Let's start with the basics. It's not really a good idea to park a dummy cop– I mean a REAL dummy cop– in a genuine police car to scare motorists into slowing down. It may be effective, but once motorists realize the cop isn't real two things will happen. First, they'll be pissed off at being "fooled"– which does nothing for respect for the law. Second, they'll begin thinking real cops may be dummies (REAL dummies), and speed past. Looking closer at this story [via the San Mateo Daily News], it gets worse and worserer. In this case, the cops are allowing a civilian named Anna Kuhre to position the inflatable cop. Training schmaining. What about road safety? And get this: they allow Kuhre to pick-up the squad car from the station and drive it to its new location. Background check my ass. Why in the world would you risk unauthorized use of a police car? And again, what's the impact on safety of the general public thinking that cop cars are being driven by neighborhood busy-bodies? What if a criminal caps her ass? Oh wait, did I mention that Kurhe is the first member of a planned Neighborhood Traffic Corps, complete with radar guns (will the resulting "warnings" go to insurance companies?). Hey! Here's an idea: let the police do the policing. And if you really want to make a stink about all this, it's clearly a case of racial discrimination! [thanks to David Holzman for the tip]
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Second, they’ll begin thinking real cops may be dummies (REAL dummies), and speed past.
Maybe that’s the point: more revenue for CA cops! I mean, the other solution is to hire more cops, which costs tax money. And we all know that Americans love to pay taxes.
Hmmm… if someone puts a dummy in the passenger seat if their car to use the HOV lane, he get a ticket. But the cops are allowed to use dummies in cop cars to intimidate drivers. Yep. Sounds really fair to me!
Let’s start with the basics. It’s not really a good idea to park a dummy copâ I mean a REAL dummy copâ in a genuine police car to scare motorists into slowing down. It may be effective, but once motorists realize the cop isn’t real two things will happen. First, they’ll be pissed off at being “fooled”â which does nothing for respect for the law. …
OK, I’ll agree. But one could argue that the speeding and stop sign running are indications of lack of respect for the law.
… Second, they’ll begin thinking real cops may be dummies (REAL dummies), and speed past. …
A smart motorist would slow down. If they’re dumb enough to speed past, I have little sympathy.
… Looking closer at this story [via the San Mateo Daily News], it gets worse and worserer. In this case, the cops are allowing a civilian named Anna Kuhre to position the inflatable cop. Training schmaining. What about road safety? And get this: they allow Kuhre to pick-up the squad car from the station and drive it to its new location. Background check my ass. Why in the world would you risk unauthorized use of a police car? …
How much training is needed to position an inflatable cop? How much training is needed to drive a car from point A to point B? I bet there won’t be a single case of unauthorized use of a cop car.
… And again, what’s the impact of on safety of the general public thinking that cop cars are being driven by neighborhood busy-bodies? …
It would seem the overall negative effect is negligable and according to the story, many in the neighborhood like the idea, while people in other neighborhoods seem to want the same program for their area.
… What if a criminal caps her ass? …
Assumption of risk.
… Oh wait, did I mention that Kurhe the first member of a planned Neighborhood Traffic Corps, complete with radar guns (will the resulting “warnings” go to insurance companies). Hey! Here’s an idea: let the police do the policing. And you really want to make a stink, this is clearly a case of racial discrimination!
This was the only part of the story that caused me concern. The “warnings” go to the police who forward them to drivers. I’d be kinda pissed getting a warning that originated from a civilian. But it’s still better than getting a real ticket from a real cop. Of course I wouldn’t be speeding or rolling through stop signs in a residential area in the first place.
The essence of this is that motorists are having to slow down in a residential neighborhood. Oh my!
Have to?
They can forward “warnings” all day long. No cash, no slow down.
Robert, I’m with you 100%. I think this may even be illegal/unconstitutional. The cops should do the policing.
I am almost positive that they do the same thing at construction zones here in Florida. They park a cop car at the beginning of the zone, turn on the yellow light bar on top, and (I think) put a dummy in the driver’s seat.
I saw a news report once where they dressed a mannequin as a cop and put it on top of a downtown building, so that it could be seen from the street.
These things only have a temporary effect in the reduction of crime. Eventually lawbreakers will figure it out and go back to their ways. Non-lawbreakers may have a false sense of security, and may drop their guard, making them more of a target. Eventually, they too will figure it out and lose respect for the cops, government officials, the court system, etcetera.
