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Re: Cops Speeding
sbwright@ellis.uchicago.edu (Stephen B. Wright) wrote:
>In article <DDxGDr.Ev0@liii.com>, Jeff <jek@liii.com> wrote:
>>In article <41nf0a$emd@uuneo.neosoft.com>, Dan Parker <eds@neosoft.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>Just got back from a two-day drive from LA to Houston, and something that
>>>bugs me almost everyday occured to me:
>>>
>>>Under what conditions are cops allowed to exceed the speed limit? Do they
>>>have to turn on their lights/siren?
>>>
>>>What authority do ordinary citizens have to monitor/file complaint/pull over
>>>cops who are speeding for no justifyable reason?
>>>
>>
>>Kind of the same thing happened to me about 2 months ago. I was driving
>>on the New Jersey Turnpike heading North going back home, and I was in
>>the middle lane. I was doing about 75 and in the left lane, 2 state
>>troopers with their lights off, *BLEW* by me. I was doing 75; they had
>>to be somewhere around 100mph. I gave it a little more gas, and I was
>>doing about 85-90 just trying to keep up with them to see where they're
>>going with their lights off (yea, not a good idea, but...) anyway...they
>>pulled off to the next rest stop about 4 miles later and got stuff to eat
>>and drink.
>A couple years ago, my mother showed me an article from the Orlando (FL)
>Sentinel. A man driving on I-4 was passed by a city police cruiser far
>exceeding the limit without his lights or sirens on. The man decided to
>see what the cop's hurry was, and followed him. He clocked the cop at
>about 85 (in a 50 zone). The cop soon exited the Interstate and pulled
>into a fast food store or something like that. The man pulled in also,
>and (talk about b*lls!) confronted the officer. Since the cop was not
>on his way to some official emergency (which the cop admitted), the man
>pulled a "citizen's arrest", claiming that the cop deserved a ticket for
>speeding, that he had clocked him doing it, and that he was going to see
>to it that the cop got fined. The officer turned around and wrote the man
>a ticket for speeding (85 in a 50). The case went to court, and the judge
>(obviously an honorable man) upheld both tickets.
>So, you're not completely powerless.
There was an article in the local paper around here (northern NJ)
about how one town's problems with officers speeding. Obviously, this
town is not alone in the problem, but they made it clear that they
were going out of the way to "police the police." By the way, they did
this because of many complaints from residents about the officers
speeding.
Back in my stupider days I was speeding away from a tollbooth on the
NJ Turnpike only to find the two lanes ahead blocked by slower cars.
Me in my stupidness passed the cars on the shoulder, right in front of
a cop coming up the "official turnaround" ramp. I hadn't seen the cop,
and was doing about 75 when he turned his lights on me. I started to
pull over, and he just blew by me. Apparently, my infraction was too
minor to waste his time, and 75 was just too slow for him.
>Stephen B. Wright
>sbwright@midway.uchicago.edu
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