right place, right time

itsbob

I bowl overhand
smcop said:
It depends on what your bad day was. If a significant other was dying, and you were trying to get to thier side, and you found you were too late, should we give you a ticket?
Doesn't give you the reason to drive recklessly and endangering others on the road.. if everyone that gets caught has a good reason, how are we going to stop anyone from driving like an idiot?

And if you are already too late, why speed?
 

smcop

New Member
itsbob said:
Doesn't give you the reason to drive recklessly and endangering others on the road.. if everyone that gets caught has a good reason, how are we going to stop anyone from driving like an idiot?

And if you are already too late, why speed?
I'm not saying it gives you the right to speed or endanger anyone. The officers job is to make sure the person obeys the law. If a police officer pulls you over, and you have a true story to tell about human tragedy, this does not mean you can continue in the behavior, nor does it mean that the officer condones the behavior. However, as a police officer am I supposed to loose all compasion for my fellow man? I wonder if you were speeding at critical time in your life ie; birth of a child, dying parent, sick child, or some other moment where you feel a sense of urgency to get to where you need to go, how much of a jerk you would think the cop were if he wrote you a ticket? I think you would say that might be a time where he could have given you a warning.
 
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mAlice

professional daydreamer
smcop said:
However, as a police officer am I supposed to loose all compasion for my fellow man?

Man, I hope not. I've been lucky so far, but I know I'm gonna' get pulled over one day.
 

itsbob

I bowl overhand
smcop said:
I'm not saying it gives you the right to speed or endanger anyone. The officers job is to make sure the person obeys the law. If a police officer pulls you over, and you have a true story to tell about human tragedy, this does not mean you can continue in the behavior, nor does it mean that the officer condones the behavior. However, as a police officer am I supposed to loose all compasion for my fellow man? I wonder if you were speeding at critical time in your life ie; birth of a child, dying parent, sick child, or some other moment where you feel a sense of urgency to get to where you need to go, how much of a jerk you would think the cop were if he wrote you a ticket? I think you would say that might be a time where he could have given you a warning.

No, we need to implement speed cameras and take the buddy system, human compassion and sob stories out of it. You speed excessivley and drive recklessy you get a ticket, whether your wife is having a baby, or you the son of a local state trooper, or the state trooper themselves. And you know what, the cameras would catch me too, but I think my getting one or two tickets would be more than worth it if it stops the a-holes we have driving around here and killing each other almost daily.

The cop is not a judge, he witnesses someone breaking the law he should do his job. If there is a sob story involved let the judge hear it, and determine if it's compelling enough to warrant mitigation.

If the judge thinks it's fair to not give a fellow cop a ticket for doing 75 in a 50, than let the judge decide. You cops need to grow a set and start enforcing the laws as you were hired to do.

Stop with the "professional courtesy" bullchit, you should be professional before you get any kind of professional courtesy, because if they WERE in fact professional they would go out of their way to abide by every law and not be speeding in the first place.. grow a set, let me know the next time you give a fellow LEO a ticket.
 

smcop

New Member
itsbob said:
No, we need to implement speed cameras and take the buddy system, human compassion and sob stories out of it. You speed excessivley and drive recklessy you get a ticket, whether your wife is having a baby, or you the son of a local state trooper, or the state trooper themselves. And you know what, the cameras would catch me too, but I think my getting one or two tickets would be more than worth it if it stops the a-holes we have driving around here and killing each other almost daily.

The cop is not a judge, he witnesses someone breaking the law he should do his job. If there is a sob story involved let the judge hear it, and determine if it's compelling enough to warrant mitigation.

If the judge thinks it's fair to not give a fellow cop a ticket for doing 75 in a 50, than let the judge decide. You cops need to grow a set and start enforcing the laws as you were hired to do.

And by the way, the last time I wrote a law enforcement officer a ticket was about 5 years ago. But since then, I probably have only written five tickets a year, and can't remember the last time I pulled a law enforcement officer over. The law enforcement officer I wrote a ticket to was also arrested for drunk driving by me!

Stop with the "professional courtesy" bullchit, you should be professional before you get any kind of professional courtesy, because if they WERE in fact professional they would go out of their way to abide by every law and not be speeding in the first place.. grow a set, let me know the next time you give a fellow LEO a ticket.
Before you say I should grow a set you should probably know me! I would not give any cop a break that I would not and have not given non law enforcement people. The STATE OF MARYLAND authorizes police to give citations and discretionary enforcement to all misdemeanors in the state of Maryland. There are not enough courts in the State of Md. to handle the number of tickets issued if every cop wrote every ticket they could. The same state constitution that gives the judges their authority allows the legislature to give police officers discretion.

The police officer's job is to make the streets safe. We are not supposed to be robots and loose our compasion when we take this job. Quite the contrary. I suggest maybe you apply, become a police officer, and come in contact with someone who has just had a critical incident in their life, then see if your persona could enable you to calously issue them a meaningless citation. Sometimes good people make minor mistakes. That's why we have discretion.

