That’s very respectful of you. I hope the people you pull over treat you respectfully in turn.
Mirrored sunglasses wouldn’t bother me. Why are they a no-no?
Imagine if you’re a cop. Did you sign up to just sit in your patrol car and watch nothing happen? Well, some cops are lazy.
But I would imagine that the majority genuinely feel they are there to protect and serve. They are there to make sure the rest of us obey the LAW. They hold a belief that there are lawbreakers everywhere, and it’s time to clean up these streets. (hyperbole but television programs like Fox News and others create the impression that crime is everywhere even though the stats say it’s declining)
Don’t the revenues to hire cops come in large part from the property and sales taxes for a geographic area? So this means that wealthy suburbs where few overt crimes happen (tons of drug abuse and financial crimes behind closed doors, of course), there will be more cops per capita. Cops who see very few overt crimes as most suburbanites are in cars in good condition and are only mildly speeding at most, most of the time.
Anyways, they are just trying to do their jobs. Actually fixing the problem would probably involve going to some kind of data driven law enforcement where policies are based on evidence of effectiveness not kneejerk reactions.
But of course, modern police departments are so busy with this that they no longer have time to investigate property crimes. :rolleyes:
Are property crimes typically even solvable?
Step 1 : Steal someone’s stuff.
Step 2 : Sell it to someone far away on ebay.
If it were a small town and there were just 2 pawn shops, yeah, the cops could go to the pawn shop, find the stolen item, get the security tapes, and then ask around and find the thief.
But today, since probably everyone has an ebay account and there’s no way to find out without serious subpoenas a list of everyone who sold a given item on ebay in a given timeframe from a given area, how are the cops going to find out?
Yeah, they could send a team in and vacuum up every last fiber off the carpet. Eventually match the DNA samples found to the DNA of the thief by correlating to other crimes. But this would cost orders of magnitudes more money than the value of most stolen items…
And property owners can get insurance.
The “Cool Hand Luke” film and the Stanford Prison Experiment of 1971 kind of set the tone against mirrored sunglasses in Law enforcement. I remember them being discouraged while attending the police academy, but can’t recall if it was a Department rule or not. In any event, no one wore them at my agency.
I can tell a story to confirm this sort of thing.
I had a female friend call me one night because her car had stalled. I didn’t answer the phone so didn’t initially hear her voice, but my other friend did and it was clear she was drunk. By the time we got there a patrol car was behind her lights on. She was barely able to stand up, slurring her words and her car had stalled because she’d hit a curb so hard it shut off her fuel tank. She was the daughter of a state police officer. The city police officer (completely separate agency), was in a huff when we arrived, but all he told us was “don’t let her drive home”, then he left. Needless to say, I was shocked.
You beat me too it. But the whole “Man with no eyes” image rubbed the brass the wrong way. I think a lot of agencies had a ban on mirrored glasses in the SOP for decades.
Also, no wearing black gloves when they are not being utilized. It’s easy to get around this one because it’s easy to justify why you’re wearing them. But the SAP glove look isn’t something many departments want to give. But those black Kevlar gloves are very useful and a favorite on the street.
Here’s a rather new on my department utilized in the last 2 years; no wearing your sunglasses on the back of your head. Either flip them up in front or take them completely off. I generally work nights so this one doesn’t affect me too much.
Getting back to the OP:
Big city cops do traffic enforcement, just not to an equal extent that they have other matters to attend to. Some cities, like Milwaukee, have specific units that do nothing but traffic.
But the suburbs generally don’t have the gang, violence, murder, drug, etc problems as the bigger cities. So they do concentrate more on traffic. But traffic stops is a top way on getting people with warrants and other potential problems. It is an effective law enforcement tool.
You know the one policy most of us in the general public would rather have? You can have your mirrored sunglasses and black gloves. But please shoot much less often people who don’t have a gun and aren’t charging with a sword or something.
I mean, ok, if you see a gun shaped imprint in a bag and they point it at you and say verbally it’s a gun, and then later it turns out to be something else? I won’t fault you for capping them. But if they are reaching to adjust their waistband? Standing in mom’s yard holding a cellphone? Get back, take cover if you think they might have a gun but don’t see one. Don’t just shoot.
Every situation is different. And every use of force whether a shooting or OC deployment has to be justified each time by the officer using the force. That system actually works. It would be impossible to make a list of when an officer can use force or not because it has to do with reasonable perceptions of eminent danger.
