Here’s a picture I took the other morning on the way to work. Almost every morning, Nashville’s finest are stationed at the corner of 8th Ave. North and Harrison (just south of Farmer’s Market) shooting radar. The speed limit is a ridiculously low 30 M.P.H. so they get lot’s of business. It was kind of embarrassing that on my commute into work one morning (which consists of a drive that is less than a mile), I got a ticket. What really pissed me off was that as the officer was handing it to me he said, “Have a blessed day!” F***ker! You’ve already ruined that with this speed trap! But I kept that part to myself.
July 19, 2007 at 12:53 pm
Michael –
We have one of those about a half mile from the house off and on all year. I live in a totally residential area yet they trap in here because folks use a couple of streets to avoid some nasty intersections and it brings them right down the middle of our little silce o’ heaven.
The Much Younger Trophy Wife got a ticket there a couple of years ago and when whe explained that she was running late taking our daughter to soccer practice, the officer leaned down and looked an=t my little girl and said, “Honey, you’re gonna be a little late today!”
**shrug**
What can ya’ do? I was talking to a friend who used to be a sheriff’s deputy in FL earlier today and we agreed that no one likes the blue lights in the rear view mirror but when you pick up the phone and dial 911 noone cares if the cop who responds gave you a ticket earlier, if he’s a bad cop or anything else. All we want is for him to show up fast with his gun and the message that lots of his friends are just a couple of minutes behind …
That having been said, it still sucks to get pulled over.
BTW, thanks for the link. I didn’t know you’d done that. Soon as I’m done here I’ll respond appropriately …
BCM
July 19, 2007 at 1:47 pm
My thought is that cops, like the rest of us, are expected to do their job. That means they should come with their guns and their fellow officers if I need them. But, doing their job also entails exercising their discretion hundreds of times a day. When I see the amount of resources put into enforcing this speed limit on this road (there are often 3 0r 4 cars/motorcycles out there), I tend to believe that this is lazy police work, fulfilling quotas (whether hard or soft) and raising money.
I’ll have to admit that I often have a hard time respecting officers. Too many of them that I have met are cowboys who consider themselves to be the law. I can’t respect the professional courtesy that causes cops to be able to park any where they want or speed with impunity. And being a regular reader of TheAgitator.com, I see all too often where cops abuse their authority and disregard the constitutional rights of the people they should be protecting. Somehow cops seem much too willing to break laws while attempting to apprehend law breakers.
(jeez that turned into more of a screed than I intended)
Thanks for the link!
July 20, 2007 at 11:19 am
Michael –
You’re welcome, of course!
I’ve never really had a hard time respecting officers. What I’ve always had a hard time doing is putting myself in their shoes.
for instance, I know that cops will try and control the situation they’re in be it a traffic stop or something more serious. They do this because they don’t know that I’m a nice guy, basically law abiding and am not too likely to give them a hard time if they are pleasant and professional. I know all that, however. So when an officer starts out with some ‘controlling’ behavior which I know is not necessary but he does not, it can be frustrating for me. no doubt it is for him as well but who can he talk to about it?
As far as cops breaking the law, it’s not really quite that simple. For instance, despite widespread belief that traffic cops have ticket quotas, that is an urban legend. That sort of thing is illegal. Departments practicing that can expect to find themselves in trouble. That having been said, police departments do have officers whose job is the enforcement of traffic laws. If the average cop with that assignment writes 30 tickets a day and one is writing 60 and another writing 2 then my guess is that #s 2 and 60 are going to get a talking to while the others will be seen as doing their job. That is not a quota but it is some sort of establishment of job performance specs.
The speeding issue is one that everyone talks about since we’ve all been passed by a cop before and many of us have seen one hit his lights and go through an intersection and then turn them off and go on. I don’t know enough about police rocedure to know if there are times when a patrol car can drive fast or bust a red light without lights and siren and still be on the job. Since there are times I’ve seen them REALLY moving with lights on and NO siren, it seems at least possible that they could be going somewhere official while using neither. I do know that my ex-sheriff’s deputy friend told me that in Florida where he served, there were HP Captains and Majors with radar and completely unmarked cars that would randomly yet routinely radar patrol cars. Speeding officers were held accountable.
Finally, I’d be interested in some examples of instances you are aware of wherein officers have abused authority or disregarded the constitutional rights of citizens. The only thing I can think of in that regard is the common request of officers to be allowed to search a car or location without a warrant. Or to be allowed inside when there is no basis for such a request. In those cases, officers – who know the law (or should) better than the citizen are asking that citizen to surrender a constitutional right (4th amendment) which they may not even realize they have. To justify that action with the response, “If you have nothing to hide, why would you object?” has always seemed disingenuous to me.
So – screed right back at ya’!
Thoughts?
BCM
July 20, 2007 at 11:24 am
Oooo – I forgot one – the lady cop that gave me a ticket for parking in a Fire Lane to make a delivery into Kroger. Never mind that all the other delivery trucks routinely park there, too. Never mind that, while I didn’t have commercial tags on the vehicle (this incident was the impetus that drove me to get them), my vehicle was FULL of clearly identifiable items for delivery. Never mind that the total time involved was under 3 minutes. I parked in a Fire Lane and that’s illegal and I got a ticket. Wanna guess where the lady parked her patrol car while she wrote me up?
That’s right. And I was just as frustrated and annoyed as you might imagine I was.
Blessings,
BCM
July 20, 2007 at 12:06 pm
I’m not complaining about standard, accepted police procedures in a traffic stop. Those can be quite dangerous for officers. I understand what they need to do. A few months ago, I was pulled over late at night. The officer was polite, professional and completely respected my rights.
As for cops disregarding others constitutional rights, I mentioned above that one of my sources for that is TheAgitator.com. Rather than lift instances from Mr. Balko’s site, I’ll just refer you to it. As a lawyer, I’ve had several opportunities to become familiar with other violations.
On the topic of speeding, I have had law enforcement officers brag to me about how quickly they could make it from Nashville to Memphis in an unmarked car. If they saw another cop, they hit the lights in the grill and kept on racing.
I work downtown. Everyday I see cops park where I cannot, and in fact have received a ticket for parking. I see them park in clearly marked “No Parking” zones. They have even parked in the small, private lot near the court house where I pay monthly to pay. On one occasion, the officer refused to move his car until one of his fellow officers talked him into it.
It is the steady drip of minor issues coupled with the arrogance of the fewer, more major violations that cause trouble for me. Don’t misunderstand me. I don’t hate cops. I work with ex-cops and have a cousin who teaches at the Arkansas state troopers school.
Police officers need to recognize that they have a special responsibility to the law and to the public they serve. My observation is that too many do not.
July 20, 2007 at 10:03 pm
Hard to argue with that …
BCM