I wrote a law enforcement officer a ticket and arrested him for drunk driving about five years ago. That is the last time I remember pulling over a law enforcement officer. I don't do a lot of traffic and probably don't write more than five tickets a year.
 
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keekee

Well-Known Member
Just wondering... Does a warning stay on your record?
I mean, if you get five warnings, and get pulled over again, does the cop see those five warnings, or do they just disappear? If they do stay on your record, how long?
 

itsbob

I bowl overhand
smcop said:
Before you say I should grow a set you should probably know me! I would not give any cop a break that I would not and have not given non law enforcement people. The STATE OF MARYLAND authorizes police to give citations and discretionary enforcement to all misdemeanors in the state of Maryland. There are not enough courts in the State of Md. to handle the number of tickets issued if every cop wrote every ticket they could. The same state constitution that gives the judges their authority allows the legislature to give police officers discretion.

The police officer's job is to make the streets safe. We are not supposed to be robots and loose our compasion when we take this job. Quite the contrary. I suggest maybe you apply, become a police officer, and come in contact with someone who has just had a critical incident in their life, then see if your persona could enable you to calously issue them a meaningless citation. Sometimes good people make minor mistakes. That's why we have discretion.

I wrote a law enforcement officer a ticket and arrested him for drunk driving about five years ago. That is the last time I remember pulling over a law enforcement officer. I don't do a lot of traffic and probably don't write more than five tickets a year.
Can't afford the pay cut..

And again, I agree, we should go to speed enforcement cameras and be done with all of it. Nobody gets over becasue who they are, or who they know, and if you have a REAL good reason for speeding then you can take it to court and try to fight it.. with the understanding if you lose, then you get the points on your license too.

Won't be many people taking it to court, and would up revenue, and free up more cops to do what's more important. Can you imagine if all the cops on a daily basis were free to patrol more neighborhoods, instead of sitting on the side of the road waiting for a speeder to drive by..

I don't remember the details, but there was a hit and run involving a police officer at a bar, he was DUI, left the scene after hitting a pedestrian.. anyone remember what happened to him?
 

itsbob

I bowl overhand
keekee said:
Just wondering... Does a warning stay on your record?
I mean, if you get five warnings, and get pulled over again, does the cop see those five warnings, or do they just disappear? If they do stay on your record, how long?
I don't know about MD, but I got stopped in NH when I was stationed there and the cop knew about all the warnings (and tickets) I had.. and I think they were all over the last 3 years.
 

smcop

New Member
itsbob said:
Can't afford the pay cut..

And again, I agree, we should go to speed enforcement cameras and be done with all of it. Nobody gets over becasue who they are, or who they know, and if you have a REAL good reason for speeding then you can take it to court and try to fight it.. with the understanding if you lose, then you get the points on your license too.

Won't be many people taking it to court, and would up revenue, and free up more cops to do what's more important. Can you imagine if all the cops on a daily basis were free to patrol more neighborhoods, instead of sitting on the side of the road waiting for a speeder to drive by..

I don't remember the details, but there was a hit and run involving a police officer at a bar, he was DUI, left the scene after hitting a pedestrian.. anyone remember what happened to him?
He plead guilty to what the state could prove him guilty of!
 

smcop

New Member
itsbob said:
Can't afford the pay cut..

Well there you go. You want us to be perfect, but you don't want to pay us as much as you make evidently! I would agree with your idea of the traffic cameras if that's the way it worked, but why do you think a judge could make a better decision than the cop? An excuse is an excuse. Some judges are easier than others...and some are harder. Aren't you then going to run into the same issue?
 

smcop

New Member
keekee said:
Just wondering... Does a warning stay on your record?
I mean, if you get five warnings, and get pulled over again, does the cop see those five warnings, or do they just disappear? If they do stay on your record, how long?
No warnings in Md. do not stay on your record.
 

itsbob

I bowl overhand
smcop said:
He plead guilty to what the state could prove him guilty of!
Which was what?

DUI??

Reckless Endangerment?

Attempted Murder?

Assault?

Leaving the scene??

Is he still a cop??
 

smcop

New Member
itsbob said:
Which was what?

DUI??

Reckless Endangerment?

Attempted Murder?

Assault?

Leaving the scene??

Is he still a cop??
I wasn't involved in that incident in any way, so I am not exactly sure. You might want to contact the Enterprise or St. Mary's Today and ask them. The officer worked for an agency other than mine, so perhaps they can advise you of the outcome. I only heard he plead guilty. I don't condone any law enforcement officer drinking and driving. If you look at my answer to your previous thread you'll see that I have arrested a law enforcement officer for the same! I can say that I have heard two sides of that story. I will say this. Any other citizen in that incident would never have been arrested for DWI. The police didn't contact the officer for a number of hours after the incident and only then did they take him into custody. No court in America would convict him of DWI when he has been home for a period of time. Especially when no police officers saw him driving!
 
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