Do you think this is ethical...
 

I was reading this the other day and it kind of bothered me.

I'll include the link at the end of the post in case anyone else is interested in reading other's responses.

I guess I am interested in what folks' view is on this. And no judgements whatever your opinion is.

this is what was posted (it is not the NT forum)

Ticketing Other Police Officers

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First off I have to say I'm sorry for not being a regular poster. One month left and I wrap up 30 years in law Enforcement. I just want to get your opinion on something. last week I was going to my place in Florida along I95 and about 20 miles before the Georgia border I was stopped by a county officer for speeding. I was going 80 in a posted 70 zone on 95 South. I showed the officer my police ID and badge and also told him I was on the job. He told me he didn't ask for the badge & ID and only wanted my license & reg. He came back to my car and gave me a ticket. I tried to ask him if this is the way he acted with all police officers, but he just turned away and went back to his unit. I have to say that I was going to fast, but in my 30 years, I have never given a fellow officer a ticket and I've stopped plenty. Am I wrong? The guys on my department think I should have had our PBA president give a call, but it's water under the bridge. But it did **** me off . G.

my thought on this is that he lied:

first, he said he was going to his place in Fl. But then he told the other officer that he was "on the job"

IF he was truly on the job, I can see why the other officer might give him a break. But really, being from NYC and going to Florida on the job is a bit of a stretch, I doubt the other officer believed him.

and I just don't think that because he was a police man that he should get special treatment...

don't get me wrong, I have high respect for our policemen and firemen and I believe they are to be highly respected, but at the same token, a special treatment of this sort makes me wonder if they would overstep "other" boundaries?

below is the link to where other officers have replied to him


http://forums.officer.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=105893

personally if I have to follow the law so do others in high places, no if and or buts about it. we all must follow and or pay the price for breaking the law, is it right if I use my MS to get out of a ticket on something I did wrong I think not

exactly my thought, Frank.

we all should follow the rules...

if we don't, we get folks like Rod Blagojevich all over the place. :eek:

Abusing his authority.
 

We have a customer with the main contact of the town sheriff. We deal with FCC licenses in our business. This sheriff thought he should be able to operate business radios without a license (they're expensive to get.)

We said something like, what do you do when someone is driving a vehicle in your town without a license? Of course they give a big fine, so does the FCC, they don't care if you're a cop, a business owner or Blago!

Hats off to the ticketing officer, I think it shows integrity on his part.

There's a HUGE difference between extending a courtesy to a colleague, whatever the profession, and expecting to be excused from the law, or allowing someone else to be excused.

I think if he was breaking the law he should get a ticket, too many high ups get away with stuff & us avg folks have to follow the rules.

But on the other hand , I don't think speeding in itself is a big deal.:cool:
There are much worse crimes than just driving fast.
{I'm thinking about empty highways & open roads only, not in traffic}

Speeding with recklessness, in heavy traffic, or with bad roads and bad weather conditions yes.

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