# Police Leniency in Massachusetts



## Guest (Oct 8, 2006)

*What do you guys think of the following article that appeared in the newspaper today??*
*________________________*

*



Leniency and the Law

Click to expand...

*


> http://metrowestdailynews.com/localRegional/view.bg?articleid=142234&format=text
> 
> By *Rick Holland and Danielle Williamson*/ Daily News Staff
> Sunday, October 8, 2006
> ...


----------



## robclouse (Jul 9, 2006)

"dont you have anything better to do", "my taxes pay your salary", and on and on and on


----------



## Andy0921 (Jan 12, 2006)

I never issue infractions unless you argue with me, I don't like to be a dickhead to the average working guy. If you treat me with respect, I will treat you with respect. I pull them over and see if there suspended or anything and then let them go with a verbal.


----------



## Irish Wampanoag (Apr 6, 2003)

Northbridge sounds like my department with all the warnings given out!


----------



## HousingCop (May 14, 2004)

*I thought the statewide ticket study that was going on at Northeastern University was supposed to be used only for the race of the drivers, etc... Now this comes out with different types of results such as Warnings VS. Violations.*

*Figures lie, and liars figure. Go figure. HC*


----------



## zebra3 (Feb 28, 2006)

People complain when we give out too many, now we're giving out too many warnings. It's our choice, that way administrators and politicians can't have any influence. Go figure.


----------



## MM1799 (Sep 14, 2006)

Citation Vs Warning studies cannot be interpreted accurately just by simply looking at the numbers. It's a case-by-case situation. Descretion is the key word.


----------



## tazoez (Dec 9, 2005)

As I always tell my co-workers -- for some reason they get pulled over a lot --, be honest, polite, and when you finally get over to the side safely to have your license and reg ready and waiting for the officer / trooper. Do not argue, do not give attitude, and most of all be apologitic -- and be truthful about being sorry, not just "oh, I am soo sorry".
Most of the time, again depending on the situation of why they are being pulled over, they might just get a verbal or written warning. If they get cited, I usually tell them just to pay the fine.


----------



## Gil (Jun 15, 1998)

This study was supposed to be for a year, my dept. just got a ton of new silly slips, guess it's not going away....


----------



## j809 (Jul 5, 2002)

It is over with exception of no balls Chiefs that have the option to still have their officers fill them out. That could be your Chief Gil. 
P.S. We don't do them and never did those silly forms. USELESSS


----------



## zebra3 (Feb 28, 2006)

We in Traffic started using them first, over a year ago, then the rest of the dept. followed suit. The admin has stated that they may have us continue until further notice.


----------



## Macop (May 2, 2002)

Fuck Northeastern and all of thier fucked up studies that don't amount to a pile of shit!!


----------



## Irish Wampanoag (Apr 6, 2003)

Macop said:


> Fuck Northeastern and all of thier fucked up studies that don't amount to a pile of shit!!


Dito!


----------



## bluesamurai22 (Nov 20, 2004)

I thought it was a Saugus PD case and that the seatbelt fine was $25...

Personally, I'm glad we live in a state where we can't be forced to be revenue generators for our bosses.


----------



## Home Wood (Oct 12, 2006)

You are more likely to get a citation here in NC instead of a warning ticket. The warning ticket is a department issued slip which varys in appearance from dept to dept. I never have any so it's either a citation or a verbal. Usually I write a citation. If they were nice and polite, I will knock the speed down or just write for the expired registration instead, something like that. My favorite thing is traffic work, speeding, dwi's. I'm still waiting to find that big drug shipment in a car. Oh ya, 76 and higher in a 55 is a misdemeanor. That's always fun to tell people and it seems to wake them up a little when they think they could go to jail just for givin' it a lil' gas. Don't even ask a trooper for a break here. They are only highway patrol and traffic is their bread and butter.


----------



## Guest (Oct 15, 2006)

andy0921 said:


> I never issue infractions unless you argue with me, I don't like to be a dickhead to the average working guy. If you treat me with respect, I will treat you with respect. I pull them over and see if there suspended or anything and then let them go with a verbal.


I don't understand why anyone in their right mind would argue with you or take an attitude. It doesn't make sense to me.

I've been pulled over only a few times as an adult and in each case there was more than enough reason for the police to give me a ticket but in all cases they just gave me a warning.

