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Submitted by Bert on Mon, 09/22/2008 - 9:30am.
I was riding up 4th Ave last night at about 10 pm when I got a bad vibe as I heard a vehicle approaching. I could hear that it was coming up fast. I felt unsafe enough to stay as far to the right as possible, in the parked car lane. I was worried that the driver was aiming at me. Right when the car was beside me, the driver stepped on the gas and accelerated away up the hill. This was right near the intersection of 4th Ave and Eastside Street. It was an Olympia Police Department squad car. Why do police speed? Why do police drive aggressively? It's especially disturbing that police evince aggressive driving tendencies when they are not in pursuit. The actions of this police officer as a driver(assuming the car was being driven by a police officer) were threatening to me as a bicyclist. This driver seemed aggressive and hostile. Who writes the tickets for cops when they speed?
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Why do cops speed??
Submitted by JT on Mon, 09/22/2008 - 6:13pm.well Bert you didn't provide enough info, but frequently cops respond to situations that don't provide for emergency lights, in fact many time emergency lights might create an unsafe situation for officers and the public.
But everybody knows cops just run amok violating traffic laws at will because we are sooooo out of control. **rolleyes**
Bert, if you ever need an emergency or even an urgent response, please let the dispatcher know you don't want the police to speed in an effort to get there to save your ass. If you do that we will be sure to drive the limit or under so to not make any other driver or biker to feel unsafe. If your situtation is worse because we took too long to get there, I'm sure you will be ok with that because the officers need to not incense bicyclists, etc.
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Maybe they like to be intimidating
Submitted by rainy gray on Mon, 09/22/2008 - 7:15pm.Is this...
Submitted by The Fire Inside on Sun, 09/28/2008 - 8:42pm.For real?
yes
Submitted by Bert on Sun, 09/28/2008 - 8:47pm.Okay...
Submitted by The Fire Inside on Sun, 09/28/2008 - 9:45pm.It has less to do with "fear" and more to do with being in control of the situation. As part of Basic and Advanced training in the Army (and I'm more than certain the Marine Corps does, too; the Navy and Air Force, I'm not sure) today, trainees are given numerous lectures and hands-on practice for dealing with people. A lot of the training has to do with being in control of the situation and none of it involves having a discussion.
There's you - the Soldier or for this discussion, officer - showing up and being the authority and everyone else. That's it. If they - the people you're dealing with - don't want to go with the program, you get them in line.
So I'd say it has less to do with being nervous and more to do with wanting to get people in line, since the adrenaline is starting to flow in anticipation of how you will get people in line.
See above.
I don't think any more "bullies" are attracted to police work than any other profession. It's just that - unfortunately - you're able to see very quickly who had their lunch money taken in school and who didn't. In fact, you could make an argument that it would be worse for someone who was bullied to go into law enforcement than the bully himself.
I'm sure it's high in the military, also. Again, I don't think this has to do with the people who go into the profession as much as it has to do with the profession itself. You're asking people to do things and carry out certain actions that society at-large have been taught not to do since birth. Do it long enough and it'd be ignorant to think there'd be no affect.
Some people have more difficult adjusting than others. There's an AFN commercial with Soldiers in a combat zone, a voiceover saying "If you're the same way here..." The commercial then shows the Soldier walking through a door and coming out in civilian clothes, voiceover "As you are here," and then goes into contact information for help.
This is all stuff that these communities are well-aware of and try to deal with.
calm vs. aggressive
Submitted by chad360 on Mon, 09/29/2008 - 9:10am.I hear both sides in this, and with many relatives in LE & Service, I'd say there is a BIG difference between the calm, authoritative demeanor and the arrogant, in-your-face attitude I see from some (not all) of the local "poe-poe".
Cops are (of course) people too, and respect goes both ways, so I always try to make right when interacting with LE, but more often than not, egos & attitude get in the way~
I would guess that most of
Submitted by OperaGirl on Mon, 09/22/2008 - 8:54pm.I would guess that most of the time they are getting to a call that doesn't require lights. Ambulances do it as do fire fighters and I've never seen them called out for being aggressive drivers. Although one time, I was driving at night and I was going the speed limit (I wouldn't bother telling the story if I wasn't!) and an SUV turned on the road behind me and got right up on my tail which made me nervous so I sped up a bit and it stayed on my tail. SO I sped up again and then the lights came on and I got pulled over for going 10 miles over the speed limit. I'm not sure what that was all about.
Music is the mediator between the spiritual and the sensual life. ~Ludwig van Beethoven
Flashing Lights
Submitted by Bert on Sun, 09/28/2008 - 8:23pm.I don't know if the lights were flashing in the front of the light bar, but it helped me to see the lights flashing as the vehicle sped down State Avenue, to know that this police officer wasn't speeding without a purpose.
I understand that there are times when it is not appropriate to use the lights when responding to a situation - but the lights should be used up until the point where they might interfere with the effectiveness of a response (e.g. sneaking up on a suspected crime scene.)
Most of the time...
Submitted by The Fire Inside on Sun, 09/28/2008 - 8:36pm.You're going to pass someone before they even realize it. People start to "drive weird", so to speak, when they see lights behind them.
I don't see why it's a big deal. Nobody in their right mind is just flying through Olympia - and if this many people comment on the subject, I imagine in the middle of the day - because they feel like it.
original post
Submitted by Bert on Sun, 09/28/2008 - 8:44pm.Ah...
Submitted by The Fire Inside on Sun, 09/28/2008 - 9:00pm.I was just responding to your response.
In regard to the original post...It happens. I don't think anything from Superbad was taking place.
It (aggressive driving) is just "one of those things." It's a bad deal for everybody, because a pedestrian can be injured/killed and most officer fatalities come from traffic-related incidents.
I've never seen a speeding police car and thought, "He's just doing it for the hell of it." I know I've suggested it before, but go on a ride-along.