Here's the latest in do-as-I-say-not-as-I-do news: Some Kansas City police officers don't buckle up while on duty.
The hypocrisy was highlighted after a drunken driver slammed into the side of a police cruiser on December 5, The Kansas City Star reported. One officer was knocked out, and the patrol car's internal camera revealed that neither officer in the car was strapped in. Luckily, the officers weren't killed. But what's their excuse for breaking the law -- and department policy -- and upsetting their commanders?
Via the Star:
Though most officers embrace seatbelts in their personal vehicles, theyThat's why Serge Grinik, the officer injured in the Decemberavoid them at work because they fear the belt will prevent them from
getting to their gun or getting out of their car quickly. They also
worry that the seatbelt will hold them in an upright position if they
need to duck gunfire.
wreck, wasn't strapped in. Grinik's attorney, Mike Yonke, told
the Star that his client stopped buckling up about three months
before the wreck.
A man who appeared to have a gun marched up to Grinik's patrol car.
Grinik tried to get out of his car, but his gun got tangled in his
seatbelt. His partner -- who was not wearing a seatbelt -- hopped out
and subdued the suspect.
"He (Grinik) said he'd rather risk being hurt in a wreck than be
executed in his car," Yonke said.
After that, Grinik wore his seatbelt on highways and major
thoroughfares, Yonke said, but unbuckled in other areas, including 35th
Street and Euclid Avenue, where the suspected drunken driver barreled
into his side of the patrol car the afternoon of Dec. 5.
Grinik suffered a fractured pelvis and a broken shoulder and spent four
days in a hospital. He is back to work, on limited duty, and fighting
for full workers' compensation benefits.
It's not like Grinik isn't paying a price for not wearing his seatbelt.
On top of his injuries, Grinik's benefits were slashed in half because
he wasn't wearing his seatbelt (Missouri law lets employers do that for
employees who refuse to use safety devices), and he may have to pay half
of his medical bills.
Those excuses apparently aren't good enough for Police Chief Jim Corwin.
"Of all the people in the world, we should be the first ones to
understand that seatbelts do save lives," he told the Star.
But it's not like the KCPD is tracking who buckles up. They don't. So no one knows exactly the number of officers who are breaking the law.
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So what else is new? KCPD is self serving. Could careless about KC.
Police Chief Jim Corwin said “When you start talking to people … nobody has a concern about the way the Police Department in Kansas City is governed.”
He's obviously has lost touch with Kansas City as well as the crime rate
What isn't mentioned here, is that the Star reported that officers wear seatbelts to calls for service, but take them off within a block of arrival. Isn't that a happy medium?
Officers engage in "random patrol" meaning that they don't always know where they're going. There are times when the officer may be at an intersection looking down the block scanning for anything suspicious. officers may make last minute decisions on where they're going, and thus may not think/have ample time to signal.
Cops are held to a higher standard because they're cops. Cops not always wearing seatbelts made the news because they're cops. Cops who make the slightest mistake are thrust into the limelight because they're cops, and we as a society expect more from them, because of their job.
Cops should be afforded some leeway when it comes to doing they're job effectively. The issue of not using turn signals, or wearing seatbelts should not be blown out of proportion because for the most part it's because they're out doing their job. It's not like making an illegal left turn is depriving any citizen of their rights.
One must also take into consideration why they're doing what they're doing. Maybe an officer is making an illegal left because he's on his way to a call. Not every call is a priority call that requires lights and sirens. However, it's still important that an officer makes it calls in a timely manner.
We as a society expect officers to be anywhere moments after we dial, but we get mad that they don't signal. We expect immediate help from officers, but they have to go around the block. We get mad when it takes an officer five minutes to show up, but we also expect officers to stop at every stop sign, and drive the speed limit.
We expect cops to come to potentially dangerous calls, but get mad when they take their seatbelts off to possibly protect themselves.
We expect cops to play by the same rules we do, but the games are different. We (as citizens) don't have the same expectations to be anywhere at a moments notice. We don't have to confront potentially dangerous people at every turn.
The police are those who keep us safe on our behalf. The police are those who uphold the law for the good of the people. We need to support the police, and NOT pick fights about inconsequential details like this.
When we get pulled over we ask, "Don't you have better things to do, like pull over REAL criminals?"
I ask, Don't we have better things to do, like deal with REAL social injustice?
Screw yall.
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