Calling all cops!!
 

So, I'm driving home from work today, waiting at a red light, and I hear a siren behind me. This cop pulls into the right turn lane, and goes through the red light. As soon as he is clear, he turns the siren off and proceeds normally. I noticed that he did the same thing at the next light. Is this just a special priviledge that cops get??? If they are going to call, don't they usually keep their sirens on? Anyone who can clarify this for me, please do!

i've seen that done several times before...i always thought they were just abusing their power

Fhqwhgads is a cop ... from what I've seen in the past, they may be on a call, get through a light, and are suddenly no longer needed, so go about business as normal. A possible explanation.

Still amazed you can spell it without looking it up... even if it's spelled just like it sounds.

I'd lean towards monkie's explanation on this. I wouldn't automatically assume it's somebody abusing their lights.

If it is somebody just using it to get through lights, I'd wonder just how long they think it'll work...

I'd lean to creative bending of their powers. Often, the call is not sent out Code 4 (or whatever the jurisdictions' emergency code is) but the officer thinks it might get critical. At least in Colorado, they cannot break speed laws without their lights and sirens visible and audible -- so they might be using this ability to get to a non-critical call that they think is important.

We do certify them to make judgements on our behalf... :)

A couple of days ago i watched a cop make a turn w/o using his blinker. I was about ready to flash my headlights to pullhim over and give him a ticket. I've seen cops do that lots of times.

Another possible reason is that the police officer needs to get to a location quickly without announcing his or her approach with an ongoing siren.

I think cops speed their asses off no matter what. I love trying to keep up as much as possible without being too obvious. :lol: I'm sure I'll get a ticket one day for that.

This is most likely what happened. One night, I was listening to my scanner while driving, and there was a report of three suspicious persons, possible armed, running from the area after a suspected break/enter. The cops would use their lights (no sirens) to warn people when they needed to run red lights (not heavy traffic, late at night) and shut them off immediately after making the turn or clearing the intersection to avoid alerting the suspects.

What looks like a jerk abusing power may be someone trying his best to do his job and keep you safe. You'll never know the whole story, so give people the benefit of the doubt when there's a rational explanation and no har done to others.

This is the case quite frequently, there are a number of instances where a police officer may be on the way to serious call, needs to get there quickly, and does not want his presence announced before he arrives.

I've looked it up and it's due to 2 possible reason.

First off, as already mentioned, the officer may want to conceal his arrival.

Second off, and I've seen this particular reason happen to fire trucks and paramedics, they often activate their siren through red light and turn it off again simply because there's no traffic once they pass the red light. They leave it on when they're going through heavy traffic to get the people out of the way, when there's barely any motorist on the road, they have no reason to activate their siren.

Alot of cities dont want police officers to use their sirens the entire time as people in cities / neighborhoods are annoyed by the loud sirens. He may have just been being cautious w/o his sirens on but put the siren on to get throught the light.

just my 2 cents

While it sounds like abusing their power, I tend to give cops the benefit of the doubt.

I'm a cop and i do this sometimes. Generally it could be for any number of reasons.

As stated, stealth -- to catch something occuring in the act.

Sometimes its a call that isn't necessarily a get there right damn now sort of thing, but is still a priority, or it could escalate. I'll light up to get past intersections here and there but then otherwise still travel at speed of other motorists.

Sometimes its a cancelation.. i hate these... nothing looks more embarassing than flying through traffic all lit up on the way to an alarm or something, geting recalled and have to shut down. People are always like, wtf.

Sometimes its an attempt to overtake a vehicle i want to observe driving on. for instance if i see a car make a bad pass or do something stupid i might turn on them and light up a few cars between me and them so i can follow them for a bit to see if they might be intoxicated or driving like a dumbass, but i dont necessarily want to pull them over for whatever it was i observed. If i see more driving that concers me, then i'll stop them, otherwise i'll consider it a momentary lapse of judgement and not bother with a stop.

Sometimes i'll shut down out on the highway until i get to vehicles i need to get around because many people drive like fricken retards when they see red and blues. i cant count the number of times ive seen people do stupid shit like lock up their brakes and just stop dead in the lane of travel. Or sometimes they will pull over and the car behind them doesnt stop and instead tries to go around them, then sees me, and nearly side swipes them trying to pull over. Some drivers just do stupid stuff when they see an emergency vehicle approaching, so sometimes its just easier to not be lit up.

