S.C. i want your opinion on this!

[Lady Cop]

lots of ill will between agencies over this. Dick and SC and anyone, comments? i asked SC in particular since he is a Fla. LEO and i was also.




story:
http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/11/04/24...about.html


MiamiHerald.com
A Florida Highway Patrol supervisor can be heard on tape telling dispatchers to have state trooper Donna Watts “back off” as she followed a speeding Miami police officer on Florida’s Turnpike in Hollywood.

“He’s well over 120 and he’s not stopping for me,’’ Watts is heard saying on a recording released Thursday of communication between FHP and Watts, before she pulled over the officer with her gun drawn. The 11-minute recording was released in response to requests from the media.

The Oct. 11 traffic stop ended with a ticket for Miami police officer Fausto Lopez, but also appeared to have created a firestorm of controversy between Miami police and the FHP. Miami officers are backing their colleagues and criticizing FHP for treating him as though he was a criminal, while the FHP troopers and the public are criticizing the officer for speeding and not obeying the law.

The FHP recording is garbled and unclear at times, with different people speaking, often using law enforcement dispatch signals and codes. It begins a few minutes before 6:30 a.m., with Watts saying a car is going more than 120 mph and moving in and out of traffic.

Lopez was southbound on the turnpike around 6:30 a.m. He later said he was on his way to an off-duty detail at a school.

Later from Watts: “All I can see is white patrol car, with blue or something like that, lights. It would be a Miami or FDOT, and I’m sure it’s not DOT.’’

“If it’s a patrol car just have her back off,’’ a voice is heard telling FHP dispatchers. Whether that message was relayed to Watts was unclear.

Later on, a voice asks on the recording: “what department is it?” Another answers, “We’re trying to ascertain.”

Watts chimes in: “It is a Miami police.”

With her sirens wailing in the background, she calls in a tag number. Someone asks on the tape whether she stopped the car.

Watts: “He slowed to 78, but won’t stop.”

Watts eventually stopped Lopez near Hollywood Boulevard.

On the video, a voice says, “Just get the tag and the unit number and I’ll pass it on.”

Watts responds, “stand by.”

She apparently called in the wrong information on Miami squad car’s tag number. It comes back to a different vehicle in Citrus County.

Watts later gives the correct tag number.

When Lopez pulls over and stops on the turnpike’s shoulder, Watts’ dashboard video cam showed her approaching with her service weapon drawn. Watts holstered her weapon as Lopez got out of the car and walked him, handcuffed, back to her squad car.

About the same time Watts informs dispatch that she has the officer detained, the dispatcher tells her they have background on the vehicle.

A voice asks, “Is he in uniform?”

Silence follows.

Later, a voice asks again, “Is that unit in uniform or what?” Another person answers, “She’s not responding to radio traffic at this time.

After several exchanges, back and forth in law enforcement code, a voice says, “Just have her get his name and information and we’ll pass it on.”

Over the radio, someone says they have background on the officer.

“What’s the relay?’’ Watts asks.

A dispatcher replied “Subject is in uniform. To get his name and contact.’’

“10-4, I’m trying to get the contact now,’’ Watts replied.

Later, a voice is heard saying, “I’ve got city of Miami on the landline. They’re verifying it was city of Miami PD car, correct?”

A tag number is issued and verified and the recording ends.

Lopez, Bill Matthewman, said his client was not aware that Watts was trying to pull him over, that he was simply trying to get out of the trooper’s way until he realized she was tailing him.

Watts issued a ticket to Lopez , charging him with driving recklessly, a second-degree misdemeanor.

FHP and Miami police are investigating the incident.

[Duchess]

Dick and SC and anyone, comments?

He acted like he was above the law.

Under normal circumstances I hold LEO's in high regard, I try to anyway but it's cops like him who give the good ones a bad name.

He needs to travel at 120 mph in order to get to off duty detail?

[Lady Cop]

i agree with this editorial. he was not code 3 on a call, he was a danger to the public. i am not sure i would have cuffed him, once i ascertained he was really a cop and didn't steal the cruiser. unless he was drunk. but i respect her call. officer safety first.





By Fabiola Santiago
MiamiHerald.com

When it comes to getting to work on time, Miami Police Officer Fausto Lopez is special.

While the rest of us have to obey traffic laws, he gets to hop on his white-and-blue-striped patrol car and speed — really speed, like 120 miles per hour – on the Turnpike, all the while zigzagging through traffic repeatedly to bypass slowpokes in their Hondas and Toyotas and those clunky rigs and tankers in his way.

So unencumbered by the rules and speed limits was Lopez at 6:28 a.m. on Oct. 11 that he even whizzed by a Florida Highway Patrol trooper, who chased him for seven minutes — blue lights flashing, siren wailing — until he finally stopped 12 miles later.

