Same as it ever was, they don’t give a crap. Back in university, as a lighthearted prank, I handwrote a parking ticket and gave it to a cop once.
Back when I thought cops were a honorable position, I told a cop that they were parking over the line and asked if they would give themselves a ticket.
The cop demanded I step away or else face arrest.
I was 10 years old.
That can’t be true because you’re alive.
Counterpoint, they might be white
Cop must have had this guide handy:
The optics look really bad.
Rules for thee, not for me.
To be fair, police don’t really make it a habit of enforcing any laws, and if they do accomplish something by mistake they love catch and release
Hah. Welcome to the city. One night I was driving down a three lane one way street in downtown SF, parking lanes on both sides, and the cops were triple parked into the road with no lights on or anything, like a wall of cars taking up the parking lane and 2/3 traffic lanes, and with a parked car across the street, 4/5 of all possible lanes were blocked. Not even hazard lights.
It’s inexcusable that they flagrantly violate not just the law but also the safety that the laws are ostensibly created to ensure.
I once was essentially cut in line to pick up some food because a cop parked illegally in a place that said “No parking” and so he was able to get into the building faster than I could. Fuckers. ACAB.
Devil’s advocate here, and not boot licking… please just hear me out…
if we are to assume that officers are good faith Emergency Response personnel, right? Then parking in the fucking boonies, or around the block means that it takes longer for them to get back to their vehicle and respond to an emergency situation. Also, having the police car visible protects it from vandalism (protecting tax payer money), to include theft of additional weaponry (shotguns, ARs, less lethal shotguns, etc) and helps deter crime for other local establishments around the parked cop car. Then there are also the K9 vehicles, which have additional need to be close and observable. The police officer is human and has needs, so they’re going to the coffee shop anyway.
But, sure. I hate when ANYONE parks in the bike lane, we have one at our local park that’s always full of concert or event staff vehicles, and that shit pisses me off. I have to go into oncoming traffic to get around these bozos, and our lane is separated by those dumb plastic bollards.
Non emergency needs are not an excuse for illegal behavior.
If it’s that critical that they remain close to their vehicle then they should plan better. I.e. a drive through, coffee shop with parking, thermos full of coffee, have two officers per vehicle and one stays with the car, etc.
Drive throughs are often against policy because if you get assigned an emergency call while in line, depending on the construction of the drive through and how close other vehicles are to you, you might not be able to leave immediately.
While that’s a fair point, it’s not the only example of planning ahead. I’m sure there’s plenty of other ways than the ones I came up with in a few seconds.
They could also pick a drive throughs that have enough room to leave the line. Less common in cities but they’re still there.
Edit: I’d also like to point out that their lights and sirens are designed specifically to get people’s attention and get them moved out of the way. More difficult if you’re trying to get a vehicle 10 cars up to move but it’s not like they’re stuck waiting like the rest of us would be.
Haha sorry I kind of latched on to one of your examples, you did give some other fair options. There were some exceptions made over COVID when dine in was closed but it’s harder to make policies when some drive throughs are good and others aren’t. And your view on efficacy of lights and sirens are a tad optimistic (including the P.A.)
That said, I do think that they could walk further and it’s bad optics to be parked blocking anything but a fire route as an emergency vehicle. And I’m probably going to get roasted by the fire fighters for saying that. And I’m not apologizing for the pun.
Some states explicitly blanket exempt emergency response vehicles from laws, to include parking with or without flashers or in or not in an emergency capacity at that time. Whether the officer is getting themselves some coffee, they are still working in the capacity of a police officer, they don’t turn off being a cop for getting coffee. They’re on the job and actively working, by their mere presence they’re deterring crime and subject to civilian encounters. They may also have to respond to an emergency situation, there at the coffee shop or across town requiring them to immediately get to their VIC and go, and seconds could matter. Didn’t for Uvalde… but, hey…
Two officers per VIC isn’t always possible in every jurisdiction. Most I’ve seen have been 1 per, in my area.
Edit: and you might say “this guy’s bootlicking! We don’t do that here in this sub! Burn the witch!” And I know! But, what I’m saying is… this is low hanging fruit kind of ‘police problem’ stuff. There are bigger fish to fry, plus there are justifiable reasons for doing this. Not that cops are just being lazy here…
I mean they murder and assault innocent civilians and face next to zero accountability for that, so I wouldn’t expect them to walk park appropriately and actually walk to get their doughnuts.
That website is a tragic mess of stale blog posts and not-relevant news articles and fails to mention any details about successful implementations nor does it clarify just how it does claim to be successful. This just reeks of selling consumer information to advertisers.
https://www.bikelaneuprising.com/database-feed – broken
https://www.bikelaneuprising.com/press-archive – not updated in ~3 years…
smells fishy.
Gotta get suited up and start crashing into the cop cars in bike lanes. Like Casey Neistat, but add some ceramic hard point to your helmet or shoulder pads so you can shatter a window when you collide.
