Faster, better…

WUSA9.COM: ROCKVILLE, Md. (AP) — “A Montgomery County judge has thrown out speeding tickets issued to four county police officers.” Click the WUSA9.COM url to read the entire article.

A summary of the story is that a circuit court judge threw out the speed-camera tickets of four police officers because their “right to due process was violated.” Apparently the police department requires a written policy for speed camera violations for on duty police.

I found this excuse wanting for common sense and on its face – ridiculous. Using the judge’s logic this must mean that if my family has no written policy on speed camera tickets I can escape prosecution for the same lame reason. The camera caught a police vehicle speeding with no emergency lights activated. I would bet there is a policy that when an emergency vehicle is operated at high speed those emergency lights must be on. You think? It might even be a state law as is the case in other states.

Public safety culture does seem different on the East coast than elsewhere. In California at the agency I used to work for, we were trained to operate police vehicles with emergency lights activated when traffic laws were broken while responding to a call for service. There were plenty of on-duty safety regulations regarding the safe operation of police vehicles to deal with situations like these. We all knew that if we operated a police vehicle in an unsafe fashion and there was an accident we as officers would be held responsible.

What I have seen in Maryland often escapes the bounds of common sense. In a few cases I have even called and spoken to Calvert County Sheriff Evans about the behaviors I have seen. Sheriff Evans was very concerned about what I had to say. I told him my impressions of Maryland public safety was that either training is not what it should be or the employee culture is different here and members consider themselves a privileged class that is above obeying the traffic law. I said that it frustrated me when I saw sheriffs and police chiefs gathering on television commercials to talk about traffic safety and seatbelts when day after day I see emergency vehicles and private cars with public safety vanity plates operated outside of the law and all common sense.

It abhors me to make these distinctions because I worked for a police department in California. As a rule I think most officers do not like to call the bad behavior of others to the public’s attention. But this just cannot continue without people getting hurt. Where I worked officers  had training in the proper operation of police vehicles.

I know what officers are up against on a day-to-day basis. That has not escaped me.  In this state, however agencies push their luck allowing bad behavior to continue. The officers in this story were caught and should have received a citation and a conviction. The ticket should have reflected as a mark on their personnel record as well.

This lack of care for public safety extends to drivers of private vehicles tagged with public safety vanity plates.  Some years back I watched with amazement as an FP plated vehicle traveling over the limit was waved through a speed trap as cars traveling at the same speed were stopped and cited. I stopped to ask the officer why and was asked to keep moving. I regularly see holders of the vanity plates violating Maryland traffic laws. Why do they do it? In my time, law enforcement officers held themselves to a higher personal standard. What I see in Maryland are officers and their families using the badge as a means to an end and that end is to avoid a citation. This acquittal in Rockville, Maryland only served to support the out-of-control subculture.

I also know that not all officers behave this way. Thanks to Sheriff Evans and thanks to the excellent training many of our Calvert County Deputies have received I see FEWER (but I do see some) officers violating traffic laws. My sense is that Sheriff Evans has instilled in his department a personal standard and a department standard that the rights and privileges of a police officer to take emergency action are better protected and safer when policy is followed.

Judges need to hold police to a higher standard. The police unions need to hold officers to a higher standard. The public MUST hold their officers, fire fighters, and emergency medical providers to a higher standard and contact agencies when emergency vehicles and holders of public safety vanity plates violate traffic laws. Agencies need to take the complaints SERIOUSLY. The rights and privileges associated with emergency response are fragile. The dangers in driving a public safety vehicle are many and the consequences of bad behavior can be devastating. Public safety professionals are expected to behave like professionals and to fraternally hold each other responsible for law-abiding driving behaviors.

The officers in this WUSA9.COM story should ask the court to hold them personally accountable for their actions and to accept the speeding tickets and the consequences regardless of the judge’s opinion.

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