Submitting dash cam videos to police department?

I respect you Smokey, as we both have been on this site for some time. I am sorry that I am getting a really sorry attitude towards the troopers...not so much the locals. I am tired of the nonsense. I am an adult, and I am legal, and all of my lights work, my logs are legal and up to to date, and I'm not breaking any laws, and I am a veteran (not that it means anything), I hate being harassed by a cop. I'm tired of it. Troopers not passing me, hanging out just off my tandems...for miles and miles. Why do they do this? Go eff with the idiot drivers. Smokey, please educate us, why are they messing with good drivers?

 

I have been otr for going in 4 years now and havent had this problem at all. Does your company have bad csa scores?? I wish I could answer your question. I was a city officer so cmv's weren't really our focus. That was more of a dot trooper kind of thing. ( unless it involved an accident, UTC etc) Maybe @TROOPER to TRUCKER can answer this better. I agree that it does get frustrating knowing a small group makes it so much harder on the rest of us. Gosh truckers got so much going against them with the regulations on top of all the unpaid labor at these companies.
On the other hand I really cant say it's all bad on the 4 wheelers side. I see plenty, more than I expected, of reckless truckers out here. Cant say how many times I see a trucker flying up behind a car load of kids at 75+mph and tailgating the crap out them...hoping there is a trooper up ahead to get that trucker. The offenders are usually a part of a rag tag trucking operation, white Volvo club, super trucker etc. It does matter that you are a veteran and thanks for your service!

 

No ticket would be given since no officer was there to ID the driver. No way to prove the owner of the vehicle was the driver. But it seems to get a pass with camera lights, to an extent. Go figure.

 

I called the local state police district HQ office over an aggressive driver. This guy pulled out into traffic, then proceeded to tailgate and cut off several vehicles as he weaved his way through traffic without ever once using his turn signal. When 2 lanes were merging into 1, he darn near pushed a minivan into oncoming traffic attempting to pass in the lane that was ending.

They seemed real interested in what this dangerous driver was doing when they asked if I happened to get a plate number.

I sure did...and it should be easy enough for you to track down. IT'S ONE OF YOURS!

Suddenly, they were considerably less interested.

 

The problem with this is you would need to turn it in the local police if you happen to be OTR or regional while they may go by there a lot they would never find the time do your job if they did this to everyone even if the cop gave a crap which they don't. The only thing you might do is have an officer asks where your rig is and offer help inspect your truck or some other manner of harassment. That's like a post while back someone said they go into scales to check their weights ya sure let me just go to a dentist and we can have a total screw me day sounds like something we need going into a scale for no reason. while my weights are always legal I don't go looking for trouble either.

 

Of course. The thing is, however, that cops watch out for each other. It's called the blue line. "Should have" gets replaced with "not on my watch". I am not anti cop, It is just I have heard my friends that are cops talk about this. I'm sorry because when it comes to cops covering up for each other I get rather cynical for the reason I have heard this coming from cops themselves.

 

I dont like cops covering for each other either. We had less than a handful in my department that were like that. It's not near as prevalent as everyone thinks it is. I would easily say that over 98% of the officers in our department did their best to help the public and do the best they could. The few bad ones end up getting in trouble or run off eventually . I got one terminated right before I retired for lying...it wasn't easy either, long story.

The real problem in our country is not the police, it's our society. Drugs, gangs, fatherless kids, lack of morals and family structure and so on. Instead the media choses to focus on the police as the problem instead of the real ones that I just mentioned..

 

I think the problem of cops maintaining that blue line is a whole lot more prevalent then you are willing to admit. We will just have to agree to disagree on this point. However, I was a bit intrigued by that last paragraph. I will agree that the media in this country tend to go after anything or anybody that is about keeping order. I have watched programs like (COPS) with other cops and it is always interesting to see them critique the officers on that show. I don't care if it is just 1% of the force if a cop is not following the rules and doing things that cause a situation to escalate they need to be removed! I sometimes wonder if not for a passing person using their smartphone would Michael Slager still be wearing a badge? Not only did he shoot an unarmed man in the back, but it looks like from the video he tampered with the now crime scene to cover that up. There are use of force cases from all across the US that if I took the time I could list. I won't because I think I have made my point. When Veteran and retired Cops are making comments critical of decision making these point to a VERY serious training problem. I have always been hyper-critical of Cops because you can see they are not trying to deescalate a problem, what I see is bust a head you don't show contempt of cop, not of MY watch!

While I am at it let me also relate a story I don't think I have spoken of in these forums. I know I did on facebook. One of my cousins lost her husband and the father of her then small children during a police chase near Garrison Texas that had begin in Tenaha Texas (a known speed trap) and finally ended near Nacogdoches Texas about 25 years ago. He was actually hit by a Texas State Trooper who was going so fast his car drifted across the road. The actual amount of the settlement was never said in public. The person running was not wanted. Was not doing anything really wrong. Just stopped for the crime of a light out by a Tenaha Texas cop. So for the crime of a light out and VERY serious crime of contempt of cop my cousin's husband had to die! Yep, that is the media and today's society's fault!

This story leads into my last point. I don't think actual figures are kept. However, from what I can gather from my reading and the stories from my cop friends, State, County, and local Governments are spending hundreds of millions of dollars to settle lawsuits caused by these cops. In some cases, the losses are insured, but in most cases, the insurance has caps and deductibles. Much of these lawsuits are not public knowledge.

 

Doubt it's much different than truckers finding ice road truckers ridiculous, or tow operators laughing at the antics on any of the several towing-related shows. Everything is hyped for TV...leaving very little "reality" in reality TV.

 

I agree the thing is almost all the time you can tell the good-natured banter from something serious. A veteran cop will tell you clearly one of the most important parts of a Cops responsibility is to deescalate. They are taught this from the time they are rookies through the continued training they are mandated to get. On that show COPS sometime you can see it. The average joe watching COPS won't see what these Cops see. I wish I had the material at my fingertip. I could show you in graphic detail how a good Cop handles a situation going sideways on him from a bad/improperly trained one!

Gosh, I know I sound horrible. Seems like I am Cop bashing. It is not my intent to do so. You will not find anybody more pro Cop then I am. I do think though that these guys are not paid what they are worth. I have said for years. Pay them well, train the heck out of them and hold a Cop to a higher standard and rip the badge off of human trash wearing a badge.