Speed Cameras Catch Cops; Cops try to BS out of it.

[MKSheppard]

Go Montgomery County's Finest! Suck it down!

Montgomery's Finest Won't Pay Fines

By Ernesto Londoño
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, March 8, 2008; A01


Among the thousands of drivers who have been issued $40 fines after being nabbed by Montgomery County's new speed cameras are scores of county police officers. The difference is, many of the officers are refusing to pay.

The officers are following the advice of their union, which says the citations are issued not to the driver but to the vehicle's owner -- in this case, the county.

That view has rankled Police Chief J. Thomas Manger and County Council Member Phil Andrews (D-Gaithersburg-Rockville), who chairs the Public Safety Committee.

"You can't have one set of laws for police officers and another one for the rest of the world," Andrews said.

In recent weeks, officers have twice been photographed speeding past a camera and extending a middle finger, an act that police supervisors interpreted as a gesture of defiance. "There is no excuse for that kind of behavior," said Andrews, who was briefed on the incidents.

During the last eight months of 2007, the department's cameras recorded 224 instances in which county police vehicles were nabbed traveling more than 10 mph over the speed limit, the department disclosed this week in response to an inquiry from The Washington Post.

Of those citations, 76 were dismissed after supervisors determined that officers were responding to calls or had other valid reasons to exceed the speed limit. Nearly two-thirds of the remaining 148 fines have not been paid, including an unspecified number that remain under investigation, said Lt. Paul Starks, a police spokesman. He said the number of citations issued to police employees this year is not yet available.

Officer Mark Zifcak, president of the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 35, did not respond to an e-mail and two phone messages this week seeking comment. In a notice posted on its Web site, the union advises that "members should not pay or set court dates for speed camera citations that are issued to the employer."

Manger is demanding that officers pay the fines, a request that has met stiff opposition from union leaders and has been ignored by some sergeants who were asked to investigate whether officers nabbed by the cameras had a valid reason to speed.

"We are not above the law," Manger said in an interview. "It is imperative that the police department hold itself to the same standards that we're holding the public to."

Officials at the county's fire department, sheriff's office and four municipal police departments said employees who have been caught speeding in government vehicles have paid the fines.

"The only time we don't make them pay the fine is if they're on an emergency call," Sheriff Raymond M. Kight said. "We haven't had any resistance at all."

The dispute over the citations is the latest in a series of confrontations between county police commanders and the union, which has become increasingly powerful in recent years.

Leaders of the police union recently filed a grievance arguing that the citations constitute a change in labor conditions that the department must negotiate with the union before implementing.

Some sergeants, who are covered by the union, have refused to investigate whether infractions occurred when officers were responding to calls, forcing commanders to turn to lieutenants, who are not represented by the union, according to two law enforcement sources who spoke on condition of anonymity because the cases are being investigated as personnel matters.

The sources said the cruiser in one of the incidents in which a vulgar gesture was made was assigned to Michael Simpson, an officer in Wheaton. One of the sources said Simpson appears to have been responding to a call in January when he was traveling at more than 80 mph on Randolph Road.

Simpson received speed camera citations in November and December, according to a database of citations obtained under a public records request.

Simpson did not respond to an e-mail message seeking comment, and efforts to contact him through the department's media office were unsuccessful.

Supervisors at the three municipal police departments in the county that operate speed cameras -- Gaithersburg, Rockville and Chevy Chase Village -- said employees have not resisted paying fines.

"We hold them responsible," said Rockville Police Capt. Bob Rappoport, whose department has received about a half-dozen citations. "Our officers have paid out of their own pockets."

Gaithersburg and Rockville officers are not represented by the same union as county police officers, and the Chevy Chase Village police do not have a union.

County Executive Isiah Leggett (D), who said he received and paid for a speed camera citation recently, said that he disagrees with the county police union's position but that he is confident that Manger will hold his officers accountable.

Under the law, owners of vehicles, not drivers, are punished for failure to pay fines. Manger said, however, that officers who continue to ignore citations might be disciplined.

