are the police subject to the same laws as every other citizen?

Question

or do they still let each other off with speeding offences fabrication of evidence racial aggravated assaults etc etc

Answer 1

Friend of mine is a traffic cop.Every Wednesday we all go out for a drink.He uses his car as he lives a few miles away.Allways has more than the legal limit.Pointed this out to him,his reply was no problems we all have each others car reg nos and i will not get stopped.One law for them,and for us fines and banned.

Answer 2

Obviously you are attempting to lump discretionary activity (such as speeding violations) into the same category as keeping silent about misconduct and even outright criminal activity. Not issuing another officer a speeding ticket is lawful ... fabricating evidence or assaulting someone are NOT lawful activities.

In the lawful, discretionary activities, some officers will not cite fellow officers, and others don't care that the offender is a cop or not - after all, he should know better. I HAVE cited fellow officers, and I HAVE arrested fellow officers. It may vary by the part of the country you are in, but out here there seems to be less leeway for misconduct by fellow officers than some other parts of the country. However, there are still plenty of officers here that would never issue a citation to a fellow office for a traffic offense no matter what.

Lumping discretionary activity into the same statement as accusations about criminal wrongdoing are disingenuous and an obvious window into your opinion of police officers in general. I am sorry you feel that way.

- Carl

Answer 3

In the UK the police are subject to all laws plus the police act and official secrets act so they are subject to more than most people.They can contravene road traffic rules when on duty for instance exceed the speed limit and overrule traffic signs if necessary.

Answer 4

yes and no, they do have special rules, they can carry thier guns anywhere even accross state lines.

They have power of arrest, private citizens don't have these.

So they do have some speical powers. Next while on duty and when needed they can break traffic rules.

And no in 20 plus years of being a officer I have never seen any evidence fabricated agaisnt anyone, and I have seen 100's of cries of racial discriminaton that was just pure lies of the bad guys trying to get off.

So the answer is yes they do have some special powers, and no they normally don't do any of the things you listed.

Answer 5

I had assumed this was a serious question until I read the second bit. Speeding offences-probably. Assaults; they' ve being going on since coppers used to open the station doors with drunk's faces .
( the drunks were white in those days!)

Fabricated evidence? Not since PACE, mate. They fitted up so many people that pace had to enacted to control them! The irony is that they've screwed themselves & us up! More criminals walk free now than ever.

As to the first part of your question, the answer is yes & no. We are all subject to the "rule of law". That's one of the reasons why much of the rest of the world wants to live here. It's just that police have powers under the law that we don't have. Too many to explain!

Answer 6

Yes we are subject to the same laws as everyone else and even some others that everyone else may or may not be subject to. Such as abuse of power etc. We are also held to a higher standard then your normal citizen.

As far as letting each other off of speeding, I let more citizens go on speeding then I have ever let go officers. Reason being I have stopped way more citizens and given them warnings. I have only stopped 2 Officers and they were only going 10 over on the freeway.

I have never caught an officer doing the other crimes you mentioned, but if I had, I would have dealt with it appropriately and done the right thing.

Answer 7

I learned in college to get my criminal justice degree that there is NO fundamental difference between a police officer and the average citizen. They are not required to perform CPR even if they know it, they are not required to perform any type of first aid, especially if there is blood involved. They cannot operate with impunity...speeding, domestic violence, DUI...they are subject to the same laws we are. However, you are right. There are some crooked cops out there, and the cop who offers to let a fellow man in blue off the hook is no better that the officer who accepts being let off the hook.

Answer 8

cops are subject to the same laws as everyone else. As far as the speeding tickets go, It is all about discretion and warning usually suffices. You wouldn't write a family member a ticket unless they were being really stupid would you? Same thing.

Answer 9

No we have special laws written on the back side of the constitution, you should see them they are great. Are you stupid?......... fabrication of evidence,racial aggravated assaults (?), etc,etc. Do you have any of your own made up fabricated evidence to prove your statement? or are you just being your typical liberal self

Answer 10

In England, English law applies to every person living in or visiting the country - no exceptions, not even the monarch. If police officers are letting other police officers get away with crimes, then we have a corrupt police force.

Answer 11

They are supposed to be, but that does not mean that they are. If a cop drives drunk and causes an accident, usually the breathalyzer test machine "fails" in some way, the reports on the accident get "lost" and after a few visits from other police officers, witnesses "forget" what they saw. Aw, shucks! Looks like the cop can't be prosecuted, doesn't it?

By the way, the same thing usually happens when a member of a cop's family drives drunk.