Police officers in Calgary are getting caught speeding and running red lights by their own photo radar traps.
What’s not slowing them down is the fact that less than one per cent of those caught on film breaking traffic laws have ever had to pay a ticket.
Over a two-year period between July 2012 and July 2014, Calgary police officers were caught breaking the law 861 times without their emergency lights flashing, an access to information request revealed.
Only 24 of those instances resulted in a ticket. Only six of those tickets were ever paid.
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In my bolder days, I followed a cop who sped, swerved thru lanes without signaling multiple times, and ran two reds. Nearly got 'Rodney'ed' except I was carrying two witnesses.
Still worth it.
It'd be a lot easier to get on side and board if it wasn't so flagrant and obvious sometimes.
In the course of executing their duties, police are allowed to break the traffic laws. They DO NOT need to have their lights and/or siren activated in these cases.
Cops that are caught in a red light camera or speeding are required to justify their actions and show that they occurred during the execution of duties.
Last edited by llwhiteoutll; 03-25-2015 at 07:23 AM.
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In the course of executing their duties, police are allowed to break the traffic laws. They DO NOT need to have their lights and/or siren activated in these cases.
Cops that are caught in a red light camera or speeding are required to justify their actions and show that they occurred during the execution of duties.
Yeah, but this, as many of us have long suspected, shows it goes ways beyond duties and responsibilities.
The equivalent of getting away with it cause you can. Flaunting it, really.
I'll let myself out now. No good can come of this. Said what I came to say.
I'd be rich, well at least able to buy a pair of shoes, if I had a dollar for every time I've watched a cop drive up to a red light, flip on the flashers, zoom off for a couple of blocks, then turn them off and slow down again.
#######s!!!
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I'd be rich, well at least able to buy a pair of shoes, if I had a dollar for every time I've watched a cop drive up to a red light, flip on the flashers, zoom off for a couple of blocks, then turn them off and slow down again.
#######s!!!
Wouldn't you do it if you were a cop?
Hell I'd be more into following the Super Trooper concept of policing:
They'd also rather get to Tim Hortons than pull people over for blatantly breaking the law. I've seen it 3 times at one intersection on 16th now. Some moron runs a red(not yellow, clearly red when they enter the intersection) There is cop heading westbound at the lights, and does nothing, presumably becuase they are on their way to Timmies just down the road.
I'd be rich, well at least able to buy a pair of shoes, if I had a dollar for every time I've watched a cop drive up to a red light, flip on the flashers, zoom off for a couple of blocks, then turn them off and slow down again.
#######s!!!
How are we determining whether or not a cop is in the middle of executing his duties when this happens? Is it just a blatant assumption and a lack of understanding about police response or is there evidence that the cop simply wanted to get through a light faster with no work related reason?
I'd be rich, well at least able to buy a pair of shoes, if I had a dollar for every time I've watched a cop drive up to a red light, flip on the flashers, zoom off for a couple of blocks, then turn them off and slow down again.
#######s!!!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Fuzz
They'd also rather get to Tim Hortons than pull people over for blatantly breaking the law. I've seen it 3 times at one intersection on 16th now. Some moron runs a red(not yellow, clearly red when they enter the intersection) There is cop heading westbound at the lights, and does nothing, presumably becuase they are on their way to Timmies just down the road.
You guys should go on a ridealong with the CPS before making stupid assumptions like this.
90% of the time you see a police cruiser, he or she will be on their way to a call. The vast majority of calls do NOT warrant a response of driving at 160 km/h with the lights and sirens going.
The 'sirens through intersections' thing is common practice, and is done for a variety of reasons:
- Responding to a call that is not a life or death situation, but time is of the essence. For example, a burglary call, whereby they have to get there quickly, but don't want to announce their approach to the suspect
- Attempting to catch up with someone who has broken a traffic law, or the officer would like to check out, such as a vehicle matching the description of a wanted suspect. Again, they want to catch up without making their presence known
- The officer was trying to respond quickly to a call (see first point), but another unit arrived on scene and radioed that no further assistance was needed, or the call was bogus/cancelled
And even if they do go to Tim Hortons once in a while...WHO CARES?! You take coffee breaks at work, don't you? These guys (and girls) work 12 hour shifts, sometimes with no breaks, or a chance to eat lunch, and have to deal with the worst kind of people all day long. Not to mention, you know, the whole putting their lives on the line for you thing. Every day.
Next time you're at Tim Hortons and see a police officer, you can go ahead and ridicule them. I'll personally be paying for that officer's coffee.
I am certain that flashing your lights through an empty red light in the middle of the night is just because they don't feel like waiting. The thing that upsets me about it is that I can't follow.
I am certain that flashing your lights through an empty red light in the middle of the night is just because they don't feel like waiting. The thing that upsets me about it is that I can't follow.
Maybe I'm wrong but I thought that CPS had a system that monitored and recorded the use of lights and sirens and that the cops had to account for their use. I thought this was implemented to prevent or curb the use of lights and/or sirens for bypassing traffic or lights in non response situations.
I am certain that flashing your lights through an empty red light in the middle of the night is just because they don't feel like waiting. The thing that upsets me about it is that I can't follow.
Oh, I never said that it doesn't happen. Some cops WILL do that simply because they can.
But that doesn't mean that every single time you see a police car flashing his lights through an intersection, that it's not for a legitimate reason. That's the assumption some of you are making. I'm not saying that "cops can do no wrong", and when an officer messes up, he or she should definitely be nailed to the wall for it. But just because they wear uniforms doesn't mean that they can't be given the benefit of the doubt. They're human beings with families too, and they do a dangerous job for less money than what most of the rest of us make.
By the way, that cruiser you saw in the middle of the night at an empty intersection...how do you know he wasn't actually going to a call? Did you ask him or something? Most of the action happens at night, you know. That's when they're busy fighting bad guys, when we're all sound asleep in our beds.
Quote:
Originally Posted by calgarygeologist
Maybe I'm wrong but I thought that CPS had a system that monitored and recorded the use of lights and sirens and that the cops had to account for their use. I thought this was implemented to prevent or curb the use of lights and/or sirens for bypassing traffic or lights in non response situations.
My knowledge on the subject is limited in this regard, so I'm not sure about that, although it would not surprise me. It's not difficult to tap into those systems from a computer. But I can tell you that when the dashcams were first introduced, the officer being interviewed on the news said that the dashcams are activated automatically when the officer drives too fast, or any time he activates the lights or sirens.
Couple days ago I was tempted to start a topic like this when I saw a K9 unit SUV park in the fire lane at safeway so a cop could get himself starbacks from inside the store.
Of course they dont care about traffic laws. They enforce them. Does anyone actually think the vast majority of police obey traffic laws?
Couple of days ago I was tempted to start a topic like this when I saw a cop walk into safeway with a pistol holstered just so he could get himsalf a starbucks from inside the store.
Of course they don't care about gun laws. They enforce them. Does anyone actually think the vast majority of police obey guns laws.
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Captain James P. DeCOSTE, CD, 18 Sep 1993
Are Calgary police above traffic laws?
