Police officers, do you make any allowance for "professional courtesy"?

Question

Many years ago I worked as a correctional officer in Louisiana and occasionally I was stopped for speeding (less than 10 miles over speed limit) and when the officer found out that I was a correctional officer I was advised to slow down and be careful. I now work as a correctional officer in North Carolina and although I have not been stopped for speeding here, I have been told by co-workers that correctional officers were not allowed any special considerations. What are the views of your department?

Answer 1

The "old school" answer is yes, the unwritten rule was you didn't write other police, corrections, firefighters, or doctors traffic tickets unless it involved an accident.
Nowadays, professional courtesy within law enforcement is dying if not already dead, as evidenced by the attitude Wyoming cops have per a previous post. The truth is now that some cops will write other cops no matter what, which is fine but that's how wars start. A war is where cops from one town target cops from the town of the cop that wrote the other cop the ticket. Lets use the example from the previous post of the Wyoming cop writing say a Nebraska State Trooper a ticket for speeding. When a Wyoming cop goes into Nebraska there's a good chance that, if stopped, there will be some retaliation. And when word gets out, Wyoming cops will be laying for Nebraska cops and so on...it's happened hundreds of times and a few times has resulted in armed confrontations.
All writing tickets to fellow police officers does is foster a hostile relationship between law enforcement agencies which can cause serious problems at many levels. An officer should use discretion (common sense) whether or not to issue a ticket to another officer. This scenario is based on the fact that a traffic ticket is a civil infraction which is not criminal in nature.
A police officer that commits a crime has no more (or less) privilege than anyone else and professional courtesy does not and never did apply.
I lived by the rule for 25 years.

Answer 2

1

Answer 3

I don't think it should be that way anywhere. Breaking a law is breaking a law....You should not be let off just because you work for the corrections, or as an officer....Granted in most cases, at least in my experiance, under 10 miles an hour over usually just involes a warning anyway but still.....I know cops kids that have been caught with alchohol and all that was done was their beer was taken away and they were taken home....any other kid would have gotten a ticket on the spot....thats not right either...what is that kid going to learn....If an officer is going to give everyone a warning first time around then fine, or even just the kids that are polite and cooperative....but not just a few select kids....I know most people want to look out for their buddies and help them out, but part of the job of a police officer is being fair and non-bias....Small things like the speeding, does not matter as much, like I said, most times under 10, usually results in a warning the first time anyway....but bigger things, like MIPs, people should be treated the same....I don't mean to sound rude, I know that most officers are pretty good, but in my small town, its really bad. SO maybe I have a bad view of things....

Answer 4

Professional courtesy exists, no question about it. There's no way to really 'measure' how much it's done or under what circumstances. Officers, especially the less tenured ones, can have a hard time giving a traffic citation to another (off duty) officer, especially if that person is a member of their own agency. The ease of issuing a cite increases as the gap between agencies increases too. Same with officers citing fire fighters, since both work so closely together. One can easily argue it's not right, but from a practical standpoint....tough nevertheless to enforce a lesser traffic rule on someone from what might be said as your 'extended' family.

Answer 5

If you are going less than 10 miles over the speed limit, a lot of police will only give you a warning. However, go faster than that and it wouldn't matter if you were chief of police: the officer would HAVE to ticket you. It's the law.

Answer 6

Ill tell you that the word "professional" had nothing at all to do with it..

If I pull you over for something minor ( under 10 over the limit, rolling stop.. etc..) and you are honest ( and not necessarily polite... CIVIL always works with me ) ... no hits on you or the vehicle, you get a butt chewing and your on your way in a few minutes... ( and I don't care WHO you are or where you work )

just don't lie to me.. the only thing that will get you is a court date.

Answer 7

Police do give doctors leeway in this regard, as they may be responding to an emergency, but I don't know the legalities of this. Further, at the very least Washington police cannot stop Congress-people from speeding due to the possible effects of their not being present for a vote. Beyond that, I don't know.

Answer 8

it is at the officers discretion and I would not bank on it. Yes you worked in corrections, but that may not matter to the office that pulled you over. I would not bank on anything getting me out of a ticket.....however I think being a cop's wife can't hurt. (haha)

The department here is non-discriminant.......a detective got pulled over and arrested for DUI and another office got the same. So it really may not matter in the long run

Answer 9

because ALL sectors are made up of humans (poIice forces included) there will always be special considerations (thats human nature) so I say always try your luck when it comes to getting out of fines etc. heck if you don't ask you'll never know hey! That's rule anyway and I've got out of many a fine, (or at least got a reduction) and I have also managed to return items to shops that have a no return policy and many many more examples that illustrate my point :) TRY!!! what do you have to lose.

Answer 10

most of the time your own attitude has a great bearing on whether you receive a fine or a warning, so it is not unusual for similar professions, when stopped, to realise this and act with courtesy and thus get only a warning