cop here lost his car

[abunaitoo]

cop arrested a guy.
Guy asked to use the bathroom.
cop let him.
Guy jumps in the cops car and takes off.
cop shoots at the car.
They find the car on the other side of the island.
Day later they catch the guy when a citizen calls in.
They arrest him again, and this time handcuff him.
Nothing was taken from the car.
chief says they leave cars running, when the lights are on, so the batteries don't die.
They all have LED lights now.
Friend says they leave the car running, with the A/C on, so it's cool when they get back in.
Whole island needed a good laugh after the storm scare.

[Moleman-]

They make lockouts so you can keep the engine running for the electronics (and AC) with the key removed. They kill the engine if you try to put them in gear. The chief may want to rethink the cost of putting them in.

[RU shooter]

Back when I was just a rookie patrolman in our Mayberry like township I almost had patrol car taken away . Got called to a commotion at the local bar , some super skinny drunk woman just had more than she should have , called for a state police car to back me up . Took her outside when the trooper got there , quick pat down , cuffed and in the back she goes back doors locked all is well in Mayberry . I'm BS ing with the trooper for a minute or two he says with a it smile on his face . Ah you might want to check on your prisoner . I turn around the skinny girl got her arms out in front of her cuffs still on and is half way through the plexiglass divider I had left partially open headed for the drivers seat with yes the car still running . Opened the driver door just as her butt hit the seat . That old trooper was howling the whole time . But he let it go that far to teach me that lesson . Still don't trust those skinny girls ! Lol

[lightman]

That would be embarrassing. With all of the gear that they wear plus the vest I don't blame them for wanting the car to be cool.

[jsizemore]

When I was stationed at Pearl in the 70's, the police would use their own car to patrol. They would use a small magnet base blue light on the roof while at work. Never saw a Vette but there was about everything else out there.

[eck0313]

The radios draw a significant amount of power, believe it or not. I had to get a follow-car jumped one time when I had the engine off too long (I want to say only 1-2 hours)with the radios on. Not saying the AC isn’t a factor in this story however!!

[Rick Hodges]

Not an uncommon occurrence. Whenever running overheads...at scene of accidents etc. the car is left running for the overheads and spotlights....I'm old enough to have worked when patrol cars did not have AC. Once in a great while some nimrod will think it is a good idea to steal a police car or ambulance. It happened at least twice while I was working but not with my car. I never saw anyone steal a Fire Truck but I'm sure some thought about it.

[xs11jack]

Back in the 70s I had a sheriff get stopped a car at 3:00AM and didn't check in. After I sent another car after him, he came back and said he was OK and will tell me later at the SO. His story was that when he got out of the car with all the windows up and asked for the drivers license. He went back to the squad and found the door locked. Went back and told the driver if he had a coat hanger he would let him go. Guy did have a coat hanger. My guy went back and finally jimmied the door open, got in and when he sat down he felt a breeze. The passenger door window was rolled down!!! True Story.
Ole Jack

[smokeywolf]

Was at a silent alarm at a medical building one time. Turned out janitor left something inside when leaving and decided he could go back in to retrieve it after he'd set the alarm. After doing a thorough check, exited a side door and heard a voice coming from my unmarked cruiser. Although I left it unlocked, I had no need to leave it running.
Still light outside and I peeked around a big juniper bush and could see a red headed female sitting in the driver seat, holding the radio mike to her mouth and talking up a storm.

A very short and strange conversation with her prompted me to call dispatch and have them check with County Mental Health, which was just about 3 blocks up the street and sure enough, she was a walk-away. Didn't have a cage (separator) in the unit, so called for a black & white to come pick her up and take her back to Mental Health.

[HATCH]

I believe the new Dodge PPV have a feature that if the vehicle is in park and the key fob isn't in the vehicle, you can not take it out of park even if it is running.

In fact, my brother's 2016 Dodge Challenger will start beeping if he gets out with the key fob and the car is running. Bet it has the same deal.

The SCHP have a secret button they have to push in order to start the vehicle even if the key fob is in the car

[lightman]

Police cars place a huge demand on their electrical system. A radio or two, a computer, chargers for flash lights and hand held radios, the emergency lights, probably some other stuff.

[CLAYPOOL]

NO matter what I say about them, THEY HAVE A VERY IMPORTANT JOB AND A LOT TO CONTEND WITH DAILY.... Letem have "Slap Jacks Back" . I feared them when I was a kid.. The judges would ask them if they had ANY problem with the Perp...

