Where I live the cops seem to do it quite often. Its kinda obvious too, all of a sudden the sirens go on then they get through the lights or traffic and then they turn of the sirens
thanson73
Favorite Answer
How do you know the officer was not going somewhere and had to get through the light. You don't. Just because they turned the lights off on the other side of the intersection does not mean he was not going somewhere.
Example 1. Officer is responding to an emergency call that does not according to his operating procedures require him to travel with lights and sirens on. However it does allow him to "bust" and intersection with his lights and sirens.
Example 2. Officer is going code (Lights and sirens)to a call and goes through the intersection. Once on the other side he get called to stand down the situation is under control. So the officer reduces code and turns off lights and sirens.
Example 3. Officer is going code to a call. As he gets close to the location he reduces code due to the fact that he does not want to alert the bad guys he is around the corner.
Example 4. Heavy traffic. When an officer turns on his lights and sirens it cause other drivers to act very stupid. If the officer was to travel with lights and sirens on he stood a better chance of causing a traffic accident then if he used them just to go through the intersections.
Are you one of those people that whine and complain about cops using their lights to get through an intersection and then cry when the police do not respond in what you consider a reasonable amount of time.
Anonymous
I had a friend who was a cop. I needed a Diet Coke really bad. He would not in any way even entertain the idea of coming with lights and sirens. I am still upset about it and it was 10 years ago. I do not think that any officer would abuse the lights and sirens. Some times I panic just trying to get over for them.
Anonymous
There are many times, where an officer is enroute to a call, that requires them to get there quickly, but lights and siren are not warranted. In these instances, we do use the lights at an intersection to pass through quickly, and get to the scene. Other instances are where we are enroute to a call for backup, and the call is cancelled while enroute, or were told that everything is ok, and we can slow down our response. Sometimes, you may think that this is the case, when in reality, it is rare that an officer would just go through a red light for no reason.
Al M
I'm a cop in Wisconsin and no I have never done it just to get through an intersection for the sake of getting through an intersection without some call to go on or good reason.
Officer
Our policy allows for the use of lights and siren on priority calls at intersections. We have three levels of calls, routine, priority and emergency.
Routine - no L/S
Priority - at intersections as deemed necessary
Emergency - L/S mandated