Edit: I assumed it was a drug bust, but it is reported to be a friggin violation of a traffic law on the Jersey Pike! Always thought the Pike was NJSP, not a county responsibility.
“Each was doing his job…it appears that the Trooper was doing his job in stopping and investigating the motor vehicle stop and the Bergen County Police Officer conducted a motor vehicle stop for a violation of the traffic laws,” Higgins told the site in an email.
Part of the backstory is that this area had been hit hard by police impersonators. Apparently fairly good ones. That put the Statie on edge. Understandable, but the profanity and the rapid escalation on both sides was not called for. Unsafe situation for the officers involved, and it looks very unprofessional to anyone passing by. Oh yeah, and there’s still a stopped car with occupants in the picture:confused:.
There are still marks in the “Improve” column for this stop, for the officers and agencies involved. Couple things the officers and the agencies could have done to prevent or at least minimize this.
That is indeed NJ, I could tell by the Turnpike sign. Otherwise I’d never have been sure. :rolleyes:
If you think that’s bad you should have heard some of the arguments at my semi-pro football games. Our league played in NJ, Philly, DE and NY in what was even for here the most rough and often undisciplined venue I’d ever been part of. Player fights, coach fights, quitting refs, buses getting the windows smashed out by the crowd at the end of a game.
Would have made for a good movie, if anyone would have believed it that is.
Unprofessional and confrontational conduct all the way around. Everyone has opportunity to learn here, including their administrations.
I’ve pointed guns at other cops that either didn’t follow a warrant service plan, or weren’t readily identifiable in conflict. Those events looked nothing like this video.
Is it any wonder that more and more non-LE individuals are more and more scared and distrustful of LE? You never know what kind of hothead might be walking up to your car with a gun on his hip and a badge. I hate that I can’t tell my daughters to always trust the police anymore.
I can see where the Statie is coming from on this one. A minivan is not exactly a common unmarked police vic. And especially with all the shenanigans going on with the police imposters.
While there are bad cops everywhere this is an unfair statement about LE in general. Those men may not have acted like many you know but they are nothing unusual around here. To be an alpha male of sorts in NJ you better be tough and ready to prove it, so it come with their territory so to speak.
Are all NJ officers like that? No, but there will be more here than most places because it’s the nature of the beast. In fact none of them are likely malevolent or corrupt, just typical Jersey tough guys doing a tough job. Still I bet even they wish they did things a little different and surely this will be used as a statewide training aid.
I actually didn’t mean to paint all LE in a negative light. Around my neck of the woods a large portion of LE would be stopped if seen cruising through a suburban neighborhood in a regular car and out of uniform because most of them resemble Mexican gang members. Covered in tats, bandanas, etc… So I wasn’t really speaking to the regional “uniqueness” of the New Jersey male displayed in the video. :sarcastic: It just seems like LE in general have a heightened level of aggression lately.
As for the video of the L/E’s yelling at each other it was poor judgment on the verbal part from both sides but the township guys pushed the issue and even chest bumped the trooper which if I was running the townships department I would have given a hefty suspension if not terminated that officer for conduct unbecoming of a officer. On the NJSP side I would have also suspended the trooper for not using better sense and walking away once he was sure the township officers were really cops and not engaging in a long drawn out bitch fest.
On a side note I had a NJ township officer pull me over for speeding last week in a unmarked SUV but the officer was in full uniform. He was very professional, polite and never even took my license just giving me a friendly reminder of what the speed limit was.
I was impressed with his demeanor and tactics while approaching my auto and he never asked if there was a gun in the vehicle, he also responded nicely to my wife and kids who said hello to him.
As for the speeding part I was most likely guiltily of that as I was looking at directions on the GPS unit when my radar detector went “BEEP”, I think I was going 15 mph over the posted limit and would have deserved a ticket if issued.
Since this is a trooper video, wonder who released and why. Certainly the agencies involved all looked very unprofessional.
If as stated the trooper was a rookie, he certainly stood his ground. Wonder why he didn’t call for backup, as the uncover guys did (at least I am assuming they did, because the SGT and another officer showed up)?
Hasn’t NJ law enforcement had to deal with Blomberg’s Gestapo operating within their sovereign borders a few times?
As for NJ law enforcement, every episode of COPS I’ve seen involving them seems to have multiple references to “youse guys”. I’m still waiting for them to stop for some “pie” on a lunch break! Of course,I did get to interact with exiled NJ and NY citizens on a daily basis and some things never change
The Trooper was on point in the beginning and then it just turned into a testosterone fueled, immature tough guy fest, especially on the part of the PC guys. These are not the types of individuals I’d want having a badge, a gun and the responsibilities that go along with it. If they treat each other that way how do you think they treat the citizens they’re sworn to protect & serve?
It looks like the county officers have been disciplined. In my county (Mecklenburg NC) they would have likely been fired. There is very little tolerance for that in most southern departments (Miami, New Orleans, and Atlanta are a different story).
IMHO (I’m not LE) I’d have to say it would make most sense on both sides, if rolling up to a stop in this situation, that the officer in the MARKED cruiser and in UNIFORM would be the one who would have the most right to be suspicious, and the officers NOT in uniform and unmarked should be doing the best to identify themselves.