His driving, the chase, and his ensuing detention were caught by the camera on the cruiser of FHP Trooper D.J. Watts.

Lopez was so reckless and brazen that Watts thought the police car might be stolen. She ordered him out of the car at gunpoint and handcuffed him as he protested, albeit politely, to be “shocked” that another cop might actually enforce the law in his special case.

“I can’t believe this at all,” Lopez said.

Watts tried to explain it to him: “You don’t respect me, sir. You don’t respect the people out here.”

He still didn’t get it. But by the spontaneous angry reaction of Watts to the discovery that this was indeed a cop breaking the law and not a felon driving a stolen vehicle, it’s obvious that she’s witnessed what we all have seen in our communities: Police officers using their patrol cars inappropriately to get to where they need go, to drive faster than the rest of us, to bypass traffic rules, in the process putting lives needlessly at risk.

“This is not a first-time occurrence with you all,” Watts, my nominee for Cop of the Year, told Lopez as the camera rolled. “You all come from that way all the time, this Miami Police car, and we never catch it.”

This certainly was not a first time for Lopez, who was charged with careless driving in 2006 by FHP in Miami-Dade. He pleaded not guilty and the case was dismissed, according to court records.

I wonder at what moment during the latest episode, if ever, it might have dawned on Lopez, 35, who has worked at the Miami Police Department for almost six years, that he just might have been breaking the law, that he was endangering everyone on the road.

But he never showed an iota of understanding for what he had done. He explained that he was late to work an off-duty gig. Some “high-end people” at a private school were waiting for him and he couldn’t be late, he insisted.

Even as he was being detained, Lopez was still feeling special, like those “high-end” people he was speeding to serve.

And he is special.

After all, he got off easy.

He was only briefly detained in the patrol car and was charged with criminal reckless driving, a misdemeanor that combines all his offenses, from speeding to inappropriately changing lanes. He faces up to a $500 fine, according to FHP.

If you or I had done what he did, depending on our record, we might have been charged with several offenses and face jail time for trying to flee from a law enforcement officer. But shortly after this incident, Lopez was back at work as a Miami police officer patrolling the streets.

Call me an optimist, but I thought Officer Lopez was so special he might actually realize how lucky he was that he only got a moving citation, that he didn’t kill anyone or provoke the death of anyone, and that he might try to right a wrong.

I thought he might use his knuckle-headedness as a learning moment, apologize to the community for putting lives at risk, and pay his traffic fine for reckless driving. Maybe even go to traffic school or speak to recruits at the Police Academy about the dangers of thinking that you’re above the law because you carry a badge and a gun. You know, the stuff about a police officer being a role model, those old-fashioned values so out of fashion these days.

But he’s not that special.

When it comes to paying for the crime, Officer Lopez is like the rest of us: He has hired a lawyer and he’s contesting the ticket. Never mind that his recklessness and his commentary were all caught on camera.

His lawyer now says he wasn’t even speeding.

Trooper Watts got it right. Still no respect for the people he serves, no respect for the law he represents, and no character at all.

[IMaDick]

No excuse, He should have been written for reckless and arrested just like anyone else would have been.

Lets see what the dept does to him, that will tell the tale about why he felt he could do it with no repercussions.

[ramseycat]

His lawyer says he wasn't even speeding????? Asshole.

[Lady Cop]

her dash cam and dispatch here:

http://www.wsvn.com/news/articles/local/...ers-react/

[Sphincter Cop]

He acted like he was above the law.

Under normal circumstances I hold LEO's in high regard, I try to anyway but it's cops like him who give the good ones a bad name.

He needs to travel at 120 mph in order to get to off duty detail?[/i][/size]

Agreed!!

We are held to a higher standard than the "general public." I believe the State Trooper was beyond correct in her actions, and if anyone should have ill will. Those who serve daily with Officer Lopez should be pissed that he was such a fucktard, to have a complete lack of respect for the law, and an obvious disregard for public safety. Hope he likes driving the records desk or the unemployment line. I think those options would be necessary in this case.

[Kip]

Lopez, Bill Matthewman, said his client was not aware that Watts was trying to pull him over, that he was simply trying to get out of the trooper’s way until he realized she was tailing him.

Yeah, like that excuse would work for me.

And what was he doing taking a patrol car to an off-duty gig?

[Sphincter Cop]

And what was he doing taking a patrol car to an off-duty gig?

Particular "off duty" assignments require a marked unit to be present, and this is not an uncommon practice.The officer's are technically, not off duty. However, they are being paid by a seperate entity.

