ONEEYEDMIC

This article was in today's paper. Maybe one day if the do build another bridge then can do it like the Chesapeak Memorial Bridge. Has cutouts on the side of the road for DV's, Traffic Stops and whatever else. Might be a good idea. Law and bridge design limit police enforcement on Tappan Zee Bridge By CAREN HALBFINGER THE JOURNAL NEWS (Original publication: July 4, 2007) State police are limited both by design and by state law in what they can do to crack down on speeders and unsafe drivers on the Tappan Zee Bridge. Motorists who drive regularly across the bridge have been talking about the need for stepped-up enforcement of speeding and unsafe driving on the bridge since a fatal accident Sunday. The crash occurred after a 19-year-old driver, who police say was speeding and driving recklessly, hit a southbound tractor-trailer and careened through the barrier into the northbound lanes. Debris from the truck and the barrier was strewn across all seven lanes of the bridge, closing it for nine hours. "Of all the times I've commuted on this bridge, I can honestly say I only saw a traffic cop one time, and that was Sunday around 2 p.m,'' said Jorge Fernandez, 25, a mortgage salesman from Queens. "Coincidently enough, there were two cars racing each other, weaving in an out of the dense traffic, and the cop didn't even attempt to stop them. Bottom line is, we need more traffic enforcement, whether it be stationing more traffic officers on both sides of the bridge, or installing several cameras that can track one's speed, with a penalty of a harsh fine." There is no state law that allows police to use cameras to enforce vehicle and traffic laws and mail tickets to vehicle owners, as Fernandez and other bridge commuters have suggested. To catch speeders or reckless drivers on the Tappan Zee Bridge, state troopers must see them and ticket them in person. While other states, such as Texas and California, are starting to test the use of cameras to catch and penalize speeders, New York has no plans to do so. Any change would require action by the state Legislature, said state police Sgt. Kern Swoboda. New York City is able to ticket the owners of vehicles that run red lights by imposing civil penalties, he said. But just because you don't see lights flashing and cars pulled over, don't think police aren't patrolling - and enforcing - traffic on the bridge. Police never pull over motorists on the bridge because it has no shoulders, said state police Capt. Evelyn Mallard, zone commander for troopers patrolling the bridge. "It would create more of a hazard to pull people over on the bridge than the hazard they're creating,'' she said. "There is enforcement out there, but you'll never see someone stopped on the bridge. It's unsafe. You may see them stopped on either end of the bridge.'' The lack of shoulders also makes getting to the scene of an accident, such as Sunday's fatal crash, that much more difficult, she said. That's why she has emphasized the need for shoulders on a new or rehabilitated bridge in meetings about the future of the Tappan Zee Bridge. Improving traffic safety and enforcement would be taken into account in designing a new bridge, according to Mike Anderson, who is leading the Tappan Zee Bridge/I-287 environmental study team. Improvements would include lanes that would be a foot wider, with an extra 2 feet on either side of the barrier, and lane-width shoulders, he said. "Our design is going to be predicated on the latest highway standards,'' Anderson said. "Whether a rehabilitated bridge can meet those design standards remains to be seen, but that will be our goal. In a replacement bridge, all those requirements will be met.'' Even when there are shoulders, though, police and emergency vehicles sometimes have to dodge motorists who are using them, illegally, to try to get around bottlenecks. Heading to the scene of the Sunday crash from Orange County, Mallard said she had to weave in and out of the shoulder because motorists were blocking her access and riding her tail. "There were definitely a few four-letter words coming out of my mouth,'' she said. "When traffic is backed up, the worst thing you can do is go on the shoulder. To go on the shoulder prolongs the response time, which prolongs the time you will be sitting there, stuck in traffic. Get out of the way and let us do our jobs.'' While this fatal crash captured a lot of attention, Mallard said speeding isn't a common problem on the bridge. "Most of the time the bridge is so backed up you can't go that fast,'' she said. "I don't think speeding and weaving there is any different than in any other stretch; it's not a huge problem.''

Our Town now has the ADA process all the traffic tickets that come to our court. Last week however I had court and do to the overloading helped the DA out. He told me that instead of knocking something down to a EQUIPMENT VIOLATON knock it down to PARKED ON PAVEMENT because the Town gets all the money and the State doesn't.

