TexasCHLforum.com

I live in Grapevine and participated in the Grapevine Citizens' Police Academy program and currently having a background check for the VIPS (Volunteers in Police Service) program. During the training program for the Citizen's Police Academy we met officers from all the Divisions - Traffic, Patrol, Investigations etc and uniformly (sorry about the pun) they are a very polite group of people.

Traffic - the motorcycle guys - were polite but firm. I asked them why motorcycle cops never give warnings. He smiled and asked me for my License Plate number and then smiled again. He went on to say that traffic control is all they do and they are very good at it. He also said that all traffic stops are dangerous so if they are going to stop you, they generally have a really good reason to do so, so you are going to get a ticket unless you have a really good story. We asked him for an example of a really good story and he said he had yet to hear one! I got a ticket from a Grapevine motorcycle officer when I first moved to Texas and he was professional, courteous and quick. Contrast that with some friend's experiences in Southlake, with rude behavior and lectures.

Under the new Chief of Police in Grapevine, the Patrol Division is primarly charged with crime prevention and community policing - issuing tickets is pretty far down on their list.