DEAR SGT. AL: PART II: WHAT GOES ON INSIDE THOSE POLICE CARS?

DEAR SERGEANT AL:  Now that you answered the question what the cops are doing inside those radio cars when sitting on the side of the road (BASICALLY NOTHING) tell us what happens and what goes on when a cop decides to go after somebody and pulls them over? Are the cops really that much of a prick at times as they come off as being? --COPS OFTEN PATROL WITH A TIME CAUSING HISTORICAL EXECUTION REPEATEDLY.

DEAR COP WATCHER (again?): OK now you are REALLY asking too many questions at once and loaded ones at that. Actually I’m more interested now in why you want to know? Are you a police car stop frequent flyer? You’re starting to sound like one. Sometimes the cops aren’t necessarily the pricks in that it usually is the violator who is so flagrantly violating the law and usually so dangerously without regard, that he is the only one who usually needs to look around to find who most closely resembles a phallic shape, and to see no one else but usually himself [oh my!].

Anyway, COP WATCHER; please understand that in the United States more police officers are killed in the line of duty by the automobile than by an assassin’s bullet. The police cruiser represents so many things in law enforcement that many do not realize that the patrol car in many ways is a mobile coffin waiting for the next cop’s interment to happen.

Trust me when I tell you there is a BIG difference in performance and safety when driving an American police car verses driving a German saloon. One was MODIFIED to chase cars on an American interstate highway and the other was PURPOSE DESIGNED and BUILT for the German Autobahn. A cop keeps this in mind when driving . . .

 First take a closer look at the car the cop is sitting in and driving. I often tell people when they ask me about police officers doing speed enforcement, that it is one thing to speed in a car that’s designed to be driven at high speeds. It’s another thing to drive at high speeds in a car that was specifically designed to be nothing more than an American family sedan. There lies the problem with the American police cruiser. You see, a Chevrolet Corvette or Camaro, a Ford Mustang, a Dodge Challenger or Viper, even a Mercedes Benz S550 or a BMW 760 are designed to travel at speeds in excess of 100 mph, and in some cases as it is with the luxury performance saloons, to do so for prolong periods of time. In the case of a Ford Crown Victoria or Taurus, a Chevy Impala or an old Caprice, a Dodge Charger or an old Diplomat, or an old Plymouth Fury, although they can go as fast, driving them at high speeds can be a scary proposition in excess of over 100 mph. You can add all the cop shocks, cop tires, cop brakes, cop transmissions, cop engines, and cop cooling the world has to offer, but you still have a car that was basically made to hold a family of five and no more. There is a difference between driving a car that was modified to chase cars on an American interstate and a car that was purpose designed and built for the German Autobahn. If these words do not discern the difference in danger for you between driving a German and an American car, then I suggest you drive them yourself in a comparison to see what I mean, and how driving an American police car at high speeds can be dangerous.

So with the kind of car the cop is driving in mind, take a closer look at what goes through an officer’s mind when he pursues a motorist. What goes on in the mind of a police officer that just locked in on a speeder and is about to go after him? The same thing he experiences when in high-speed pursuit of an evading felon: Fear. Courage. Hope. Determination. Resolve. Maybe even a prayer that the officer will make it through the stop and the tour in one piece without a car crash and a bullet hole. Most likely the officer’s heart is going to be racing just as fast as the motorist, even though he’s so used to it he may not show it to become most times unaware of it. If an officer is on the shoulder and a speeder is going 80 mph, the laws of physics dictates that it will take the officer speeds faster than 100 mph to overcome the speeding vehicle from a stationary position. The officer is going to be doing this in a car that is able to go fast but not designed to be driven that fast. Once he/she manages to get the police car up to race speeds then the speeder safely over and stopped in a matter of minutes if not seconds, he/she now has to deal with the violator and the infraction that caused the stop. Remember that if the officer is in uniform, the motorist is going to know exactly what and who the officer is. For the officer, he/she will have no clue who or what the motorist is unless the motorist pops a warrant on the radio or MDT computer, or commits a misdemeanor or felony in the officer’s presence. And that might include the motorist either speeding off to evade the officer or the motorist outright shooting the officer.

