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Napa PD missing traffic scofflaws
Friday, September 05, 2008
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Dear editor,

In response to Mr. James Martin’s letter (“Who are you, dangerous driver?,” Sept. 4), my response is simply this: where is the Napa Police Department?
As a property owner who pays more and more taxes than I can afford, I can’t help but wonder, where is the Napa PD? I suffer every day, as does Mr. Martin, the consistent and continual disregard for traffic laws. Where is the Napa Police Department? My property taxes pay the salaries of those who are expected to enforce the traffic laws within my town. Where are they? Why do they not do the job they have been entrusted to do?

Elizabeth A. Schultz
Napa
11 comment(s)

jenn wrote on Sep 6, 2008 8:44 AM:

" Unfortunatly there arent enough of them to be placed at every intersection in town. They are out there, and they do get a fair share of people, but there arent enough to get everyone. "

Sharon wrote on Sep 6, 2008 9:38 AM:

" Unfortunately half of the officers who should be enforcing the traffic laws are busy showing us how not to follow traffic rules in the patrol cars and motorcycles our taxes are paying for. I drove down Imola the other day and saw a motorcycle officer parked on the sidewalk under a tree, putting pedestrians at risk, so he could hide and nab speeders coming off the Maxwell bridge. I am often tailgated by patrol cars and I often see them SPEEDING down Redwood road with no lights just to turn in at Starbucks. I was always told that our officers should be setting an example by following all traffic laws when driving in a patrol car. I was taught by an instructor that the only time an officer should be speeding is when they are responding to a call and then they MUST have their lights on at the very least. Unfortunatley our police force has adopted an entitlement to drive recklessly. This has caused an increase in the old " Monkey see, Monkey do" mentality of much of the general population. This has caused much of the attitude of "If our law enforcement won't patrol themselves why should we, the tax payers paying their wages, follow the traffic laws either" attitude. My suggestion is that the force captians start enforcing the trafiic laws on their officers so we the public have our faith in justice for ALL restored. I also feel the old status quo of letting fellow off duty officers slide on a seat belt or speeding violation should be halted immediately as they are some of the worst traffic violators around. ALL PEOPLE regardless of job title are required to follow the traffic laws. So lets start enforcement within the force and move out from there. "

napadad wrote on Sep 6, 2008 10:53 AM:

" though there are many officers out in the community at any given time the majority are on specific calls and unless there is a life threatening emergency will not deviate from the call that they are responding to at the time. That is as it should be as there are many, more serious calls that need the attention. There are a finite number of dedicated traffic officers that do nothing else and as jenn wrote they cant be everywhere at once. If you know of an intersection that has regular daily events that create a dangerous situation with lots of infractions call the PD or sherrifs office or CHP depending on who is tasked with policing that area and let them know, if you get no cooperation get out the trusty video camera and record a few seperate days at the time of highest incidence and refer it to the proper agency with a note that you are also sending a copy to the register as your complaints have gotten no attention from law enforcement. I call CHP daily every year when school starts to get them out near first ave at the time when kids are getting on buses and walking to school. "

napawineo wrote on Sep 6, 2008 10:53 AM:

" Eliabeth, totally agree with you..We need more cops period... Last night i witnessed a high speed pursuit down my street that ended with the idiot crashing his truck into a parked car and then slamming into a tree and ending up in someones yard... The problem is that one idiot took up 3 officers time plus the suv cop (guessing it was a big cheese) causing the rest of the town to go unprotected to some degree as I am guessing there aren't that many more cars on patrol??? If we had more cops on the street us lay abiding citizens would have a better chance of not dying driving across town. "

i4aneye wrote on Sep 6, 2008 12:08 PM:

" i have to ask this, what the hell were the police doing in a high speed chase in a neighborhood? unless the person they were chasing was an immediate risk to the public they should have backed off. it sounds like the cops put everyone in napawineo's neighborhood in danger. "

mykdgirl54 wrote on Sep 6, 2008 12:37 PM:

" Ive got a better idea -

Instead of complaining about the COPS we do have - write to the city, the mayor, and to the chief of police about wanting more patrols in your town.

Cops can't hire more cops. And I applaud all the brave men and women who patrol this town, regardless if most of the citizens are judgemental. "

tiredofcomplainingnapkins wrote on Sep 6, 2008 12:45 PM:

" To i4aneye
I don't agree with your argument, isn't someone that is speeding through a neighbor considered an immediate risk to the public? What if this guy just got done murdering someone and was running and the police not knowing he murdered someone let him go, then you would be mad that they let him get away. Or what if he was running and the police let him go and he ends up being crazy, going into a store and shooting the place up and killing random people, then you would be mad because they couldve prevented the crime but let the guy go. If you run from the police you should be chased until your caught regardless of the surroundings, criminals motives might be a lot worst then what might happend if they get into a wreck "

cordell wrote on Sep 6, 2008 2:32 PM:

" High speed chases are a risk. However, life itself is a risk and I would rather our police chase and capture criminals in our town than get a reputation of backing off to remove any chance of an accident. The scumbags of society would have a field day around here if they knew they could get away with their crimes by speeding down a side street. "

OldCynic wrote on Sep 6, 2008 4:16 PM:

" Sharon,

I agree with you completely! When the people in authority don't obey the same rules they expect us to obey, lack of respect for authority soon follows and chaos soon after that. I get so frustrated when I come to a complete stop at every stop sign, remembering a failure to stop ticket I received years ago, then over and over again I see police and sheriff cars rolling through them, very frustrating!! "

crazykid wrote on Sep 8, 2008 5:47 PM:

" OLDCYNIC,

I totally agree with you, I received a ticket from Napa PD officer that drove the wrong way on highway 29 because he saw me cross one tire on the solid white line, the white line is located next to the shoulder......he endangered many people to give me this ticket and since my ticket I have seen hundreds of people and 3 cops perform this same crime without tickets given. very frustrated as well. "

misfit wrote on Sep 8, 2008 6:23 PM:

" crazykid...He must have had to fill his quota. I believe enforcing the law is a subjective choice that each officer makes. I have witnessed on numerous occasions, a cop ignore someone who was blatantly, carelessly driving, even a truck who clearly ran a red light. The cop just sat there. It makes me sick because, I don't enjoy the pleasure of having "Optional tasks" in my work.
Cops need to be held accountable and not always, just blindly, placed on a pedestal. "

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