Ridiculous Police News (Specific events)

[jmc]

http://www.startribune.com/local/min...206975601.html

Not sure how I feel about it yet. It's a huge priority for officers to get to the scene of the crime, and it's certainly within their power to run a red light, and I know they usually exercise caution even when they do. Guess evidence will let us know if the motorcyclist just wasn't paying attention or if the officers weren't paying attention and just blew through the light.

Bit of a bummer for a Friday to walk past that scene.

Still need to come to a stop at a red light, even if responding priority one (or code 3 as some departments call it).

We had a similar situation in south boston back in '09. Officer was responding to a OT call (officer in trouble), and while responding he blew through a red light and flipped a suv killing the female driver.

[Nephlite]

They have devices that change the lights. I've seen them do it... and hold it the way they want it for hours. Why wasn't that used?

Usually they're on fire apparatus as it's much harder for them to stop on a dime as opposed to a police vehicle which may or may not stop pretty quickly if the need arises. It's a fairly expensive system (on the vehicle) and then you need the sensors installed on all the lights in a given area, which can be hit or miss depending on the areas funding. Smaller towns and counties might not have them but major metropolitan areas can usually afford the systems. Upkeep is also fairly expensive and is prone to the usual problems with IR transmission devices. It works kind of like your remote control pointing at your TV and has a limited range and can be disrupted by a host of different conditions (rain, snow, objects in the field of view like semi-trucks and whatnot along with the current phase of the moon and how many people are wearing tinfoil hats at the time). Better to brake early and drive defensively when you encounter traffic and think quickly but cautiously when approaching intersections. Even in EVOC, you're trained to not completely rely on your emergency lights and sirens as you can't assume everyone can hear you or see you.

What jmc said was true for most (if not all) jurisdictions where even if you're running code, you should stop at every light or at least slow down to an almost complete stop before running a stop zone or intersection. Complacency kills, and you'll see that a good majority of code 1 crashes happen on midnights when there's very few cars on the road and you're used to being able to blow lights without worrying about anyone on the road. It's that one time you blow an intersection at 100mph and there's some soccer mom getting an early head start on her bake sale and you slam her since she has a half dozen screaming kids in the car with the music on in a vehicle that (as time goes on and technology gets better) that is designed to suppress outside noises.

[jmc]

And that last part is why I love my rumbler siren <3

[Denchi]

Well what the fuck?!?! What are the repercussions for an officer that fucks up and does something like this?

[archibaldcrane]

Cops act retarded when another officer is hurt or in danger. Nothing new.

[BaneTheBrawler]

Damn. I guess Rochester has pretty nice cop cars then, because the time I saw them hold it for hours it was just two patrol cars parked outside a house waiting to arrest a guy or something. They turned the light leading onto that street red, because they didn't want people driving by. Which sucked for me, because I was on the other side of the light trying to make a left. I gave up and made a right, looped around a few times, and was able to get on the road i needed to be on. I came back a few hours later and they were still there, light was still locked.

Also, I always imagined those devices would be RFID, only stronger, to avoid precisely those problems.

[Moss]

any officer that blows through a red light, sirens be damned, is being incredibly negligent

[Nephlite]

Well what the fuck?!?! What are the repercussions for an officer that fucks up and does something like this?

Depends on the jurisdiction. Probably termination. Cops get charged with crimes all the time so probably negligent homicide or something. Or it could have been ruled justified because he was running code and he just got a reprimand.

It's not always that, though. It's the resulting civil suit that will fuck the officer plenty. Nothing worse than having to work for the rest of your life for free because your wages get garnished to pay off a civil settlement.

Cops act retarded when another officer is hurt or in danger. Nothing new.

Just like anyone would when one of their buddies/brothers/sisters get hurt or like when comrades in the military get hurt. Or just like a decent human being would act when their friends get hurt. I'm surprised you of all people could say something so heartless.

Actually, no, I can understand because you're neither military or police and probably never had your life threatened or had one of your friends get killed or put in danger.

[Rhinox]

Taking out the emotion of it Let's not pretend that every cop

A. Knows each other
B. likes each other

You're told how you're suppose to act and you know how you're suppose to act but let's not pretend its genuine.

It's like the guy at the wake that's crying about a grandparent they never visited. It's something you roll your eyes at.

