{"id":880,"date":"2012-03-18T21:00:04","date_gmt":"2012-03-19T01:00:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thinblueflorida.com\/?p=880"},"modified":"2012-07-19T09:41:30","modified_gmt":"2012-07-19T13:41:30","slug":"they-gave-my-cruiser-a-trespass-warning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thinblueflorida.com\/?p=880","title":{"rendered":"They Gave My Cruiser a Trespass Warning!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>…Updated below…<\/span><\/p>\n

The other night there was a knock at my front door and I saw a guy in plainclothes wearing a badge.\u00a0 It was a command officer from the small city in which I live (but do not work).\u00a0 He apologetically told me I could not park a marked police car<\/em> in my driveway!<\/p>\n

I recently received a new slicktop CVPI that is striped and lettered.\u00a0 My old cruiser, old as in a 2001 Crown Vic, was an unmarked unit.\u00a0 The command officer said my new marked car is a \u201ccommercial vehicle\u201d and violates the city code banning the parking of commercial vehicles on residential property.\u00a0 He said they received a<\/span> citizen complaint.\u00a0 Seriously?\u00a0 It\u2019s a POLICE CAR!<\/p>\n

He was polite, and I respectfully responded in kind, but I told him my understanding was that police cars are government vehicles and not commercial vehicles by state law.\u00a0 He said he did not agree.\u00a0 Meh.\u00a0 I said I would handle the problem and we parted company with a handshake.<\/p>\n

My<\/em> solution was to do what I do every day.\u00a0 Research.\u00a0 I looked up the city ordinance he was referencing.\u00a0 Yep, commercial vehicle\u2026parking\u2026residential lots\u2026prohibited.\u00a0 Not a problem.\u00a0 I consulted my legal advisor, a fellow officer who is Florida Bar certified, to whom I owe a cup of coffee as retainer for each nugget of advice.\u00a0 He said this \u201cdisagreement\u201d was a common mistake.<\/p>\n

A Florida Attorney General\u2019s Opinion (05-36)<\/a> clearly states that police cars are not commercial vehicles.\u00a0 Said then-Florida Attorney General Charlie Christ, “Public safety is the first duty of government, and law enforcement officers are among the most heroic citizens in our society.\u00a0 To suggest that these officers are somehow engaged in commercial activity stretches common sense beyond the breaking point. Officers provide an invaluable public service, and the visible presence of a police car in a residential neighborhood can only contribute to the safety of that neighborhood.”\u00a0 Ha!<\/p>\n

AG Crist further opined, “The provision of law enforcement services is an integral and constituent part of government. It is the performance of a governmental duty owed to the general public at large. This office has previously recognized that the assignment of a police vehicle to an officer to drive during off-duty hours to provide quicker response when called to an emergency would be of a direct benefit to the public. In addition, the presence of a police vehicle in a neighborhood may serve as a deterrent to crime. Clearly, the provision of law enforcement services does not constitute a commercial enterprise.”<\/p>\n

I discovered that many of our officers had run-ins with local codes, Homeowner\u2019s Association rules, or rude citizens over the parking of marked police cars in residential neighborhoods.\u00a0 I had a marked K9 cruiser for over 8 years and never had this problem.\u00a0 Okay, that was in the 1990\u2019s.<\/p>\n

What to do!\u00a0 What to do.\u00a0 Well, I don\u2019t own the car.\u00a0 I sent an e-mail through my Chain of Command requesting relief from the issue.\u00a0 I hyperlinked the small city\u2019s ordinance and AG opinion for the higher-ups to peruse.\u00a0 Remain dispassionate and professional, I say.<\/p>\n

At this time, the snit is in the hands of my Command Staff.\u00a0 The new Crown Vic, which sits proudly in my driveway each day, has not been cited or towed\u2026yet.<\/p>\n

Randall<\/p>\n

Update:\u00a0 The small city command officer stopped by again.\u00a0 He apologized for any inconvenience and said he had reviewed the AG’s opinion my PD has sent over.\u00a0 He said my cruiser could stay.\u00a0 I was at the least pleased that he came over in person and looked me in the eye when he admitted he had been wrong.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

…Updated below… The other night there was a knock at my front door and I saw a guy in plainclothes wearing a badge.\u00a0 It was a command officer from the small city in which I live (but do not work).\u00a0 He apologetically told me I could not park a marked police car in my driveway! I recently received a new slicktop CVPI that is striped and lettered.\u00a0 My old cruiser, old as in a 2001 Crown Vic, was an unmarked unit.\u00a0 The command officer said my new marked car is a \u201ccommercial vehicle\u201d and violates the city code banning the parking of commercial vehicles on residential property.\u00a0 He said they … 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_post_was_ever_published":false,"_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":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[11,5,33,349],"tags":[161,160,162,159],"class_list":["post-880","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-humor","category-legal","category-off-duty","category-politics","tag-ago-05-36","tag-florida-attorney-general","tag-parking-a-cop-car-at-home","tag-police-car-commercial-vehicle"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p28xkp-ec","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thinblueflorida.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/880","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=880"}],"version-history":[{"count":28,"href":"https:\/\/thinblueflorida.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/880\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":892,"href":"https:\/\/thinblueflorida.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/880\/revisions\/892"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thinblueflorida.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=880"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thinblueflorida.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=880"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thinblueflorida.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=880"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}