Keep It Clean Or I'll Turn Off The Comments

"Joe, this is a letter in response to "blutojthetotmoms" recent comments of your SPD story. I want to get a few facts straight and I have a couple questions for her that I feel need to be addressed. I am in no way affiliated with the SPD and in all honesty do not know a single officer in that department. I hope that this post doesn't start more of a discussion about that current situation because that is not what this post is about. I don't know about that situation and don't know the Officers involved. The problem I have are in regards to some of "blutos" comments concerning it.

To begin, I have seen many stories on your site about personal use of government/local/business vehicles. There are many different agencies/departments that allow the use of work vehicles for personal use. I am not going to sit here and try to act like I know all of the individual agencies policies regarding their use off duty. I will say however that some policies are pretty much the same for everyone. I think what a lot of people don't understand is that these vehicles are part of an employees benefits for working for that agency/department. Lets take MSP for example. MSP certainly does not have the best salary in the state when it comes to law enforcement, they are far from it. One of the attractions/benefits that they have to entice individuals to work for them is that they will receive a take home vehicle. This is basically a part of their salary/benefits. It is no different then a hair dresser getting a discount when they get their hair cut at their place of employment, or a restaurant worker getting a percentage off of food if they decide they want to take something home that night. Every job has its perks and fringe benefits, this use of a vehicle happens to be one of them for certain Police Officers. That being said, is there anything wrong with an MSP employee using their take home vehicle to go grocery shopping? ABSOLUTELY NOT! That is part of their salary package. Now, when they do this there are definitely policies and procedures they have to abide by. Every department is different but MSP for example requires that you wear a certain type of clothing, carry your service weapon, and be available to respond to calls, among many other policies. Once again, I don't know these policies for every department/agency that has take home vehicles but these are some examples. So when people are crying about tax dollars paying for someone to take their kids to socc er practice they need to realize that if the vehicles weren't allowed to be used for that they would have to raise the salaries of the individuals. One way or another an agency's benefits have to be competitive so that they can hire/retain employees.

I have an issue with the ignorance shown in some of "blutos" posts. First, you stated, "There is no excuse EVER for a cop breaking the law". Please show me any evidence that the Officer's in question broke ANY law. If you can show me the law that says that a Police Officer in the State of Maryland can't purchase or transport alcohol purchased by them in a Police vehicle I will eat my words right now. The reason you won't be able to find it is because it is NOT AGAINST THE LAW. It is a violation of their agencies administrative policies and that is it. I don't know what you do for a living but it is no different than say a Wal-Mart employee ringing themselves up for something that they were personally purchasing. It is a violation of their companies policies and that's it! Would you be causing the same fuss if you heard that a Wal-Mart clerk bought a pair of sunglasses from Wal-Mart and rang herself up for it? Of course you w ouldn't. I am in no way condoning what they did, they violated their policy and it should be handled accordingly, administratively. Do I think they should be suspended/fired, of course not. That is definitely a little harsh for buying some beer while in a police vehicle, especially considering they weren't in uniform or consuming it until later. But the main point is that NO LAW HAS BEEN BROKEN.

Secondly, you go on to say "do they cut any slack?Do they ever stop a guy who has just had one beer out at dinner and say "OK,just let your wife drive "HELL F--K NO!" Wow, are you seriously that oblivious? You obviously have some rage and frustration pent up against the Police. You mean to tell me that you've never been stopped for a traffic violation and received a warning? I guess that isn't cutting any slack? You really think that we lock up driver's after having one beer with dinner? I guess as soon as an Officer smells alcohol on a driver he just pulls him out and puts handcuffs on him. He doesn't give him/her any type of field sobriety tests or a preliminary breath test, nothing, he just locks them up. You can't be serious can you? If an Officer locked up everyone that had one beer at dinner he certainly wouldn't have a job for very long. That would look real good in court,

Judge: "Officer, what was the defendant's blood alcohol level at the time of the incident."
Officer: ".02 BAC your honor"

I suggest you do a ride a long sometime with an officer, hell Joe knows who I am and I'll be willing to allow you to do a ride a long with me. You can see just how much slack we cut to people on a daily basis, I think you would rethink your stance then.

"I am tired of people defending cops when they break the rules they make the rest of us abide by.Thats why I cut them no slack and think no one else should." Since when have you been charged/arrested/cited for buying alcohol, putting it in a cooler, and putting it in the trunk of your car? You could be on the clock, in whatever uniform/attire you wear to work, tell your boss you're tired of his $h*t, use a company vehicle, and go and purchase a dozen 30 packs of beer and stick them in the trunk and you still aren't violating any law. So please tell me when you have been made to abide by this "rule", that you are so pissed off at these Officers for breaking??? You mean to tell me that you have never stopped on your way home from work and purchased a bottle of wine or a 6 pack of beer for the evening? You know how many times I've been on my way home and wanted to stop by the gas station and grab a 6 pack to relax for the evening? All the time, but I don't because my department policy doesn't allow it. Have you ever had to think about what you were wearing or what you were driving or what you do for a living when wanting to purchase alcohol?

You obviously have some serious issues with the Police and I would imagine it stems from the fact that you can't stand it that some people have a job where they get to tell you what you can and can not do. It eats you alive and builds up an obviously large amount of resent in your body. You can't stand knowing that if you get pulled over by the Police it is up to them to decide whether or not you get a citation or a warning that evening and that kills you.

Like I said, if you ever do want to know what we deal with on a daily basis or how much "slack" we cut people, please feel free to give Joe a call and ask him who I am so that you can come ride along with me one night. Then you can have your opinions.

-Anonymous"