So here's another story from yesterday. I don't usually work days but this week is crazy so I had to swap. Anyway I was assigned to do radar and not even 5 min after setting up I get a 54/30. I stop the guy and he immedialtley was a prick. I ask for his license and registration and he hands me his license and throws out a name of a SGT that just retired from my job. Funny thing is he says the wrong name. I told him I don't know who that is although I knew who he meant. He couldn't find the Reg and he was saying sh*t under his breath. He was like don't worry I'll call him. I wasn't sure if I was going to write him but I said f*ck it and ran his license. He came back REVOKED and his Abstract had like 50 prior suspensions dating back to 2004 for Insurance problems. I called my ex-SGT and told him what was going on. He didn't even know the guy so I locked him up. He was still a prick the whole time. Has that ever happened to anyone where somebody mentions the name of a person that you know well and they don't even know the right name or that the person retired. That made my day because he was a prick.

Your not supposed to say anything bad about a person on this site right? But you are now allowing people to rate you. A low rating is just as bad as saying someone is a crappy........whatever. Seems like a popularity contest to me.

BFD you are in MYRTLE BEACH? I went to the Police Academy with a former member of the Myrlte Beach PD. He is a great guy although we don't see each other that much. He gave me great advice when I travel down there to join the FOP. I did and have not had any problems. KNOCK ON WOOD.

Where do we see the points that we have already?

Chris192 this is probably up your alley but some of you may have heard otherwise. I heard early this week that New Ro PD Dive Team was going to practice water insertion from a Helicopter today in the Kensico Reservoir. Of course I haven't been working and haven't gotten a call from my job. Just wanted to see if anyone heard. I have tried to contact a couple of buddies from New Ro but no response. I know that we have been interested in doing some sort of training like this. Hopefully we will be able to. BTW, I know that New Ro PD has a Dive Team but do they train?

So if you click on the boxes that say new posts they go off. When there is a new post on in that forum it will I guess light back up? That is pretty cool because I hate reading old crap. So far so good.

We have to take accident reports for anything. It s*cks. If the damage is minimal I usually get both parties to exchange info saves paperwork. Also when we have snow storms or other storms where you know there is going to be fender benders I don't do the reports. I hand out the forms to the drivers and let them fill them out. Not sure if I am supposed to do that, but I do.

You know the story about VA troopers and what happend to the NYPD cars that were responding to LA after Katrina. They are pr*ck's. I go down south every summer to NC for a week with my family. I make it a point to drive about 8 miles over the speed limit but I do slow way down when I am in VA. In the Police Academy one of the guys there was from Myrtle Beach, SC. Great guy. We got to talking and he told me the best thing to do was join the F.O.P.. He said that most of the time if you get stopped and you show that you are in the F.O.P., they won't give you a ticket because that is their UNION and they don't want the bad press. Not sure if that is true or not but so far I have been OK. Knock on wood. Usually only drive at night. That helps with the cruise control on. No need to go that fast.

You say that now. You mean to tell me in your 28+ years driving experience you have never broken the law? You know that you have you just haven't been caught. So if you do get caught you think that you should automatically be given a written warning? I can hear it now. You get pulled over and I know that first words out of your mouth will be that you work with so and so doing volunteer work. Next you will say that is the first time since you stated driving that you got pulled over. I don't give people tickets when I pull them over because I already did my job. They will drive slower especially on the road they just got pulled over on because there is a chance that someone will be in that spot again. The roads around here should be higher in speed limit. My town is listed at 30 unless posted somewhere else. That is crazy. I give 50 and then I pull you over. I-684, I-287, I-95, Sprain Brook PKWY in some areas all should be at least 65 right now. Cars are doing that anyway so just raise it the speed limit. Cars are faster now then ever before and in most new cars you don't even realize that you are going that fast. I was in my Cousins car about a month ago doing at least 100+ on 684 and it felt like I was doing 55. I will give you one good point. Southern PO's do not f*ck around. 1mph over and they give you a ticket. They don't care.

Again not mention all the Carry Downs you have to do in Yonkers, Ossining, Peeskill, Mt Vernon, New Ro and so on. Probably with no help from anyone. That sounds like it is worth 60K. LOL

Seth it wasn't bashing you or the website. If don't like what I have to say then that is your opinion. I have posted on here and my post have been deleted because you thought they were bashing or mean. RELAX. I don't think it was luck I was born in the US. My parents were from here, their parents were from here, their parents might have been from somewhere else. How is it luck? I'm from here so of course my kids are going to be from here.

I put my cell on my PBA cards and only give them out to the CHOSEN FEW. JJB that is a pet peeve of mine. If the first thing I get is a PBA card I throw it somewhere in the car take their paperwork and right the ticket. I don't stand for that BS. I also don't like when people tell me they didn't do what I pulled them over for. Like I have nothing else better to do than stop you.

Sounds like a "DEAD" end job. HA HA. Had to do it BABA. Did you put in the part where you have to work 100 days in a row?

