Please don't flame. Help me Understand

[MCCO]

As you may or may not know I am academy bound. :D Whoo hoo.

Something that has always bothered me and I need some help understanding.

LEO's have what is called Professional courtesy. How far does this professional courtesy extend?

I have seen LEO's that are out of there county doing 100+ on the interstate. Now I understand that not all cops respond to calls with lights and sirens. As far as I am concerned with in there jurisdiction they have the benifit of the doubt.

But out of there jurisdiction on there way home what gives them the right to break the law that they are sworn to uphold? I think the average citizen feels the same way. The very same Leo that is speeding home is the very same person who is writing citations to speeders! Why are they exempt? Are they exempt?

I would think that you would not want to put one of your fellow officers in the position to have to make a decsion to pull you over. I know in the most extreme of cases it is necessary to pull over or even arrest a fellow officer. But personaly I would be upset if another LEO put me in the position to have to choose to pull you over or not beacuse of professional courtesy.

[thelemite]

Good luck with the academy. I can not speak for anyone but myself, but I treat what some call professional courtesy as an extention of discretion. In certain instances (which vary between departments) an officer can exercise discretion in how to handle a situation. Generally, people start with a warning and earn their tickets from me based on how they handle the encounter. Another officer is unlikely to make me feel it necessary to go any further than a brief conversation, since they understand what is going through my mind while I am making the stop.

[MCCO]

I hope I haven't touched a nerve on this one :eek:.

I feel its a valid question..... I hope

[MCCO]

Good luck with the academy. I can not speak for anyone but myself, but I treat what some call professional courtesy as an extention of discretion. In certain instances (which vary between departments) an officer can exercise discretion in how to handle a situation. Generally, people start with a warning and earn their tickets from me based on how they handle the encounter. Another officer is unlikely to make me feel it necessary to go any further than a brief conversation, since they understand what is going through my mind while I am making the stop.

Understood and thank you for the encouragement.

I do not want to be one of those cops who gives a ticket to a fellow Leo. In fact I doubt I ever could. I know I do not understand it now but I do know there is a bond that is formed with others in law enforcement.

I guess my question is really why put a fellow officer in the postion to make the decsion. I personaly would feel like a hypocryt if I broke the laws I swore to up hold. Maybe this will change. Maybe speeding isn't that big of a deal. But right now I just don't understand how in good faith I could issue a citation to a speeded when I myself get away with it daily.

I am confused.

[MCCO]

Let me clarify.

I am not trolling here. I did a search on the subject and really didn't find the answer I was looking for. As I said I understand the very officer you give a ticket to maybe the same officer who is your back up. I am not really talking in that sense.

I am speaking of officers who you have no daily interaction with. I have seen this on more than one occasion. Marked patrol car for the next county flying down the interstate. Is he exempt? Am I a bad officer if I pull him over and tell him to slow it down? (Assuming I am in my jurisdiction of course).

I am courious as to how all this fits in.

[scott715us]

Not to take up for officers hauling a**, but many do extradition and will travel out of state in some cases (felony charges). It is a pain in the butt to be chosen to go pick up some scumbag 400 miles away by yourself.

I don't plan on pulling over a marked police unit because my jurisdiction is limited. I also don't appreciate officers putting me in that situation by speeding by me in front of the general public. I don't have a problem at all pulling them over. I wouldn't plan on writing them a ticket, but more so explaining too them that professional courtesy comes with respect for one another. ;)

[MCCO]

Thats what I am getting at.

I am starting to understand a bit more. I mean yeah a fellow officer is driving drunk hell yeah you pull him over and I would think you your self should be arested if you let him go.

I have no idea what its going to be like out on partol. I have nothing to base the experience on.

But

Like I said an officer speeding through his jurisdiction you give him or her the benifit of the doubt.

Just another point I am not talking 10 mph over the posted speed. I am not even talking about 15. The patrol car I see daily has to be going in access of 100mph. Hell I am going 75-80 and he passes me like I am standing still. :p

[GoDirectly2Jail]

You will learn about professional courtesy in the academy.

[Old Trooper]

At least for now, what you need to know is that you would NOT even THINK of trying to pull over a marked car. You would have no way of knowing what he is doing or what his assignment is. Just wave "hello", and look for bad guys.

[Bearcat06]

I am speaking of officers who you have no daily interaction with. I have seen this on more than one occasion. Marked patrol car for the next county flying down the interstate. Is he exempt? Am I a bad officer if I pull him over and tell him to slow it down? (Assuming I am in my jurisdiction of course).

No offense, but if you start trying to pull marked patrol cars over when you are on duty, you are going to make a lot of friends very fast........ :rolleyes:

My advice is to leave them alone and see what your FTO and Department policies are once you become gainfully employed with said Department.