[abunaitoo]

A number of years back, High School football game on TV. Night game.
Player gets hurt and the call the ambulance.
cop drives right to the middle of the grass field. Could see the tire tracks.
Ambulance comes in and parks on the track area.
They take the player away, and the cop doesn't move.
This is all on live TV.
Wait, wait, wait, still cop doesn't move his car from the middle of the field.
Finally the announcer comes on the PA, "There will be a little delay. We are waiting for an extra set of keys"
cop had licked the keys in the car. Engine running, lights on, A/C on.
The whole stadium laughed.
About 15 minutes later keys came.
cop had to walk to the car and drive off the field.
Whole stadium was clapping, whistling, laughing, along with other things.
Coaches, Refs, Ground crew when on the field, to check if the damage to the grass, was bad enough to stop the game.
Drove out a roller thing. Went over the tire tracks.
I guess they got it flat enough to restart the game.
Delay of about 1 1/2 hour.
Player was OK after a few weeks.

[drizler]

It happens. All I can say is , Don’t Be That Guy! Aside from the workplace repercussions and possible liability there’s this. As long as you live you’ll forever be THAT GUY , the one who lost his car🤣. And the rest of those cops will NEVER EVER let you live it down .
I do know an officer who once left the car running with an illegal alien sitting in the front seat ( no cage). He asked for his asthma inhaler from the trunk and when the officer stepped out he slid over and away he went. Didn’t get far though as he slid off the road because he was wearing hand cuffs driving too fast. Luckily no real damage but the officers pride.


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[buckwheatpaul]

Back in the 1970's a good friend of mine just got his new police vehicle and stopped a dwi suspect. He arrested the suspect and handcuffed him with his hands behind him and put the suspect in the squad car and went to inventory the suspects vehicle. Officer looks up and sees his new squad car driving off and he unloads his .41 mag. at his new car.....the driver was so flexible that he slipped his hands through his legs and drove off ..... suspect stopped at Keller's drive-in for a burger and a six pack to go and the red lights were still going when the blue hoard gently removed him from the shot-up squad car.....still laugh about it today!

[Blackwater]

Sometimes I think these things happen to keep cops humble. Heaven knows, they are in an occupation that really DEMANDS they stay humble!!! It keeps them on their toes. But who among us has never had a moment of "grace" that someone hasn't taken advantage of??? No matter what men do, we always seem to amuse ourselves .... often at our own expense!

[MT Gianni]

As a reserve officer in a county that frequently had -30 weather the squad cars were always left running in winter. It was OK in summer as well. Everyone had a door key on their belt and the doors were always locked when you exited. This was 83-88.

[bob208]

seeing the location why worry. like where is the guy going to drive off to Canada or Mexico ?

[RU shooter]

seeing the location why worry. like where is the guy going to drive off to Canada or Mexico ? not so much taking the car it's more likely what's in the car that I'd be more worried about . Such as the shotgun or rifle

[abunaitoo]

We've had a few stolen cop firearms here.
Sometimes because they are left in the car after shift.
Most times stolen from the home.
Had one where he ran out of gas.
Didn't want to call for help, so he walked to the gas station.
When he went back to the car, everything gone.
Firearms, uniform, badge, ticket book, all paperwork.
He was in deep ******.
Firearms and badge turned up a few weeks later.
Small island everyone knows someone, who would know something.
Also know who's a cop, what they drive, and where they live.
Works both ways.

[lightman]

I have never worked in Law Enforcement, I retired as an electrical lineman/serviceman. A lot of my job required that the engine in my truck stay running. The engine powered the hydraulic system that worked the boom. There was a lot of times that I had to park in front of a customers house and go around to the back yard. Whether to turn a meter on or off or to climb a pole and fix a light. Whenever I was assigned a new truck I would immediately go and have a couple of extra keys made. I left one in the ignition with the truck running and carried one on my person. For safety I would lock the truck anytime I was in the air. Ya don't want the truck stolen when you're 40 feet in the air! Later on we got computers in the trucks and if not kept cool they would overheat and fade out. Sometimes it would take 30 minutes for them to cool down and come back on. My orders were on the computer and I didn't have time in my schedule to wait 30 minutes. Our trucks also had all kinds of flashing lights and strobes that would drain a battery. I kinda sidetracked the thread but there are reasons to leave a vehicle running.