Most American's have been raised to think that no one person is above the law here. There are some of us though who lose that belief as we grow older.
Evidently, cops, the one's who are charged with upholding the law, feel that it is professional courtesy for them and their relatives to not be ticketed for traffic violations as many of us are. They even have their own Web site dedicated to airing the "dirty laundry" of those cops who are low enough to violate that courtesy.
Their site, Copswritingcops.com, states that it is a site for officers getting tickets that any normal civilian could get a warning on, written or verbal. The key word I think is "could" in that statement as many civilians do in fact get warnings for some of the traffic violations listed in the first few post I had read. The word "could" also means that there are plenty of civilians who do in fact, receive tickets for the very same offenses they seem to believe they are all due a "free walk" on.
Some of the recent posts I had read include and officer on his way to a training seminar, who had set his cruise control to between 77-79 mph in a 65 mph zone. He had noticed patrol cars ahead pulling over vehicles and slowed up. Evidently, a chase car came out to meet him and after his lengthy explaination on-line, he was ticketed for going 84.9 mph by air. He wrote of mentioning he was putting on a training seminar, asked if he could get a break and even started throwing names around of who may be flying the plane to no avail. I'm sorry, but I know far too many people who have had to visit the courthouse to deal with a ticket written for almost 20 mph over the speedlimit.
Another officer wrote of an off-duty officer who popped a wheelie on his motorcycle, lost control and dumped it. The officer posting stated that the responding officer could have easily dealt with the accident with a 10-50 form, since there was no property damage or injuries involved. He sounded a bit upset that the officer ticketed a "brother" with not one but two tickets for the stunt. Anybody who attends a bike week event knows that a majority of the tickets given, for the cash flow involved, are for stunts like wheelies.
The next two are rather interesting because they involve northern officers driving in southern states, which most people I know, are bright enough to know that they will come down hard on drivers. One officer posted that he was stopped for driving along in Florida and not noticing that the speed limit had dropped from 65 mph to 45 mph. He was given a ticket for going 61 mph and a fine of $185. Again, most drivers know that ploy from their own states.... if you need to up the number of tickets written near the end of the month, you can be fairly certain a trooper will be posted, with radar, where the speed limit drops dramatically.
The last was stopped in North Carolina and summoned for going 70 mph in a 55 mph zone. He wrote of handing his identification and other police ID cards to the officer, who then tossed them back at thim and asked again for his registration. The officer pleaded that he had been driving with the family for some 12 hours and was almost to his destination and could he get a break. Again, I am sure there are plenty of civilians who have claimed the very same things and didn't think that they could get a warning by handing out all forms of group membership cards.
While many of us had suspected for years that there has been a courtesy afforded to the "brothers in blue", this site exposes that they truly believe that not only they but their relatives as well, should be allowed to walk away from the very same violations many people have to leave work, scrape money out of a tight family budget to pay for and explain away their actions in a courthouse. I am sorry but I have little pity for their on line complaints........you did the crime, do the time.
To enjoy reading the site, go here.
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