Is it worth a police officers life to pull someone over for a minor traffic violation?

Question

You see it all the time a highway patrol officer is killed because he gets struck by a car when he pulled someone over for going 5 miles over the speed limit or because they were not wearing a seatbelt. I could understand pulling someone over for speeding at a high rate but these guys should not put their life for something so minor.

I think the problem is that cops get reprimanded for not writing up enough tickets as one my x-cop teachers told me that "quotas" are a big coverup in every dept. do you agree minor traffic violations should be let go?

Answer 1

you mean they pull someone over for a violation, and the person they pulled over kills them with their car....or someone else driving on the road does?!? if it's the latter, then that'ss just carelessness on the part of the cop..if it's the former, well anyone capable of murdering a cop over a ticket is someone worth pulling over for any crime in my book!  

Answer 2

It's not worth is life, but it's also not worth my life typing this right now because I could theoretically be taken by evil reptilian overlords to the silvery spherical mothership and have my soul drained into the moon soul tower.

Answer 3

Interesting. I guess no one should go to work then. Did you hear about the Mcdonalds working who slipped and fell into the deep fryer. His face was badly scarred and he eventually died from this. So I guess is it worth your life to make 7 bucks at Mcdonalds. Anything is possible but the police have a job to do just like the fireman or sanitation worker or the person working the assembly line. Things happen but to look at it your way is sick.

Answer 4

Considering there are 800,000 officers in the US, there are millions of traffic stops everyday. The odds of an officer getting run over are less than the odds of being struck by lightning... twice.  

Also worth considering is the fact law enforcement does not make the laws, state legislature does. It is not up to the officers to selectively enforce laws. They are hired to enforce them all.

In addition, the operator of the vehicle that strikes the officer has no idea why the car is being pulled over, so it wouldn't matter how minor the offense is.

Once you start letting violations go, people will tend to get careless in their driving. This carelessness will create more accidents, and create more injuries than it will prevent.

Answer 5

It is not worth their life. I agree minor violations should be let go.

People thumbed me down for that? wtf

Ok, it's worth their life.

Is that better now?

Answer 6

Because of pursuing  these very minor traffic offenses the public are seeing that the police are nothing more than official tax collectors

In reply to one of my questions on these boards a serving police officers tells me the the police are manning the speed traps on their days off and your not going to believe this, the more tickets they issue they more they get paid

Can you imagine anything more gleeful to them when they stop you

Confirms something I have believed for a long time now most cops are just there for the money,Law Enforcement in Serious Crimes is way  down the scale when cherry picking traffic is on offer. Resulting in a disproportionate amount of resources spent on getting that 60 dollars(£30) out of your pocket

Answer 7

if they're going to pull me over for not coming to a complete stop at 2 am with no other cars on the road; slowing down hitting break pausing then going; then i want them to question people that jaywalk.

it's all a bunch of bs. sometimes it's a power trip. i will say they've let me off with a warning more times than not, so whatever.

Answer 8

1. There is no such thing as a 'minor' traffic stop. I've stopped vehicles for rolling thru a stop sign and end up arresting a murderer who had been on the run for 5 years. I stopped another car for a tail light which was shorting out and ended up finding 13 pounds of marijuana.

2. I don't know when your teacher was an officer, but he or she isn't telling you the truth, or at the very least is stretching the truth. I would assume if they quit law enforcement and went to teaching that they couldn't cut it as a cop and hold a grudge.

There are no quotas, we get to write ALL the tickets we want.

3. NO... minor traffic violations is what ends up getting people killed.

Answer 9

yeah they should totally just stop pulling me over when i speed.... i wouldnt have a 175$ ticket if they didnt risk putting their life on the line just to pull me over.

Answer 10

They need to be putting their life on the line for everything they do.Thats why they get paid.

Answer 11

No. Even going 5-10 kilometres over the speed limit can make the difference between life and death, or a lot of money or a small amount of money in repairs. Why is it so difficult to just obey the law (excluding exceptional circumstances such as emergencies)? Minor traffic violations shouldn't just be let go, cops just got to be careful on them freeways.

Answer 12

The policeman knows their job decriptions befor they go into this so if they are afraid to pull someone over they best get a job flipping burgers.

Answer 13

Quotas?

All depends if you are working a big city or the interstate, big city Officers mainly deal with crime and dont have much time for writing tickets except on day work, State troopers deal with for the most part traffic, go figure.

Answer 14

Yes and no. yes because i wouldn't risk my life and no because speed kills

Answer 15

Yeah...they do get quotas and it pisses me off. My dads a cop and if he dies because he had to pull somebody over for going 5 over....I'm going AWOL.

Its ridiculous that people who are supposed to protect us are under the stress of getting shot by a drug dealer AND making the quota. There has to be another way of going about these things.

Answer 16

I find it interesting that answerer Josh says he will go AWOL (Absent WithOut Leave) if his dad gets killed.  So... you will dissapear for a while?

Police do not have quotas.  I work with a cop and have known many, and they all say its c**p, like the donut shop thing.

Answer 17

sadly, yes

Answer 18

pulling people over is part of their everyday job.

They know this.  It would be great if they just left us all alone though

Answer 19

Oh yes it is; just to see the look in someone's eyes when they realize they've been stopped for trying to bully their way through traffic is worth all the risk and more.  I especially enjoy the irony of saying "have a good day" when I hand them the ticket and walk back to my cruiser with a smirk on my face.  Priceless!

Answer 20

Maybe.

Answer 21

I don't care who your teacher was there are no quotas.  We do NOT have to write a specific amount of tickets in a day, week, month, year etc.  Of course if I'm out for a 10 hour shift and I don't produce any paperwork to show that I was actually out doing my job then yes my supervisor is going to come to me and expect me to show what I do during my shift.  As long as we show we are doing our job and doing it right we don't get bothered about how much we're doing.  If you work in an area specific to traffic then yes your going to be expected to write a lot of traffic tickets because that is what your job is!!!

why do we risk our life doing such "minor" things?  How do you think a lot of criminals are caught?  There is a high chance of finding a wanted felon, etc on a "simple" traffic stop.  Stopping one drunk driver could have prevented them from driving down the road and running into your parents or children killing them in the process...............so you tell me, is it worth it?

Answer 22

i agree with you on this one.