# Patrick Kennedy and the leeway available to police? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 6, 2006, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/patrick-kennedy-and-the-leeway-available-to-police/355619 "2006-05-06T00:12:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2006, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/patrick-kennedy-and-the-leeway-available-to-police/355619/21 "2006-05-07T19:04:19Z")
> [@Zebra](#): > > Burial at Sea is an option for Navy personal. They spread his ashes. One usually has to wait till a schedualed time and they were let to the front of the line for that one. They could have used their own boat for this but then there would a been a floatilla of papparazzi and other on lookers. The Navy was able to take them to a restricted area. > > I don’t have a cite for the ‘son of the president’ but I remember reading/hearing that explanation at the time. Yeah. The “line jumping” is what I meant when I said that the warship was diverted. I should have chosen my words better. Also, I remember someone on this board saying that it is very unusual for family members to be present when ashes are scattered from a Navy ship. Normally, it’s just Navy officers. And to actually address the OP: I sure as heck wouldn’t expect the cops to drive _me_ home if they caught me driving while impaired. I’ve never even heard of such a thing, except as an unofficial perk of being a politically well-connected person. ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2006, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/patrick-kennedy-and-the-leeway-available-to-police/355619/22 "2006-05-09T12:18:38Z")
> [@Zebra](#): > > I don’t have a cite for the ‘son of the president’ but I remember reading/hearing that explanation at the time. I think that it’s the special Son of a President Protocol that let’s them get away with this. It’s right above the Grandson of a President Special Rule, and then the Cousin of a President Special Plan. These are all in the Double Secret Probationary Contingency book. hh ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2006, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/patrick-kennedy-and-the-leeway-available-to-police/355619/23 "2006-05-10T22:08:21Z")
All American police have very broad latitude to handle situations on the street, using their best judgment, in accordance with the law. IIRC, Congressman Kennedy was found and assisted by U.S. Capitol Police, who are (not surprisingly) unlikely to go all jackbooted-thuggish on one of their 535 bosses. ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2006, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/patrick-kennedy-and-the-leeway-available-to-police/355619/24 "2006-05-10T22:53:13Z")
> [@Elendil's Heir](#): > > All American police have very broad latitude to handle situations on the street, using their best judgment, in accordance with the law. > > IIRC, Congressman Kennedy was found and assisted by U.S. Capitol Police, who are (not surprisingly) unlikely to go all jackbooted-thuggish on one of their 535 bosses. It wasn’t the policeman on the street who decided to drive Kennedy home. It was his supervisor, who was sitting behind a desk back at the police station. Big difference. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/patrick-kennedy-and-the-leeway-available-to-police/355619.md?page=1)