Almost 30 tickets an hour

[Wilbur]

quote:Originally posted by sauerkraut

I'm surprised to see that Tulsa cops can take their car home with them if they live within 25 miles. I wonder who pays for that fuel though, if the city does, the cop can use the car on personal drives and the city taxpayers get stuck with the fuel tab when a cop car is used for personal use. Since fuel went up to $3.00 a gallon alot of police agencys in Ohio no longer permit that, unless they must have the car for a certain reason.

It's not just Tulsa.  Many of the surrounding communities allow their officers to take cars home too, some live in Tulsa.

And, no, police officers can't use their cars to drive to the store, go to the movies, run to church, .......

[NellieBly]

They do, however.

Why do I see cops in civilian clothes driving their cars all the time? Do they drive to that part-time security job in their city issued vehicle??

[sgrizzle]

My favorite traffic enforcement story was one city that hooked traffic cameras to a van and it would take a picture of the license plate and the fully automated system would even issue the tickets and mail them out.

They were however quite surprised when tickets started pouring in for violations from the van itself. Kids had taken the plates off of the traffic van, put it on their car and run by the camera over and over again.

[Conan71]

quote:Originally posted by sgrizzle

My favorite traffic enforcement story was one city that hooked traffic cameras to a van and it would take a picture of the license plate and the fully automated system would even issue the tickets and mail them out.

They were however quite surprised when tickets started pouring in for violations from the van itself. Kids had taken the plates off of the traffic van, put it on their car and run by the camera over and over again.

[}:)]

Your story reminded me of one Paul Harvey told a few years back.  He said they use speeder cameras in England.  A fellow got a ticket in the mail with a photo of his license plate.  He sent back a photo of a check.  The police sent back a photo of hand-cuffs.  He got the message and paid. []

[MH2010]

quote:Originally posted by NellieBly

They do, however.

Why do I see cops in civilian clothes driving their cars all the time? Do they drive to that part-time security job in their city issued vehicle??

There are alot of reasons you see officers in plain clothes driving police cars.  They may be driving to municipal, state and/or federal court.  They may be taking their vehicles in to get serviced on their day off so they don't have to do it on their work days and miss taking calls.  They may be going to in-service training at the academy. They may be on special assignment and working in a plain clothes capacity once they get to work.  They may be going to work but haven't put their uniform on yet.  They may be going to the range to practice with their firearms.  They may be going to a community meeting the new Chief has requested.  

The bottom line is this...the city and the citizens of Tulsa get a fully trained Tulsa police officer for the price of gas (and no, they city doesn't pay what citizens pay for gas)when they allow officers to drive take home cars. Off-duty officers respond to high-priority calls (shootings, stabbings, armed robberies ect.) if they are in their police cars and the calls are close to them.  Off-duty officers also conduct motorist assists and stop when they are flagged down by citizens when they are driving their police cars.

Furthermore, the citizens of Tulsa also get about an extra hour of police coverage for only the price of gasoline when officers are allowed to drive their police cars from home to work and then from work to home.  Many officers never make squad meeting before their shift starts because they go to a call on their way to squad meeting or they stop to help a motorist on the side of the road or they stop a reckless driver.

Lastly, citizens do not know if a uniformed officer is currently at work, working an extra job, on their way to work or on their way home unless they ask.  So don't assume you know exactly what the officer's status is.  If you really want to know, just ask them.

[restored2x]

quote:Originally posted by Wilbur

quote: We all know it is about money. Revenue. I once heard (don't know if its true) that those who raise the most money, or get the most DUI arrests get to drive a squad car home - true?

It's not about the money on the part of police, since the police don't get any of the fine money.  It is spread over several government agencies.  And sorry, your story about the take-home car is very false.  Tulsa officers are allowed to take their assigned units home if they live within 25 miles of 41st and Yale.  Some do.  Some don't.

quote: I respect the TPD, and I rarely speed. I like living and I like living with all my limbs and facilities intact. The guy with the radar gun doesn't deter me - a sense of self-preservation deters me.

Good for you.  The idea of traffic tickets is to correct behavior and provide deterrent.  It is up to the offender to decide how they will react.  The hope is people will obey traffic laws, which are in place for everyone's safety.

quote: A TP is told to go out on traffic duty - he/she does it. It's not personal - just his job. I'm not criticizing the officers, I'm questioning the unbalnaced use of great resources.

If my numbers are correct, out of the 814 police officers in Tulsa, about 35+ (4%) are assigned to full time traffic duties.  Not sure how much lower one would go when you are already at 4%.

quote: The guy maybe uninsured, but if he has a drivers license he at least knows the rules of the road and he has something that can be revoked. The illegal alien has no drivers license and never took a drivers class offten times does not know English road signs. He has no drivers license that can be revoked, with no insurance there is nothing that can done with them. They have no money you can't sue them- If deported they will just be back next week driving another car. Illegal is the key word. it's a mess.

No one is required to take driver's ed.  Any person can get a driver's license without driver's ed, although you will get a temporary restriction put on your license.  There is no requirement to know English in order to drive, just as there is no mandate to know French to drive in France.  If you did take driver's ed, you would remember that road signs are universal, so a stop sign here looks like a stop sign in France.