[septic]

I am a little puzzled.
If another Officer saw a patrol car from another department speeding wouldn't it be the correct procedure (and common sense) to seek and await approval from the dispatchers before stopping it?
Also, if this patrol car was being driven in a dangerous manner why would you take it upon yourself to follow at the same speed and increase the danger to other motorists?
Surely, a complaint could be laid and followed up later by the hierarchy safely.
This appears on the surface to be a clear example of departmental rivally and bugger public safety.
BOTH Officers and the dispatcher should be reprimanded.

[Sphincter Cop]

I am a little puzzled.
If another Officer saw a patrol car from another department speeding wouldn't it be the correct procedure (and common sense) to seek and await approval from the dispatchers before stopping it?
Also, if this patrol car was being driven in a dangerous manner why would you take it upon yourself to follow at the same speed and increase the danger to other motorists?
Surely, a complaint could be laid and followed up later by the hierarchy safely.
This appears on the surface to be a clear example of departmental rivally and bugger public safety.
BOTH Officers and the dispatcher should be reprimanded.

This is a very simplistic and fine example of an officer being ethical in her duties. For all she knew, that unit could have been stolen. Also, if you notice in the video, the Miami officer is not "code 3" and weaving in and out of traffic. The female officer could not identify the vehicle clearly.

Since this hits close to home, I will say this. I am glad my family and friends were not in Officer Lopez's path that night. One mistep at 120mph and there could have been mutliple fatalities. He doesn't have the authority to break the law, but rather abide by it. That is how an example is set.

This is not a departmental rivalry at all. FHP has always been a great asset in their assistance when it comes to vehicle crashes or chases. We all work well together, but yes; there are a few bad apples.

[septic]

Thank you for clarifying this.
Surely the dispatchers could have checked if the car had been stolen quicker than the female officer could have stopped the car?
Regardless, I imagine she did her duty as she was trained to do.
I agree with you...no-one should be above the law.

[ZEROSPHERES]

If Lopez's superiors let him skate on this with not even a reprimand or a suspension of all off duty assignments for a period of time then it shows an unspoken approval of his conduct and you can bet this will continue. Watts states that FHP officers witness this all the time:

“This is not a first-time occurrence with you all,” Watts, my nominee for Cop of the Year, told Lopez as the camera rolled. “You all come from that way all the time, this Miami Police car, and we never catch it.”

Looks like this time Lopez was getting pursued and stopped.

[blueberryhill]

i did not read all the posts, but when i first heard about this, i was so happy the Trooper pulled him over; she was doing
her job. The other guy was not.

[Lady Cop]

this is disgusting. click on link for photos, i couldn't copy them.

http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/11/09/24...atrol.html


MiamiHerald.com
As a three-term Miami commissioner and two-time state trooper, Joe Sanchez has had to clear up his share of messes over the years.

But the Florida Highway Patrol spokesman had nothing to compare to what he found Saturday morning when he ventured outside his home in Miami’s Roads neighborhood, and found his patrol car covered with several pounds of what appeared to be human waste.

“It happened. Someone threw feces on the car,” said FHP spokesman Sgt. Mark Wysocky.

Sanchez, who rejoined FHP after a failed run for Miami mayor in 2009, said he couldn’t discuss the incident — widely speculated to be retaliation for a Miami police officer being detained and ticketed by an FHP trooper last month.

According to an FHP offense report and Wysocky, someone dumped about five gallons of human excrement – possibly pulled from port-o-potties – onto Sanchez’s FHP vehicle parked in the driveway of his home. Pictures released by the FHP show the waste on the driver’s side window and windshield.

The report said the incident happened between 6:45 a.m., when Sanchez left his home, and 10:15 a.m., when he reported it. FHP summoned a private firm it uses to clear hazardous material sites to clean up the mess.

“We have no suspects and no witnesses,” said Wysocky. “It’s basically done.”

[septic]

Disgusting. This does nothing to quell any vendetta.

[Sphincter Cop]

Disgusting. This does nothing to quell any vendetta.

I wonder if Miami P.D. did this, or was it a random act of bullshit?

[Duchess]

I can talk some shit in here but IRL I act like an adult. What the hell is wrong with people. I know no one can answer that, I don't know why I even ask anymore.

[Lady Cop]

Disgusting. This does nothing to quell any vendetta.

I wonder if Miami P.D. did this, or was it a random act of bullshit?

that's the suspicion of course. it makes me ill to think it.

[septic]

I wonder if Miami P.D. did this, or was it a random act of bullshit?

I would hope that it was someone random trying to cause trouble.
Surely, a fellow police officer, even from a different department, would not dishonor a Police vehicle in such a fashion. It would be like pooping into the wind.