He's in for a real butt chewing...

[Direct Kodi]

Yesterday, I witnessed a head on collison. A police cruiser crashed head on to a coming car. The police cruiser was in the lane the other car was coming. The damage looked pretty bad on both vehicles.

If you are on patrol and you are involved in a vehicle accident such as this...and it's your fault, do you get to stand in a corner and hear all that jibba jabba from your supervisor?

[Sig220Man]

Before you assume the officer is going to get a butt-chewing, a couple of questions:

1. Was the officer operating with his lights and siren on? In my state that would give the officer permission to break traffic laws.

2. If the officer had his lights and siren on, was he still operating his patrol car with reasonable safety? Or was he driving on the wrong side of the road in a reckless manner?

These questions, and more, will be addressed in an upcoming investigation into the accident.

As far as a chewing out from a supervisor in view of the public...the investigation hasn't even begun and already there is an assumption that the officer is at fault. It smacks of both poor police work and poor supervisory skills.

[spaz]

i have almost been run over by cops....(not in code 3) on foot.....

almost been broadsided by a cop playing w/ his laptop ..talking to his passenger etc...

......truth is, multitasking doesn't work well with most but is required for police officers. sometimes .....they slip up. :/

[Evnings]

A good supervisor will wait until the accident investigation is over to determine fault.

At fault accidents for police officers happen all the time. We drive a minimum of 40 hours a week in adverse conditions.

Sometimes standing in the corner after a chewing out is in order, sometimes a written reprimand is in order, sometimes nothing is in order. It depends on the situation.

[ 02-05-2003, 12:35 PM: Message edited by: Evnings ]

[Chief Wiggum]

When I'm driving off duty I always stay away from cops. They're some of the most dangerous drivers on the road. Trying to drink coffee, talk on the radio, and type at the same time is not conducive to good driving. It's amazing I haven't been in a wreck yet. YET,

[Chiefy_Brown]

yeah and yet we have the gall to hand out tickets to drivers who are talking on a mobile phone that's what gets me

[DaveInTx]

quote:

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Originally posted by Chief Wiggum:
When I'm driving off duty I always stay away from cops. They're some of the most dangerous drivers on the road. Trying to drink coffee, talk on the radio, and type at the same time is not conducive to good driving. It's amazing I haven't been in a wreck yet. YET,

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Sounds like a perfect argument for 2-officer cars to me.

DaveInTx

[PPD140]

Hell. Not too many people can drive, listen to the music radio, mobile radio, look for violations, talk on the radio, smoke, and drink all at the same time. Takes practice.

[Direct Kodi]

I'm not implying that the officer should get a time out in the corner facing the the corner of a wall and I'm definetly not arguing that officer's on duty getting in motor vehicle accidents is unacceptable.

LEO officers are human too. They are bound to be involved in some kind of accidents at least once in their career-time. I just felt bad for him because I'm sure he felt bad about being at fault for the accident.

Police officers in my county do a spectacular job. It is because of those police officers that Fairfax County Police Department is knowns as one the best in the nation. And I am darn proud of them.

[Traffic Dog]

A Green Bay PD officer was recently involved in a one car accident. A letter of reprimand was placed in his file. He fought the action and the letter was actually removed. The officers reasons were that officers are trained to be bad/inattentive drivers. Officers are trained to multitask using radio,radar,observe others activities activity etc. The multitasking takes away from the task of driving. Another reason cited by the officer was the police cars . The cars are not set up to promote or help in driving. Its very difficult to see through the back window with a cage, long gun, arrowstick, etc. the police and fire commision bought it and sidedwith the officer.

[Deputy Joe]

Traffic Dog,
I am assuming that this is a different write up from the one I heard about.

An officer is going to a business alarm call. Per department policy, he blacks out as he arrives. He strikes a curb and bends some rims (I believe it was 3). He catches 2 BGs. He gets written up for not using due regard. Police and Fire commission threw the disipline out.

[Don]

One agency that I worked for had a series of really stupid deputy at fault accidents. I mean just really inexcusable.

The sheriff put out a memorandum that ANYONE involved in a motor vehicle accident was going to be getting "beach time." Even if it was not their fault.

Well, the next accident involving a department car was the sheriff himself. His fault too.

For some reason that memorandum just magically disappeared off of the bulletin boards throughout the department.

[DesertRat]

quote:

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Originally posted by Chiefy_Brown:
yeah and yet we have the gall to hand out tickets to drivers who are talking on a mobile phone

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Not me! That has to be right up there in the top ten stupidest laws of all time. It's Ok to change radio stations, put on make up, have sex, eat, and do a million other things while driving, but heaven forbid you talk on the phone while you still have your eyes focused forward anyway.

[Evnings]

I forgot about sex in a car. Almost ran my POV off a bridge one night because of that .

[Mike Tx]

quote:

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In my state that would give the officer permission to break traffic laws.

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Thanks for finally telling me it's ok to pass on the right.