Cop Who Ticketed Himself Reaps Praise

[johnnymk]

This is very impressive.

http://www.mcall.com/news/nationworld/oddnews/sns-ap-self-ticketing-chief,0,5053703.story?coll=all-oddnews-hed&track=email_newsletter

KEWASKUM, Wis. -- A police chief who ticketed himself for a traffic violation says that he has received congratulatory e-mails from all over the globe and that he has even turned down money to cover the fine.

Chief Dick Knoebel drove past a stopped school bus with its lights flashing in September, then wrote himself a ticket for $235 and docked himself four points on his driving record. The story surfaced after it showed up in court records and media reports.

"Police officers do good things everyday, and that doesn't get reported," said Knoebel, who has been chief for 20 years in this town northwest of Milwaukee. "All you hear about in the news is when a police officer is in trouble."

Knoebel said he got more than 150 e-mails from such places as Thailand, New Zealand and Russia. Two people sent him $15.

"I tried to answer every e-mail," the chief said. "If they took the time to e-mail me, I at least thank them for their comments."

[Freelance Superhero]

i dunno if i'm in the minority in thinking this, but this guy's either an idiot or a self-satisfied attention whore. i'd really like to pick his brain and see what was going through it when he drove past the school bus then gave himself a ticket.

either:
1) he thought to himself, "i'm really in a hurry, but this school bus is in my way. i'm gonna have to bite the bullet, do something illegal, and then ticket myself for it." if this is, indeed, the case, then i don't know WHAT appointment was so important to him that it justified having to pay $235 and getting 4 points docked on your driving record. verdict: idiot.

2) he thought to himself, "i really can't wait for this bus, so i'll just go around it. wait wait, if i do that and give myself a ticket for it, people will recognize me for it, and i'll be the super good guy! wheee!" verdict: self-satisfied attention whore.

now, here are the variables as i see them:
it never is revealed WHY he drove around that bus. was he on his way to the scene of a crime? was he responding to some other emergency? to me, the "WHY" here makes all the difference between him being a buffoon and a truly admirable person. but, the way this story implies it, this guy just comes across as an ass:

"Chief Dick Knoebel drove past a stopped school bus with its lights flashing in September, then wrote himself a ticket for $235 and docked himself four points on his driving record."

yay, good for him. :rolleyes:

[cheapie]

naw. likely just a dude that screwed up and felt bad afterwards and wanted to make amends.

[renovation]

it's a small town the bus driver or a parent turned in his plate .it turned out to belong to him .and to keep his job he had to write him self a ticket . is my thought here ~

[Freelance Superhero]

naw. likely just a dude that screwed up and felt bad afterwards and wanted to make amends.well, see, this is what i mean. how do you "accidentally" drive by a bus with its lights on, knowing it's illegal? did he pass the bus, and then suddenly remember it was illegal? or did he knowingly pass the bus illegally, and then have a sudden pang of guilt and decide to write himself a ticket? i guess these could be scenarios 3 and 4 in my first post, so i suppose he's not automatically either an idiot or a self-satisfied attention whore.

it's a small town the bus driver or a parent turned in his plate .it turned out to belong to him .and to keep his job he had to write him self a ticket . is my thought here ~and if this is the case (not saying it is, but IF it is), then he only wrote the ticket because he got caught, and that merits no praise. since everyone seems to think so highly of his actions, i don't think this scenario is what happened.

[Markel]

I remember reading about this story when it first broke. According to this (http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=564030), from Feb 9
He was distracted. He was on duty, though not in a marked squad. He wasn't even sure the stop sign was out on the bus until he called the company and asked them to check. It was.

"OK," said the chief, "I will issue myself a citation."

[Freelance Superhero]

oh, ok. that's admirable. i can respect that.
i just wasn't willing to start kissing the guy's feet, based solely on the report in the first post.

but markel's further clarification redeems him (the officer).

[thresher]

Ok. True confessions here. Back last year I was on the phone with my doctor's assistant making an appointment while driving to work. I hung up and noticed a police officer coming up quick behind me. I got out of the way (since I thought I had done nothing wrong) and he got behind me with his lights on. I pulled over and he approached the truck. When he told me that I had passed a stopped school bus with its red lights flashing I think I nearly had a heart attack. NOT because of the points on my license. NOT because I was getting caught and NOT because I was embarrassed. I was freaked out because I drive a 4700# truck and I could have killed a kid before I even knew what I had done. The officer realized how shaken I was and gave me a warning. I now* rarely talk on the phone while I am driving (emergencies only, thank you) as I can see that for me it's too much of a distraction. I don't know what the circumstances were for the cop, but I can tell you this... it is entirely possible to drive right past a school bus and never even know. :(

*edit

[ShawnLee]

Ok. True confessions here. Back last year I was on the phone with my doctor's assistant making an appointment while driving to work. I hung up and noticed a police officer coming up quick behind me. I got out of the way (since I thought I had done nothing wrong) and he got behind me with his lights on. I pulled over and he approached the truck. When he told me that I had passed a stopped school bus with its red lights flashing I think I nearly had a heart attack. NOT because of the points on my license. NOT because I was getting caught and NOT because I was embarrassed. I was freaked out because I drive a 4700# truck and I could have killed a kid before I even knew what I had done. The officer realized how shaken I was and gave me a warning. I now* rarely talk on the phone while I am driving (emergencies only, thank you) as I can see that for me it's too much of a distraction. I don't know what the circumstances were for the cop, but I can tell you this... it is entirely possible to drive right past a school bus and never even know. :(

*editI can back you up on this. I haven't gotten pulled over, but this isn't an often enough thing that it doesn't occur to you like speeding might.

I once passed a schoolbus that had just stopped and was pulling out when I nearly hit a kid. Granted that the kid was wrong, illegally jay-walking, but also grant that there's a chance I would have forgotten to stop if the bus was stopped and blinking. I didn't hit the kid, he got scared out his wits, and we both learned a lesson that day.

I should explain that the kid ran in front of the bus as well, and so wasn't in my field of vision. I still can't believe how stupid that kid was. The bus driver had to brake hard too. He's lucky he didn't get hit by the bus he'd just exited.

[renovation]

I'm starting to agree cells and cars don't mix as more and more cities ban driving and talking on cellphones. I'm more incline to agree is since I have found myself breaking all kinds of traffic laws while talking on the cell and driving. And getting behind the wheel you really need to keep your mind on what's going on around you. I've seen so many people wreck cars while on a cell phone. When I had the old Nextel I would lay it down on the seat next to me, click it and talk. It still distracts you when it cherps in-even if its just for a split second. But what does it take to get into a wreck or avoid one? A spit second!