Public Misunderstanding of "Officer Safety"
How many times have you been pulled over by a police officer, and when the confrontation was complete you said to yourself, "Boy, was he rude!" or
"There was no need for him to treat me like that." Well, unfortunately, the public is prone to misinterpret an officer being safe for being rude.
Unfortunately, the actions taken during a "routine" traffic stop which are interpreted as being rude are necessary steps that insure the safety of both officer and civilian.
Imagine for a moment that you are a police officer on duty. You observe a vehicle traveling 36 miles per hour on a 30 mile per hour road. You decide to stop the vehicle and give the driver a verbal warning in hopes that he will slow down and avoid an accident further down the road. As you walk up to the driver's side window, you are shot 10 times in the face and chest and the driver leaves you for dead. This situation actually occurred in San Diego, CA, 18 months ago. Many like it occur every day, and this is in the forefront of the mind of every officer.
Another thing that an officer must keep in mind during a traffic stop is the safety of the civilian driver. Same situation as above, but instead, as the vehicle stops, the driver gets out of his car and is struck by a passing motorist. Again, this happens more than you would like to believe....
“We will catch you and there will be consequences, criminal consequences, loss of licenses and even a jail term,” Col. Thomas Robbins, Massachusetts State Police warned aggressive drivers at the launch of ‘Road Respect’, a Spring Mobilization program at the Newton Police headquarters on the morning of April 4.
When a motorist expresses offense over the actions of an aggressive driver, the situation can escalate to acts of road
engineer, and if any part of it fails the passenger could get hurt if not killed.
be content enough to drive slower and get home in one piece even if it
How can police officials solve the issue of fellow officers abusing their power and at times taking
“ You pasted a stop sign, then a stop light, and almost caused a car crash,” he said “ can you please step out of the vehicle.”
It is utterly selfish to change the radio station when there are living entities in the lanes surrounding me. If not used properly a car can be a lethal weapon. So, it is imperative that I follow the road laws and my attention is solely focused on driving. Before this happened, I didn’t even think messing with my stereo system could lead to an accident but my eyes were opened through this car collision. From now on I try to make sure the car in front of me and I are separated by a large but appropriate amount of space and focus on the road. Life is too precious to let my mind wander on subjects such as changing the song, brushing my hair, taking a call, or even reaching for my water bottle in order to hydrate. There are a time and a place for everything. With that being said, these petty distractions can be put on hold in order to cruise safely. From the moment to my car engine roaring on and put into the gear of drive to me settling into a parking space and putting it in the park I will tunnel my attention onto the road and the road
Imagine that you are driving and you are coming to a railroad crossing. You look to the right and you see the train and it blows its horn. You see the crossing arm start to blink so you start to speed up and get onto the tracks. Then you shift and your car stalls. Now your car is sitting on the track and you are in it and there is a train coming. What do you do in a situation like this? The correct way to handle the situation is you should always start to slow down when you are coming to a railroad crossing. That was this persons problem they thought they could race the train. You should never race a train. Next this person should have not shifted when on the tracks. That caused the car to stall. So from this point the drive should get everyone
not many cars on the road encouraging me to drive faster. I had just gone
A police officer’s duty is to maintain public order, preventing, and detecting crime. The concept of police officers, also known as cops, and law enforcement has been around ever since the ancient Romans had a theory that an organization of “peacekeepers” would reduce the crime and violence being committed. This theory stuck with society and is still around today. People of law enforcement have a mission when they step into their police car, that mission is to enforce the rules of conduct or law. Of course, accomplishing this mission can be dangerous. Often when a cop leaves his or her house to go to work worries start to set it, such as “will I be coming back home when my day is over” or “will a simple traffic stop go sour and someone ends up dead?” These thoughts are apart of the stress that comes with the job and most people are trained to deal with this stress.
In the event that you were included in an accident with another driver's car, bring down the accompanying portions and be readied to respond:
brakes and come to a complete stop. Leave the transmission in drive if you plan
back seat, she used her feet to kick the door open, not allowing officers to
Given the nature of the job being a police officer is tedious and dangerous work. Officers have to be on edge all the time because being careless can mean someone losing their life. In the work of policing there is no such thing as a routine patrol; one day they could get called up for civil service and the other day it could be chasing a criminal whose selling drugs to young teenagers. The job of police officers is not easy because a small error can weigh not only on one individual but the whole police department. In the recent years policing have taken great criticism and it usually overshadows the hard service they do for communities around the country. Social media has a great influence in the depiction of police officers. The fact is police officers don’t go out shooting their guns around and those that do, do it with deep discretion. What many fail to acknowledge is that police officers are constantly under extreme stress, experience dangerous situations, and have to make split second decisions.
C. The angry driver then may demonstrate his displeasure by speeding around the other vehicle, cutting the other driver off or with a number of verbal and nonverbal messages.