Montgomery is the only county in Maryland that is authorized to use cameras to enforce speed limits, but legislation is moving through the General Assembly this year to allow speed cameras statewide.

A bill introduced by Gov. Martin O'Malley's administration would allow local jurisdictions to use speed cameras in residential neighborhoods, near schools and on highways with construction work. The Senate could vote on the measure as early as next week.

[Xisiqomelir]

I guess it's harder for them to just throw the tickets away like the rest of the country.

[lazerus]

"We are not above the law," Manger said in an interview. "It is imperative that the police department hold itself to the same standards that we're holding the public to."

Officials at the county's fire department, sheriff's office and four municipal police departments said employees who have been caught speeding in government vehicles have paid the fines.

That says it all really. Assholes. The simplest solution would seem to be to dock their pay to an amount equal to the money owed.

[Molyneux]

"We are not above the law," Manger said in an interview. "It is imperative that the police department hold itself to the same standards that we're holding the public to."

Officials at the county's fire department, sheriff's office and four municipal police departments said employees who have been caught speeding in government vehicles have paid the fines.

That says it all really. Assholes. The simplest solution would seem to be to dock their pay to an amount equal to the money owed.

Why not include interest? A civilian refusing to pay a traffic fine isn't let off with just their pay being docked, after all.

[Tanasinn]

I imagine that any attempt to just dock their pay will meet with union whinging.

[CmdrWilkens]

I imagine that any attempt to just dock their pay will meet with union whinging.

The whole thing is union whining. Were the union not fully backing the officers in claiming that their action should not be investigated or fined then they would long ago have paid up and this would be a non-issue (as it is for all of the non-county police forces in Montgomery).

[Rogue 9]

*Snort* I can't remember the last time I saw a squad car that wasn't speeding.

[Darth Wong]

*Snort* I can't remember the last time I saw a squad car that wasn't speeding.

I also enjoy watching a cop car pull up to a stoplight, flip on its flashers, drive through the intersection, and then turn off its flashers again. All I can say is "I hope he's going somewhere important", because I know that all too often, they're not.

In Toronto, it's hard to tell whether they're doing something legitimate, because you really have no idea where they're going. But when I lived in a small town that basically had one long main street, I used to watch with impotent rage as cops would use their flashers to drive through red lights and then I could see them down the street, pulling into the donut shop.

[Rogue 9]

At least the local cops don't do that, but the lieutenant just got a Dodge Charger police interceptor and loves the thing too damned much. I mean, I like the guy, but he seriously needs to take the weights off the accelerator. Trouble is, they're not going to pull each other over and we don't have automated speed traps here.

[Molyneux]

*Snort* I can't remember the last time I saw a squad car that wasn't speeding.

I also enjoy watching a cop car pull up to a stoplight, flip on its flashers, drive through the intersection, and then turn off its flashers again. All I can say is "I hope he's going somewhere important", because I know that all too often, they're not.

In Toronto, it's hard to tell whether they're doing something legitimate, because you really have no idea where they're going. But when I lived in a small town that basically had one long main street, I used to watch with impotent rage as cops would use their flashers to drive through red lights and then I could see them down the street, pulling into the donut shop.

Why not bring a video-camera with you and make like "Candid Camera"?

[Napoleon the Clown]

I also enjoy watching a cop car pull up to a stoplight, flip on its flashers, drive through the intersection, and then turn off its flashers again. All I can say is "I hope he's going somewhere important", because I know that all too often, they're not.

In Toronto, it's hard to tell whether they're doing something legitimate, because you really have no idea where they're going. But when I lived in a small town that basically had one long main street, I used to watch with impotent rage as cops would use their flashers to drive through red lights and then I could see them down the street, pulling into the donut shop.

From what I've heard cops responding to robberies will often keep sirens/lights off except when passing through intersections so as to not warn the robbers. Though I doubt that's the case most of the time, and I don't know if it's even true. Still, it annoys me when cops will disobey traffic laws for their own convenience. The ones that do it are a disgrace to police officers everywhere.

