To those of you in the police service, let me urge you to read this whole piece before you blow your top. If you do get pissed-off before you finish, stop a moment to cool-off, and then continue reading until you reach the end.
There is nothing that aggravates the public more than to see a speeding police car without its emergency lights or siren on, and the perception that an off-duty officer will not receive a citation when he is pulled over for a traffic violation. The public is not upset with a police emergeny run, even when the police car is driven at a highly dangerous speed. A motorist's worst nightmare is having a traffic collision with a police car. The public believes, rightly or wrongly, that a civilian will not be subjected to a fair and unbiased investigation of the accident. The public is also irritated by the perception that the police will give favorable treatment to the mayor or some other important public official, or to an influential member of the community.
Recently, the Houston Police Department gave chase to a Corvette which was weaving in and out of traffic, sometimes reaching speeds of over 100 mph. When the Corvette pulled over and stopped, the driver turned out to be an off-duty sheriff's deputy. The pursuing officers did not give the 12 year veteran deputy a ticket, although, to their credit, they did notify his supervisor. The media caused a brouhaha of sorts after some television reporters heard the police radio transmissions on the chase and arrived in time to observe the police letting that deputy go without giving him a ticket. Because of the media attention, the deputy cannot expect to avoid being disciplined by the sheriff's department.
If the driver of the corvette had been a 17 year old youth, would the officers have called his father and let him go without a ticket? If the driver had been an employee of Wal-Mart, would they have called his supervisor and let him go without a ticket? Of course not. A civilian would have been arrested in a hot New York minute for reckless driving and/or some other charges.
Officers claim that when they give breaks to off-duty officers for traffic violations or for some other offenses, they are merely showing "professional courtesy" to the transgressing officer. That type of professional courtsey may involve taking officers home who have been detained for public intoxication or for disorderly conduct. Sometimes it involves taking an officer home who has been stopped for drunk driving, although in that case they will often notify the officer's supervisor, especially if that officer is from another police agency. Often, such favors are also extended to the immediate family members of a police officer.
Professional courtesy? What is professional about an officer deliberately disregarding traffic laws in his police unit when he is not on an emergency call? What is professwional about not giving a traffic citation to an off-duty officer when a civilian would have been cited for the same offense? What is professional about taking a drunk driver home because he is an officer, when a civilian would have been jailed under the same circumstances? It is a professional courtesy when a doctor provides another doctor or his family with free medical services, or when a lawyer provides another lawyer with free legal services, but NOT when a doctor refuses to testify against another doctor or when a police officer lets another officer off for a law violation. However, an acceptable form of professional courtesy is the assistance provided by officers to the spouse and children of deceased or disabled comrades.
If officers believe that they will be given breaks when violating the law they are emboldened to behave irresponsibly. Professional courtesy, as the police see it, is really an act of professional irresponsibility or, in some cases, police misconduct. It is unethical and discriminatory to apply a double standard in disposing of law violations. whether committed by police officers or by civilians. There is, understandably, a strong bond in the police brotherhood, but in order to maintain the public's respect and support, the police must stop showing favoritism to their own, when they would not do so for civilians under the same circimstances. Professional courtesy, as defined for the police, should be limited to helping out the immediate family of a fallen or disabled officer, and to treating everyone with respect and courtesy whenever possible, absent of any police misconduct, and in a nondiscriminatory manner.
LET THERE BE NO MISTAKE! Police officers should have the discretion NOT to make arrests or issue citations for minor violations, but that decision should not be based on whether or not the offender is another officer. Letting someone off with a warning is often more appropriate than issuing a citation or making an arrest. Many officers will not issue a traffic citation to a civilian when they believe that he cannot afford the fine. Police officers in California refused to arrest or file charges against a desperate mother who burglarized a bakery to steal several loaves of bread, because she had no food for her three children. Instead, they persuaded the baker to keep providing the mother with day-old bread. However, the deputy with the corvette should have been cited, if not arrested for reckless driving.
The police should NOT claim they are practicing professional courtesy when they allow a fellow officer, who has broken a law, to go free. Once an officer buys into the professional courtesy mindset, he will feel inclined, if not compelled, to provide fellow officers favorable treatment in minor traffic accident investigations, in domestic disturbances, and in disorderly conduct incidents. And that mindset results in the ROUTINE PRACTICE of not issuing traffic citations to fellow officers. About the only off-duty officers who will then be ticketed are those deemed as "assholes" because they got pissed-off and were dumb enough to take their anger out on the officers who stopped them.
When a private citizen operates a motor vehicle within the speed limit, or at no more than 5 mph over the limit, he usually does so because he is afraid of getting a traffic ticket. When an off-duty police officer believes he can drive at excessive speeds with impunity, that is exactly what he is going to do.
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