How come cops don't always pull people over?

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I don't know if it's laziness maybe they just didn't see it. I've seen people going 10mph faster than me slam on the brakes when they are 200 feet behind a cop on the side of the road looking for speeders. Also I've seen cars run red lights and just see the cop sit there and do nothing, when he could have easily flipped on his lights and pulled the guy over. Anyone else notice this?
 
Simple

They dropped their donut and while hunched over looking for it the infraction happened and they didn't see.



K. Joking aside I've got family in law enforcement. They are people like the rest of us. Some things are important enough to light em up for,others not so much.
Highly dependent on mood and ambition on that particular day.
Some officers will write you up for anything. Others are looking for something specific.
Also depends if the city has met its monthly quota for income. Then the blitz comes. Radar traps everywhere. Seatbelt "education" weeks and so on.
Many variables.
Police are humans. With all human failings and strengths.
 
I had a sheriffs car follow me on a state highway once. It was on my way home from work. I get off of work at 11pm.

Anyway, this sheriff comes up behind me when I am in the right lane doing the speed limit. He keeps zooming up on my tail like he was baiting me to go faster. I was rather freaked out and wondered WHY in the world he would do this?

Then he pulls out from behind me and speeds up and paces me in the left lane. I was thinking....is this guy nuts? Is he going to pull me over and make up some story??

Next thing I know he speeds away and I never see him again. Needless to say I was highly upset. All I can come up with was he either thought I was some bad guy they were looking for....or he was in a nasty mood and was pushing me to speed so that he could pull me over.

Very strange....and creepy.
 
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It's likely 'prosecutorial discretion' like much of law enforcement and most courts.

Got a warning from the DMV about being a “negligent operator” and possible license revocation for all the speeding tickets earned during my misspent youth.
Haven’t even been eyeballed or stopped by a LEO in over 20 years. Knock wood!
smile.gif
 
You would have to ask that officer at that point in time. They are humans too, and make decisions based on the various inputs other humans use too.

I remember one night I was driving home from work at around 1:00 AM. I was the only vehicle on the highway, and was doing somewhere around 20 over. About 85 in a 65. I saw headlights coming up behind me, but not fast, so I figured "not a cop" and just kept on. The headlights got closer, then moved over to the left lane to pass me. I looked over, and it was an Alabama Highway Patrol Crown Vic. He passed me, probably doing at least 90 MPH, then some ways up the road put his signal on and got back over into the center lane I was doing 85 in. That was an "I'll be [censored]" moment for sure.
 
An officers job is based on their own discretion. They are not obligated by certain laws to issue a citation/warning, or arrest someone. Although domestic violence laws in most states require an arrest if visible injury is present.
 
Originally Posted By: lawman1909
An officers job is based on their own discretion. They are not obligated by certain laws to issue a citation/warning, or arrest someone. Although domestic violence laws in most states require an arrest if visible injury is present.


Unless there is a ticket quota or a open slot for promotion then its ticket writing time.


Cops here said there was no quota then a cop leaked a memo saying you must write X number per day on average. Then when they went back they tried to spin it as its not a quota then the rules got dropped again as that was not the first time it had happened.
 
I like the description I once saw on a South Carolina
State Trooper ticket a family member once received.
It stated that they issue moving violations based on
reasonable enforcement of traffic regulations.

"reasonable" can be interpreted in many ways but
I would say that is means that if a Magistrate finds that the citation issued is UNreasonable he can dismiss the charge.

My family member was ticketed during a check point stop, just after 9/11 on a rural road for not having a license in the car when operating their vehicle. My family member explained to the trooper that they had been jogging at a nearby park and didn't want to leave the wallet in the car because it was a potential
theft risk, and of course it is annoying to keep your wallet on your person when running in shorts. The park was less than a 1/4 mile from home and the trooper was offered to have a car
accompany them to their home so they could show proof of license and registration, the trooper refused even though they have 10 vehicles on this lightly traveled road.

When they appeared in court they explained the situation to the
court clerk and was told to wait outside the courtroom. Within 15 mintues the clerk came back and told them the citation was dismissed, no points and no fine.
 
Originally Posted By: lawman1909
An officers job is based on their own discretion.


You got that right. I was pued over for cellphone use not long ago. I was using a hands free device, driving within all limits, and driving an MT car. No texts or emails. Genuinely innocent.

Needless to say, it was incorrect discretion, and I'm going to court.
 
Don't know where you found that "info". All I can say is I have never heard of actual quotas. I have just heard of showing proof of your work, I.E. (Reports written, warning, citations, handling calls for service, etc.)
 
Go to court, and if you are genuinely innocent, then you should have no problem. Good luck and remember the ol' saying "Yes your honor" and call the officer "officer", not "cop" or "he/she". Respect will get you much further than ignorance.
 
1/4 from home... so they drove less than a quarter mile to go to the park, yet they went jogging? I call liar. Stop.. please.
 
Originally Posted By: Jimzz
Originally Posted By: lawman1909
An officers job is based on their own discretion. They are not obligated by certain laws to issue a citation/warning, or arrest someone. Although domestic violence laws in most states require an arrest if visible injury is present.


Unless there is a ticket quota or a open slot for promotion then its ticket writing time.


Cops here said there was no quota then a cop leaked a memo saying you must write X number per day on average. Then when they went back they tried to spin it as its not a quota then the rules got dropped again as that was not the first time it had happened.



A municipality is a business. It needs income. Income comes from various sources including tickets. It's said all the time that there isn't a ticket quota. Yet I see these blitz's for speeders and seat belts usually a week before the end of the month.
Hannibal Smith is quoted as saying there's no such thing as coincidence,it all part of a big plan. I tend to agree.
Not that it bothers me. If the city can get its money from those who choose to break rules instead if raise taxes by all means go ahead.
Every entity needs money to do what it does. if handing out more tickets means my road gets plowed more than once a season then keep writing.
It it means the city will plow the sidewalks rather than the homeowners doing it well let me grab you a pen.
See where I'm going with this.
 
Originally Posted By: lawman1909
Go to court, and if you are genuinely innocent, then you should have no problem. Good luck and remember the ol' saying "Yes your honor" and call the officer "officer", not "cop" or "he/she". Respect will get you much further than ignorance.


Does officer irritate the cop in question if they are a Sergeant, etc.?
 
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Originally Posted By: lawman1909
1/4 from home... so they drove less than a quarter mile to go to the park, yet they went jogging? I call liar. Stop.. please.


It might have been more 1/2 mi, the rural road was a state highway, the traffic is not that heavy, but the speed limit is 55 MPH and the shoulder is very narrow, so you do NOT want to be running or jogging on it.

Not lying, that is part of why the citation was dismissed.
 
In my state speeding fines even from local cops go in the state general fund and aren't earmarked for law enforcement etc. So it's a pretty fair system.

If a cop is running traffic they could be getting an overtime grant from the feds to look for drunks, commercial vehicle violations, terrorists, unicorns, etc. "Normal" speeding is not on their, ahem, radar.
 
I have worked with a lot of off duty cops over the years, and I have asked many of them this.

They say often they are headed somewhere and don't want to stop along the way. Also, all I have asked insist there are no quotas.

John
 
I was doing about 80 mph in Mexico (55 mph zone I think) when I passed some trees and all of a sudden a cop pulled out behind me with his lights on, after about 10 seconds he turned his lights off and turned around. Don't know what that was all about, but if I was in the US I would have bought a lottery ticket. Slowed down after that.
 
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