I don't know about everyone else, but I get angry when I see a police officer breaking the law.

Don't get me wrong, I respect the police. I'm sure it takes a lot of courage to go to work every day knowing it may be your last.

--BUT--

Officers are charged with enforcing the law.

About an hour ago, I was driving down the highway doing 70 in a 65 while passing a slow moving truck. This is not excessive speeding.

A police officer with the words "Traffic Officer" on the side of his car suddenly appeared behind my car. He was so close, I had no choice but to signal and move over.

Upon moving over, the officer accelerated very fast. I decided I would keep up and see what the hurry was.

So here I am, directly behind a cop, going 94 miles per hour in a 65. He had no lights on. He had no siren on. He was blatantly disregarding the laws which I pay him to enforce. He was also switching lanes without signaling, which is usually enough probable cause to pull a motorist over under a suspicion of being intoxicated.

So, I decided to call the police. While dialing, the officer decided to pull over to the left and slow down, with out signaling, and then get back up my tailpipe.

So, here I am driving at about 80 in a 65, speaking with the police about the police officer that logic lead me to believe may have been intoxicated, with him about 10 feet off my bumper.

I informed the police that he had been speeding, 25 over, in a construction zone. I informed the police that he had been swerving in and out of traffic. I informed the police that he was using aggressive intimidation tactics against me.

I was informed that the office was being contacted.

So, I ask, "Who is policing the police?"

They park where they want, drive where they want as fast as they want, and bend and twist the same rules they enforce on a daily basis.

Is this happening everywhere?

This is not an isolated incident where I live. Over a one month period last fall, I called the Crime Stopper line at least 5 times, each time with at least 10 infractions that the police department charged with serving and protecting me had committed.

When will it be enough? When an officer wrecks his car and kills another motorist?

I am keeping my camcorder in my car from this point forward. If I see an office break the law, I will film it. I will submit it to the media, the local police, the mayor, the state police, and the FBI. This is corruption.

If I can't break the laws, then the people charged with stopping me from breaking the laws certainly should not be allowed to break the laws at their leisure.

Any thoughts?

Mike

Have you tried contacting your city or county's Internal Affairs Office? They are the Police for the Police. Internal Affairs deals with everything from small complaints to much more serious infractions.

-Kisov

No, but I will. Thanks for the suggestion.

Mike

No problem.
I just had the fun of being called in to the IA office of my police dept. this morning. Because some child molester I fingerprinted, put forth a complaint on me because I didn't treat him with the kind of respect he felt he deserved. . . . . .
He is lucky I didn't treat him with the respect he deserved!!!! I would have sterilized him and thrown him in prison with the general population.


So even *** NOTICE: THIS WORD IS AGAINST THE RULES. FAILURE TO REMOVE IT WILL RESULT IN A STRIKE. *** complaints like that one get investigated by IA, so I'm sure Mike's complaint would as well. Mike, next time you see something like what you stated, get the car number or license number so they know which officer was the one driving like that.

They park where they want, drive where they want as fast as they want, and bend and twist the same rules they enforce on a daily basis.


Yeah, and they don't always pay for their coffee either!!!

I think a good judge of the trustworthiness of a police dept. is if you take a look at how many Internal Affairs officers they have. The police dept. I work for has over 270 sworn officers, but only 1 Internal Affairs officer. Because their are so few complaints about our officers, there is no need for more than that. Whereas the Denver Police Dept. has over 40 Internal Affairs officers. . .they are notoriously corrupt. Just my two cents. . .

-Kisov

Maybe I'll compile a twenty minute video, put it on CDs, and mail it to Internal Affairs. If I don't notice it stopping, I'll then mail it to everyone.

Sound like a plan?

Mike

I can vouch for that. I live in Denver, and I see officers commiting traffic violations all the time. Most of them are minor (ie. using the siren to go through a red light), but on occassion, there is an officer that is doing well over the speed limit without the use of the siren or lights, and there are frequent reports on the news about Denver officers using excessive force when apprehending a suspect. These are the acts that cause citizens to lose respect for the local police department. It's probable that it's a power hungry minority, but the most visible aspect, sadly enough, becomes the representative of the entire force.