You know, I am not the smartest person in the world, but I have a pretty long commute to work now, I travel on US route 422 from close to Warren Ohio, to I-480, all the way west to the west end, and then continue on to Elyria, here are some of the stupid things I have seen officers do..... Just today I was heading home going east on US 422, about 1:10pm and I see an Solon officer who has a car pulled over, now the driver of the car (who must have had some sense) pulled his car so that just the drivers side tires were on the road, so that most of his car was on the grass, way out of the traffic's way. What does the officer do? He is parked so close to the white line, that when he opened up the door, it was in the oncoming traffic!!!!! Does this guy have a death wish?????? Then we have the North Olmsted and Fairview Park officers who sit on their respective parts of I-480. This part of the highway has a center concrete barrier seperating the traffic, which makes the left berm only about as wide as a car. Just about every day I see them sitting out there in the left berm with their laser radar guns, and pulling people over. Thats bad enough, but then they point for people to pull over to the left, then they pull up and write their ticket..... Then to make it even worse, after they are done, they throw it in reverse and back up to their spot!!!!!!!! Is it just me or is that insaine????? Next, we have the State Highway Patrol, who patrols US 422, just west of Parkman, this is a 45 mile an hour zone, they like to park their cars there and clock cars, now where they sit, they are in tall grass. In every single cars owners manual, it tells you, dont park your car in tall grass as you can catch the grass on fire from the heat from the converter....... Now if that wasnt bad enough, they will walk right out in front of traffic to stop someone!!!!! You know, I have alot of respect for our police officers, but you have to use your head when doing things, we have enough officers die in the line of duty as it is, we dont need more dead because of stupidity!!!! That badge you wear gives you the right to bend or break the laws of the state in an emergency, but it does not give you the ability to bend or break the laws of gravity and/or motion!!!!!! And as for anyone who lives in North Olmsted and Fairview Park who may read this, you should be at your city meetings complaining about the fact that your city government is using the police force as a source of revenue, there is no call for that, at all, period. Ok, I am done venting, I dont mean to offend anyone by this, just please, think before you do things.
Well having some experience in this area, that officer who was "parked on the white line" was doing so for his safety...He is basically using his car as a shield for drivers who are not paying attention. Police officers will park their cars in a way so that if someone does not notice the bright blue stobe lights and decides to get a little close they will hit the patrol car instead of the officer standing next to the car they stopped. This was actually very smart of the officer. As for speeding tickets being a source of revenue...I've vented about that one in the past as well, a local town in my area, at one point (and I assume now) completely fund the town's expenses in traffic revenue. My wife has been pulled for going 37 in a 35 and I received a ticket for 45 in a 30....( I even argued that the traffic signs were illegal because the state DOT did not complete a traffic study requiring the 30 MPH zone.) The judge said he didn't care what the state said he had jurisdiction in this case. (even though they were breaking SC law...I still had to pay my fine). I loved it when a couple of weeks later the judge had an article written about him for taking some "possible bribes". Seems their was a doctor in town who's DUI's kept dissappearing, this same doctor gave the judge 20k to start a side business....hmmm...
That is true about the placement of the car, but in this case, he could have moved off the side of the road several more feet to acomplish the same thing. That does not surprise me about that judge im sure if we were to dig deep enough on any judge you will find they are probably making more money on the side ( taking bribes....I mean gifts ) than they do on their pay for being judges, just another perk of the position. Cant really blame them though, its human nature.
I guess that there must be something in the water in Solon that makes the officers do stupid things.......Last night I was heading home, about 8:30 pm, dark already, not that much traffic, I seen an officer sitting in the berm, but he wasnt sitting in the gravel part like they normally do, which is ok, he was sitting in the west bound side, like he was about to turn onto the gravel to turn around, that is where he was sitting, with the passenger side of his car about 3 feet from traffic whizzing past at 65/70 mph, and the really stupid part, he is sitting there with NO LIGHTS ON!!!!!!!! Here is the part of the Ohio revised code that says this is illeagal.... § 4513.10. Lights on parked vehicles. (A) Except in case of an emergency, whenever a vehicle is parked or stopped upon a roadway open to traffic or a shoulder adjacent thereto, whether attended or unattended, during the times mentioned in section 4513.03 of the Revised Code, such vehicle shall be equipped with one or more lights which shall exhibit a white or amber light on the roadway side visible from a distance of five hundred feet to the front of such vehicle, and a red light visible from a distance of five hundred feet to the rear. No lights need be displayed upon any such vehicle when it is stopped or parked within a municipal corporation where there is sufficient light to reveal any person or substantial object within a distance of five hundred feet upon such highway. Any lighted headlights upon a parked vehicle shall be depressed or dimmed. And there were no street lights on that section of highway. I dont know how many times I have arugued this with officers, they allways say this does not apply to them, can someone tell me how this does not apply to police officers? But then again, this is common sense, which I think alot of officers lack. Oh, by the way, I have never seen a female officer do anything stupid like this, just goes to show we need more female officers, they use common sense where male officers dont.
I have a friend who is a state highway patrolman and have talked to him about this in the past. He told me that they must have, at a minimum, their parking lights on while making a stop or while parked along side a road. He also said that you couldn't get out of a ticket for such a reason. (He compared it to j walking) He was also under the impression that this policy varied between municipalites (sp) for the "local yocals" (city police) Oh another note we used to have this little wonderful place on the west side of Columbus Ohio known as New Rome. I took the following from a website about the village: Q: What is the population of New Rome? A: Not many, but this is open to some debate. According to the 2000 US Census, there are 60 residents in New Rome, down from 111 in 1990. Eighteen of the 60 were minor children in 2000. The population is almost evenly split between males and females and the median age is 34. However, Mayor Mueller reports that if one goes door to door counting residents, the true number is about 37. Q: And how many cops do they have? A: Again, it's like trying to count clouds. The figure most commonly thrown out is 14. The Dispatch is now reporting there are only 6. Several are full-time, but the majority are part-timers. The council has recently voted to hire 10 auxillary officers to provide 24/7 "protection". Mayor Mueller has refused to hire the extra officers because they already have "adequate coverage". Q: How many tickets do they write? A: The strict patrols of West Broad St., along with random license plate checks result in thousands of traffic stops each year, almost all ending in one or more tickets. NRPD will seldom warn a motorist if they observe a ticketable offense. They take in roughly $400,000 in fines annually, although this figure is questionable as money seems to disappear from the Trailer of Injustice with alarmingly regularity. New Rome has reported that Between June 14, 2001 and June 14, 2002, 2,589 tickets were issued, of which only 352 were for speeding. (newromesucks.com) The New Rome Dissolution party will be Saturday September 18th!
New Rome...after I moved here I was told to avoid it at all costs. It sounds sort of like what I had to deal with in Waldo, FL. What a shame that it is being dissolved by the State. And your friend is right. I have a friend in the Columbus PD and he has told me the same thing. At night, when parked on the side of the road or in the median, patrol cars must have at least their parking lights on or they are in violation of the law. Which is quite nice because it makes the cars easy to spot when driving at night.