[Joeyd6]

You don't question what another cop is doing in a marked or unmarked car. You will be new and given info on a need to knwo basis. We have 12 rookies at my precint now. I am in a plain clothes unmarked detail. They donot know what I am doing, but know I am an officer. So if they see me take a light, speed or drive on the sidewalk or park at hydrant, they keep going. They know I am working, and may be working on something they don't know about. Just like that cop in marked unit may be going somehwere you don't know about. I do not see how ever pulling over a marked unit with another LEO in teh driver seat a option.

As for yoru other question about sourtesy, some back when you get verified and ask on that side. You will get a much more honest answer than the the general forum. I will gladly share my view there as to what I do and what "our" (NYPD) view on courtesy is.

As for not writing people for what you have done....your view will change. I am human, not perfect. I usemy cellphone on my way towork...sometimes I speed and sometimes I forget my seatbelt. I am human. So are others. But when a guy does 50 in a 35 through a school zone with no seatbelt, on teh cell phone and a kid not in a car seat, there is a problem. Yes he is doing what you have done, but the dangers are higher. I don't cite everyone I pull over. As a matter of fact, I probaly stop on average 200 people a month fro car stops and common law right to inquiry. How manytickets I issue: 20 a month. How many poeple get tickets of teh 20? It ranges from 4 people to 10 a month. There are more variables that play into it: Did they admit they were wrong? Did they apologize? Is their excuse valid? Are they lying? How many otehrs wer just placed at risk? Do they have an attitude?

Relax...it all comes with experience. You won't know the job because you graduate the academy. You willhave the educational foundation. You will learn a little each day as you experience it, and as other officers help guide you! Good luck!

[ChesCopPodz]

Never even consider pulling over a marked cruiser. As stated, you have no idea where they are going or what they are going to. You do not want the reputation as the area a$$hole by the cops that could save your life. Personally, I do not ticket LEO's, plain and simple. There are some situations that the Commonwealth of Virginia mandates that I arrest if PC exists and if a police officer happened to be the suspect, then so be it. I do not have discretion in those situations, but that is it.

[Swat1]

There are many many reasons a squad car outside its jurisdiction may be violating traffic laws. From prisoner transport, to mutual aid calls to specialty skill response to transporting organs for implant to specialty equipment needed by another jurisdiction etc. I will not say that EVERY time you see a squad out of its jurisdiction violating a traffic law that it is valid but I would say that a great majority of the time it is. I wouldn't pull over a marked unit unless I saw some really egregious/reckless behavior which warranted it. As far as unmarked units go, I wouldn't pull one over which was clearly an unmarked (some are obvious), but some are not so obvious. I have been pulled over several times in my unmarked out on surveillance, etc. You would be hard pressed to identify my vehicle as an LE vehicle at all. I explain to the officer #1 that I am armed #2 that I am a LEO #3 that I am on duty #4 that I am involved in a surveillance. I have not had any problems with uniformed officers holding me up any further etc.


Swat1*

[MCCO]

There are many many reasons a squad car outside its jurisdiction may be violating traffic laws. From prisoner transport, to mutual aid calls to specialty skill response to transporting organs for implant to specialty equipment needed by another jurisdiction etc. I will not say that EVERY time you see a squad out of its jurisdiction violating a traffic law that it is valid but I would say that a great majority of the time it is. I wouldn't pull over a marked unit unless I saw some really egregious/reckless behavior which warranted it. As far as unmarked units go, I wouldn't pull one over which was clearly an unmarked (some are obvious), but some are not so obvious. I have been pulled over several times in my unmarked out on surveillance, etc. You would be hard pressed to identify my vehicle as an LE vehicle at all. I explain to the officer #1 that I am armed #2 that I am a LEO #3 that I am on duty #4 that I am involved in a surveillance. I have not had any problems with uniformed officers holding me up any further etc.


Swat1*

An honest answer. Thank you Swat1.

I didn't fall off a turnip truck yesterday and am not that gullable to believe that the cruiser I see wizzing down the highway at mach 1 out of his juristication (In another county) is doing any thing official other than trying to beat the traffic home for dinner :p

But I degress. I am getting the point and I do understand what you are all saying.

[Group9]

An honest answer. Thank you Swat1.

I didn't fall off a turnip truck yesterday and am not that gullable to believe that the cruiser I see wizzing down the highway at mach 1 out of his juristication (In another county) is doing any thing official other than trying to beat the traffic home for dinner :p

But I degress. I am getting the point and I do understand what you are all saying.

Well, believe it or not, I'll bet you will know more about law enforcement after you have graduated from the academy and done the job for a few years than you do now.

There are a lot of things the police do on duty that seem strange to non-LEO's, kind of the same as if I watched people working in a chicken skinning factory. Just because I see things that I don't understand doesn't mean they are skinning chickens wrong.