I thought about this when I spotted a policeman sitting beside a road at about 4AM. His radar was on. In a 5 mile stretch of divided highway, there was at most only 2 or 3 cars on the road including me. Now how in the world can watching a deserted highway promote safety? More likely it's just to collect revenue for the small town. I think things like that should be illegal.
As an extra note, he didn't pull me over, I was going slow enough. The biggest threat on the road at that time of night is not another car but a critter such as a deer crossing the road.
Now that I think about it though, I should say he was doing a fine job watching the empty road. Best time of day for the police to keep our roads safe. However if he worked for a corporation, his job would have been cut a long time ago as a cost savings or he would have been transferred to a day shift so that he could collect more revenue.
4AM in the morning? Get serious! He was napping. The short period I was with Shelby County Sheriff's Department in TN, I'd drive around outside my district and find other deputies parked under trees, sleeping, even during daylight hours. But, they atuned their ears to catch their unit number if called on the radio.
One neat trick to pull is like that roadside police officer you mentioned. You set off the road far enough not to be hit, set your Doppler radar unit to beep & lock in speeds of any speeders going at least 50 miles over the speed limit. Most times, you can catch an hour nap without being bothered.
On my route to/from my fav clubs (and ATF), there are two stretches where US 31 is slowed to a crawl. These two places are notorious for speeders being caught. Believe it or not, most of US 31 is 60 or 65 MPH, but these two spots are 35 MPH!!! Growing up in this area, I've heard many a tale of people getting pulled over there, so I am EXTREMELY careful, especially if I've had ANYthing to drink. One night, as I was coming home about 3:30am, I approached the first of the two spots and VERY carefully slowed to 35MPH on the dot, well before entering the area. Almost immediately when I passed the posted speed limit sign, I had red and blue flashing lights all over in my rear view mirror. TWO squad cars fell in behind me and forced me to the side of the road. I knew damn well, that there was NO way in hell that I was speeding. The cop came up to my window and asked if I knew why I was pulled over. As he did this, he actually stuck his head in my window (seems like a stupid thing to do these days...'specially if I was a bad dude). I honestly said no, and pointed out that I knew better than to speed in that area and explained how cautious I am. He claimed that I was doing 52mph, which is a flat-ass-bald-faced lie. He took my license and reg back to his car while he shined his spot light in my face. After 20 frickin' minutes, he came back and said that he'd let me off with a warning. As I drove away, I could only think that he was hoping that I had alcohol on my breath (probably why he stuck his head - to sniff).
There was a good video link posted here (here? somewhere else?) a while back about what to do if you're pulled over. It had several ways to protect your rights -- don't consent to a search, be polite, keep your hands on the steering wheel, etc.
But, to the subject at hand. I think it's reasonable that sometimes an officer would be assigned to patrol a near-deserted stretch of highway late at night, since those locations might be tempting for drag-racing enthusiasts who might anticipate less surveillance and therefore greater opportunity to break the law. Protecting them "from themselves," and protecting any few bystanders. Kind of like having a security guard stay at the bank overnight -- sure, there are no regular customers at 4 am, but that doesn't mean bank robbers aren't likely to come by at that time.
Of course, this begs the question of what a cop patrolling the highway is SUPPOSED to be doing in the first place. Catching speeders? Or using many reasonable means to protect the public, INCLUDING by means of catching speeders? Seems he's doing the former, rather than the latter. That's where the problem is. To what END would stopping the drag racing (or other speeders) contribute? Sure, they'd have a chance to distribute citations, but that's not the POINT of policing. I think in most locations, about 99% of the cops can't even DISTINGUISH mentally between those two practices (A: catching criminals amid criminal behavior; B: serving and protecting the public by means of several policing actions, including catching criminals), much less REMEMBER to enact the distinction WHILE on the job. Most modern police departments in the USA are set up to perform A, rather than B. They might even be good at A. But that doesn't necessarily improve the lives of the public they're supposed to be serving.
It's not a complicated idea. They get lectured about it in Academy classes, and are supposed to have to write a paper on the ethics of policing or some such. But among things like how to strangle-hold, how to operate a tazer, when to Mirandize and when to just shoot, you know that the philosophy class gets considered the "bird" course and nobody pays any attention.
Doug: It's funny, I've driven through those same towns myself dozens of times going to and from the Hip Hugger. I've always slowed to 10 MPH above the speed limit - 45 in a 35 zone - which seems to be what other drivers lock in on. I always do it late at night, too, when there's nobody else on the road. I swear I've seen cops on patrol while cruising through, but I've rarely seen them pull anybody over, and I never realized there were speed traps for which I was pressing my luck.
Chandler: I recommend that you get closer to 35 when you cruise through Lakeville and Lapaz. I think you've just been lucky. I rarely drive through that area and see anyone traveling higher than 40 - at most. It's usually a good indicator when you see the locals all driving at/near 35, and sometimes under. Even prior to the 35 zones, there are sections that are 45, which are also areas to be careful. Like clockwork, I make sure to set my cruise control at 45, 35, 45 then crank it back up as I pass through the traps.
