Speed limits

ShinerBock wrote:
I have no problems with a cop doing 10 over without his lights on. There are a lot of times where they need to get somewhere in a hurry, but it does not constitute the use of emergency lights. Many people just assume that they only do it because they can, when in fact there are many instances where it is needed.

A friend of mine who was a Sheriff assigned to graveyard shift DUI had to this all the time. It is a lot harder to see if someone is swerving and drunk looking from the side of the road so he had to catch people while he was driving. He would come up to a batch of cars and check their driving. If they were not swerving or acting erratically then he would speed up(many times over the speed limit to catch up) and go to the next batch of cars. He got many drunk drivers off the road doing this versus those who waited on the side of the road just checking radar.

He also did this when he caught a DUI suspect and they resisted a breathalyzer. Case in point was one accident wear a drunk driver killed four members of a family of five. Only the young daughter remained alive and in critical condition. The drunk driver refused a breathalyzer so my friend had to get a warrant for his blood to be drawn at the nearest hospital. Every second counts and the longer you wait the lower his blood alcohol level gets. It is imperative that he got there fast as possible so the @$$hole does not get off from killing a family, but it does not constitute emergency lights.

Then there is my dad who was a police officer for over 30 years before he retired several years ago. When he was a sergeant, he had to stay readily available to his officers when they needed him which were anywhere between 3-9 officers on a shift. When he got a call where one of his deputies needed his assistance, then he had to rush over there so they can get their problem solved and move on to the next task. Many times he got multiple calls from different deputies. He would use his lights when it was a true emergency, but many times the call did not warrant emergency lights yet he still needed to get their ASAP. Being short handed as he was, the longer the deputies were on a call, the less deputies he had available if an emergency did pop up.

So no, I don't care if they go over the speed limit without their lights because I know there are many instances that warrant it. These are just a few off the top of my head.

From what I understand going over the speed limit legally requires the use of emergency lights except in specific instances. Those instances require the police to have a judge approved warrant with the time and route on it.

Nobody, including police, should be expected to break the law intentionally. If the law is unreasonable the law should be fixed, not ignored. Loose enforcement of the law leads to subjective and selective enforcement that is too often corrupt or can give the appearance of being corrupt. More than ever we need police to avoid the appearance of being corrupt. Just think how much violence could have been avoided in the past year if police had watched their appearance more closely.

I grew up in Huntsville, Alabama and remember when their police department sought certification about 35 years ago. The first thing that they had to do was give up all official policies that were illegal. Can you imagine what would happen to a company that had policies that required illegal behavior? And think about how it undermines the very authority that the police represent.

I am strongly in favor of law and order. But it should be reasonable and clear and it must apply to EVERYONE equally. And that includes judges, other police and especially lawmakers. Actually, since those people are the ones responsible for the laws they may deserve an extra dose of enforcement instead of the total immunity that many are privileged with now.

I understand that being a law officer is a tough job and that many work too many hours. Some of that needs to corrected but keeping a clean image would take away a lot of the disrespect that they suffer from now.