Thanks for the clarification. It is amazing how much urban myth there is regarding the inner workings of the PD. Pretty cool that we can get true real-time info right here.

Wow - 4%. That is very surpising. Perhaps we see the traffic cops more than the other 96% because we're on the road so much. Where are the others? Is it "beat" duty? It would be interesting to know what goes into the decisions of police presence. (Maybe that's confidential, obviously so)

I wish a TPD officer would move onto my street and drive his car home - a great crime deterrent, having a squad car parked in the neighborhood. Driving the car home is not an issue for me - just the crap I heard about who gets cars and why - which you have cleared up.

The police may not get the money, but someone in government gets the money, and if everybody drove carefully and no tickets were issued for just one month, some one's budget would be screwed - so the pressure could still be coming from somewhere. Are monies from fines actually included in the budget?

[buckeye]

There are cops living all over my midtown neighborhood, one living six houses down at the corner and one living almost directly south of me on the next street.  The rest are sprinkled all around.  Last Thanksgiving, a thief made his way down from the corner, smashed my car's side window and made off with a radio faceplate before the dog scared him away.  My car was in my well-lit driveway - and this happened at 9:45 pm.  A couple years before, thieves robbed every car parked on the street from one corner to the next, turned down the next street and stole a shotgun from a cruiser in the cop's driveway.  A house less then 1/10 of a mile from the nearby cop's house has been robbed twice.

It does feel good to have cops in the neighborhood, but I think it does little to deter criminals.

[cannon_fodder]

Allow citizens to ticket cops for breaking traffic laws - sans emergency lights of course.  Then, by god, we can raise some SERIOUS money.

[Chris]

I went to eat lunch recently and a couple of cops came in right after me, they were still eating when I left. When I went out to the parking lot I realized one of their squad cars was running! He left it running the entire time he was eating lunch, around 30 minutes! Now I'm sure if I questioned him he would of told me he left it on in case he needed to leave in a moments notice but I doubt the time to start the car would make any difference. I'm sure he doesn't have to pay for the gas or to maintenance the car so why should he care, it was hot and he wanted a cold car to come out to.

[MH2010]

quote:Originally posted by Chris

I went to eat lunch recently and a couple of cops came in right after me, they were still eating when I left. When I went out to the parking lot I realized one of their squad cars was running! He left it running the entire time he was eating lunch, around 30 minutes! Now I'm sure if I questioned him he would of told me he left it on in case he needed to leave in a moments notice but I doubt the time to start the car would make any difference. I'm sure he doesn't have to pay for the gas or to maintenance the car so why should he care, it was hot and he wanted a cold car to come out to.

Cold cars are nice (kind of like air conditioning in your office!)but sometimes you have to leave your car running so the computer doesn't die and you have to reboot and re-login to everything(dispatch, wants and warrants, Incident report server, FIR report server, Collision server ect. )and/or your battery doesn't drain down so that you have to jump your police car.

[Chris]

I thought about that too, the computer thing, and if true does that mean this is a common occurance?

[MH2010]

quote:Originally posted by Chris

I thought about that too, the computer thing, and if true does that mean this is a common occurance?

It just depends.  Some cars are better than others.

[Wilbur]

quote:Originally posted by Chris

I went to eat lunch recently and a couple of cops came in right after me, they were still eating when I left. When I went out to the parking lot I realized one of their squad cars was running! He left it running the entire time he was eating lunch, around 30 minutes! Now I'm sure if I questioned him he would of told me he left it on in case he needed to leave in a moments notice but I doubt the time to start the car would make any difference. I'm sure he doesn't have to pay for the gas or to maintenance the car so why should he care, it was hot and he wanted a cold car to come out to.

Actually, he probably would have told you if he turned it off, it would not re-start.  A common problem, which is due to battery and alternator problems (police cars suck a ton of energy running all of the extra equipment).  Set you car down today to get that problem fixed, it will be at least one week before you get it back.

[Wilbur]

quote:Originally posted by Chris

I went to eat lunch recently and a couple of cops came in right after me, they were still eating when I left. When I went out to the parking lot I realized one of their squad cars was running! He left it running the entire time he was eating lunch, around 30 minutes! Now I'm sure if I questioned him he would of told me he left it on in case he needed to leave in a moments notice but I doubt the time to start the car would make any difference. I'm sure he doesn't have to pay for the gas or to maintenance the car so why should he care, it was hot and he wanted a cold car to come out to.

.... or it could have been a K9 officer trying to keep his dog alive, since the dogs don't really do too well inside the restaurant.

[inteller]

quote:Originally posted by MH2010

quote:Originally posted by Chris

I went to eat lunch recently and a couple of cops came in right after me, they were still eating when I left. When I went out to the parking lot I realized one of their squad cars was running! He left it running the entire time he was eating lunch, around 30 minutes! Now I'm sure if I questioned him he would of told me he left it on in case he needed to leave in a moments notice but I doubt the time to start the car would make any difference. I'm sure he doesn't have to pay for the gas or to maintenance the car so why should he care, it was hot and he wanted a cold car to come out to.

Cold cars are nice (kind of like air conditioning in your office!)but sometimes you have to leave your car running so the computer doesn't die and you have to reboot and re-login to everything(dispatch, wants and warrants, Incident report server, FIR report server, Collision server ect.

its called planning.