self improtant cops

[BookstoreEscapee]

I'm not sure I agree with the suck factor on this one. Them sitting in line means one less car patroling the streets which means one less response should something in their area happen not to mention the usual rise in speeding/accidents when there are no visible patrol cars in the area.
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Presumably, if they were sent to take care of this task, the powers that be have deemed they have enough people to spare this one car for a little while. And if they really did have a legitimate reason to cut the line, one of them should have walked up to the attendant's booth, explained the situation, and asked if it was possible (and if not, they should come back another time). Unnecessary lights and sirens is not the way to endear the public to the police force. And if they get a call while they are waiting on line, they can always get out of line and come back later. I would think destroying documents is not something that needs to be done RIGHT NOW.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

I also question why the police would pull an officer off of patrol just to destroy some documents. There are people at the station working desk jobs who can easily do that.

Also I think the lights and siren are only supposed to be used in emergencies and certain other situations. Last time I checked, shredding some documents was generally not a matter of life and death and wouldn't be something that merits putting on the lights and siren and making everybody pull over and stop to get out of their way.

Either the police department has its priorities horribly misplaced if it's pulling patrol officers off the beat to run errands, or somebody's using their position to cut the line in front of everybody else.

That's horrible, and even worse propositioning the obviously under 18 staff members.

I would expect police officers to know better than that.

[Nekojin]

Once of the C-stores I worked at gave free coffee and fountain drinks to on-duty police. It ensured that we had a fairly high police presence, and was a significant deterrent to major theft (anything larger than petty shoplifting). If a police officer tried to get anything else for free, they would have been told, "Sorry, no, you pay like everyone else."

[SuperB]

We'll have to agree to disagree then. I'm coming from an area that, first, doesn't have anyone but the CHP presence and the Sheriff in the next town is what reponds to crimes after the fact. (chp will respond as well if something is currently happening) Add to that the fact that CHP has a bit of a shortage and my area is "visited" (not patroled like you see in even small towns) most shifts but not all and I see their time as more valuable.

I'm also not refering to the abuse of the siren/lights in traffic but the "going to the head of the line" in the op.

[Andara Bledin]

Some of the Sheriff deputies around here would years ago stop at a red light like normal and then all of a sudden put their lights on, cross the intersection and once across, flip their lights off and continue about their merry way. I have not seen any of them do that for a few years now. I think they got so many complaints about that. I know I did my share of griping about it.

You think that's bad?

Just last week, a cop decided it was too much trouble to actually wait for the light to turn green, so he just ran the light. No lights, no siren, no nothing, he just ran the light.

^-.-^

[crazylegs]

Just last week, a cop decided it was too much trouble to actually wait for the light to turn green, so he just ran the light. No lights, no siren, no nothing, he just ran the light.

^-.-^

I think someone needs a fine and three points on their licence. You can't just tear through a red light at speed, you have to proceed with caution, you have to slow down a considerable amount before you can force your way through a junction when you don't have the right of way, else all your doing is being a danger to yourself and others.

[fattie20xl]

I'm not sure I agree with the suck factor on this one. Them sitting in line means one less car patroling the streets which means one less response should something in their area happen not to mention the usual rise in speeding/accidents when there are no visible patrol cars in the area.
I don't know what your area is like or how many patrol cars are typically assigned but in our area, we have one that comes through most shifts but not all. (chp is the only constant, we don't have city police and the sheriff doesn't usually patrol this area) If someone/something takes the one we have away from our area for something unnecessary it means a longer response time.

they're usually a light/limited dutey assigned officer. not a detective or beat cop on regular dutey. also they use our service because shreded documents can, theoreticaly, be reclaimed and resurected whereas if they're shreded and then sent directly to the head of the recycling line then they can't because they only exist for aproximatly 30 seconds or so before they hit the rest of the pulp.

(trying to clear up two questions here)

[Pagan]

Like to point out too, that even if they were in a cruiser, that doesn't necessarily mean that they were on patrol duty. Not every cruiser out there is on patrol all the time. Around here, APD and I think BCS, allow the officers to take their cruisers home. It's seen as a crime deterrent if there's a police officer living in the area, especially apartment complexes. (Although it didn't seem to matter a couple weeks ago when one of my neighbors decided to get in a drunken brawl and cut each other with broken beer bottles at 2am. Wound up with police, EMT, and the Fire Dept.!) Look around at any of the substations, there's a bunch of cruisers parked around there, they're certainly not on patrol, either.

And if it's such an emergency to get these documents shredded now, now, NOW, there would have been a phone call heads-up.

[Geek King]

(Although it didn't seem to matter a couple weeks ago when one of my neighbors decided to get in a drunken brawl and cut each other with broken beer bottles at 2am. Wound up with police, EMT, and the Fire Dept.!)

Well, remember, nothing deters crazy. Except maybe giant pink man-eating bunnies.