Hey, have you heard of copswritingcops.com? If not, you have a new favorite website.
Copswritingcops.com is a forum where cops who have been written (i.e. given a ticket) by other cops bitch and moan about being held to the laws that they are paid to enforce. Just to take the first example off the site:
On June 20, 2007, I was heading to Springfield, Illinois from Chicago on Interstate 55 (I-55) to give a training seminar on LAW ENFORCEMENT defensive tactics . As I am driving, I’m really not paying attention to where I am at or how fast I was going. I was pretty much keeping up with the cars in front of me and next to. Most of the time I had my cruise set at 77-79 in a 65. Up ahead, I saw a few state police units (4 or 5, when you you work in the city a bunch would be 15-20) with people pulled over. Being the cop that I am (and what we all should be), I slowed and then made sure none of them were in any danger or getting their ass kicked.
As I passed a state trooper, she kept her lights on and pulled back onto the highway and got behind me. I pulled over and had my license out when she approached. I figured that she saw the FOP badge on my plate… It’s not something that any ordinary person can buy. They’re numbered and you have to be the police to get one.
Once she got to my window, she took my license and told me that I was clocked by airspeed doing 84.9 miles per hour. That seemed a little high, but we know not to argue. She asked why the hurry. I told her I wasn’t in a hurry and that I was en route to give a LAW ENFORCEMENT defensive tactics training seminar in Springfield. I actually gave her the business card of my contact at the Police Academy. The same academy that trains the state police! I then mentioned that I have been law enforcement for almost 15 years and would appreciate a break. She then told me that she couldn’t do that because she was the “catch car”. I then rattled off a couple names of who might be flying the plane that was above (Butler, Galvan). I worked with a couple during a DEA detail once and I KNOW they would give me the nod. That didn’t even phase her. I then realized that I was getting a ticket. After stopping hundreds of cops on Lake Shore Drive, some state, I was getting a ticket. I have friends in state police districts 2, 5 and of course Chicago. This troop, Trpr Schroder #3512, from district 6 is the only officer to ever give me a ticket while I have been a police officer. Congrats to you. [emphasis in original]
So the guy is ticketed going 85 in a 65 zone, and is pissed because (1) he thought he was only going 77-79 in a 65 zone, and (2) his attempts to name-drop his way out of the ticket didn’t work. Consider me, a guy who has gotten more than one bullsh*t ticket in his life, surprisingly unsympathetic.
You can check out a whole bunch of stories like this at the site. The story in which a cop was most aggrieved by his fellow man in uniform wins the coveted “Dick of the Month” award, which Boing Boing thinks should be renamed “Cops Who Actually Do Their Jobs.”
Now that I’ve written this, I’m going to have cops across the country running my name to see if I have any unpaid tickets. Jonathan Steins from California to Maine shall pay for my cheekiness.
Oh, and PS — The banner on the website is “Cops Writing Cops – Where’s the Professional Courtesy? Law Enforcement and Polcie Officers help each other.” That’s right, a website by cops for cops misspells the word “police.”
More stories after the jump.
According to this one, a cop who writes another cop a ticket for a legitimate infraction of the law is a “disgrace to the uniform.”
On June 22, 2007 I was heading up US59 in Houston to go do my quarterly firearms qualification. Unfortunately, I was running late and was pulled over by Officer J.W. Harris, traffic enforcement, with Houston Police Department. I immediately pulled over and gave him my license and insurance. Officer Harris asked why I was speeding and I informed him that I was late for a range day and that I understood he was doing his job. I then showed him my credentials since I had my weapon on me. Officer Harris then checked to make sure that my inspection and registration were up to date and went back to his car.
Officer Harris took approximately ten minutes so I figured he was going show some professional courtesy and only make me “wait” awhile longer instead of stroking me a ticket. That wasn’t the case. Officer Harris ticketed me even after I identified myself as a law enforcement officer. I am currently working under cover in a Federal position and informed him that I too had previously been a police officer in both Houston and Dallas, Texas and had pulled over multitudes of Houston Police officers while working radar and had always shown them professional courtesy and sent them on their way.
Officer Harris showed indifference and informed me that he wouldn’t care if someone was going on a raid that they still had to obey the law. “Oh, by the way, I’m cutting you some slack since I only wrote you for 70 in a 60. At no time was I rude or obnoxious to this man. This officer is a disgrace to the uniform if he can not show some courtesy.
This one is from a former cop angry at a cop in North Carolina. He was caught speeding, but because he was caught in a speed trap — designed to catch ordinary citizens in the exact same way, mind you — he’s supposed to be cut some slack.
Used to be in traffic enforcement back up north. 15FEB07 LT. J.G Spitz of Atlantic Beach, North Carolina Police Department. I am new to the area and very unfamiliar with the speed zones. I was traveling westbound doing 50MPH in a 45MPH zone. I was unaware that it dropped to 35MPH just around the bend and that was exactly where he caught me. Pulls me over in my old police department issued cruiser. Stated I was new to the area and used to be in law enforcement. He continued to state that he was only going to check my information and that he would be back. 20 minutes later he comes with a $140 ticket, people like him make me sometimes regret getting into law enforcement because people like him give police officers a bad name. My personal policy is to give most people brakes so that if I am caught on the side of the road in trouble. Maybe that guy who was doing a measly 10 over could save my life. Is it worth your ego?