[Plow]

Damn. I guess Rochester has pretty nice cop cars then, because the time I saw them hold it for hours it was just two patrol cars parked outside a house waiting to arrest a guy or something. They turned the light leading onto that street red, because they didn't want people driving by. Which sucked for me, because I was on the other side of the light trying to make a left. I gave up and made a right, looped around a few times, and was able to get on the road i needed to be on. I came back a few hours later and they were still there, light was still locked.

Also, I always imagined those devices would be RFID, only stronger, to avoid precisely those problems.

http://www.themirt.com/index.php

[BaneTheBrawler]

Fascinating. That seems like a poor design choice. RFID is just as invisible, and you can boost the range to be just as effective. I guess it wouldn't be directional, so maybe that's why. But then, you'd already have to have 4 receivers in place per intersection, so with some relatively simple software you could still triangulate which side its coming from. Maybe it's cheaper, then. That's probably it.

I wonder if I could program my TV remote or Lego Mindstorms brick to mimic the infared signal. That'd be awesome. I know my remote has a "learning mode" that lets you point it at another remote, hit the button you want it to learn, then program a button with that signal. And I haven't done much with the new Mindstorm brick, but it has a few different types of infared devices. I'd have to see if any of them can transmit on the same frequency. Not going to test it, though, because my butthole has suffered enough.

[Buffy]

Whoops.

http://www.cnn.com/2013/05/19/us/phi...html?hpt=hp_t2

[Suvhater]

http://www.wxyz.com/dpp/news/local_n...ontent-of-0000

Man charged with DUI despite documents showing blood alcohol content of 0.000

Around 11 p.m. Thornton, according to Surprise Police Department paperwork, was pulled over for crossing the white line in his lane.

"He (the officer) walked up and he said 'I can tell you're driving DUI by looking in your eyes,'" said Thornton.

The 64-year-old says his eyes could have been red because he had just left LA Fitness where he was in the pool swimming.

"I take my glasses off and he says, 'You've got bloodshot eyes.' I said, 'I've been swimming at LA Fitness,' and he says, 'I think you're DUI,'" said Thornton. "He (the officer) goes, 'Well we're going to do a sobriety test.' I said, 'OK, but I got bad knees and a bad hip with surgery in two days.'"

Medical documents show Thornton was scheduled to have hip replacement surgery two days after the incident.

According to the police report, the officer notes that Thornton does have a hip and knee problem.

Thornton said two other officers arrived and he conducted the sobriety test.

"At one point, one of the officers shined the light in my eye and said, 'Oh, sorry,' and asked the other officer if he was doing it right,'" said Thornton.

Thornton said he was then placed in handcuffs and told to sit on the curb.

"I couldn't even sit on the ground like that and they knew it and I was like laying on the ground, then they put me in the back of an SUV and when I asked the officer to move her seat up 'cause my hip hurt she told me to stop whining," said Thornton.

According to documents provided to ABC15 from the City of Surprise, Thornton was taken to police headquarters where he took a breathalyzer test.

The test, according to the police documents, came back with a blood alcohol level of 0.000.

[bechyni]

Could he of just asked for a breathalyzer test from the start?

[archibaldcrane]

I hope we all realize dude was high.

Ya know, for his hip pain.

[Blubbartron]

How exactly are you supposed to test if someone is currently high on marijuana? You can't prove it one way or the other. Regardless of what the "influence" was, arresting someone for something that is literally impossible to prove shouldn't be acceptable.

[jmc]

Could he of just asked for a breathalyzer test from the start?

Depends on departments, some don't have portable breathalyzers.

Also, was he offically charged with a crime or just the suspicion of DUI that probably got dropped after the breathalyzer.

Edit* nevermind..... enjoy that lawsuit

[Salodin]

I hope we all realize dude was high.

Ya know, for his hip pain.

This. Driving high on pain meds is still dui worthy. I'd like more info.

Also, why are you swimming if you have hip problems? Have I been swimming wrong this whole time? Should my hips stay stationary while I swim?

[Niiro]

I would imagine swimming would be the ideal exercise for people with bone and joint issues.

[Blubbartron]

This. Driving high on pain meds is still dui worthy. I'd like more info.

Also, why are you swimming if you have hip problems? Have I been swimming wrong this whole time? Should my hips stay stationary while I swim?

Article says flat out his blood test came back clean. No opioid-based pain killers to be high on.

According the documents from the Surprise Police Department, the blood analysis showed no drugs were detected in Thornton's blood.