# Police Courtesy Cards **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [October 28, 2018, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-courtesy-cards/823620 "2018-10-28T06:15:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Schnitte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/schnitte/32/9033_2.png) [@Schnitte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schnitte)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2018, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-courtesy-cards/823620/41 "2018-11-11T15:37:49Z")
> [@Algher](#): > > In California, you drop a few thousand to the 11-99 foundation, get yourself a license plate frame, and you supposedly will find yourself with warnings instead of speeding tickets. > > [Membership - CHP 11-99 Foundation](https://chp11-99.org/membership) Looks like you need to get pulled over _a lot_ for those donations to amortise. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2018, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-courtesy-cards/823620/42 "2018-11-11T15:43:00Z")
> [@Schnitte](#): > > Looks like you need to get pulled over _a lot_ for those donations to amortise. Don’t forget the effect multiple tickets have on insurance rates. ---
**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:** [November 11, 2018, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-courtesy-cards/823620/43 "2018-11-11T18:36:24Z")
Courtesy cards are somewhat common here in NE Ohio and every few years there’s a minor stink over them. As **Loach** says, they’re not “Get out of jail free” cards, but for a minor traffic infraction they might, in some cases and depending on the officer’s mood, mean the difference between a warning and a ticket. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2018, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-courtesy-cards/823620/44 "2018-11-11T18:59:18Z")
They strike me as a form of low-grade corruption. ---
**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:** [November 11, 2018, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-courtesy-cards/823620/45 "2018-11-11T20:16:07Z")
There are many who think so - or, at least, preferential treatment for those with connections, however tenuous, to cops. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2018, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-courtesy-cards/823620/46 "2018-11-11T20:22:48Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > They strike me as a form of low-grade corruption. As an officer of the court I would use my discretion with you as well. Is that corruption? ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2018, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-courtesy-cards/823620/47 "2018-11-12T01:00:24Z")
If you use your discretion in light of highway conditions, degree of risk posed by the way I was driving (e.g. 20 km/hr over the limit is more significant at 8.45 am in a school zone than on an empty highway) and any previous record or outstanding infractions I have / don’t have, that seems appropriate use of police discretion: to consider overall if a ticket is warranted to achieve the goals of the legislation. If you exercise your discretion in my favour because I’m your buddy, or a buddy of another cop, that has nothing to do with the due enforcement of the law and everything to do with “who do you know?” I wouldn’t want to benefit from that sort of old-boy waiver of the law. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2018, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-courtesy-cards/823620/48 "2018-11-12T01:08:43Z")
> [@MikeF](#): > > Loach nailed it. We had regular cards and Family cards. IIRC, I had to pay $10@ for Family cards and I got ten regulars for free. I almost never gave out regular cards. I guess the family cards were supposed to get you a little more “courtesy”. The cards might help if it was a close call but, usually, the officer would make his decision to write or not independent of the card. The nature of the offense and attitude of the driver have a much greater impact than a card. How is that any different from slipping the officer the $10 directly when he asks for your driver permit? You’re paying to have the law applied more leniently to you than to other drivers. ---
**Author:** ![Cub\_Mistress](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ea666f/32.png) [@Cub\_Mistress](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cub_Mistress)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2018, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-courtesy-cards/823620/49 "2018-11-12T01:38:27Z")
I’m a police widow, and a nurse. I’ve only been pulled over a handful of times in my life. I’m batting about .500 on warnings/courtesy v tickets. I think that’s about average for almost anyone who is reasonably polite to the officer. In my area, from what my late husband and his friends said, courtesy could get you out of speeding, or a stop sign violation but if you hit another car or caused property damage, all bets were off. Drunk driving with a crash was right out. ---
**Author:** ![Orwell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/dfb087/32.png) [@Orwell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Orwell)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2018, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-courtesy-cards/823620/50 "2018-11-12T01:43:32Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > If you use your discretion in light of highway conditions, degree of risk posed by the way I was driving (e.g. 20 km/hr over the limit is more significant at 8.45 am in a school zone than on an empty highway) and any previous record or outstanding infractions I have / don’t have, that seems appropriate use of police discretion: to consider overall if a ticket is warranted to achieve the goals of the legislation. > > If you exercise your discretion in my favour because I’m your buddy, or a buddy of another cop, that has nothing to do with the due enforcement of the law and everything to do with “who do you know?” I wouldn’t want to benefit from that sort of old-boy waiver of the law Exactly right. It is clearly a form of corruption. Perhaps minor, perhaps even understandable. But not writing a ticket to a LEO or friend of a LEO due to “professional courtesy” or “discretion” is applying the law unevenly in a fraternal, smarmy manner. