I haven't been a rookie for years, but after reading this board for a while I just registered. An earlier post inspired me to join an express my freedom of speech.
The post came from a armed courier who was approached by an off duty LEO while completing paperwork for a courier deposit.
I would just like to know courier, what were you driving? An armored vehicle or your personal vehicle?
Apparently you raised the suspicion of the LEO by squalling your tires on a corner. Now I have driven cars that needed tires replaced too, I admit they have a tendency to squal tires, but not long & loud unless you were really trying.
Next when you fled the area you violated the traffic laws of your locale.
Were you being shot at? Rammed with the SUV? Cut off by the SUV?
Why didn't you drive to the nearest police station?
Now don't get me wrong, I understand your apprehension of who was in the SUV, but unless your life was actually threatened you had no reason to jeopardize the safety of the public by running traffic lights.
I'm sure your policy manual doesn't advise you to violate municipal, state & federal laws or jeopardize the safety of the public.
If you really thought your were in danger why didn't you call 911?
If you had really been in a life or death situation calling your dispatcher instead of a 911 dispatcher just slowed your police response by 5 to 10 minutes and created the high probability of communication breakdown. Having a third party relay information always creates problems.
You could have explained your action to your supervisor/company later.
Not to mention the probability that had you been in danger, you gave your perpetrator another 5-10 minutes.
Seconds save lives, minutes and poor judgement don't.
From the officer's perspective first you raised his suspicions then you justified those suspicions by committing violations of the law in his presence. This gave him probable cause that a crime had been committed.
As for the emergency lights etc.......not an issue. He wasn't trying to stop you. Our dept doesn't have them for Spec. Units and no officer has them on their POV. Possbility exists that he did call for a marked unit and those units were out of position or on other calls so he broke off the pursuit.
Under the circumstances you voiced - no wonder the officer was po'd. I don't know any that wouldn't be. I've seen the very same scenario happen more than once. As for upholding your company's policy, by not stopping you could have called 911 and driven straight to the police station. (In the grand scheme of things, what is most important to the court? Your company policy or the traffic laws?)
Then your story would have been more credible, as it stands I don't think it will get you off on the traffic violations.
If you really didn't know where the police station was the 911 operator would have been glad to give you directions and they would have been able to tell you if you were being followed by a LEO.
In a position of an armed courier carrying cash I would think the first job requirement would be to know where the police station was located and to have a good working knowledge of the geographical area. I don't buy that excuse and I doubt the judge will either.
The post came from a armed courier who was approached by an off duty LEO while completing paperwork for a courier deposit.
I would just like to know courier, what were you driving? An armored vehicle or your personal vehicle?
Apparently you raised the suspicion of the LEO by squalling your tires on a corner. Now I have driven cars that needed tires replaced too, I admit they have a tendency to squal tires, but not long & loud unless you were really trying.
Next when you fled the area you violated the traffic laws of your locale.
Were you being shot at? Rammed with the SUV? Cut off by the SUV?
Why didn't you drive to the nearest police station?
Now don't get me wrong, I understand your apprehension of who was in the SUV, but unless your life was actually threatened you had no reason to jeopardize the safety of the public by running traffic lights.
I'm sure your policy manual doesn't advise you to violate municipal, state & federal laws or jeopardize the safety of the public.
If you really thought your were in danger why didn't you call 911?
If you had really been in a life or death situation calling your dispatcher instead of a 911 dispatcher just slowed your police response by 5 to 10 minutes and created the high probability of communication breakdown. Having a third party relay information always creates problems.
You could have explained your action to your supervisor/company later.
Not to mention the probability that had you been in danger, you gave your perpetrator another 5-10 minutes.
Seconds save lives, minutes and poor judgement don't.
From the officer's perspective first you raised his suspicions then you justified those suspicions by committing violations of the law in his presence. This gave him probable cause that a crime had been committed.
As for the emergency lights etc.......not an issue. He wasn't trying to stop you. Our dept doesn't have them for Spec. Units and no officer has them on their POV. Possbility exists that he did call for a marked unit and those units were out of position or on other calls so he broke off the pursuit.
Under the circumstances you voiced - no wonder the officer was po'd. I don't know any that wouldn't be. I've seen the very same scenario happen more than once. As for upholding your company's policy, by not stopping you could have called 911 and driven straight to the police station. (In the grand scheme of things, what is most important to the court? Your company policy or the traffic laws?)
Then your story would have been more credible, as it stands I don't think it will get you off on the traffic violations.
If you really didn't know where the police station was the 911 operator would have been glad to give you directions and they would have been able to tell you if you were being followed by a LEO.
In a position of an armed courier carrying cash I would think the first job requirement would be to know where the police station was located and to have a good working knowledge of the geographical area. I don't buy that excuse and I doubt the judge will either.
- but just a suggestion to help in future.
