Shaft?

Brass balls.

That is all I have to say.

Car 54...Where Are You??

Wait, so they expect the officer to lock the doors, if he's going to leave the engine running? That sounds quite retarded to me. Unless of course the windows are down, and in that case, it wouldn't prevent this from happening anyway. I think this department is just embarrassed that it happened. Why investigate, if they already know what happened? It's so that they'll have something to occupy themselves with, instead of focusing on how the entire community is pointing and laughing at them.

Surprised they didn't drop a deuce in the drivers seat or something.

Or maybe they just haven't found it yet.

Why don't they just use a keyless system, like on any other cars.

Well nobody is crazy enough to steal a police car right?

What was it Pratchett said? If you put a switch somewhere in a cave that with a sign that said "Please do not flip this switch as it will destroy the world" the paint wouldn't have time to dry.

The other day on my way to work I saw a NYC patrol car sitting with the doors open, engine running. Two officers came walking out of a little cafe and laughed at how they had managed to do that and not notice until they came back.

/cool story and all

TeddyRooseveltsMustache: Wait, so they expect the officer to lock the doors, if he's going to leave the engine running? That sounds quite retarded to me. Unless of course the windows are down, and in that case, it wouldn't prevent this from happening anyway. I think this department is just embarrassed that it happened. Why investigate, if they already know what happened? It's so that they'll have something to occupy themselves with, instead of focusing on how the entire community is pointing and laughing at them.

You think that the PD wants them to lock the door while the car is running? Don't you think that the better solution is to not leave the car running OR unlocked?

TeddyRosseveltsMustache Wait, so they expect the officer to lock the doors, if he's going to leave the engine running? That sounds quite retarded to me. Unless of course the windows are down, and in that case, it wouldn't prevent this from happening anyway.

Or they could... I don't know, maybe carry a second key for their door?

Tough concept, I know....

What is there to investigate?

It seems like he violated the policy.

kendelrio: TeddyRosseveltsMustache Wait, so they expect the officer to lock the doors, if he's going to leave the engine running? That sounds quite retarded to me. Unless of course the windows are down, and in that case, it wouldn't prevent this from happening anyway.

Or they could... I don't know, maybe carry a second key for their door?

Tough concept, I know....

Keyless entry.

Serving warrants is not like being in a shoot-out. I'm sure the officer probably had plenty of time to shut off the car and lock the doors but chose not to and now he's paying for it.

In my town they always leave the engine running. The only time they shut off the engine is when they park the vehicle at the end of their shift. They've got a camera, cell phone, radio equipment, laptop, coffeemaker, tv, radar gun, and whatever else running nonstop in those things.

Sure its embarrassing if someone steals your cruiser, but the inconvenience of have to start your car a hundred times a day outweighs the risk.

Joyridin' a five-oh

hea hea hea... that's just funny.

As far as keyless entry, on my Dodge, if the vehicle is running, it will not allow the door to be LOCKEd with the fob. (I haven't tried unlocking it..... Hmmm).

Part of the reason cruisers and ambulances are left running is if a call comes in requiring rapid response, the odds of the vehicle not starting are reduced to nil.


/I think this practice goes back to when you could flood a car trying to start it.
//I've had several cars that if you didn't curse just right, hold your tongue out and feather the accelerator **just** right, that biatch became a yard ornament for a while...

///I know..... lawn, off

kendelrio: TeddyRosseveltsMustache Wait, so they expect the officer to lock the doors, if he's going to leave the engine running? That sounds quite retarded to me. Unless of course the windows are down, and in that case, it wouldn't prevent this from happening anyway.

Or they could... I don't know, maybe carry a second key for their door?

Tough concept, I know....

Which would become immediately lost or left in the car. Or some bean counter would nix it because of the cost, or the security risk, or something to that effect.

/not bitter, really

Who ends an interrogative with a question mark anymore, that's who

sgnilward: SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS!

It's PG County. More like Spongebob Blackguy.

TeddyRooseveltsMustache: Wait, so they expect the officer to lock the doors, if he's going to leave the engine running? That sounds quite retarded to me. Unless of course the windows are down, and in that case, it wouldn't prevent this from happening anyway. I think this department is just embarrassed that it happened. Why investigate, if they already know what happened? It's so that they'll have something to occupy themselves with, instead of focusing on how the entire community is pointing and laughing at them.

Cop cars are usually outfitted with a simple switch that bypasses the ignition. Once the car is running, just flip the switch to "on" and you can turn the key to "off" and remove the key (which locks the steering wheel and gearshift, and lets you lock the doors and have your key to unlock them later) but the engine continues to idle since the circuit is still closed by the extra switch. To actually turn the engine off, just flip the switch to off.

Seems like cop cars should all have a Lojack installed for just this type of situation.....

Magorn: Well to be fair I used to know some of the Guys on the PG warrant squad, and they were very big very scary guys-so you'd have to be 13 kinds of stupid to think about boosting their cars. For example the main DV warrant guy topped out at around 5'3, But I personally saw him put up well over 500lbs on the bench press. The man was built like a farking fireplug and continually had a "do not fark with me" look on his face

yea, it's alwas the Naploeons' you have to watch out for.

