All too true. You guys have the toughest job in America and keeping yourselves alive is getting more difficult. Just look at some of the recent crime trends:

According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the estimated number of arrests for DRUG ABUSE VIOLATIONS INCREASED from 2002 to 2003. The number of adults in the correctional population has been increasing. Also, over half of the increase in the prison population since 1995 is due to an increase in the prisoners convicted of VIOLENT offenses.

After sharp increases in the 1980s and 1990s, the incarceration rate has recently GROWN AT A SLOWER PACE. The number of prisoners under sentence of death at year end 2003 DECREASED for the third consecutive year. In 2003, 65 inmates were executed, 6 fewer than in 2002. States spend MORE on criminal justice than municipalities, counties, or the Federal government. It is an epidemic and these trends continue into our current year...

This was shocking when I read it and I don't see how my fellow Americans will be able to afford to support these trends...

Keep up the good work S-crew03...

 

S-Crew

That power slide Starsky an Hutch thing sounds like it would be neat to see.

I used to work at a detail shop and we did the cop cars in the area, they would drop them off and pick up, sometimes just wait while we did them. Most of them say 98% were really great people and the other 2% well,. Some of themI know would give there poor old mother a citation if they thought it was warranted, I got good and bad advice from some on different matters, and have appeared before the magistrate several times, with mixed results. The times it went bad it went bad because of the troopers side of the story wasn't exactly the way it should have been, but me against them they have the upper hand. The times it went well the troopers were actually helping me somewhat.

Bottom line is you are absolutly right about good and bad in any profession, you guys are just doing what you are paid for, and if you weren't then you would all be no good lazy SOB's. I don't envy your position as it seems like a game you can't win no matter what you do.

It seems the guy you pull over for one reason or another, sometimes has the upper hand if they realize it, and just use their head and cooperate, you know the whole do unto others thing.

It's like everything else it only takes one or two a_ _holes to screw over the whole lot.

 

Horay for cops! They are some of the hardest working lowest paid people around. Thank God they are here. Most work more then one job to make ends meet. I know because half of my family is involved in law enforcement. All they see all day long are people breaking the rules we have set and then Lieing their a$$es off when caught. You broke the law, deal with it. Your wrong and most importantly, you know it

 

With all do respect to law enforcement and our officers, in this scenario he should of had his lights and sirens on. He undoubtley and with out reason put a lot of people including himself and the baby at risk by failing to do so. I'm not a trucker or police officer but I do drive by my mirrors when I'm pullling a trailer. I try to keep a close watch on them and try to know where all the traffic is both in front and behind me at all times. But thats not always accomplished and speeding vehicles will pass you before you knew they were around. A vehicle doing 30mph over will be in a truck and trailer or tractor trailers blind spot in a matter of seconds, and thats all it would take for the driver of the trailered vehicle to not realize that he had advanced there and they decide to change lanes. To maintain 30 MPH he would have to be passing vehicles that were passing others wich means he would be passing in the right lane when a trailered vehicle would be waiting to move over after making a passing manuever. They think they have cleared the vehicle they are passing and he slipped in when they were looking ahead they move over and collide in to him, he is unable to be the first responder, the next closest patrolman is 4 more mins. out and the baby dies.
If he had his lights on vehicle one would have seen him in the mirrors a long time before he reached them and would have pulled to the shoulder along with everybody else allowing him to safely respond to the call. With his lights on no one would have complained because firstly they would have assumed he was responding to a call, and secondly most of us pedestrians are not trained and are unable to tell if a vehicle is slightly speeding if we do not have any traffic to compare it to. Though any vehicle with flashing lights and sirens on you instinctively assume they are in a hurry so there for you will think they are speeding.

Second thing I'd like to say is. Why in the hell was he only doing 30mph over???? If it was my kid I would want them to have it floored running 150+mph (more or less) and doing the full Starsky and Hutch routine!

 

sorry, I had to jump in on this one, but S-crew said it well. the officer responds as in the department lets you. my department you make the decision to run hot or not, except on certain things which you have to. we get this decision due to only two to three officers covering 460 square miles with long responce times. but
my buddy 2 hours away working as a deputy can only respond to certain things with lights and sirens, one of them is not; some one beating the heck out of some one else or a breaking in, in progress but as most would feel, he speeds to get there to assist and safe some one.. is he wrong by there rules yes, but if your loved one is getting beaten to death would you want us to speed..

