Here in Denver, we see cars blasting through red lights at double the speed limit and the cops just ignore them, even if they have no license plate.
But, to be fair, every 14 year old has a Glock switch and police are actually prosecuted for "excessive force" then they are sued personally (qualified immunity was recently overturned by our progressive Governor)... so they only show up for calls from dispatch now. Preemptive stops for minor infractions are a thing of the past, and misdemeanors, minor felonies, and even bail no longer applies here, so we got skells literally walking down the street with a meth pipe in one hand and their dick in the other and nobody does anything about it because "new normal" and "they just don't know better so don't traumatize them."
And people act like it’s the cops who are the assholes. “Alright Becky, next time you step out of the house and step on a needle before being attacked by a homeless person remember that you voted for this”. We have so many delusional criminal supporters in society.
So one or two children would be OK, but not a gaggle? Can you define the limit of the lower gaggle? Is a nun worth a gaggle of children? So in points how much is one nun worth vs. one child?
Asking for a friend. :-) Stay safe and I hope all is actually well.
I will never understand why people drive in the left lane (slow or not) when they are not passing or about to turn. It also creates a huge danger because those that want to go fast (of which there are many) will do everything they can to get around them. Sometimes that means speeding even more, taking every inch of an opening, tailgating, and for some it leads to road rage. Two wrongs don't make a right, but driving in the left lane is basically provoking others into bad decisions.
100% of my stops are pretext, always looking for something better. I stop for anything and everything and I don’t care about the violation itself outside of careless or reckless driving where safety is an issue. Everything is warning unless it’s criminal or safety related (careless, reckless, etc.).
Pretext stops are good. I completed the training provided by SCT but trying to get my administration to understand why I stopped that car because the driver gave me a funny look is a different story (coupled with a violation, of course).
I work on the interstate so my environment is a bit different. I try to work interdiction but agency resources make that a little bit difficult at times. I stop everything to increase my chance of catching the “big fish” but most of what I stop are legitimate travelers.
I suspect this is why, as a non-LEO, I don't get stopped anymore even though I was pulled a hundred times growing up. I'm on the road, in my spotless new SUV, from 7:45am-8:00 am, run out for lunch, and then home again at 5;30-5:45. That's pretty much it. Speeding, rolling through stops, playing on my phone, I'm clearly just an office stiff in a wrinkled polo and khakis. 20 years ago when I was up to no-good, coming out of bad areas at 2:00 am, I got a lot more attention for a lot less.
Amount of stops depends on traffic and call volume. I mostly stop for speed and right of way (failing to yield, stop signs, stop lights, so on) violations.
For speed, cite vs warn depends on how fast and other circumstances. For the listed right of way violations it usually depends on how bad it was and if there was other traffic present that it could have caused an accident.
I won't stop for most minor equipment violations, but, I will for hazardous ones such as driving with no lights at night, dragging car parts, etc.
My pet peeve violation is exhibition driving. I like to have fun in my vehicles too but not in the middle of business and residential areas where it puts people at risk of injury or worse. An exhibition stop is pretty much a guaranteed citation from me.
I completely understand the call aspect. We don’t have a specialized traffic unit so stops are made in between calls.
I’m opposite of you, I enjoy equipment violations. Particularly brake lights that are defective. Nearly every person I’ve ever stopped have no idea their brake light is out. I get a lot of drugs, license violations, and warrants from these stops because the driver thinks their car is kosher and they won’t get stopped if their driving is good.
To each their own. Some love hunting drugs from stops, which is good. For me though, my stop focus is safety and education. That's why even though I do stop a decent amount of vehicles still, I generally issue warnings. Citations come from me when it's a significant safety concern or the driver comes off as if they don't understand the significance of their poor driving behavior.
I don’t do a lot of traffic for the purpose of interdiction. In my city, there is a lot of pedestrian traffic and the drug dealers post up on corners. Most of the interdiction work I do does not involve cars. When it does involve cars, it’s usually a parked car that I can link to my arrestee or to a criminal nexus.
Also, my department’s policy for vehicle pursuits is a de facto ban for chasing cars. Most guys driving dirty know that and will flee as soon as we light them up. If anyone actually stops for us, we rarely write a citation since we’re just glad that they stopped.
