Police-Annoying
By lisado
@lisado (1227)
United States
February 5, 2007 4:39pm CST
This has been a pet peeve of mine for a while and it was smacked in my face again yesterday and I thought if I'd see if I was the only one.
Am I the only one that is annoyed when they are out and see a police car that is being used for personal use? I mean, come on! The wife and kids are in the car, and their at the grocery store in civilian clothes, shopping! Am I the only one that gets annoyed with this? I've even seen off duty police park in the fire lane, run in for a snack, and then leave. It's obvious that they aren't arresting anyone, so why are they parking in the fire lane when anyone else would get a ticket? Why are they even in a government vehicle (which we are paying for the gas, I am sure) when off duty? Any other company that I know of gets cheesed if you take their vehicles on personal use, especially if you have people with you. What if they were involved in an accident?? We get to pay for his families injuries, as well? I am assuming they aren't carrying private insurance on their cruiser so that they can take their wives (or whatever) shopping?
Another thing that ticks me off is when I'm passed by an off duty officer, in his police car, who is going faster than me, not to mention he is talking on his cell phone at the same time! My husband was taking me to a doctor appointment the other day and we were on the highway going 10 MPH over the posted limit. A guy driving a police cruiser, in cililian clothes, blew by us at least 10 MPH more than we were going. He was chatting away on his cell phone. I am assuming that if it were a police issue he would have been on his radio, not a cell phone.
Why are they allowed to do whatever they want, and then ticket us for the same offenses???
Ok, end of rant. Just curious if it was just me or not.
5 people like this
7 responses
@ShadyGrove (996)
• United States
6 Feb 07
Now I have been passed, I have seen a cop put his lights on to go through a red-light then turn them off when he was through to the other side, I 've seen them park in no-parking zones, etc.
But I have never seen a cop driving around shopping with his wife and kids in the car!!! I think that was going beyond any call of duty there. Next time I think you should write down the tag/car # and call in and report that behavior as inappropriate use of a city/county car. I do not think they are allowed in any circumstance to be out, off duty or not, with family in the car.
Anybody here with ties to the law/police who could clarify this one?
4 people like this
@kgwat70 (13388)
• United States
9 Feb 07
I have seen the same thing where cops will put on their lights to only get through a red light. They will turn them off as soon as they get through. I think this is terrible. They should wait just like the rest of us at the lights unless they are really attending an emergency.
3 people like this
@zavebe (122)
• United States
7 Feb 07
I was walking to classes on campus, the other day. And while mid-way across the crosswalk I nearly got hit by a speeding policecar. (No sirens or anything like that, Im not a moron. lol).
I was rather pissed that I nearly got hit. But by a policecruiser?!
Yeah. It's not just you.
@kgwat70 (13388)
• United States
9 Feb 07
I think that these officers feel that they are above the law and are special and can do whatever they want and whenever they want. I have not seen any cops here that have done that as of yet but I am sure it happens a lot elsewhere like you had mentioned. If I did see this, i would have a problem with that. Talking on a cell phone while driving is setting a very bad example for us civilians. A police officer should know better than to do that and use his radio if it is police business. He or she is definitely not setting a good example by doing any of the things that you mentioned. They should get in trouble for some of the things they do when they are not on duty.
2 people like this
@albert2412 (1782)
• United States
10 Feb 07
Where I live it is permitted for the police to drive the police cars for their own use. They park the police cars in their own driveways and even go to church in them.
2 people like this
@lisado (1227)
• United States
21 Apr 07
What bugs me about that is that you know they aren't paying for their own gas when they run the family around on the weekend in it. Taxpayers are filling their tanks, and the way gas keeps going up it seems like they're having to take more out of taxes to keep them on the road.
1 person likes this
@kelly60 (4547)
• United States
5 Apr 07
Where I live, the police take their cars home and park them at their homes at night. It does bother me though when they sail past me at high speeds or do not bother using their turn signals, especially when I would have gotten pulled over for the same thing.
@lisado (1227)
• United States
21 Apr 07
Driving the car to and from work home doesn't bother me. It's the extra trips they take in civilian clothes with family in tow that bothers me. They use it like it's a family car and we get to pay for the gas.
Yep, I hear ya! I was pulled over once because I had a broken tag light. I didn't even know what it was! It's the little lights on either side of the license plates on older cars so that it is lit up and easily seen. It was a $26 ticket for a $2 bulb!
Luckily he gave me a warning. I had been driving all night from Indiana to Florida, got there and got lost. I hadn't slept in over 24 hours and was on the right street but couldn't find my turn into the housing addition. When he stopped me I started bawling. lol I couldn't help it! My nerves were shot and then they pull me over for something stupid. Well, they said that since I passed by the convinience store they were in a couple of times they thought I might be doing "something illegal" and the tag light being out was the excuse to pull me over. UGH!
1 person likes this
