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.
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…
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.
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.
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…
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.