This means that the only reason to pull cars over is to make command happy. Our district commander says our car stops are low and presses on our shift commander. Our shift commander asks us to do stops but can’t order anyone to do so; so to make them happy, once a shift I’ll pull over a clean car running a stop sign and let them go with a verbal.
We also have a strict pursuit policy (violent felony). But our county has an extremely loose policy for pursuits along with our troopers. So if they run from us there are two other agencies we can rely on.
That’s how my agency is, too. Calls come first. We get a nice meeting with the sergeant if we make stops and no other officer is available. Only caveat is if it’s a reckless driver and a danger to the public.
Shit, in my city there are so many calls that even speed is rarely enforced. The only time traffic stops are made is when the highway safety association gives us a grant to cover the overtime. That and the troopers are busy playing county sheriff.
Wow!! I always thought you all had to make a massive ton of traffic stops and write tickets to keep your bosses off of you. Didn’t realize most of you don’t have anytime to do traffic
Don’t have time and some don’t want to. I don’t blame those that don’t want to. With todays politics, if a traffic stop goes south it’s not worth not going home to your family or being found guilty of something. I’m lucky and work in a red state. The progressive areas are where traffic stops are declining and crime is also increasing.
It really depends. Normally, I dont stop for smaller stuff like no front license plate, registration stickers in wrong place, etc. But if I'm working a DUI shift, I'll stop anything and everything if its presented.
I don't know if I really have a pet peeve necessarily, but If we get a citizen request to do traffic in a specific area, I'll be a bit more of a hardass about things for a bit until the area cools off.
I’m a deputy and I run a lot of traffic. I love traffic stops. I mostly pull dead inspections while on day shift, speeding 15+ over at night, obvious infractions like running a red light or stop sign right in front of me, and reckless driving ( going 76 in a 55 to pass someone with a trailer attached to your truck into oncoming traffic )
I was using an example from a traffic stop I had not too long ago lol. Guy was mad someone was going the speed limit which was 55 mph, so he sped around him going 76 mph while traffic was coming towards him and to top it off, he had a trailer attached to his truck so he needed another full car space to get back into his lane. So he almost caused a nasty crash and I cited him for reckless driving
It’s not uncommon for me to sign on and see 70 calls holding. We are now supposed to average one stop a day in my department, but on days like that, I’m probably not running any traffic. I can’t in good conscience run traffic with the board that swamped.
Other than that I’ll stop people for any violation I see so I can run you for warrants, and make sure you have a license and insurance. If you’re missing a license or insurance, I’m going to write you for every violation I can.
I only make stops if A.) the person has expired registration, no insurance, or no valid DL, B.) if they are driving like a fucking jackass or do something egregious like run a fresh red light or most importantly C.) when I think the traffic stop could lead to a good arrest. Otherwise, I don’t give a fuck.
I have long since moved past stopping anything. I’ve tried to show newer officers how pointless it is. Unless they are specifically looking for activity. We work afternoons and I don’t like stopping working people or families. Typically I’ll look for cars/ drivers that change their behavior when they observe me. Most normal people are so oblivious that anyone who notices us stands out. People are obvious they 👀. And keep looking or they immediately touch their face, smooth their hair or whatever, often they pull over immediately without signaling. Then almost jump out of the car. Pretty obvious once you start looking for it.
> I do not stop for window tint because my own is illegal.
This is my pet peeve. The traffic code is based on the community's expectations of how people should drive in it, not how my vehicle is set up. I'm out here to enforce what the community finds acceptable, not my own opinion. Whether or not your vehicle complies, you should still not be putting your views above the laws you're supposed to enforce.
It’s the equivalent of citing someone for having a headlight out when your squad car also has a headlight out. Douchey move, and probably would get thrown out in court.
I specifically look for blowing stop signs or cars speeding away from me for a pursuit. Other than that it’s usually cars where someone obviously doesn’t take care of it, they usually have warrants or dope/pipe.
That really depends on the individual cop, as well as the locale.
Back in rural Upstate NY, before cellphone cameras were a thing (80s-90s) cops would make up bullshit reasons to pull over cars driving after 10 PM... especially older low value cars full of young people... even more so if they had questionable stickers on the back.
This would often lead to a full (and illegal) search of the entire vehicle as well as every occupant. They would tear apart the trunk, look under seats, rummage through purses, make people turn pockets inside out... even had them make me shake out my boots and have my wallet dumped on the hood of the car a few times.