futher more the snap shot thing is right on. if i'm responding to lets say a robbery in progress a mile away or more i shutting off my siren due to that alerting the crack head and them shooting someone due to being enraged cause someone set off the alarm. and with in normal seeing distance a 1/2 mile or less depends on were and what i shut down my lights so the don't see me coming, yes i am still speeding and yes with caution i will still go through a light but there is reasons for certain actions that you might not know the whole story on.

i normally have a least 20 to 30 could be up to 50 miles between me and any heated call and at least a 10 minute wait while i'm getting beat on for back up to arrive. its a ruff job but i do it cause i love it.

futher more ask any cop, lights and siren don't aways work like we want. most of the time goof ***** see them and jam there brakes and stop in the middle of the road slowing us done more than just coming up and passing when we can. and i have people every time i run lights and siren pull out in front of me at stop lights even after seeing me coming down a clear highway that they can see me from miles away.

also some departments have rules on how fast you can respond to calls yes the officer could floor it to respond to the choking child but if he had wrecked for one the child would still be choking and two wrecking is bad enough but going past what the boss sets as a safe speed to respond and wrecking is even worse.

if i get flamed thats fine for my responce, but i have lived it for 11 years.. been shot at 3 times stabbed 2 twice. went off a bridge(25 foot to the paved road below) and knocked my heart out of beat almost died on that one and was it in a car wreck from a person that did not yield to lights and siren and spent a year off with a spinal surgery to boot and almost lived the rest of my life in a wheel chair from it and went back and still out there doing the job i love..
see here

 

Thank you Deputylightning for your sacrifices and dedication to protecting us. It is greatly appreciated!

With all do respect I think you may have read my post wrong, I was not saying he should not be speeding, rather I suggested he might not of been responding fast enough! I know there are limits even for officers I was being sarcastic to the woman making the complaint on the officer as well as the fact that 30 over does not seem fast enough in that situation. But I do fail to see where this was a situation that stealth strategies needed to be implemented. I agree there are times they need to be used. But why would they be needed in that scenario? Would the baby or mom freak out and try to run? I don’t think so. Just because there is a star on the side of a car does not mean that they are immune from being involved in or creating the same dangers any other car exceeding the speed limit or even just traveling faster than the flow of traffic does. (As you well know from your own experiences) But if the cherries can be used with out jeopardizing the situation they are responding to, then they do greatly reduce the risks that are created by anyone exceeding the speed limit or traveling faster than the flow of traffic at the time. That is why they were put on officer’s cars in the first place. But they still do not eliminate all dangers.
I lost one of my long time child hood friends about 3 years ago Officer Kelly Poynter of the Missouri Highway patrol as he was working an accident one night on a 2 lane Highway. My understanding is that he did have his overhead flashers on when a speeding and drunken lady did not see them, he shoved two tow truck workers to safety but was unable to move himself. She hit him leaving his wife and kids with out a husband or daddy that night. I lost the guy that saved my life one night while I was starring down the barrel of a gun held by an irate intoxicated person and I never got to repay him for that as well vas a great hunting buddy. But those are all another story for another day.

There is nothing that can be done to eliminate all the dangers we all "officers included" encounter on our roadways. Whether you are in or out of your vehicle. But there are precautions that should be taken by all of us to help reduce the risks. Emergency lights in an emergency situation is just one of the ways that officers have available to them.

Now if a choking baby does not constitute as an emergency in your department then you should definitely start a petition or contact your local newspaper and tv stations and try to get them to do a story about that. If done properly your community will get behind you and the voters can get that changed. Because obviously the definition of emergency desperately needs to be reviewed. If you don't want the publicity or chance getting reprimanded by your chief then get a close friend to do it, or send an anonymous letter to the publishers and broadcasters offices with a tip on the story. The lights and sirens were originally put on the cars for emergency use NOT to pull people over to issue citations. That is just a secondary use.

God bless all who serve, protect, and risk their lives everyday for us! Thank you!

 

Perhaps I should have elaborated a little more... The officer responding to that particular call, was not hot coming in.... There was no traffic in front of him. The woman making the complaint was in the opposite lane, headed in the other direction and saw the cruiser rip into the rest area at a high rate of speed. She assumed that he was rushing to see his girlfriend. Sorry for the confusion...
Also, thank you all for the positive comments... one "atta boy" goes a LONG way.

 

LOL...Ironic isn't it? We just participated in a live example of the human brain filling in the blanks to finish the story! Also an example of why more than one witness to an accident is an Officers worst nightmare. Because we all can see the exact same image but everybody views it differentley.
Humans: We are not always as smart as we like to think that we are! Are we?

