a police force.
Again - is this such a problem that we need new laws, zero tolerance, 100% ticket issuance rules? Do you NEVER want to allow an officer discretion in issuing a ticket to someone?
The question is whether it is reasonable to expect cops to only exercise their discretion over aspects of the situation that are actually relevent to situation, rather than irrelevencies such as the career of the perp.
If it is impossible to find people who have never broken a law to enforce it then maybe that law should be modified or deleted?
People who enforce laws should have respect for those laws…the utmost respect. Such a person, by definition, would never even think to let someone else off for breaking them as a ‘professional courtesy’. They should be appalled by the idea.
People are also human. The laws are written very tightly, but reality is not nearly so well created. The LAW says 25 mph. However, speedometers on cars are not necessarily that accurate (and vary based on age of car, tire condition and selection, etc.). Under your system, everyone at 26 MPH gets a ticket. Not a warning. Not conversation. A ticket. I don’t consider that to be a good system.
I will take the good part of discretion, in exchange for the bad. The good part is that the officer can talk to the person, discuss the situation, and make a determination whether or not a ticket is necessarily warranted. The bad part is that the determination will be colored by the various attitudes and cultural triggers that are part of the officer’s personality. I consider this a worthwhile tradeoff.
We used to let judges have more discretion. We did not like that, so we wrote 3 strikes laws and minimum sentencing guidelines. I am not convinced that taking discretion away from judges has helped our society.
We used to let school Principals have discretion in regards to school rules. We took that away with various zero tolerance rules. We end up with honors students expelled for having a bread knife in their car in the school parking lot.
I prefer discretion and decision making by my fellow citizens. That means that there will be some issues, but it beats having the authorities simply be ticket writing automatons.
That sounds like a great use of resources. :rolleyes: Drugs, gangs, murder? Put those on the back burner! Let’s go after Officer Friendly who let his buddy slide on a 7 MPH speeding ticket!
I certainly hope you were being sarcastic about the penalties.
You ever hear of letting the punishment fit the crime? How about cruel and unusual punishment? You can’t seriously suggesting that we should deny a person of their livelihood because they gave a person a break.
And please don’t try to tell me that you’ve never sped, run a stale yellow, followed too close for conditions, failed to signal, etc. Let he who is without sin…
“Professional courtesy” usually applies to some good or service that is usually sold, but in this case is given for free. Do you really mean to imply that fines for breaking the law (e.g., speeding tickets) should be considered similarly? A better example of professional courtesy would be if an off-duty cop worked security for another cop’s wedding for free.
I agree that cops should have discretion. Letting certain classes of people (e.g., doctors, hot chicks) not pay fines that everyone else has to pay shows shitty discretion.
Not ticketing cops because they are cops isn’t discretion, it’s favoritism. You don’t take away their discretion by insisting that they use it properly.
Don’t forget to add pregnant chicks and ambulances. Both of them tend to get a pass on these things too. Though I have heard of a cop pulling over a flashing lights ambulance for speeding, but never really had that one verified more than if it was just an urban legend or not.
Cops don’t get pulled over very often any way. In 27 years I think I pulled over maybe 5 or 6.
Giving a warning to another cop instead of a ticket is not corruption. It is discretion that is allowed by most departments written policies.
Once again, most departments written policies give officers discretion as to when to issue a citation and when to give a warning. How does one conduct a sting operation on something that is not illegal, and not a violation of department policy?
And what is your position on the appropriate action to take against Presidents who lie under oath?