{"id":8051,"date":"2014-08-29T17:19:33","date_gmt":"2014-08-29T21:19:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thinblueflorida.com\/?p=8051"},"modified":"2014-09-10T12:59:29","modified_gmt":"2014-09-10T16:59:29","slug":"i-got-pulled-over","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thinblueflorida.com\/?p=8051","title":{"rendered":"I Got Pulled Over"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"SheriffCar\"<\/a>The other evening I ran out to the store for some supplies. \u00a0On my way home, I saw blue and red lights in my rear view mirror. Aaaaah. \u00a0I blinkered into the right lane, turned on to the first side street, and coasted to the curb. \u00a0When was the last time I was pulled over?<\/p>\n

The sheriff’s deputy made a driver’s side approach. \u00a0I was actually a little nervous as I kept both hands on the steering wheel; I’ve been on his side of the traffic stop, too. \u00a0The deputy stayed safely just behind the B-pillar and said, “Sir, I need to see your license and registration.” \u00a0I replied with a chagrined smile, “Yes, deputy.”<\/p>\n

After I had produced the documents, he stated, “You rolled through a stop-before-right-turn-on-red at that last intersection.” \u00a0Thinking back, I had checked for cross-traffic and proceeded slowly through the right turn.\u00a0 Yep, I’d have to agree with him. \u00a0He said he would be right back. \u00a0In my side view mirror I watched him walk back to his cruiser.<\/p>\n

No, I did not “badge him,” nor did I tell him that I was an off-duty officer. \u00a0Although I am normally armed when I go out, this was a rare exception that I had no gat, so there was no reason to mention it. \u00a0The decision to ticket me would be based solely on my driving error and his officer discretion. \u00a0Yeah, I was a bit worried. Nobody wants a ticket. \u00a0But he made a lawful stop. \u00a0My bad.<\/p>\n

I have written many traffic tickets in my career. \u00a0I have also issued many more written or verbal warnings instead. \u00a0A cop’s discretion allows him or her to take the totality of the circumstances into consideration when citing a driver for minor traffic infractions. \u00a0I did not have long to ponder these things. \u00a0The deputy was holding a strip of paper along with my creds as he exited his car.<\/p>\n

“I’m giving you a written warning, sir.” \u00a0He continued, “That intersection has three sides which are either no-right-turn-on-red or stop-before-right-turn-on-red. \u00a0They are posted with signs before each right turn. \u00a0Here is your license and registration. \u00a0Please drive safely.” \u00a0“Thank you, deputy,” I said as he turned to leave. \u00a0No, I still did not tell him I was a cop. \u00a0I did not feel there was a need. \u00a0He was doing his job.<\/p>\n

My FTO critique would be that the deputy effected a legal traffic stop, positioned his vehicle correctly, used good officer safety on both approaches, and acted with professionalism. \u00a0As a citizen, I appreciated his courtesy.<\/p>\n

When I got back to the house, my wife told me, “That was quick.” \u00a0It would have been quicker if I had not been pulled over. \u00a0I showed her the written warning. \u00a0She asked me why I did not tell the deputy that I was a cop. \u00a0I replied, “I guess I didn’t want to be that guy<\/em>…”<\/p>\n

Randall<\/p>\n

Post Script:\u00a0 I sent the deputy’s supervisor a very nice letter commending the deputy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The other evening I ran out to the store for some supplies. \u00a0On my way home, I saw blue and red lights in my rear view mirror. Aaaaah. \u00a0I blinkered into the right lane, turned on to the first side street, and coasted to the curb. \u00a0When was the last time I was pulled over? The sheriff’s deputy made a driver’s side approach. \u00a0I was actually a little nervous as I kept both hands on the steering wheel; I’ve been on his side of the traffic stop, too. \u00a0The deputy stayed safely just behind the B-pillar and said, “Sir, I need to see your license and registration.” \u00a0I replied with … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4,10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8051","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-officer-safety","category-street"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p28xkp-25R","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thinblueflorida.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8051","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thinblueflorida.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thinblueflorida.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thinblueflorida.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thinblueflorida.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8051"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/thinblueflorida.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8051\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8093,"href":"https:\/\/thinblueflorida.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8051\/revisions\/8093"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thinblueflorida.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8051"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thinblueflorida.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8051"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thinblueflorida.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8051"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}