Dealing with confrontation at the car stop. Human condition dictates kindness is often mistaken for weakness. An officer by regulation and ethics must be courteous to the public true, but make no mistake about police work that it is about arresting people and ticketing them, by force if necessary; the police are not there nor paid to make friends in a legal or tactical sense. This may address your “prick” comment COP WATCHER, in that the officer needs to establish an authority at the car stop to make it clear that the motorist is being stopped for breaking the law, and not stopped for exchanging courtesies, and depending on the outcome no matter who the motorist is, they might be arrested or ticketed before the officer even looks at or runs the license. 

I remember the time when I crossed the Canadian American border from Quebec back into New York in January of 2004. It had been just over two years since September 11^th, and based upon the last time I crossed the border years previously, I could clearly see that times have changed. The Canadian customs officers were very courteous and professional to me as I to them, but they made it clear that I was not in the United States, that I was now dealing with a foreign sovereign government that was separate and apart from my country as if I was on the other side of the world, and that I was now a foreign national. For no explained reason for which I was never told, they announced that they were taking me off the line to cross the border and that they were going to take my car apart and search it. I couldn't understand why but I fully cooperated, knowing I had nothing to hide. I gave them my driver’s license, identified myself as an American police officer with my credentials, and stated my intentions as to why I visited Canada, where and whom I had visited, and that I was returning back home. As nice as they were to me and I to them, you could obviously tell that they could have cared less. They took the car apart including the rear seat AND seat back, the entire trunk, removal of insulation, the spare tire, and tools, and they checked every nook and cranny. They asked me if I had my firearm but didn’t believe me to check for one anyway. They smiled as they tried to put everything back as close to the way I had it (the trunk was full as I was on vacation), and then let me go. I was there for 45 minutes in their parking lot by the checkpoint. I knew they were wasting their time as I stood there chatting up a storm with a companion rolling my eyes at them but killing them with kindness. I could have been at the 1970 Czechoslovakian border during the Cold War for all I knew, and ultimately, I think I was treated poorly, considering that I was fellow law enforcement. I never saw authority executed with such resolve and determination as ever before as if they were looking to arrest me, even though and especially in spite of the fact that I was one of them. Most law enforcement officers probably would have complained to their superiors, but I was more interested in going home as quickly as possible. But ultimately I didn't have anything really to complain about: they weren't rude or abusive, they did their job even though they treated me like anyone else. And that's my point: if this is the way I as an officer was treated by an outside law enforcement agency, then I hope this story makes you better understand what the police are going thorough when they stop a typical ordinary citizen like you to treat you in a similar manner. They're doing their job . . .

To ticket or let go? Once the motorist is targeted, pursued, stopped, and identified, this is where the officer has to decide whether to take summary action against the motorist (ticket or arrest) or let them go. Since off-duty and retired officers and their families are more likely going to render assistance than the general public in a situation where someday I might need help (see my comment in part 1 of this post), they and their families are most likely, absent unusual circumstances of course, are going to get a break. People who are not of the law enforcement world get all bent out of shape about this for either side to not understand the philosophy behind the other’s side. This has nothing to do with that so called “blue wall of silence.” Doctors look out for other doctors; judges, lawyers, and other professionals do the same. The law gives me pure discretion as to whom I can ticket and let go, so it is my prerogative, tough luck. I’m sorry if this upsets some people, but if it does, then become a cop or a cop’s family member to understand and to invest an interest in law enforcement welfare so that you will better understand and appreciate the dynamic so you most likely will not get a ticket when you get stopped. Get over it.

When the stop is over. I believe the only time in this process an officer can start to rest easy is when either he or the motorist drives away from the scene of the car stop. The problem is that if the officer needs more tickets for his monthly activity, so called “the quota,” he/she has to start this all over again. So there it is COP WATCHER, you are WARNED, “prick” and all, as you hopefully can now see how difficult and dangerous traffic enforcement can be for police officers. I hope next time when you see a cop on the side of the road on his cell phone talking to either his squeeze or his kids or doing whatever, you will appreciate that the moment the cop is having is probably deserved considering the danger the officer faces throughout his career.  There will be times that a cop will be doing nothing to purely collect time so he can collect his pension no doubt, but until that time comes that you will see it for what it is to call him out, that otherwise you understand how difficult, dangerous, and stressful police work really is. So have a little more patience and be a bit nicer when he pulls you over next time. Have a safe one!