Either take my word for it or get LE certified and come onto the job and see for yourself.
What is your explanation with the orders of magnitude higher police shooting rate per capita than for basically every other first world country, including all of europe? (some of those nations have just as many civilian guns per capita)
This seems to me to be a persuasive argument that the system doesn’t, in fact, work as well as it could.
Here’s an article on the subject : By the numbers: US police kill more in days than other countries do in years | US policing | The Guardian
I find the evidence compelling as these are measurements collected over decades. They aren’t just statistical flukes, and these are large countries with populations of tens of millions. They reflect the sum of every law enforce encounter over the last 30 to 70 years, depending on the country in question.
Rather than post this stuff on a message board, have you taken your “knowledge” and “expertise” on the subject to your local police and fire commissions? Or yours city council or county board? The training and standards division of your states Department of Justice? Why don’t you do that rather than expect one lone cop to explain everything to someone who apparently knows everything about it already?
If you haven’t noticed, a few posts ago I tried to steer this thread back on topic (which I am guilty of helping skew) by readdressing the OP. Why not join me in doing that? 
Who’s more credible, corrupt local institutions or an internationally renowned newspaper publishing hard numbers? I don’t see how your suggested action will accomplish anything but possibly put me on the radar personally for local authorities as a ‘troublemaker’.
I don’t expect you, as a lone cop, to do anything, either, except try not to shoot anyone unarmed yourself. I’m just saying that you should be aware of the actual hard and undeniable facts surrounding your profession. Your peers are killing hundreds of people every year who shouldn’t be shot to death, and you should at a minimum understand that when you encounter someone who’s protesting, you should realize that they have a point.
Remember the Vietnam War? Basically all the protesters were right about everything. It was a complete waste of life and nothing was gained for the USA. Also they were right about marijuana being good stuff and a safe and effective drug.
I sort of see you as a stick up your ass army or marine officer in the Vietnam era, completely ignorant that the institution you represent is basically just sending troops into the jungle to be killed in ambushes.
Doesn’t the USA population also have ‘orders of magnitude higher’ numbers of guns per capita than every other first world country, including all of Europe? I see those as linked. You can’t expect a policeman to run around unarmed except for a baton, when he’s likely to be faced with criminals willing to shoot and kill him in order to escape.
Update! It finally happened about 2 hours ago. I left my sisters house and within 5 minutes I got pulled over from a Downers Grove cop. Completely obeying the law and he comes up to window and tells me my license plate light is out. Gives a friendly warning and takes my license to check everything out before I am “free to go” (his words).
I get home and check… guess what? License plate light is on and fully functional. I even gave the housing a wiggle to see if it was a loose bulb or wire, nope.
It just proved my point completely. I am usually one that supports Law Enforcement but this definitely reinforces why I do not care much for Suburban Police.
Spoke to a relative in Law Enforcement, says its a common practice when the cops are looking for something “fishing”. What do you all think of this? LEO opinion?
I think the USA comes closer when you measure the percentage of people who are gun owners, since gun owners in the USA tend to own several guns. However, I do think that the percentage of concealed carriers is higher.
So it is actually more dangerous for officers due to the proliferation of concealed handguns. Plus not all non-American officers are armed (although many are). When you multiply these together you get a hugely increased chance for danger.
I’ve never done anything even remotely close to that, after 2 separate careers and going on 4 decades.
If I pull a vehicle over there is an actual violation even if it’s a small one.
Well you are a fine policeman. Thank you.
I know most are, but I had my suspicions about this dept. pulling people over for no reason and I’ve gotten my answer. I even tried to give it the benefit of doubt by thinking “maybe he just couldn’t see the plate lights” or something but they are very bright, there is no way he couldn’t see them. It’s just really annoying, since I do pay attention to traffic and safety laws. I check my fluids, and lights and wheel nuts and tire inflation every two weeks, I even use a dash cam. I even have an aftermarket HID set-up in my car but the reflectors are adjusted (projectors are garbage) and aimed at the road so they don’t blind anyone and they on the white light spectrum. I knew as soon as he told me, the claim was bogus but as soon as I stopped to check, it was all the proof I needed. The sheer volume of cars pulled over between Westmont and Downers Grove is absolutely insane, to the point there is no way I can believe everyone has infractions. I suppose what bothered me the most was how casual this officer lied directly to my face and pretended to be such a good guy (no ticket) and all of that… it is unfortunate because it makes his integrity very suspect.