Above the Law
As many of my readers know, we run over 200 recreation facilities across the country, from Washington to Florida. This experience of serving nearly a million customers a year has yielded some odd insights. One of the ones I published before is that the far-and-away worst litterers in the country are Southern Californians and LA residents in particular, California-eco-speak notwithstanding.
Another observation we have made is that many times our most difficult customers turn out to be law enforcement officers. I'm not talking about all of them - the vast majority of law enforcement officers are friendly, peaceful campers. But when we have an incident of a customer refusing to follow the rules and wanting privileges no one else gets, like-as-not the customer is a law enforcement officer of some sort. For example, we have had an off duty law-enforcement officer pay for one campsite, and then spread his stuff out over three, and refuse to limit himself to one site or pay for the other two he was using. We have had off-duty law enforcement officers who had their car towed because it was parked for four hours in a tow-away zone, and then had their on-duty friends show up (well out of their jurisdiction) and interrogate our managers and otherwise harass them in retribution. Heck, we have biker gangs come through that are more respectful of authority than certain off-duty law enforcement officers.
This irritating little site (HT: Hit and Run) possibly explains some things for me. The site is apparently run by cops and is aimed at criticizing cops who do not extend other officers "professional courtesy" which apparently is a euphemism for "allow them to break the rules with impunity." Police officers who actually have the temerity to enforce the rules on other police officers are singled out as "dicks." Maybe I understand why some of our police officer customers are not accustomed to having to follow the same rules as everyone else.
Larry Sheldon:
There are places (some of them not far from here, where I am more afraid of the cops than I am of anybody else.
I wonder if I will regret saying that.
September 25, 2007, 12:13 pmdave smith:
On the cite, click on the "friendly PDs" link and you get the "not found" message. I thought that was very funny.
But, is this webpage serious...it looks like a joke.
September 25, 2007, 12:38 pmdearieme:
In the British National Health Service "professional courtesy" is the expression used when doctors let other doctors jump the queue or otherwise claim privilege.
September 25, 2007, 12:42 pmMatthew Brown:
I just love the way all these cops are whining that other cops didn't let them off when they got tickets. Bunch of crybabies.
September 25, 2007, 3:20 pmdave smith:
Very, very disturbing. They equate getting out of tickets to someone who works at Best Buy getting a discount.
Best Buy offers a discount to employees because it is a cost effective way to get the types of employees they want. Best Buy wants people who love the products they sell to work for Best Buy. So a offering discount makes cents :) since it will attract the audio/videophile.
Does this mean that the police are trying to attract those who would most value being able to break the law?
Scary.
September 25, 2007, 4:41 pmTJIC:
Larry says "There are places (some of them not far from here, where I am more afraid of the cops than I am of anybody else."
I'll say that there are very few places where I am more afraid of citizens than I am of police!
September 25, 2007, 6:16 pmParatrooperJJ:
I assume you filed a complaint with the on duty officers' departments and with their State's licensing board?
September 26, 2007, 8:05 ammarkm:
Since your next post is about unions, I'm reminded that since 30-some years ago, one of the unions organizing many police departments is the Teamsters. Yes, cops were voting to be represented by an organization that (at best) notoriously has often had difficulty staying on the right side of the law... If it weren't for depression-era federal laws favoring unions, wanting to join such an organization ought to be sufficient reason to fire a cop.
September 26, 2007, 1:09 pmCraig:
I'd really hold off accepting this website as anything more than half-assed satire. If it ends up being satirical, it's pretty good stuff. The alternative is scary.
September 26, 2007, 5:07 pmglen:
It would be nice to believe that this is satire but I do know cops who get upset when 'professional courtesy' is not extended. Of course, since a site would only take one guy to develop and run, I guess it could be a half-assed satire but the subject of this satire is still a fact. Isn't this truth what is really scary?
September 26, 2007, 7:13 pmscraphoops:
My cousin is a cop and from conversations we have had I would guess half the guys he works with would love this site. He said their department is basically split in half, between the ones on power trips and the ones who actually want to do a good job.
September 29, 2007, 8:56 pmArnold Williams:
There was an uproar in New York City a few years ago, with policemen complaining that their cars, parked illegally, were getting tickets. One had the temerity to say, "We risk our lives every day, we're entitled."
Of course, on that standard, taxis shouldn't be ticketed either.
October 3, 2007, 8:51 am