I am actually surprised that they kept this topic going for so long. It seems if nobody agrees with the administrators they get rid of the topic. I am sure most of us on here knew what we wanted to do when were growing up. I know that I watched EMERGENCY, S.W.A.T., Adam-12, Chips, and all that other BS. I just knew that I didn't want to work in an office all day. So what did I do? I gave college a chance and hated it. Got enrolled in an EMT course at WCC found out that I was good at that and kept with it till I got called to be a COP. So the only formal college education that I have is EMT/MEDIC school, WC Police Academy. But in that time I got street smarts. Too me that is the most important thing to have. You can't learn everything in life from a book or an instructor. Take NYPD and FDNY back in the day. Most employees were IRISH AMERICAN. To this day FDNY is prob 50% IRISH. I don't know why that is but it is. You can't go out and make somebody take a job they don't want or probably won't be good at. I think it is in our blood. Some take the job because they see it as and easy career with good benefits. But those of us that really love our jobs can smell them out in a minute. Mt Pleasant does have Police day every year for the Community to come and see out equipment along with equipment from other Dept's. We don't often advertise what kind of crime goes on in MT Pleasant so I am sure that most of the Taxpayers think we sit around and eat donuts and drink coffee all day. After leaving on that day they might get a better perspective of what we do. Seth why don't you go to your bosses and tell them that you wish that they were more DIVERSE and have them hire some Minorities. I am sure they will go for that. How about the best candidate for the job. Who cares if you are Black, White, Yellow, etc if you are the best for the job you should get the job.

There are a couple rules of thought for off duty carrying. Some say that you should know your surroundings if you intend to interfere with a crime in progress. Example would be being in a grocery store, bank, etc. You may see only one robber and it has happened that once the off duty commits him/her self to stopping the robbery another member of the robbery team may get the drop on you. It is better to be a better witness then to be a statistic. Now there may be situations were you are pulling up to a store or something else and see the crime in progress or as JJB531 said a simple traffic accident where there are irrate parties involved. Now in that situation JJB would have to run for his life because he said that he does not carry off duty unless he is in a skelly neighborhood. I got your back JJB. LOL. I look at this way. I did survive for a long time without carrying a gun but now it is my right to carry a gun. I have never taken it out when off duty nor do I let people know that I have it on. Many just assume that I have it because they know what I do. But if you don't know me than you don't know what I have. Kinda like all the other PERPS out there. I usually just assume that everyone has a gun. I like Texas style. Where it on the outside that way you think twice before you ROB somebody.

Okay you got me on the beach one. I don't carry to the beach because if I leave it in a bag and I am in the OCEAN then MR MURPHY (LAW) will come and it will get stolen. If you are going to wear a gun on the outside of your clothing then your shield should be on your belt right next to where your gun is. Undercover and on your belt then you can have your shield around your neck or somewhere with easy access.

Do you carry your ID and SHIELD when you are not carrying? I have adapted to carrying in shorts. I have a great holster that fits under my belt pointing towards my little partner. You can't really tell and I usually try to wear longer T Shirts.

I didn't want to start another thread but since I sat hear and started thinking about this I know that I am not the only one that feels this way. Have any of you actually written down a License Plate Number of drivers that either pull to the left, stop in the lane they are in whey you are behind them or just simply don't get out of the way because they don't hear the sirens. I try and write down plate numbers and if the person annoyed me enough I will run it and attempt to call them and give them a piece of my mind. All of these new cars are sound proof on the inside and some of us do listen to music loud enough that we can't hear the sirens. I am always looking in my mirrors. About every 3 sec. That is just me. I figured this may piss some of you off as well. I wish I had a special ray gun sometimes to make these people disappear.

Make the sirens louder so when I go deaf and sue Whelan I can get more money. I can't hear a thing when people are right next to me but from across a room I can hear everything. I think that is all because of sirens or maybe I just don't give a sh*t about what people are saying next to me. LOL

I thought it sucked as well as half of the people that I have talked to. My prediction is a movie set for Memorial day or 4th of July in 2008 or 2009. That movie would make a killing at the box office. Working hard to get my fill, everybody wants a thrill Payin' anything to roll the dice, just one more time Some will win, some will lose Some were born to sing the blues Oh, the movie never ends It goes on and on and on and on Those lines say what the whole show was about for the past 8 seasons.

I wouldn't get a job there if I couldn't DIP. If you smoke and want that job then stop smoking or dipping. I think that it is BS but these people know the rules when sign up.

It could have been either a communication veh or a Dive Team Veh. Depends on the color.

I have considered saying that many times on a stop.