Makes one wonder about LEOs

[Tom Schindler]

For those that bad-mouth a police officer, I can only say, try it for a while and see what it's like.

Those that do get bad mouthed should stop and think why they are being bad mouthed.



If a business treats thier customers badly, we are glad when people quit supporting them.



When police forces treat the public bad, we think the public is wrong by showing the police what we think of them.



Which way is it?





Tom

 

[TomT]

Tom. I'm not defending bad police officers. I just know how the job changes a person. You deal with the absolute dregs of our society day in and day out and it's going to affect you if your human. When I worked as a police officer (years ago) I arrested a man for physically abusing his wife and child. Do you have any idea the amount of restraint it took not to just beat the sh*t out of this guy? Police officers get this kind of crap every day. There is no worse job.

 

[Tom Schindler]

Do you have any idea the amount of restraint it took not to just beat the sh*t out of this guy? Police officers get this kind of crap every day. There is no worse job.

I know where you are coming from, but there is no law in effect that says you must do that job for the rest of your life.





Tom

 

[Bill Barber]

Tom t your right on

I want to believe that most LEOs are decent people, sadly a portion of them are not good people (look at what happend to Rodney king, a scumbag for sure, but not the right thing to do)

Friend of mine just retired from the Police force, asked him why he retired.

he said back in the day police officers were respected, and we showed respect in turn.

Today there is no respect on either side.

He also told me that althouge recruits go thru a battery of Psycological testing before being accepted to the acadamy.

A large amt. are nutcases that just want to wear a uniform, carry a gun and harrass people.

when I started this thread, i was not berating Leos (thread has gone wack as always)

I admitted Guilt, I was wrong, the laws are what they are.

I was respectfull to the LEO, as he was to me in turn.

My point was, we are parked on the side of a major freeway, I can see cars going far in excess of the posted limit (I was driving the speed limit) every 10th car has limo tint (and they are not limos)

Go after the so called bad guys, save some lives.

 

[Tom Schindler]

I find it funny that police officers watch for speeding "fast cars". Ever seen a Corvette really getting on it? Yea, we see the 1 out of 100 Vette drivers getting on it, but they are far and few between.



Get a riced up Civic and they are getting on it all the time.



Why not chase after the Civic and leave the Saleen's, Vette's, GT's, and GT500's alone?



A plus is you can actually catch the Civic.





Tom

 

[Thomas Rogers]

Caymen said:

I know where you are coming from, but there is no law in effect that says you must do that job for the rest of your life.

Maybe they have no other choice?



Or maybe we should do more to help police officers so that they don't have to work in a harsh environment. If only they could pay into some organization that would help to make their job better, freeing them from a harsh working environment.







TJR

 

[Tom Schindler]

Maybe they have no other choice?

If that is the fact, then they have to deal with it.

If only they could pay into some organization that would help to make their job better, freeing them from a harsh working environment.

Wouldn't it be great of they could form a union. Then they could be lazy like all other union workers.





Tom

 

[CountyMounty]

The "intent" thing is an interesting concept that I have always struggled with. An old LT here was always telling me that a good cop considers the intent of the law instead of enforcing the letter of the law. What is fair? To always do things the same way by the book or to base enforcement on all the factors on a case by case basis. For the most part I think the later but you certainly can run into problems. Each agency may have specifics on what they want there officers to do, they may tell them they need to do it by the book, must write tickets for certain violations etc. Another big problem is when you give one person a break but write the next person a ticket for the same violation, though the circumstance may differ somewhat. This is all part of the decisions each officer has to make everyday and then hope he made the right one.



We are taught in the academy that we should make a decision about writing a ticket on a traffic stop even before we even approach the driver, very few including myself do that but in reality maybe it is the only completely "fair" way. I prefer to find out who the person is and what there history is, their attitude etc. If they have gotten 3 speeding tickets in a year and I stop them for speeding then obviously they are not getting the hint to slow down. If they have no history and sincerely seem to realize what they were doing wrong then maybe just a warning serves the purpose, the intent if you will, of the law (I know I am being very naive here).



In TomT's example I would have to say that the officer did practice the use of the "intent" of the law rather than the "letter of the law", I say that because he did not get a ticket. I think that "intent" mostly comes into play after the stop. I know very few officers if any that would just completely ignore someone who did not use a turn signal, if they were not busy on a call and just out on patrol. I think the correct thing to do is stop the car, tell them why they were stopped, and absent any other problems give a warning.



As far as the obscured license plate issue that law is not just so cops can read the plate it is so that everyone can read the plate, a citizen calling in a drunk driver, a store that was just robbed etc.



I agree fully with Caymen's statement that "those that do get bad mouthed should stop and think about why they do". All LEO's get bad mouthed at times, its part of the job. I certainly do know a couple officers locally who are bad mouthed by everyone all the time, they do need to stop and think about why, its because they abuse the badge and stretch their authority beyond the limits. There are bad cops out there just like there are bad people in every profession, unforetunatly we cant weed them all out. There are many more though that just need to figure out exactly what their job is and need some time to do that. It can be hard at first that is why "rookie" officers can sometimes be the worst. I know when I started I got 10 different views from 10 different senior officers on how to do things and was trying to find my place and please everyone.

 

[Gary Kong]

Even within the state, there are varying levels of enforcement for mechanical violations. I've been a cop for about 30 years. I have never ever been trained with a window tint meter...I leave that stuff to the CHP or traffic cops in my dept. I, personally, don't need to waste my time looking for a funky brake light or overtinted window UNLESS I NEED AN EXCUSE TO STOP A CAR. If I think it is a gang member or something, a mechanical violation is all I need to justify lighting him up. Failing the attitude test is an instant vehicle equipment safety check, however.



Anyway. I just came back from a trip to LA/Hollywood. It is incredible the amount of potential mechanical violations down there. Tinted windows abound, as do modified (and exceeding the db limits) exhausts and non-spec headlights. Every other car seemed to be modified, loud and speeding.



However, in the small towns not included within the LAPD jurisdiction apparently they pounce readily upon mechanical violations. Tint meters and db level measurement devices in hand, the basic patrol cops do double duty as vehicle inspectors so I guess alot of the cars I see cruising Sunset Blvd. avoid the small towns.



On the overzealous CHP types...alot of CHP zones are training areas for CHP officers who have just hit the street. Like ALL new police officers, new CHP members are often tasked with practicing all facets of enforcement so those areas are more prone to subject drivers to more detailed inspection of their cars.



FYI, under current protocol, we are required to tell a person why we stop them, and to ask them if there was a reason why they did what they did. In training, the recruits have to precisely recite a script that goes something like this, "Hello. My name is deputy Fife of the Mayberry Sheriff's Department and the reason I stopped you is because I saw you fail to stop at the stopsign back there on Mayberry and Main streets. Is there any reason why you didn't stop there?"



In my day, it was, "Where's the fire? License, registration and proof of insurance...keep your hands where I can see them." Times are changing.



FYI, to this day, I have never issued a citation for tinted windows.