Some police are only collecting revenue instead of promoting safety
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.
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.
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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.