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gigag04 wrote:

KD5NRH wrote:

gigag04 wrote:The seatbelt one - I RARELY wear a seatbelt in a patrol car. The thing is one big rolling target and I can't feel it across my chest as a reminder that it is on (vest) - which can be REAL BAD if you all of a sudden decide you need to bail out of your rolling target and cant feel that your seatbelt is still on.

Please post your full name, department and badge number with this statement to make it easier for the victims to find on Google when you lose control of the car due to not being able to stay in your seat.

Put the belt on every time and you won't need a reminder that it's on anymore than you need to look down the barrel of your gun to see if a round is chambered when you need it.

I won't be posting any of that.

As you didn't post it, I assume you missed the bottom half of my post where I said I will put it on if I'm rolling to something hot. Most of my time on night shift is spent sneaking around blacked out through subdivisions, or parked watching stop signs/lights. I am fully aware of the risks of collision while driving a patrol car.

handog wrote:hasizing the power of public perception could also make a difference. How can officers write tickets for seat belt violations if they're not buckled up themselves?

You also missed my statement where I said I don't write for it I guess? On days, I and most other day shift officers wear our seatbelts...you are driving in traffic more, and more visible. At night...it's a different ball game..you're not driving as much. Like I said earlier in the post...my driving consists of rolling blacked out through a neighborhoods and apartment complexes at 5 mph with the windows down. Or I'm stationary - in which case I definitely don't stay fastened to the car.

Feel free to form your own opinions (and even share them) but until you've been there and done that...they are opinions from outsiders. There are a wide array of opinions within the LE community and preferences vary at the officer level - it is their choice to decide which tactics they chose to employ.


Maybe a mod can split this off into a seperate thread.