I think it's because I was polite and didn't take an attitude, and I appreciated that they were fair, so I imagine you'd all be fair if you pulled me over in the future. 

*1. I-70 in Utah. *At about 1:00 a.m. during a nonstop trip from Denver to Los Angeles I was pulled over for speeding (going 70 instead of 65) in my red Nissan 300ZX. I had a passenger seat full of Diet Coke and a bag of apples and I was respectful to the trooper, so he could tell I was in fine shape to drive.

He told me that he pulled me over not only because I was speeding by 5 m.p.h., but also because I-70 is a major drug-running route and I was driving a high-profile car. His warning to me consisted of not only telling me to drive the limit but also to tell me to expect to be pulled over again during my road trip. It was news to me, and I appreciated the warning.

*2. Hwy 287 in Wyoming. *Several years after the 300ZX stop in Utah I was driving a beat-up, old Honda Accord up a steep hill in Wyoming. I drove so fast that as I crested the hill my car went off the ground - it's never happened before or since, but all four tires left the pavement and then I landed. A Wyoming trooper was parked at the top of the hill and saw the stunt, and he pulled me over as soon as I landed.

I was polite and compliant and explained that I was heading to Laramie for a job interview and I simply lost focus on how fast I was going. He and I were both surprised that the old beater was able to go that fast uphill.

For some reason that guy gave me just a warning, and the only thing I can attribute it to is that I was polite and contrite 'cause I was definitely speeding.

*3. Santa Fe Drive, Littleton, Colorado. *I was driving home from a 480-mile, Denver-to-Steamboat Springs round-trip which I made one day to see a doctor. I had my little dog with me for company on the long trip, and only a few miles from home I was pulled over by a Littleton officer for erratic driving.

As I tried to pull over my car jumped the curb. I backed down, tried it again, and jumped the curb again. I finally pulled over correctly on the third try.

By the time he got to my window he had his hand on his gun, and I was feeling so sick that I didn't even notice his hand on the gun.

I explained to him that I'd been really, really sick (with chronic Lyme, which I caught on a visit to Massachusetts) and I had taken a long road trip that day to see my doctor. I had papers from my doctor's office and prescriptions for antibiotics, so he knew I was telling the truth.

In addition to being sick, I had to drive 7 hours home with a broken heater and defroster (they broke as I pulled out of the doc's office) so I had been spraying de-icer on the inside of my windshield. It was December 26th and extremely cold, so I'm sure that the deicer fumes had taken a toll. I was sick, tired, and full of ethylene glycol fumes, so in my mind that explains why I was weaving and jumping curbs.

The officer could not have been nicer to me once he knew that I wasn't drunk or high. He was wonderful, and he called an ambulance to check me out. I was admitted to a hospital for observation that night, and the Littleton officer took my dog back to the station because it was too cold to put her in the Animal Control van. My boyfriend, who lived 70 miles away, refused to drive down and get the dog for me, and that ticked the police off, big-time. (I dumped the guy after this incident.)

While in the hospital I specifically requested that they do breath and blood tests on me to document the fact that I had neither been drinking nor taking drugs, and they did that for me. Upon discharge from the hospital the next morning I learned that the officer had taken my dog to his house for the night, and was told I could retrieve her the next morning when he went to he station for his shift.

A couple of days after getting my dog I bought a couple of huge boxes of chocolates for the dispatch people who'd watched my dog and for the officer who took her home, and I signed the card from the dog, thanking everyone for taking such good care of her mom. 

The officer called me a couple of weeks later to thank me for the chocolates and the card and see how I was feeling, and he told me that he called my boyfriend up and reamed him for not coming to my dog's and my aid that night, and that was far beyond the call of duty but I really appreciated that he did it.

So those are the only times I've been pulled over as an adult, and in all cases I could have been ticketed because in all cases I had done something wrong on the road. In all cases I was treated more than fairly.

It means a lot to me that the three guys were so good to me, and for sure, if I were to ever get pulled over again, I'd just expect that they'll be good to me. I wouldn't dream of taking a bad attitude with the police, even if I get a ticket.

I figure that I've skated three times (in the incidents described above), so even if I get a ticket, I'll be due -- I won't be upset at all.


----------