Buddy is a smaller guy, but cocky and tough as nails. I've seen him hurt several larger guys. The one time I saw someone get the best of him was by, you guessed it, an even smaller dude.

it is a breach of protocol for an officer to leave his vehicle running and unlocked and Lyew will remain on normal duty status during an investigation of the incident.

Breach of protocol, eh? It sounds more like "maintaining an attractive nuisance". Similar to requiring fences around swimming pools: that the neighborhood child would need to trespass in order to drown himself in your pool isn't going to get you off the hook; you're still going to be held criminally liable if that happens.

And probably cited even if no child comes anywhere near the pool (although I suspect in most places that'd be a misdemeanor)

The reason they leave them running is because the computer systems inside the cruisers run off the car's power system and they are rather old and require a rather long time to start up so it would be inefficient and costly to have officers sitting around unable to do stuff while their system boots up.

I can't count the number of times I've been tempted to jack a squad car when they do this, especially as they like to completely blockade my apartment complex parking lot when they respond to a call by leaving the cars in the middle of the lot instead of, you know, parking.

/was running late one day and asked politely if they could move their car as they had made their arrest, he snarled "and what if I say no?" and went back to BSing with the other cop
//cool story bro, I know
///wish it was in any way atypical of cops in this country

Cops have 2 sets of keys.

One set always stays in the cruiser. Generally, the engine will stay on (it's faster for them to get away if they need to, keeps everything powered up that would need to be - computer, lights, etc. And yes, a/c or heat as well. Try to sit out all day in the 30lbs of equipment and kevlar they have to wear - your office is air conditioned; theirs can be, too). One set stays on their belt. Ideally though, obviously, they would LOCK the cruiser if they're not standing right by it. oops.

And since you asked (or were going to), they swing their car out like that when they pull you over so they can pull out faster (that's what she said) and so they have a bit of shelter if a crazy car tries to run them over while standing on the side of the road OR so they can quickly hide behind something and still get into the car if you turn out to be a crazy person and pull a gun on them.

/my hubby's a deputy.

I like the thief's style. Point out a fault by moving a vehicle one block, and not cause damage.

SlothB77: The cops were in the restaurant eating lunch, in full uniform.


Mmmm. Yummy.

Picture of the suspects:



/just saw it this weekend
//entertaining, worth a rental

Dopplganger - Serving warrants is not like being in a shoot-out. I'm sure the officer probably had plenty of time to shut off the car and lock the doors but chose not to and now he's paying for it.

You don't know PG County, do you?

SlothB77 - In metro DC they leave cruisers running all the time. I was in Crystal City. The cruiser was parked blocking half the street outside a restaurant, running and with no one inside it. The cops were in the restaurant eating lunch, in full uniform. This is standard practice.

9 out of 10 times, a police dog will be in the back (they need heat/AC). They don't leave it running for hours "just to get a fast start". They turn it off if they are out of the car for long periods of time (investigation, meals...). If they jump out to give a ticket, they leave it running.

ShawnDoc: editorial_distractions: Cops have 2 sets of keys.

Not all of them do. And yes, even those with one set of keys leave the car running and unlocked. That way there's no fumbling for a set of keys if they need to get into the car in a hurry, and no risk of the car not being able to start due to the battery running down or a critical piece of equipment not working due to being power cycled.

Yeah that fancy 'parking switch' situation you others speak of is not something they have here - and hubby got a new Crown Vic like 2 years ago, so it's not like he's driving an old POS. So some places I guess have the fancy switch, some have 2 sets of keys (well, my guess is still they ALL have 2 sets of keys, but some may not need them per say).

Hubby always gets mad when I rearrange cars in the driveway or get something from the cruiser and take out the key. Throws off his whole game!

kendelrio: As far as keyless entry, on my Dodge, if the vehicle is running, it will not allow the door to be LOCKEd with the fob. (I haven't tried unlocking it..... Hmmm).

Part of the reason cruisers and ambulances are left running is if a call comes in requiring rapid response, the odds of the vehicle not starting are reduced to nil.


/I think this practice goes back to when you could flood a car trying to start it.
//I've had several cars that if you didn't curse just right, hold your tongue out and feather the accelerator **just** right, that biatch became a yard ornament for a while...

///I know..... lawn, off

And apparently protocol for when you're stopped by police varies by police officer. I adhere to the school of thought that if I turn the car off the officer is put at ease that I'm not planning to take off at high speed as soon as he approaches me but some I've read that some officers prefer you to leave it running so that they don't have to worry about a stalled car after they write you your ticket.

Fortunately my car always starts - well almost always.

Stealing the car is obvious, they should have put "the club" on the steering wheel instead.

It would have been fun to hear them explain what happened.

Did everybody miss the best part? A dozen cops looked for the car for an hour before finding it one block away.