We were on our way back home after my son’s graduation from the Georgia State Patrol Trooper School. We were on a two-lane road, and he was in the lead in his (new to him) GSP patrol car, with the cruise control set on 60 mph. I was 4-5 car lengths behind him; my mother-in-law and wife were 7-8 car lengths behind me.
I didn’t know it at the time, but at some point during the trip an unmarked Sheriff’s car had pulled up behind my mother-in-law’s car. My wife told me later that the driver was driving like s/he was anxious to get around my mother-in-law’s car. So, when we finally came to a section of road with a passing lane, the driver (deputy?) pulled to the left and started accelerating.
The Sheriff’s car wasn’t screaming, but it was going at least 70 mph, I’d guess, in a 55 mph zone. It passed my mother-in-law’s car and started gaining on me. It was about three car lengths behind (and to the left of) me when, apparently, the driver saw my son’s GSP cruiser.
My son said that just about the time the Sheriff’s car came into view in his side mirror he saw the front end suddenly nose-dive (i.e. rapid deceleration). The car pulled in behind me and became part of our “convoy” for several miles, until we reached the next town. 8)
If you are asking what cops can pull over other cops, any one can pull over anyone. But usually gsp are not the ones breaking the traffic laws. My dad was telling me the other day we saw a marked decalb county car speeding and weaving in and out of traffic on 285 then a few miles later it was on the shoulder with a trooper behind him only the blue and silver car had its lights on.
Good for GSP. The hypocrisy of many sworn officers sickens me. As I have said many times, drive down to Forsyth and watch jurisdiction after jurisdictions officers FLY past you on the highway (including many from notorious speed traps). I wish GSP would pull about 50 of them over one Monday (when they're "late" for training).
I probably should have put this in the original post: My son was telling me that one of the things he noticed during field training was that even if they were in total compliance with every traffic law, including the speed limit, civilian drivers would always slow down whenever they saw a GSP cruiser. I guess that applies to a least one Sheriff's Dept. person as well.
And why would we do that? Unless I'm speeding, there's hazardous conditions, or a patrol car (GSP or otherwise) is running code 2 or code 3, I'll go drive by a patrol w/ no issue.
I do not slow down when passing a cop if they are going slower than the posted speed limit.
I had always thought that the State Patrol always had the highest authority in the state.
The type of people who are not speeding and who slow down anyway when they see a cop just cruising along, or see a cop parked on the side looking for speeders are the same type people who:
1) Keep creeping forward little by little while "stopped" at a traffic light.
2) Randomly tap their brakes while just driving down the road.
3) Turn on their hazard flashers while driving in the rain.
4) Drive at night or while it is raining with only their parking lights on.
5) Wear their sunglasses while walking around inside a store.
Definition: Obliviots (stupid people with their head up their butt) :mrgreen:
I understand doing that, and there is a real reason for it, but I was talking about idiots in cars/trucks who are stopped, then let off the brakes and let their vehicle roll forward a couple of feet, stop again, and keep repeating that. The same type people do that while standing in a checkout line in a store. The idiots seem to think that they are actually getting somewhere.
^^ There must be a psychological term for that tendency, besides just "being a stupid person". Me - I stop where I plan to stay until it is actually time to go somewhere.
I've recently matched a speeding cop, and passed 4 lately that were going below posted speed limit. I guess as long as you're not creating a hazardous environment, some cops are okay with the little speeding in traffic.
Even if the Sheriff is a "constitutional office" rather than one created and staffed by some county or local government, the State legislature has in some ways put state-level agencies ahead of a Sheriff's office.
For example, state troopers can give speeding tickets based on radar or laser for ANY speeding, even 1 m.p.h. over the limit. Not so of Sheriff's deputies, or municipal police officers. They have to give you some leeway and not ticket you unless you're at least 10 mph over. See O.C.G.A. 40-14-8 (doesn't apply in school zones, historic districts, and some other special places).
A prior version of that law explicitly said that only the State Patrol could give tickets less than 10 over, but now that slap-in-the-face to cops and deputies has been amended with the more vague and less abrasive wording.
However, the intent of the legislature was clear, and numerous "speed traps" run by overzealous (even corrupt?) police chiefs and Sheriff's in rural Georgia in the 1960s prompted the General Assembly to limit their power, but not that of the State Patrol, which was seen as a more professional organization.
However, the intent of the legislature was clear, and numerous "speed traps" run by overzealous (even corrupt?) police chiefs and Sheriff's in rural Georgia in the 1960s prompted the General Assembly to limit their power, but not that of the State Patrol, which was seen as a more professional organization.
If I am speeding or otherwise violating a traffic law, a Trooper can give me a ticket. If I see a Trooper speeding or otherwise violating a traffic law, I can give them a ticket.
We have the exact same legal authority.
A Trooper has no supervisory authority over me. I have no supervisory authority over a Trooper.
The only difference in speed enforcement is that the GSP does not have to have a permit to operate speed detection devices and the other such limitations, but speed detection devices are not the only method for enforcing the speed limit (they are just the only feasible method for enforcing the speed limit).
My use of the word "hierarchy" was intended to be tongue-in-cheek. I just thought it was funny that the Sheriff's Dept vehicle slowed down and then didn't make any attempt to pass the GSP cruiser.
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