Okay, here's my two cents on this scenario.

The guy was going 10 miles over the speed limit. What if his speeding caused an accident? It does happen. By getting this ticket (ethical or not) it just might make him think twice before he ever goes too fast again.

There are many ways to look at this. Could the guy have extended a courtesy to the officer? Sure, and what would that have accomplished? It would have told the speeding guy "wow, I'm a cop, I can go as fast as I want to, and because I'm a cop, I'll get a way with it".

or, if the guy extended the courtesy and didn't ticket him, he might look at it this way "wow, I went over the speed limit, and this guy was nice enough not to write me up, I've learned a valuable lesson, I'll never speed again".

Two ways to look at the same scenario.

However!!! He did get a ticket. And how is he looking at it? I didn't read once where he said "I will never speed again". He's looking at it like "jeez, I'm a cop, couldnt he have extended me a courtesy?"

See, it's all how you look at the whole scenario.

In my mind, the cop who wrote the ticket could have handled it better. He was rude, inpolite, and probably was having a bad day. Could he have handled it better? Sure.

What he might have done was say "You know, I'd like to extend you the courtesy because you have a badge, but honestly, you WERE speeding, and I have to write you up".

That way, he would have acknowledged the guy's badge, and done the whole thing in a much more professional manner.

I wouldn't want to run into that officer when he's really having a bad day!!

Just my 2 cents.

mel