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So I’m on my way to work this morning and I get behind a Fort Worth police car on Jacksboro Highway. The speed limit is 45 but the cop is doing 35 and weaving slightly.

I can see through his back window he’s looking down and messing with something.

Motorists by nature get freaked out about passing cops, so everybody slows down to his pace.

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He’s become the pace car — a very slow and poorly driven pace car.

So we’re all crawling down the highway, and I get to my turn at University Drive. The cop, still just ahead of me, also turns on University.

Having finished with his twittering, laptop work, donut eating, or whatever he was doing, he now has his full attention on the road – and begins driving 50 mph.

And this is what pisses me off.

Anyone who drives on University Drive between Jacksboro Highway and White Settlement Road knows it’s a speed trap. Its six lanes divided by a median lull motorists into driving 45, but the speed limit is 35.

There’s a hill and a curve in the road near the Greenwood Funeral Home, and the police regularly hide nearby with a radar gun and nab drivers coming over the rise.

I’ve been ticketed there. Several of us here at Fort Worth Weekly have. When police do radar there, they nab tons of folks.

A speeding ticket with deferred adjudication costs about $200.

Pay up, sucker.

I lag behind the cop, of course, because I’ve learned to drive slowly on that road. But I keep watching him.

He’s not on an emergency call. He’s not rushing to the scene of a crime. He catches the light at White Settlement Road and goes back to his tweetering/computer/donut action.

When the light turns green, he’s not paying attention. The cars behind him wait patiently until he notices the light’s changed.

Why do police get to ignore the rules they enforce? When I was ticketed on University Drive a few years back, the police officer was furious.

“You were doing 47…47!” he said, his face red.

He stood at my car window and glared at me for about three seconds. It seemed like he was waiting for a reply but I didn’t say a word. He finally walked back to his motorcycle to write me a ticket.

Anyway, this reminds me of a similar situation that occurred about 25 years ago when I was younger and bolder, or maybe just dumber.

Back then, I watched a cop speed down a Nacogdoches road where I had been ticketed a few weeks before. It pissed me off. Back then I was still earning my nickname, “the human fist.”

I followed the Nacogdoches cop as he sped down the road, and then watched him do an illegal U-turn, park beside the curb, and set up his radar. He’d been speeding to the spot where he sits with a radar and tickets regular people for speeding.

I parked my car behind his and walked up to his window. He rolled it down and looked up at me. Talk about a complete role reversal.

“What can I do for you?” he said.

“I want to know why you can write me a ticket for speeding on this road, and yet you can speed on it all you want,” I said. “You weren’t on an emergency call. You were just coming down here to catch speeders, like you did me a few weeks ago. So what gives you the right to speed?”

He looked at me for a long while. Then he smiled.

“Tell you what,” he said, “the next time I catch you speeding I’ll let you go.”

11 COMMENTS

  1. As an addendum to my previous comment…I have met some wonderful officers who are truly committed to assisting the citizens of Fort Worth. I have nothing but praise for most of the officers I’ve met. It seems that it is usually the “radar” officers that carry the biggest chips on their shoulders, which is sad, since they are the ones that are most frequently in contact with members of the public, and their actions reflect upon the reputation of ALL other officers. Hopefully they will remember that and act accordingly.

  2. I also believe most police officers are good, fair, and hard-working. I think the same thing about bus drivers, construction workers, auto mechanics, lawyers, and journalists. It’s the bad apples that create the stereotypes.

  3. There’s a reason why police officers who work traffic seem like they have a “chip on their shoulder.” It’s because they have to deal with giving tickets all day. About 80% of violators lie about their violating. About 50% are extreamly rude. About 30% are verbally abusive. These officers make 15 – 20 stops a day. People hate tickets, so most folks take it out on the cops writing them. Although it would be great if police followed every traffic law to the letter, it’s not going to happen. No one can. They are far more preoccupied in their vehicles than most due to the equipment they operate. Please remember that the same officer that strokes you a citation today, will happily step into a violent situation to protect you tomorrow. In fact, two Fort Worth SWAT officers were shot yesterday. But at least they weren’t driving slowly eating a donut. You’re paper is a liberal rag with ad’s for prostitution in the back, and you’re an idiot.

    • Your thoughts and your commentary represents the thinking of a self importent Peckerhead and a self satisfied Pig, get over yourself. The reason Pigs behave like Pigs is because they are Pigs. What is hard to understand here? Whose on first? Did anyone hold a gun on them to cause them to be a Pig? Can they resign tomorrow if they don’t like their job? Do normal folks go to a lot of trouble to be a Pig and remain a Pig? The deal is, simply stated, Pigs are very similar to rat crooks in the unconscious elements of their mind. To state this very simply, violent behavior and antisocial behavior is as common as the sun coming up in the East in Police ranks and many cops would work for free as a hobby if they were wealthy. To be frank, Leggs is a self-entitled jerk-off, nothing new here to see with Pigs, it’s very common. My bird-dog is more decent & kind-hearted & I expect he could take the Peckerwood in a fair fight. The cops have never been in a fair fight, they always have the edge, and many of them are worth less than a bucket of spit. We need them, but if you know them, the majority of them aren’t nice people. Personally, I would like ever home on my block to be occupied by whores, rather than have one Peckerwood Pig like Leggs. I’d pay extra for that privilege of choice. Self- entitled Rat-Pigs are not nice people, usually, if you know them well. They’re not 100% dick-heads,but that’s sure the way to bet. If you consistently bet that way, stick with it, then you’ll end up with all the money. One of these Peckerwood Pigs killed a young man in Ft. Worth’s Northside a white back and the Fort Worth Police are covering up the tragedy. There’s what we get from stinking, cowardly, self-entitled, rat-lying Pigs. Nothing new to see here.

  4. Patrick, what is there that you don’t know? I’ll try to scribble something about that.

    (Why do I get the feeling that Patrick thinks he already knows everything about everything?)

  5. I have to aggree with Leggs, theFort Worth Weekly is very liberal, and has NEVER said anything positive about the Police. Always negative, negative. The authors are illiterate and always get the facts from the the people who hold a grudge against the police, and this includes employees of the weekly who have held a grduge for as long as they have been around. No body pays attention to the Weekly, its like reading the National Enquirer and then turn the page and you can find poor taste in advertising, especially if your a pervert looking for a good time. Find a respectable paper to work for.

  6. It is refreshing to find someone whom is not afraid to speak up. We all love our city service workers, but, yes; there are a few bad ones, and they should be reported. If we allow the bad ones to remain on the job for very long all the good ones begin to think “whats it all” for and eventually follow the bad employees diminishing the level of service we all expect. I have found through a long career of various jobs that most workers will take the easy way out when given the chance. It is harder to do the right thing than to do the wrong thing, and it rubs off quickly through the ranks of fellow employees when the wrong thing is done consistently. Most Employees are “in it for the money” and don’t care about the People around them and loose light of the Customers needs in front of them. Sometimes we all need to be reminded of the Bigger picture and good dose of reality is what our city and government leaders need. If you don’t like reading the Weekly or care for the Patrons that pay the bills through advertising, then close it and move on. Or better yet, write your own Paper and see how many advertisers you can find to publish it and your Opinions! Which by the way, you are entitled to.

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