[Ariphaos]

I've seen that done all of once here in MN. Both my sister and I have been tailgated by cops who flipped their lights on to pass us, though.

[Darth Tanner]

In the UK cops/fire/ambulance crews get caught speeding all the time, almost universally they get out of it by claiming they were 'training' themselves to be able to go at those speeds.

I think there was one police officer who was going 150mph on the motorway in an unmarked car that was suspended for a few months but that’s pretty much the limit of traffic enforcement on the uniformed services.

I also enjoy watching a cop car pull up to a stoplight, flip on its flashers, drive through the intersection, and then turn off its flashers again

I've never seen anything quite as bad as that but I frequently see emergency vehicles use their siren to get through traffic at a junction. I'd imagine however that that is to prevent themselves becoming stuck in traffic (this was in London) if they do get an emergency call. Or it could be because the fish and chips in the back is getting cold.

[White Haven]

The police here in Richmond (Henrico county, actually, but who cares?) are usually fairly good about that sort of thing...the speeding isn't any worse than they permit everyone to get away with (ten over the limit) and I've never seen one dodge a light. I guess we're the exception to the rule, though, from the other posts here.

[Aaron]

From what I've heard cops responding to robberies will often keep sirens/lights off except when passing through intersections so as to not warn the robbers. Though I doubt that's the case most of the time, and I don't know if it's even true. Still, it annoys me when cops will disobey traffic laws for their own convenience. The ones that do it are a disgrace to police officers everywhere.

They have categories for whether to use the lights or not, they used to call them codes and one of them was to respond without lights or sirens. But as Mike alluded to, pulling into the donut shop doesn't count and it's pretty obvious that they were not doing that when they flipped off the camera.

[tim31]

Heh, last year I was walking down a busy restaurant street strip and an unmarked police car made a right turn into a no-right-turn street without inidcating or using emergency signals in order to tell some guy off who was quietly drinking a beer on a public bench. I was in a filthy mood over something else, and so being a smart arse I commented to the officers that they had just commited a traffic violation and walked on. They were obviously pissed that I'd called them out because they caught up with me the next block and told me that they didn't like smartarses and they didn't want to see me in the area again that evening. Good job fellahs.

[The Yosemite Bear]

Reminds me of a bit of new years news, a small County in California, has "Banned" DEA & ATF, for too many incidents of DUI, Inappropreate discharge of Firearms inside residential areas, speeding, and recless endangerment. Apprently the sheriffs got tired of the Feds driving drunk and then threatening the locals with federal prosecution, or shooting at police vehicles to get out of it....

of course that bit is from a local shoddy journalism rag so I don't know.


on the otherhand I have seen a US Marshal nearly hit me, when he was driving the wrong way down a one way street, and ran a stop sign. He told me I was lucky I wasn't being ticketed. I mentioned that there was no where for me to pull over when he was driving the wrong direction. He responded that HE WAS THE LAW.

[Elmca]

The police here in Richmond (Henrico county, actually, but who cares?) are usually fairly good about that sort of thing...the speeding isn't any worse than they permit everyone to get away with (ten over the limit) and I've never seen one dodge a light. I guess we're the exception to the rule, though, from the other posts here.

I'm just north of there, in Stafford County, and I've never seen them abusing their emergency lights or speeding (more than usual traffic), either. Perhaps the Virginia laws or penalties are a bit harsher on the police than elsewhere?

[HemlockGrey]

Giving people power that's difficult to account for leads to abuse? Color me shocked. Especially in a position that attracts as many power-tripping assholes as a county police department.

[Ryan Thunder]

Hooray, you can't trust police officers, either!

I think we might have it covered for now, but does anybody have any more ideas on how to make the world seem worse than it does already?

[Master Arachnos]

Ok then, if they wont pay their fines how about nailing the ones who are giving the finger to the camera with the US equivalent of driving without due care and attention??