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2018, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-courtesy-cards/823620/51 "2018-11-12T02:04:09Z")
> [@Orwell](#): > > Exactly right. It is clearly a form of corruption. Perhaps minor, perhaps even understandable. But not writing a ticket to a LEO or friend of a LEO due to “professional courtesy” or “discretion” is applying the law unevenly in a fraternal, smarmy manner. Yeah. I mean, I’m in Chicago, so maybe it’s more par-for-the-course here, but growing up I had a few friends whose dads were cops, and I’ve been with them when they’ve gotten pulled over, and the mention of dad being a cop turned a possible ticket into a “be on your way, son” type of situation with minimal hassle. There were no cards, though. It would just come up in the conversation. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2018, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-courtesy-cards/823620/52 "2018-11-12T22:31:17Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > As an officer of the court I would use my discretion with you as well. Is that corruption? A Crown prosecutor I know came out after a long day in court and found the parking officer writing her a parking ticket. He offered to cancel it, since he hadn’t signed it and had discretion under their policy to cancel if the owner of the car showed up before the officer signed it. She insisted he give her the ticket, because she didn’t want any suggestion she benefitted from her position as a Crown. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2018, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-courtesy-cards/823620/53 "2018-11-12T22:38:56Z")
Some years ago, a teenage friend of mine got pulled over for speeding. The Mountie got out of his car. It was her Dad. He wrote her a speeding ticket, entirely by the book. When he got home that night, he told her that he’d written her the ticket as a Mountie. Now as her Dad, he was grounding her for a week for bad driving in a family car. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2018, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-courtesy-cards/823620/54 "2018-11-12T23:23:56Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > As an officer of the court I would use my discretion with you as well. Is that corruption? If it’s based on the courtesy cards, then yes, it’s corruption. ---
**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:** [November 13, 2018, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-courtesy-cards/823620/55 "2018-11-13T03:34:25Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > …When he got home that night, he told her that he’d written her the ticket as a Mountie. Now as her Dad, he was grounding her for a week for bad driving in a family car. As his daughter, did she then write a letter to her MP demanding that the RCMP’s budget be cut for its draconian policing? ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2018, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-courtesy-cards/823620/56 "2018-11-13T04:49:08Z")
No, just whinged about it to all of her friends, who agreed her Dad was a hardass. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2018, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-courtesy-cards/823620/57 "2018-11-13T16:27:57Z")
> [@Telemark](#): > > If it’s based on the courtesy cards, then yes, it’s corruption. So all of the entire list of who I try to use discretion with is fine but because someone has a card as a conversation starter that’s corruption? If I give someone a break because I see a military ID or a hospital ID is that fine but a PBA card is corruption? ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2018, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-courtesy-cards/823620/58 "2018-11-13T17:25:10Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > If I give someone a break because I see a military ID or a hospital ID is that fine but a PBA card is corruption? Look, I would do the same thing if I were in that profession, but, yes, those are all mild forms of corruption to me. I mean, I just don’t give a shit, personally. I come from a you scratch my back I scratch yours, oh, you know so-and-so, I’ll give you a break, kind of culture. But, come on, how is it difficult to see this as a bit of unfairness to those unconnected? ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2018, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-courtesy-cards/823620/59 "2018-11-13T17:28:31Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > So all of the entire list of who I try to use discretion with is fine but because someone has a card as a conversation starter that’s corruption? If I give someone a break because I see a military ID or a hospital ID is that fine but a PBA card is corruption? Yup, because it’s based on who they know which is pretty much the definition of corruption. If it’s based on something else I would treat it on a case by case basis. If it’s based on who they are related to, then it’s corruption. ---
**Author:** ![MikeF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MikeF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeF)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2018, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-courtesy-cards/823620/60 "2018-11-13T18:23:52Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > How is that any different from slipping the officer the $10 directly when he asks for your driver permit? You’re paying to have the law applied more leniently to you than to other drivers. I’m not sure what you’re saying but maybe I wasn’t clear. I’m the LEO. I pay for the family card and give (not sell) it to my family member. The money goes to the PBA. Its more than enough to cover the cost of the plastic card but no one is getting rich or corrupted. The card bearer may or may not get a break because of the card. If its a close call on a minor offense, the card MAY tip the scale. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-courtesy-cards/823620.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-courtesy-cards/823620.md?page=4)