Are police officers allowed to break traffic laws without their lights/siren on?
I constantly notice police officers failing to use their signals, rolling through stop signs, etc. when driving. Additionally, I was recently pulled over for speeding (got just a warning), but when the officer was talking to me, he said that at one point he was driving well over the speed limit in order to catch up to me. He didn't turn his lights on until he stopped behind me at a stoplight, and the light finally went green. I have always been under the impression that in order to break any traffic laws, police cars had to have their lights or siren on. I know that laws differ depending on region. I live in Portland, Oregon. Does anyone know the answer to this for sure?
2010-01-09T19:24:28Z
Just to clarify, I'm not trying to complain, and I'm not trying to fight what's going on. Just merely looking for some factual information on this topic. I'd rather get some actual backed-up information, rather than opinions about cops, etc.
ahsoasho2u22010-01-09T18:54:41Z
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having worked in Washington State and in Alabama. Usually lights are an emergency tool to pull you over, get through an intersection with siren going to get me to an emergency call. All other routine stops, are done while pacing, watching your turning, tail lights working etc, without any violation that could, or may take place. Think of this scenario from my point of view: If the officer had turned on the lights, while stopped at a Red light, at an intersection, would you then have pulled through the Red light, to yield to an emergency situation? (Lights on my vehicle, you are now impeding / blocking an emergency vehicle, from responding to an emergency, which is against the law, thus you by law should be pulling to the far right hand side of the road, allowing the emergency vehicle to pass through. Same with all four way traffic at the said intersection, STOP immediately to allow the emergency vehicle passage.) Now would everyone at the intersection, have stopped by law, thinking the officer was on an emergency, or could this have caused another possible emergency? Just something to think about, as this is a thought process an officer would have to have thought about, the possible repercussions of turning on the lights while stopped at a red light?
Every police department, from state to state, has their own take on this matter. Usually, police officers are urged by their superiors to obey laws like ordinary citizens, however, there are many reasons why you may see an officer breaking a traffic law/regulation without the use of their lights/sirens.....
For example, when an officer gets a call of a home burglary in progress, this means that the perpetrator is in the act of burglarizing a home, which means that the perp is still there (hence, "in progress")......Picture it being YOUR home...... Would you rather the officer hurry up and get there (run stop signs, break the speed limit) to stop and catch the perp, or would you rather have the officer use their lights/sirens and scare the perp away, who can hear the sirens from miles away, or would you rather the officer just obey all traffic laws (stopping for red lights, obeying speed limits) and take their time getting there? How do you know for absolute certainty that the officer is just driving or responding to a call?
There are many reasons why you may see an officer driving "routinely" and break a few traffic laws. Yes, police officers should lead by example, however, in the future, when you see an officer breaking a traffic law, take a moment to think if you know for sure wether they are responding to a call or not. Who knows? You DON'T know for sure, so why not give an officer some slack?
There are different types of warnings. The audio ones and the visual ones. The visual means that you can tell it's a police caar, so you should get out of the way. The flashing lights don't have to be on.