Some districts indeed do discourage use of sirens because of public opinion. They dont want their citys to be considered "high crime" because people can hear sirens racing back and forth at all times of the day and night. Most of these are unwritten policies because technically most state laws specifically define emergency motor vehicle travel and usually it explicitly states that both audible AND visible signals must be used together, with an exception for times at which the use of such devices would compromise the ability to aprehend a suspect or detract from the investigation of the crime.

As far as what was stated above about being required to use warning devices whenever traveling above speed limit, etc... thats certainly state specific. In most states, officers are relieved from following traffic laws in the performance of their duty in a manner that does not compromise safety -- doesn't say anything about mandated warning signals. most department polices do tho...

As for the cop not signaling their turn. I'm so guilty of this when my shift changes. For 6 months of the year i get stuck on nights and cruise around at night most of the time through residential areas looking for people burglarizing shit and i never use my turn signal because theres never anyone around to see it. Get changed back to day shift, and it takes awhile to start remembering it all the time again heh. Sure i should be setting the example and using it, but then again, i've never actually cited anyone solely for not signaling, so i consider it a draw ;p

To those that think its just cops abusing their power: I'm sure that there are some cops who do, but i would venture a guess they are in the minority. I personally dont mind at all waiting at lights. It gives me an opportunity to watch people. I can get good looks and see who is out and about, alot of times i recognize suspended drivers / people with warrants while stopped at lights watching, where if i was moving i would have probably missed it. Not to mention sitting at most lights, especially if im a car or two back will generally provide me with a wealth of vehicles which i could stop because they just blew the light right in front of me ;p

Also, as to cops generally moving faster than the flow of traffic: Alot of times i will speed up to keep a gap between me and the people behind me. This is so that if i spot an infraction or have some reason to turn and burn on something going the opposite direction there is enough of a buffer between me and the traffic behind me, so i can execute my turn without causing a sudden stop to the people behind me, or worse yet having to pull over, wait for people behind me to pass, then make a turn and have to travel at a prolonged high rate of speed to overtake the vehicle going the opposite direction becuase it took me so long to get turned around.

I'm enlightened :o The general opinion, I'm sure, is that all cops are just bastards who get to speed for kicks ;)

I think of the driving style of police the same way I think of them if I get pulled over.....doing a job I do not want, and deserving the benefit of doubt.

They always get a Sir or Ma'am from me.

I had a relative who the police were looking for and they used the "stealth" method. They arrived in the area with lights and sirens silent but they managed to get there quite quickly. This resulted in them apprehending the offender quite quickly and easily cause he just walked right out into the middle of them without knowing they were there until it was too late. No one had to run through the woods in the dark and he was caught as safely as possible.

As for using their turn signals and such - It's probably simple driver error. Our city cops are really picky about stopping people for that but most cops I've met elseware are much more forgiving. So I will be as well.

Anexkahn, thank you so much for a day in your life!!! It was really interesting to read from an officers perspective.

I really appreciate this thread. In my ignorance, I always thought it was just an example of a cop being a jerk and trying to run a light. Thanks!

I guess this is just old age speaking up here, but so what if it's an abuse of power? Trust me, the first time any of you really, REALLY need a cop, you'll start forgetting all about the red light thing pretty quickly.

Don't mean to drag you away from TFP, but if you ever had a specific question for a police officer, I've found http://forums.realpolice.net/forumdisplay.php?f=112 is great for that. It's populated by about 200 real police officers (they have to be verified by the owner of the site) and they usually give pretty good LEO answers like Anexkahn above. Just thought I'd let the community know..

Another cop on the TFP? There goes the neighborhood...

(kidding, of course... welcome, brother)

The cops I know have built up enough good karma that blowing a few red lights isn't going to make it rain. I thinn I mistakenly ran a red light today due to an intersection that was obviously designed and painted by intoxicated chimpanzees, so I can't criticize, either. There was only one car coming across, and I stopped at the second line and let him go. I'm pretty sure what I did was illegal, but I really can't tell due to poor design.

Sorry for the delay to replying back to my own thread, I've been really busy the past few days.

Thanks for the clarification, particularly to Anexkahn. I've never viewed cops as "the enemy", and I think that most cops are good, hardworking people trying to do their job to the best of their ability. The one time I needed cops, they were there within minutes, and I'm thankful for that. It was just a curiosity to me to watch.