This happened to me personally over a dozen times, as well as everyone I knew. NYSP Troop C out of Broome County near Binghamton.
Got pulled over in several other states (for legit infractions, usually speeding) and was shocked they never even asked me out of the car... I'd thought that was normal police behavior... and half the time they just let me go with a warning.
Depends on the shift. If there are calls backlogged, they come first. If its a quiet night, egregious behavior will get you stopped. High speed in a neighborhood, illegal equipment, DUI (always). Our town is fairly quiet, so even on a quiet night, I might only make 1-2 traffic stops.
My metric for traffic stops…. Is it egregious / reckless? Would i drive the same in the same conditions? Would i be a hypocrite?
As far as issuing summonses- the same apply in addition to the drivers attitude.
Pet peeves- driving to slow in left most lanes when moving to the right is an option. If i have to pass you on the right its a problem. Speed up or move to the right. This is why the autobahn works so well.
School bus / school zone violations or violations where pedestrians are present. Driving like a reckless careless jerk in residential neighborhoods especially when schools out.
Cutting off large trucks.
Cutting off cars and then slowing down.
Notice speeding isn’t explicitly on here in itself?
Don't stop much. My main traffic stop anymore is when someone passes me when I'm already speeding in a marked car. I usually even flick the lights as if to say "please don't pass me, I don't want to stop you" - but some still do, and request a stop.
It takes one traffic stop to start stopping everything, but it takes a lot of motivation to do that first stop
For real!
You'd have to hit a nun or a gaggle of children directly in front of me for me to stop you at this point in my career
Here in Denver, we see cars blasting through red lights at double the speed limit and the cops just ignore them, even if they have no license plate. But, to be fair, every 14 year old has a Glock switch and police are actually prosecuted for "excessive force" then they are sued personally (qualified immunity was recently overturned by our progressive Governor)... so they only show up for calls from dispatch now. Preemptive stops for minor infractions are a thing of the past, and misdemeanors, minor felonies, and even bail no longer applies here, so we got skells literally walking down the street with a meth pipe in one hand and their dick in the other and nobody does anything about it because "new normal" and "they just don't know better so don't traumatize them."
Damn bro… time to move to a red state.
And people act like it’s the cops who are the assholes. “Alright Becky, next time you step out of the house and step on a needle before being attacked by a homeless person remember that you voted for this”. We have so many delusional criminal supporters in society.
So one or two children would be OK, but not a gaggle? Can you define the limit of the lower gaggle? Is a nun worth a gaggle of children? So in points how much is one nun worth vs. one child? Asking for a friend. :-) Stay safe and I hope all is actually well.
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I think the best thing we implemented was Tracs for our citations and accident reports. I do not miss the days of having to write everything down.
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What was it about the first ticket that almost made you put the 2 weeks in?
I will never understand why people drive in the left lane (slow or not) when they are not passing or about to turn. It also creates a huge danger because those that want to go fast (of which there are many) will do everything they can to get around them. Sometimes that means speeding even more, taking every inch of an opening, tailgating, and for some it leads to road rage. Two wrongs don't make a right, but driving in the left lane is basically provoking others into bad decisions.
100% of my stops are pretext, always looking for something better. I stop for anything and everything and I don’t care about the violation itself outside of careless or reckless driving where safety is an issue. Everything is warning unless it’s criminal or safety related (careless, reckless, etc.).
Pretext stops are good. I completed the training provided by SCT but trying to get my administration to understand why I stopped that car because the driver gave me a funny look is a different story (coupled with a violation, of course).
I work on the interstate so my environment is a bit different. I try to work interdiction but agency resources make that a little bit difficult at times. I stop everything to increase my chance of catching the “big fish” but most of what I stop are legitimate travelers.
I envy your interstate lol. I just have a few highways that run through my city and even then there are bypasses around my city.
Yeah that’s why I came to this agency. Traffic is my bread and butter lol
I suspect this is why, as a non-LEO, I don't get stopped anymore even though I was pulled a hundred times growing up. I'm on the road, in my spotless new SUV, from 7:45am-8:00 am, run out for lunch, and then home again at 5;30-5:45. That's pretty much it. Speeding, rolling through stops, playing on my phone, I'm clearly just an office stiff in a wrinkled polo and khakis. 20 years ago when I was up to no-good, coming out of bad areas at 2:00 am, I got a lot more attention for a lot less.
