Police in Georgia use "coin flip" to decide whether to arrest someone over speeding

[cabanafrau]

I also remember reading somewhere they didn't have any radar to see how fast she was actually going, they were GUESSING she was going 85.

If that's the case there could have been some difficulty coming up with a factual basis for any charges. If true, it may result in a lawsuit against the officers, their department and the city.

I wouldn't call the officers' actions abuse of power. I would say it's dereliction of duty and misuse of authority. Their punishment should be strong. If they're allowed back in uniform it should be after a serious demonstration of understanding and following policies and protocol. If the driver was indeed reckless and cannot be held accountable due to the officers' actions the officers have breached their duty of protection of society and misused the trust the public puts in them. If publicizing their flagrant disregard for their duties gives police officers a bad name, they are the ones who should answer to their brothers and sisters in blue, not the media.

 

[bethwc101]

If that's the case there could have been some difficulty coming up with a factual basis for any charges. If true, it may result in a lawsuit against the officers, their department and the city.

I wouldn't call the officers' actions abuse of power. I would say it's dereliction of duty and misuse of authority. Their punishment should be strong. If they're allowed back in uniform it should be after a serious demonstration of understanding and following policies and protocol. If the driver was indeed reckless and cannot be held accountable due to the officers' actions the officers have breached their duty of protection of society and misused the trust the public puts in them. If publicizing their flagrant disregard for their duties gives police officers a bad name, they are the ones who should answer to their brothers and sisters in blue, not the media.

http://www.tucsonnewsnow.com/story/38644902
"Officer Brown consulted Officer Kristee Wilson on what to do next, because she allegedly didn't have a radar."

 

[bcla]

They were fired this morning.

https://www.ajc.com/news/crime--law...flip-determine-arrest/1WvXf4lUcsJ6U7zCVtLHIO/

 

[china mom]

If I could make one major correction tot his story:

All of the headlines say that they made their decision to arrest based on the coin flip.

The actuality is that they JOKED about basing the decision to arrest on a coin flip. They actually disregarded the result of the coin flip then made the decision based on their belief of the existence of Probable cause and the need to arrest rather than just cite. And the joke was made among themselves and out of the public view.

I thank God that we did not have every movement video and audio taped every moment of my career. Most people would just faint at the "unprofessionalism" and jocularity that takes place every day in police work. Our action were always based on ensuring public safety and acting within the law but we had a lot of fun along the way.

 

[bcla]

If I could make one major correction tot his story:

All of the headlines say that they made their decision to arrest based on the coin flip.

The actuality is that they JOKED about basing the decision to arrest on a coin flip. They actually disregarded the result of the coin flip then made the decision based on their belief of the existence of Probable cause and the need to arrest rather than just cite. And the joke was made among themselves and out of the public view.

I thank God that we did not have every movement video and audio taped every moment of my career. Most people would just faint at the "unprofessionalism" and jocularity that takes place every day in police work. Our action were always based on ensuring public safety and acting within the law but we had a lot of fun along the way.

Nothing is out of the public view these days. They were likely required to keep those body cams running in any case of an interaction with the public. The recording is also a public record.

 

[china mom]

Nothing is out of the public view these days. They were likely required to keep those body cams running in any case of an interaction with the public. The recording is also a public record.

I left police work just before body cams so I am not the body cam expert. But, I am pretty sure that they are not running constantly (Think about bathroom breaks). I am pretty sure that they are automatically engaged when the officer performs a traffic stop, as in this case.

I think that the cameras are a huge benefit in police work and have saved countless officers from wrongful accusations and weeded out some bad officers. But, I am still glad that I was not recorded constantly. Sometimes you say things or make jokes that the general public could never understand..

And since the officers in this case, disregarded the results o the coin flip, I believe that they were joking around.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

Imagine if everyone in every job wore a camera!

 

[Squirlz]

I mentioned earlier that Kristee is a friend of mine. She's pretty cute. She could get a gig as the Coin Flippin' Cop stripper.

 

[bcla]

I left police work just before body cams so I am not the body cam expert. But, I am pretty sure that they are not running constantly (Think about bathroom breaks). I am pretty sure that they are automatically engaged when the officer performs a traffic stop, as in this case.

I think that the cameras are a huge benefit in police work and have saved countless officers from wrongful accusations and weeded out some bad officers. But, I am still glad that I was not recorded constantly. Sometimes you say things or make jokes that the general public could never understand..

And since the officers in this case, disregarded the results o the coin flip, I believe that they were joking around.

They were still doing it where the suspect might possibly hear it.

Now with body cams, I remember the SLC case at the University of Utah hospital, the officers had their body cams running continuously, even as they were discussing sending indigent cases to that hospital as revenge. They were also talking about leaving material information out of their police report. All when they should have known they were being recorded. That was just dumb.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Three police officers were killed in Kansas City today. Why isn't that being talked about.

Old comment I know but in the interest of clarity if you're talking about the incident on July 15th when a suspect, who was being looked at for a fatal robbery earlier on in July, had a shootout with the police a week and a half after the robbery incident...the police officers weren't killed. They didn't even have life-threatening injuries. The suspect was killed however. **If you're talking about a different incident please let me know.

And as for why it's not being talked about? Because in KCMO unfortunately a shooting is very common; as sad as it is I don't bat an eye when I look at the local news' websites and see there was a shooting (officer or no officer involved).

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

If I could make one major correction tot his story:

All of the headlines say that they made their decision to arrest based on the coin flip.

The actuality is that they JOKED about basing the decision to arrest on a coin flip. They actually disregarded the result of the coin flip then made the decision based on their belief of the existence of Probable cause and the need to arrest rather than just cite. And the joke was made among themselves and out of the public view.

I thank God that we did not have every movement video and audio taped every moment of my career. Most people would just faint at the "unprofessionalism" and jocularity that takes place every day in police work. Our action were always based on ensuring public safety and acting within the law but we had a lot of fun along the way.

I agree and disagree with you.

I think most people in their jobs have been said something deemed unprofessional and as I'm sure that I've done that before I'm not necessarily saying that it's horrible of the officers to joke about it but most people do it where they cannot get in trouble for it.

Assuming it is true that they wouldn't actually opt to go with a coin toss joking about it during a traffic stop (or however you want to call it since they were called to investigate) is not good.

I remember one time when I worked at the insurance company. A girl who had just spent 6 weeks in training managed to get herself fired within 2 hours of the job. Why? Because she forgot to use mute when she was calling an agent the B word **you were encouraged to not use the mute for that reason where you might say something you shouldn't and for the silence it would cause which could be uncomfortable. Now granted most of the time you'd probably say "oh this agent is being rude or they are being a jerk rather than use a curse word to describe them and that happened a lot we dealt with some very rude people at times but saying it while they are still on the line...bad move.