This is bad, very bad.
This is probably urban legend: there was a story about a dummy cop who drivers took potshots at, but one day was replaced by a real cop one day who ended up taking the bullet.
Sprinkling icing sugar on the dummy’s blues would add realism.
Dynamic88
There actually should be training in where to position a police car, even with a dummy on board. A poorly placed smokey can cause accidents, if speeders slow down suddenly with a lot of traffic behind them in poor visibility.
“Neighborhood Traffic Corps”
This is just scary. I’m all for neighborhoods doing there part to keep their own neighborhood safe. But there are waaaaay to many people with a chip on their shoulder. Putting a radar gun in their hands is a recipe for bad blood. Tickets for 1 mph over, anyone?
There actually should be training in where to position a police car, even with a dummy on board. A poorly placed smokey can cause accidents, if speeders slow down suddenly with a lot of traffic behind them in poor visibility.
Who says there hasn’t been such training? How difficult is this? How about parking in the same spot where real cops park when they’re policing the area?
I worked for a company that had a security car, but no security guard. The car was in fact used for inter office mail (this greatly helped the illusion, because the car moved).
Customers came to the office for training courses, and after a few days many would figure out the trick. Many would also start to question what kind of company would do that sort of thing. In the case of the company I was working for, it was a REALLY bad idea because as I soon found out, the guy I was working for was a cheat. The customers often started figuring it out before they even installed the system.
How bad of a cheat? The customers were car dealers, and most of them would happily call the guy all sorts of bad names. You guys call the car dealers a bunch of cheats and liars, well, they all thought this guy was over the top.
So ya, I think RF is correct. The police should be careful about being this clever. It’s one thing to use trickery to catch a felon, it’s another thing to use trickery like this. This sort of thing encourages deceitful behavior by taking the taboo away. The cost is not worth the benefit.
Reading how Kuhre positions the dummy cop in his cruiser was just giving me “Airplane” flashbacks… LOL ;)
As a frequent driver on I-95 up aqnd down the east coast I can tell you that parking an empty cruiser in median of the interstate is not an uncommon pratice in the states of NC, Va, and Md.
Somehow I have ZERO problem with this pratice. It is rather effective and cost efficient. It is simply a reminder that the LAW is out there keeping an eye on what the drivers are doing on the the road. It does cause everyone to slow down but happy part of it is no gets a ticket!
I have to say I respect this practice, it is simple and fair. It is much better than HIDDEN COPS and speed traps that are strictly useful for revenue generation. The empty cruiser or dummy equiped cruiser does NOT dash out into traffic to case a speeder endangering me and my family. It does not write tickets that cost us a great deal of money and higher insurance. It DOES encourage public safety and get the point across to motorist with the least intrusive (PASSIVE)method.
I saw this “tactic” used once in Florida (FHP) on I-95. It’s somewhat insulting to an observant motorists intelligence.
With that said, it probably had the desired effect by temporarily slowing people down in that area, which was a construction zone! That’s the point of it….right.
DT
Landcrusher
The cost is not worth the benefit.
How do we know this? What are the numbers? I immagine the cost is negligable. Couple gallons of gas to move the car around.
We probably aren’t going to get hard data on the number of speeders who’ve slowed down. Probably we’ll end up with the neighborhood watch group givinig general impressions. It’s hard to say whether the impressions are accurate or inaccurate.
People will of course assume accuracy or inaccuracy, depending on their POV.
Of course if the citizen radar gunners program gets going (the only part of this that I’m against) then hard numbers may be obtainable.
For anyone
It appears the real objection here is “trickery”. When the cops trick a scumbag paedophile into thinking he’s meeting a 13 year old girl for sex, no one objects to the “trickery”. Trick a motorist into behaving responsibly in a residential area, for all of 90 seconds, and suddenly we’re living in a (dummy) police state.
I saw this in Illinois around 6 years ago. The interesting thing is the next a box of donuts was put on the roof (with rocks in it to hold it down). That was awesome.
They put this on the indiana toll road just east of gary in a construction zone a few years back.
Fooled the first time, but I always look as I go past (usually dirty-like). And saw it was a freakin dummy!
Needless to say it didn’t take long for people to figure that one out.
But what else would you expect from Indiana State Patrol? Those guys are the worst I’ve EVER experienced. Patrol that 55 with an iron fist, and a ton of them.
How come the decoy doesn’t have a donut?
