I always send a letter to the department of the officer I get into a conflict with no matter how good or bad it was. Note that this is for a conflict, not cops who I have convos or anything like that. I've written three letters that I thought shined a pretty good light on the officer. In two of these three I had received a ticket. I sent four neutral ones which all involved an officer checking me out for whatever reason. And I've sent four negative ones, unfortunately in two of them I didn't have any names to offer. Just time, location, and events. In all of them I considered professionalism, attitude, and personal feelings based on their actions. At the end of each letter I attach the name, agency, and its number of all the other reviews I've done so they can check if they want to see that I am unbiased.srothstein wrote:I agree with HV that it is one of those "You might beat the rap but you won't beat the ride" situations.
But in all three cases mentioned, I would strongly recommend calling the agency and filing a complaint. Police have no right to be bullies and should not be allowed to get away with it. If there is more to the story (and I am sure the officers would give a different version), let the IA investigator find it out and determine the truth.
The only way we can get better cops is if the people who get abused file complaints on the bad ones and send letters of commendation when they get a good one who goes beyond what is required.
In one of the bad ones I did deserve what I got (half way, I deserved exhibition of acceleration of speed, but I didn't run any sign), but the officer was extremely unprofessional. Cursing and making all sorts of threats. Had he not done that it would of been a good review.
In the one at the cookoff I'll bet they would have a different story, they'd need one to cover their butts...alas I knew neither of their names since I complyed and backed waaay off. Just location, time, agency, and a general description. Yes I understood why he was being so intimidating...to intimidate me into complying with him. Point was that he could of told me to stand to the side and had the same result instead of telling me I was gotta get PI and be behind bars if I didn't back off.
The JV cop that flipped and put me in cuffs? Well I don't know what his side of the story would be, he made those statements and put me in cuffs. Then talked about it being his crime scene. I was involved in the accident, I'm not exactly sure what my role would be in interfering in a police investigation since I'm involved in the accident and I wasn't actively trying anything to prohibit them from doing their jobs. The guy told me to turn my stuff off, I did not want to argue and I was unsure of the legality of me saying no. He put me in cuffs...maybe procedure or something I dunno, they weren't tight or anything, so I'll write that off. Then the speech about his crime scene and how we wouldn't have cameras there. He was semi-courtious, fairly professional, but my personal feelings from what he did and said made me furious.
As for the guy who just told me to beat it or go to jail for PI, I did as he said and beat it. Didn't know his name either, just wrote the local PD and told them when, where, general description, and what happened. Along with the other references.
Speaking of I need to write another review of an accident I was in last year. I'm really not sure where to place this one, I'm not sure how professional the cop was being due to the wording of the law. Maybe you guys can straighten it up for me. Traffic was stopped, two cars yielded to me, this guy didn't want to wait in the stopped traffic so he took off in the suicide lane, he said he was gonna turn in to a gas station about 400 yards from his location. As I edged out in the company van on my LAST day (aaargh) I saw him coming and stopped. He hit the brakes and slide into us, pretty minor in the scheme of things. Being a company van they have to file a report, I felt pretty good about it. I mean, the guy shouldn't of been driving down the center lane while traffic was stopped right? My understanding is that the lane is only to be used to slow down and turn left into a driveway, and if traffic is stopped you can't be slowing down to turn. Apparently wrong, the officer said he had right of way. So he said that he would cite me for failure to yield and the other guy for having no insurance and child endangerment, or he could leave and let us decide it for ourselves. He left it up to my manager, who I guess felt bad for me and kept it between the two of us. The cop let the guy leave back into traffic without insurance and his kid climbing all over the back seat. To me it just seemed like the cop was trying to do the least amount of work possible by making it look like we both had something to lose. So I guess it depends on what the law really means.
Here is my MS Paint interpretation of the crash.