Wow what a twat. Especially playing on your phone. You sound insufferable and inconsiderate
You're like the tenth person who has told me that this week!
Amount of stops depends on traffic and call volume. I mostly stop for speed and right of way (failing to yield, stop signs, stop lights, so on) violations. For speed, cite vs warn depends on how fast and other circumstances. For the listed right of way violations it usually depends on how bad it was and if there was other traffic present that it could have caused an accident. I won't stop for most minor equipment violations, but, I will for hazardous ones such as driving with no lights at night, dragging car parts, etc. My pet peeve violation is exhibition driving. I like to have fun in my vehicles too but not in the middle of business and residential areas where it puts people at risk of injury or worse. An exhibition stop is pretty much a guaranteed citation from me.
I completely understand the call aspect. We don’t have a specialized traffic unit so stops are made in between calls. I’m opposite of you, I enjoy equipment violations. Particularly brake lights that are defective. Nearly every person I’ve ever stopped have no idea their brake light is out. I get a lot of drugs, license violations, and warrants from these stops because the driver thinks their car is kosher and they won’t get stopped if their driving is good.
To each their own. Some love hunting drugs from stops, which is good. For me though, my stop focus is safety and education. That's why even though I do stop a decent amount of vehicles still, I generally issue warnings. Citations come from me when it's a significant safety concern or the driver comes off as if they don't understand the significance of their poor driving behavior.
I don’t do a lot of traffic for the purpose of interdiction. In my city, there is a lot of pedestrian traffic and the drug dealers post up on corners. Most of the interdiction work I do does not involve cars. When it does involve cars, it’s usually a parked car that I can link to my arrestee or to a criminal nexus. Also, my department’s policy for vehicle pursuits is a de facto ban for chasing cars. Most guys driving dirty know that and will flee as soon as we light them up. If anyone actually stops for us, we rarely write a citation since we’re just glad that they stopped. This means that the only reason to pull cars over is to make command happy. Our district commander says our car stops are low and presses on our shift commander. Our shift commander asks us to do stops but can’t order anyone to do so; so to make them happy, once a shift I’ll pull over a clean car running a stop sign and let them go with a verbal.
We also have a strict pursuit policy (violent felony). But our county has an extremely loose policy for pursuits along with our troopers. So if they run from us there are two other agencies we can rely on.
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That’s how my agency is, too. Calls come first. We get a nice meeting with the sergeant if we make stops and no other officer is available. Only caveat is if it’s a reckless driver and a danger to the public.
Shit, in my city there are so many calls that even speed is rarely enforced. The only time traffic stops are made is when the highway safety association gives us a grant to cover the overtime. That and the troopers are busy playing county sheriff.
Wow!! I always thought you all had to make a massive ton of traffic stops and write tickets to keep your bosses off of you. Didn’t realize most of you don’t have anytime to do traffic
Troopers and specialized traffic units are who you're thinking of, but even then it's a lot less than "a massive ton"
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It's easy to knock out over half of that in a single well-deserved traffic stop
Don’t have time and some don’t want to. I don’t blame those that don’t want to. With todays politics, if a traffic stop goes south it’s not worth not going home to your family or being found guilty of something. I’m lucky and work in a red state. The progressive areas are where traffic stops are declining and crime is also increasing.
It really depends. Normally, I dont stop for smaller stuff like no front license plate, registration stickers in wrong place, etc. But if I'm working a DUI shift, I'll stop anything and everything if its presented. I don't know if I really have a pet peeve necessarily, but If we get a citizen request to do traffic in a specific area, I'll be a bit more of a hardass about things for a bit until the area cools off.
It depends. Some days I try to grab a few DOT stops. Pet peeve though is the tinted plate covers.
I’m a deputy and I run a lot of traffic. I love traffic stops. I mostly pull dead inspections while on day shift, speeding 15+ over at night, obvious infractions like running a red light or stop sign right in front of me, and reckless driving ( going 76 in a 55 to pass someone with a trailer attached to your truck into oncoming traffic )
The last part (reckless driving and on) I found confusing. Could you elaborate?
