Is it fair that cops don't write other cops tickets?

Question

I think they should be required to write tickets anytime they pull over another cop.

So if you pull another cop over and hes drunk you just let them go

Answer 1

It is common for an Officer from one jurisdiction to write a ticket to an officer from another. It happens more often than most people think.

Answer 2

From all your questions it appears that you have a problem with law enforcement in general. So I will say this, it is officer discretion. I never stopped a drunk cop but I did take a drunken Fire Dept. Captain to jail and boy did he howl!
I would hope no officer would ever put me in that position personally.
As for giving you a break if you're a cop, I usually would. But I stop the same cop for the same thing and there is no certainty they get a break. I figure you have abused your break at that point.
State Troopers are notoriously intolerant of other cops speeding, so not everybody gets a break if they are a cop anyway. Also traffic officers are primarily assigned to write tickets and they definitely have been known to write cops.
Maybe if you didn't have a chip on your shoulder, you might get a break also. Being belligerent is a good way to guarantee yourself not getting a break, might want to grow up.

Answer 3

"Officer discretion"??? GET REAL. One of you even mentions DUIs. Tell me, when was the last time you let a civilian slide on a DUI? 1975?

I will, however, give you the speeding tix, etc. After all, those are normal human errors.

The funniest (in a sick way) juxtapostion of stories I've seen recently was in the Milwaukee WI News. One article was a story quoting police, school admins, etc, about the harm done by those t-shirts that say "Don't snitch". the other story was about how none of the nine officers in the Frank Jude beating case would testify against their fellow officers.

Sorry. When you put on that badge, you are supposed to put aside friendships and prejudices and be fair. If you can't, find a different job. Those people we give our trust to based on their position should be held to a higher standard, just as a banker stealing money should suffer more than a street thief. And this is NOT unheard of. Look at some of the laws regulating psychologists, doctors, and the like.

Answer 4

Everyone has a few perks to their job I suppose. You can't blame cops for that. All the cops I know are very careful on the roads anyway and figure that if they can do the right thing, then everyone else can too. However, if they are caught by a speed camera (not pulled over by a person) then they can't get away with it and will get a ticket like everyone else.

Answer 5

Sometimes, cops do write other cops tickets. It is generally not practiced, however. This goes along the lines of, "would you write your best friend a ticket"? In Texas, all police officers have what is called "Officer Descretion". It doesn't matter, usually, what class C misdemeanor you violated, we are not required to write a citation. If a department requires a citation, they are violating our "rights" as a police officer and taking away that descretion. It is at that point it becomes more like a quota. Quotas are illegal in all states. It is a federal violation to "set a quota".

Answer 6

I don't know? Is it fair that the guy working at McDonald's eats for free? Is it fair the airline lugage guy and his family fly half price? Is it fair that the kid that works at the mall clothing store gets 25% off. Is it fair to say that the guy that may be getting your back on the next call dosn't have to think what an *** you are for writting him or another cop a ticket? Sure it is fair. We' re all family. I know that any cop in any town will have my bacck and I his.

Answer 7

That's not true. My brother is a deputy sheriff and a highway patrol officer wrote him a speeding ticket. And I've seen numerous cases where a cop has been taken to jail for driving drunk. They're not above the law like everyone thinks they are.

Answer 8

I'll remember that the next time I'm thinking about giving a non cop a warning for a traffic violation. We don't give just cops a break on tickets, we also don't write civilians tickets.

It's called Officer discretion. We can chose who we wish to write a ticket to and who we write a warning to. If you want to get the law changed that's fine too, but remember if they take away our discretion about writing a cop a ticket then they will be fair across the board and take away our discretion of writing you a warning also.

Still fell like changing the law?

Update: This is for noonehome, I give out warnings all the time and yes that includes giving breaks to DWI's, however I'm starting to change my mind on that. I go to court next month for a ticket I wrote for spinning tires. The guy was spinning his tires in front of me. I pull him over and he was DWI. Just happens that his wife was expecting soon so I decided to give him a break on the DWI. I did however stroke him a citation for spining the tires. No he wants to fight it in court. Now theres gratitude for ya. Next time the DWI goes to jail no matter what.

Answer 9

They aren't required to write tickets anytime they pull over somebody who's not a cop, and it'd be unfair to discriminate against people just for being one.

Answer 10

I think any cop that gives another cop a ticket (unless he has no choice which isn't likely) is a piece of crap that takes themselves way to serious. If your out there writing tickets to other cops you are probably the guy on your department that everybody hates.