Well, I can tell you that on a highway near me they often position empty cop cars. Well, one day a 16 year old stole a cruiser from the side of the highway and took it for a joyride. What happens when criminals start doing that?
Well, I can tell you that on a highway near me they often position empty cop cars. Well, one day a 16 year old stole a cruiser from the side of the highway and took it for a joyride. What happens when criminals start doing that?
They quit leaving the keys in the empty cruiser ?
“Well, one day a 16 year old stole a cruiser from the side of the highway and took it for a joyride. What happens when criminals start doing that.”
Um, gee. I don’t know. I guess the 16 year old criminal gets to test drive a much slower than expected Ford Crown Vic. Is roadside theft of patrol cars a big problem in Indiana?
DT
In the central California town I lived in this was a regular oocurance. I have driven by this set up numerous times. I even got to the point where I could tell, coming up from behind if it was the sex toy cop or a real one.
One day, I heard a story (unsubstantiated – no proof) involving the blow-up and the car that went something like…there was a woman who was being pursued, on foot, by a man. She saw the car and ran to it for protection/safety only to find the rubber Toots Lagoon in the driver’s seat.
Real or not, imagine the chagrin.
Years ago, circa 1960s, this was a common practice of the CHP. They used old cruisers and even plywood cutouts painted to look somewhat like cruisers and planted them around bends in the road on the downhill side in the mountains. Highway 50 from Lake Tahoe to Folsom had had a bunch of them.
Please, they’ve been doing this for years in Rhode Island on the main drag into Newport. The car never even moves. But you still instinctively slow down, or are forced to by other slowing drivers, no matter how many times you see it. It’s very effective.
They had this down in California too. After a while, I never even slowed down. This habit stuck with me so much that even when I’m speeding and I see a cruiser I don’t slow down. If he wants me, he’ll have to catch me.
Here is the thing Dynamic.
We will never know the cost. How many citizens lose a bit of respect for the law? What degree of their earnestness is lost among the populace? Who now thinks the ends justifies the means?
I think they cross the line when they add the dummy. A patrol car is a reminder, the dummy is a trick. When you have to fool a pedophile to catch him red handed, we understand that. When you want to enforce traffic laws, all you have to do is get out there and do it. The trickery is not necessary, only expedient (at least until someone wrecks while staring at the strange patrolman).
Wouldn’t it be better that law abiding folks, whose only likely interaction with the police will be when they hear one testify in court, don’t start to think the cops are tricksters and rogues? We only admire the clever detectives in fictional stories because the author first makes us believe in their moral good standing. The traffic dummy peels away that shiny veneer of white knight with a badge.
The costs are beyond any accounting, but our government seems to have once again lost the ideal that there are things so important that they can’t be described on a spreadsheet.
Driving down 460 in VA a few years ago I pass a Trooper in the median and notice that he is slumped over the steering wheel. After debating with my conscience, I turn around, stop, walk up to the car and knock on the window, thinking that he is having a medical problem I am about to call 911, then I realize it is a dummy….
At least they could sit them upright!!
8rings :
Driving down 460 in VA a few years ago I pass a Trooper in the median and notice that he is slumped over the steering wheel. After debating with my conscience, I turn around, stop, walk up to the car and knock on the window, thinking that he is having a medical problem I am about to call 911, then I realize it is a dummy….
At least they could sit them upright!!
Also a point to make. What if, by your good Samaritanism, you were to be struck and killed by another motorist, or carjacked, or shot at? After all, who knows the neighborhood?
Could your wife sue the britches off of the city or county? In this case, I would hope she’d at least try to…
ZoomZoom: Robert, I’m with you 100%. I think this may even be illegal/unconstitutional. The cops should do the policing.
What part of the constitution does this not uphold? Or what law?
I agree with all the points Dynamic88 laid out…it’s a fairly clever program for understaffed/over-cruiser-ed precints. The only substantial worry here is that the legitimacy of roadside cruisers will fade, but as long as there is a significant concentration of manned roadside cruisers that will NOT happen.
They do this all over Mass but they use live cops as dummies, getting paid overtime plus on off duty details. Donuts, cell phone, newspaper, the whole works, including newspaper over tipped back face while napping.
Or, cop swaaying back and forth on feet peering down into construction site,blabbing with workers.
In Mass, people do not seem to care about taxes.
They tried a similar scheme in the Uk with dummy cut out police cars place at strategic, highly visible points on motorways. They didn’t succeed – the dummies were stolen