Who controls police officers' driving?

Not long ago I got pulled over for the first time ever for what the officer said was an illegal lane change because he stated I did not use a turn signal. He was 2 cars ahead of me and there was a truck in between us when I did it so he could not have properly seen me but that's not the point. I told him that I was sorry but I believed I used my turn signal, and he wrote me a ticket for it, a 141 dollar ticket to be exact. Well now I am more observant of how police officers drive. All the time I will have one be speeding 10-15 miles or more over the speed limit for no apparent reason. I also always see cops not stopping at stop signs, and especially turning with no turn signal. Who controls them? Surely they can't just drive how they want because laws are there for a reason and just because he is in a squad car that doesn't mean he can break the law if there is no emergency. So that's my question. Who controls them and is there anything the public can do when they see an officer breaking traffic laws like that?
Additional Details
And about video camaras. What if a person were to have a camera and record the officer's infraction. What could you do about it?

Jesse B

Sadly, one of the issues we as supervisors deal with regularly is Citizen complaints about officers driving habits while not on emergency calls. My officers should set the example of how to drive when they are patrolling. To achieve this it takes a combination of consistent reminders during roll call that we as officers should be following the rules that we enforce and pro active supervision to monitor and counsel on poor driving habits. If you see an officer not obeying the laws they enforce, get the unit number, time of day and location and report it if you feel compelled to do so. In our case, you would be referred to the supervisors office voice mail. The Supervisor would contact you, get the story, verifiy the officer was not on a hot call, and then counsel him or her about their driving behavior.

And no, you can not and should not pull an officer over to scold him on his driving. Get the unit number etc etc and call the non emergency line.

Justaguy

You do. That's what video cameras are for, aren't they

Fox 5.3

Traffic tickets have one purpose- REVENUE GENERATION. With towns, cities, counties and states all hurting for $$$ right now, you can bet traffic enforcement is on the rise. 99% of the time all they want is your money.

delia g

i would report it to the police dept and ifyou can get pics or video. did you know that they can't have anything in the car while patroling. one time i saw a cop throwing there cup of something out of the car he was called to a scene without something in his hands or car

Chaoscleaner

ER...just to answer he video question. That wouldn't look to good to the police or the courts knowing that your mind was on "recording" instead of actual safe driving,
As for the rest, you can always file a complaint with the Police Dept. Of course they don't follow the rules all the time, but I actually don't mind since none of them have ever crashed into my car, nor did I ever see one come close to putting someones life in danger by not paying attention.

landie_man88

Why not flash your lights at them and get them to slow down and stop. Then get out and give them a boll**king for it! I remember many years ago my mom had picked me up from the railway station. On the way back we were driving down a road with two lanes. There was a police car in the outside lane doing 30 in a 40 miles per hour limit. He wouldn't move over, so she (wrongly), overtook him on the inside. After a couple hundred yards, the copper overtook us and then cut in front. So mom swore at him, then indicated, pulled out and overtook him. It was a marked police car with blue lights on the roof. As she went past him she said, "I wonder if he wanted me to stop?" I said he would have put his blue light on if he did. Within seconds, he overtook us and the WPC in the passenger seat indicated quite firmly for us to pull over. Mom was livid at the way he was driving. As two of her brothers are policemen, she doesn't fear them at all. When the copper got out and took a breath to ask my mom why she overtook him on the inside, she launched at him. Asked him why he thought it is ok for him to drive in the outside lane when not overtaking and driving too slow? To say he was slightly taken aback is an understatement! I don't think he got many words in after that. I remember at one point he threatened her with being placed under arrest. It was at that point that she knocked it up a couple of notches. I thought we were both going to get arrested! If you ever want to upset a copper, ask for his badge number and write it down:) They don't like that... In the end she told him to get out of her way, to go back to school and to learn how to drive. She, was going to get back in her car and carry on driving hoe. To say she was angry was putting it mildly. All the way home, another twenty five minutes, she constantly complained about the copper. She got home and phoned her brother and complained to him about it. Uncle Jim just told her to forget it:)
Policemen need to remember that they are not above the law, so if you see one being naughty, pull them over and tell them. Just don't 'go off on one' like my mom did. Not now they have tazors and pepper spray...

Oh, and if you have video evidence, use it! Confront them, and if they admit it and apologise, tell them not to do it again, and to get out there and HEY, be careful out there! If they try to wriggle out of it, then tell them you have video evidence and go take it to the police station, after getting their badge numbers and car registration plate.

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