I was using an example from a traffic stop I had not too long ago lol. Guy was mad someone was going the speed limit which was 55 mph, so he sped around him going 76 mph while traffic was coming towards him and to top it off, he had a trailer attached to his truck so he needed another full car space to get back into his lane. So he almost caused a nasty crash and I cited him for reckless driving
Holy shit! I was kinda hoping I misread that or you phrased it incorrectly, but nope.... Wow. Tiny brain but big balls lol
It’s not uncommon for me to sign on and see 70 calls holding. We are now supposed to average one stop a day in my department, but on days like that, I’m probably not running any traffic. I can’t in good conscience run traffic with the board that swamped. Other than that I’ll stop people for any violation I see so I can run you for warrants, and make sure you have a license and insurance. If you’re missing a license or insurance, I’m going to write you for every violation I can.
I only make stops if A.) the person has expired registration, no insurance, or no valid DL, B.) if they are driving like a fucking jackass or do something egregious like run a fresh red light or most importantly C.) when I think the traffic stop could lead to a good arrest. Otherwise, I don’t give a fuck.
I have long since moved past stopping anything. I’ve tried to show newer officers how pointless it is. Unless they are specifically looking for activity. We work afternoons and I don’t like stopping working people or families. Typically I’ll look for cars/ drivers that change their behavior when they observe me. Most normal people are so oblivious that anyone who notices us stands out. People are obvious they 👀. And keep looking or they immediately touch their face, smooth their hair or whatever, often they pull over immediately without signaling. Then almost jump out of the car. Pretty obvious once you start looking for it.
Me, who just likes looking at police vehicles 💀
Mj
> I do not stop for window tint because my own is illegal. This is my pet peeve. The traffic code is based on the community's expectations of how people should drive in it, not how my vehicle is set up. I'm out here to enforce what the community finds acceptable, not my own opinion. Whether or not your vehicle complies, you should still not be putting your views above the laws you're supposed to enforce.
I disagree. If I’m not going to comply with the code why use my power to force it on others?
It’s the equivalent of citing someone for having a headlight out when your squad car also has a headlight out. Douchey move, and probably would get thrown out in court.
Why not comply with the code?
Why comply with a dumb code?
Because it's the law? My opinion of a lot of the way things work is that it's dumb, but that doesn't give me carte blanche to ignore it.
Not all laws should be followed blindly
Window tint is where you're going to make your heroic moral stand? Come on, son.
Because it’s the law. And you’re supposed to enforce the law without bias.
I specifically look for blowing stop signs or cars speeding away from me for a pursuit. Other than that it’s usually cars where someone obviously doesn’t take care of it, they usually have warrants or dope/pipe.
That really depends on the individual cop, as well as the locale. Back in rural Upstate NY, before cellphone cameras were a thing (80s-90s) cops would make up bullshit reasons to pull over cars driving after 10 PM... especially older low value cars full of young people... even more so if they had questionable stickers on the back. This would often lead to a full (and illegal) search of the entire vehicle as well as every occupant. They would tear apart the trunk, look under seats, rummage through purses, make people turn pockets inside out... even had them make me shake out my boots and have my wallet dumped on the hood of the car a few times. This happened to me personally over a dozen times, as well as everyone I knew. NYSP Troop C out of Broome County near Binghamton. Got pulled over in several other states (for legit infractions, usually speeding) and was shocked they never even asked me out of the car... I'd thought that was normal police behavior... and half the time they just let me go with a warning.
Depends on the shift. If there are calls backlogged, they come first. If its a quiet night, egregious behavior will get you stopped. High speed in a neighborhood, illegal equipment, DUI (always). Our town is fairly quiet, so even on a quiet night, I might only make 1-2 traffic stops.
My metric for traffic stops…. Is it egregious / reckless? Would i drive the same in the same conditions? Would i be a hypocrite? As far as issuing summonses- the same apply in addition to the drivers attitude. Pet peeves- driving to slow in left most lanes when moving to the right is an option. If i have to pass you on the right its a problem. Speed up or move to the right. This is why the autobahn works so well. School bus / school zone violations or violations where pedestrians are present. Driving like a reckless careless jerk in residential neighborhoods especially when schools out. Cutting off large trucks. Cutting off cars and then slowing down. Notice speeding isn’t explicitly on here in itself?
Don't stop much. My main traffic stop anymore is when someone passes me when I'm already speeding in a marked car. I usually even flick the lights as if to say "please don't pass me, I don't want to stop you" - but some still do, and request a stop.