I remember I once heard someone say they were driving 5 miles under the speed limit and got pulled over. I think they had been drinking. I heard someone else say they go the normal speed of everyone else.
I remember one night in the town I live in, I had what appeared to be a swat team of police shining flashlights in my car, barking out orders like "PUT YOUR HANDS ON THE STEERING WHEEL!" Then the officer said, "I SMELL ALCOHOL!" I told him I didn't know what he was smelling because there wasn't any in my car and I hadn't had a drink in over a week. He persisted his questioning or I should say drilling. He had nothing on me and finally let me go. There reaction would have been enough to terrorize most people except I had some prior experiences with the police in another town calling up our house claiming they were going to get my brother. I was already used to it a little bit. I just imagine they are like some big macho guys pumped up on steroids with a big ego trying to show everyone who's the boss. All of them certainly aren't like that though. Some more reasonable police will act calm and explain themselves.
The thing that annoys me most is that you never see a cop pulling people over anywhere near rush hour, which is when cars are always traveling the fastest and is the most dangerous time of day becuase of heavy traffic (it's also when most accidents occur.) But during off hours they enforce speed limits vigorously. There's a major highway near me where the average speed is about 80 near rush hour and no one ever gets stopped, but go more than 60 on Saturday and you'll get pulled over. Makes no sense.
Ease of enforcement is one of those things that determines likelihood of enforcement. For this and similar issues, see the following Slate.com bloggist:
Very good essay on porn policing, for example. What we all now consider "the norm" for internet porn is EXTREMELY illegal, technically (according to this guy), but highly unlikely to be prosecuted. He also discusses legalized drug substitutes for marijuana; copyright infringement; other gray areas.
Doug, now I'm not sure whether I'm remembering it right. I know the speed I take puts me in exact synchronization with the traffic in front of and behind me. Maybe that is 35 mph after all, and I'm thinking of places around Michigan where 10 over is the norm. I did the Kokomo drive so many times, I didn't even think about it, but it's been a couple of years now.
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One neat trick to pull is like that roadside police officer you mentioned. You set off the road far enough not to be hit, set your Doppler radar unit to beep & lock in speeds of any speeders going at least 50 miles over the speed limit. Most times, you can catch an hour nap without being bothered.
But, to the subject at hand. I think it's reasonable that sometimes an officer would be assigned to patrol a near-deserted stretch of highway late at night, since those locations might be tempting for drag-racing enthusiasts who might anticipate less surveillance and therefore greater opportunity to break the law. Protecting them "from themselves," and protecting any few bystanders. Kind of like having a security guard stay at the bank overnight -- sure, there are no regular customers at 4 am, but that doesn't mean bank robbers aren't likely to come by at that time.
Of course, this begs the question of what a cop patrolling the highway is SUPPOSED to be doing in the first place. Catching speeders? Or using many reasonable means to protect the public, INCLUDING by means of catching speeders? Seems he's doing the former, rather than the latter. That's where the problem is. To what END would stopping the drag racing (or other speeders) contribute? Sure, they'd have a chance to distribute citations, but that's not the POINT of policing. I think in most locations, about 99% of the cops can't even DISTINGUISH mentally between those two practices (A: catching criminals amid criminal behavior; B: serving and protecting the public by means of several policing actions, including catching criminals), much less REMEMBER to enact the distinction WHILE on the job. Most modern police departments in the USA are set up to perform A, rather than B. They might even be good at A. But that doesn't necessarily improve the lives of the public they're supposed to be serving.
It's not a complicated idea. They get lectured about it in Academy classes, and are supposed to have to write a paper on the ethics of policing or some such. But among things like how to strangle-hold, how to operate a tazer, when to Mirandize and when to just shoot, you know that the philosophy class gets considered the "bird" course and nobody pays any attention.
I remember one night in the town I live in, I had what appeared to be a swat team of police shining flashlights in my car, barking out orders like "PUT YOUR HANDS ON THE STEERING WHEEL!" Then the officer said, "I SMELL ALCOHOL!" I told him I didn't know what he was smelling because there wasn't any in my car and I hadn't had a drink in over a week. He persisted his questioning or I should say drilling. He had nothing on me and finally let me go. There reaction would have been enough to terrorize most people except I had some prior experiences with the police in another town calling up our house claiming they were going to get my brother. I was already used to it a little bit. I just imagine they are like some big macho guys pumped up on steroids with a big ego trying to show everyone who's the boss. All of them certainly aren't like that though. Some more reasonable police will act calm and explain themselves.
http://www.slate.com/id/2175730/entry/21…
Very good essay on porn policing, for example. What we all now consider "the norm" for internet porn is EXTREMELY illegal, technically (according to this guy), but highly unlikely to be prosecuted. He also discusses legalized drug substitutes for marijuana; copyright infringement; other gray areas.