Officer Pancake

Original article from the Baltimore Sun.

Quote:

'Step out' traffic stops reviewed

Following the first on-duty death of a Howard County police officer in more than 40 years, the department's chief said yesterday that he will re-evaluate traffic-enforcement details that require officers to step into the roadway and flag down speeding motorists - a dangerous practice that some departments have abandoned.

"We will take a look and determine if it's a practice we want to continue or modify," Howard County Chief William J. McMahon said after Pfc. Scott Wheeler died yesterday of head injures suffered Saturday after a car he was trying to stop hit him. "If there's lessons to be learned, we will."

The technique, known as "stepping out," is an efficient way to stop speeders. Maryland State Police use it often and have done so for a long time, said 1st Sgt. Russell Newell.

But some departments have dropped the practice in favor of officers activating their cruisers' lights and sirens and pulling up behind speeders, said Richard Ashton, an expert on highway safety at the International Association of Chiefs of Police.

Pursuing cars, however, results in fewer tickets during special-enforcement operations - when a team of officers, armed with a radar or laser and often on overtime, does nothing but enforce traffic laws.

"As your speed increases, your reaction time is diminished," said Andrew Scott, a former police chief in Boca Raton, Fla., who prohibited officers from stepping out into traffic lanes with speed limits of 45 miles an hour or more.

The 24-year-old Columbia woman who hit Wheeler Saturday on Route 32 never saw him, according to Howard police. Wheeler died early yesterday at Maryland Shock Trauma Center.

"You have drivers changing CDs, answering their phones, looking at maps," Ashton said. "Sometimes they're just distracted by good innocent things."

Howard County requires officers to wear reflective vests "at all times" while directing traffic or conducting speed enforcement. The requirement is underlined in the Police Department's written rules, called general orders.

Michael Frye, 47, of Severna Park, said yesterday he remembers police pulling him over on the same stretch of Route 32 for speeding last year. He conceded that he was both speeding and not paying attention, but said the officer's behavior also was unsafe.

"They don't wave at you; they jump out," he said. "They stand right in front of you. It scared me. I slammed on the breaks to stop. The whole time I'm thinking, 'This guy is going to get hit.' "

Alex Weiss, director of the Center for Public Safety at Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill., said that "stepping out" is a more common practice in the eastern United States than the west. It's common and works well - most of the time, he said.

"We do this type of enforcement every single day," said Cpl. Jason Baker, president of the county's police union. "Traffic is one of the most dangerous things we do."

I've seen the police around my house doing this (Route 32 is only a few miles from me), and it struck me as freaking insane. Even obeying the speed limit, traffic is moving at 55mph, usually more like 60mph, and cops are trying to stop the ones moving even faster! If you're speeding down the road and a man jumps out in front of you, isn't there a good chance you might a) not be able to stop in time or b) swerve into another lane to avoid him, possibly causing an accident?

A separate article says the police will probably file charges against the woman who hit the officer. If it's anything other than speeding or reckless driving, I hope she fights it vigorously in court.

Has anyone else seen police doing this?

Jam it back in, in the dark.

I think that's ridiculous. It's like the subset of people they'll want to catch will end up killing them in the process, speed cap or not. I don't even want to think about the possibility of multiple fatalities too since some people may choose to swerve out of the way and hit other cars. One might brake in time and cause a multi car pileup behind them if everyone goes at around the same speed.

I really think they should just stick to being inside the cop cars with sirens on. It'll probably bottleneck traffic afterwards, but police do that anyways, and even that would be incentive for people to go slower.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

This is why people claim your country is so fucking stupid. Your law officers are just NOW learning that playing in traffic may be a bad idea.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

I've never seen police here in Manitoba do that. I've been with my buddy a couple times when he got pulled over. One time they were waiting a block ahead because they saw him make an illegal right turn. So they an officer just got out and stood on the sidewalk and flagged him down while the other officer nosed the cruiser out into his path. This was on a residential street, and my buddy hadn't gotten up to speed yet so it wasn't hard to stop him. Then the other time, the cops just pulled up behind and flashed their lights, and so my buddy just pulled over. Most people aren't dumb enough to run from the cops, so I don't see why they feel the need to jump out in front of them.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

I've never seen them doing it like this, but I've had a cruiser swiping across all three highway lanes (65mph, and I was doing probably 70-75), RIGHT in front of me, just to slow me down because they were helping some poor lady with a flat tire on the opposite emergency lane from which I was driving.

I almost hit the bastard, then he had the nerve to pull me over. Luckily he let me go.

I was speaking idiomatically.