 

There is no problem with officers, at least not 98% of them. The problem is with those in the public that are disrespectful towards the LAW, have no personal responsibility, and lack any fundamental values which would tell them to SHUT THEIR MOUTH and answer YES SIR/MAN, or NO SIR/MAN when in the presence of an officer of the LAW.

People that were raised “correctly” with values and taught personal responsibility are rarely ever a problem for law enforcement because one, they don’t tend to do anything to draw undue attention to themselves, and two if they do something to draw attention to themselves they are general polite (values) and honest (personal responsibility). Sometimes they don’t get a ticket and sometimes they do without causing a problem…

 

I can not speak for other agencies, but the going fast thought needs to be balanced. If your 1 mile away and your going 60 you get there in 1 minute rather safely. If your still 1 mile away but go 120 you get there in 30 sec, i fyou don't wreck. Whether you used lights or not you've increased the danger for everyone on the street. 30 sec is not a lot of time for the increaed danger to the public. If you do wreck then you also place the agency in a postion to possibly pay a lawsuit, and you still didn't make it to the call.

To go along with what XLT Sport wrote. Many people fail to realize that if the police are called, the police are in charge. The people in the house/apartment/field causing whatever disturbance lose the right to be in control of the situation. This is for saftey purposes and liability reasons (thank-you lawyers). Many people have a hard time just shutting thier mouths and saying yes/no sir/ma'am. They are not in charge and arguing with the police is not going to change the officer's mind in a good way. Many poeple complain that the officer was rude/pushing their button's/inconsiderate. They might have been but if you have done nothing and just say yes/no sir/ma'am you can't go to jail. Make a complaint later with the offiers supervisor or the Chief/Sheriff.

 

This quote just poped in my head for some reason after reading that last post!

True Story from PSS-Mag:
Here is another tip I learned a few years ago the hard way.
If you are pulled over for whatever reason, always look and visually confirm the gender of the officer who has stopped you before assuming it is Sir and formerly greeting them when they approach your window or addressing them in any gender specific manner!

 

Police? why do we need police on our streets.
the best police turn their heads when there is a street race with about 100 kids standing inches from the street, so thet can get the full effect of cars going by at over 100mph.

The best police move the hell out of the way when i come weaving and flying up on his a$$ in traffic, flashing my headlights.

The best police best know that I've been driving for 14 years and I know what I'm doing and the rules don't apply to me.

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C"mon people!

If you are passing a Police officer on Christmas on the wrong side, EXPECT to be pulled over. the Officer probably thought that only a DRUNK DRIVER would do such a stupid thing.


I wish to thank all the officers for keeping people safe and drunks off the road.
MERRY CHRISTMAS!

 

You're looking at Pennsylvania's finest. Need we say more?

The police do a great job even though some of us might not realize it yet

 

I work as a construction manager and I have seen my share of stupidity. I laugh at these types of incidents now because getting angry won't solve anything.

 

Unless I missed it somewhere along the way, there's another aspect to this "ticket on Christmas" we've overlooked. Traditionally, the holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas/New Years are the worst times of the year for accidents involving serious injuries and fatalities. Many local departments and state agencies have zero tolerance policies on these holidays. These zero tolerance policies are not an excuse to up the number of tickets they write; they're a serious attempt to prevent accidents. After every holiday season, you hear the numbers of how many people were seriously injuried or killed on the highways over the holiday weekend.

No one can prove that something that has not yet happened was prevented by our actions. Neither I nor any other police officer can say that by stopping you and writing you a ticket for speeding, we prevented an accident that may have occurred ten minutes into the future and ten miles down the road; an accident that may have taken your life or someone elses. Accidents happen in the blink of an eye. There is no warning and in most cases, there is little time to respond. All we can honestly say is that by stopping you, we hope we have prevented a tragedy.

I too am a police officer and have been for the past 15 years with a local city department. I've spent many years on the streets and I've worked on Christmas and New Years and other holidays when I would have rather been with my family. But like all the other officers, I love my job and I hope that maybe one of my traffic stops; ticket or not, prevented a future accident and saved someones life. Traffic stops I made and tickets I wrote on the holidays were not out of anger because I was working. They were out of a concerned effort to prevent a tragedy. If you've ever responded to an accident involving mangled cars, injuried people in pain, and in some cases, death, you'll know what I'm talking about.

This is New Years Eve and I have a pretty good idea what the streets will be like tonight. My current duties have me off the streets so I won't be out there but a lot of officers I know and many more I don't know will be. I hope everyone will be extremely careful if they're driving. It's not just your driving you have to be concerned about; it's the other guy too.

Have a great New Year!