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Sometimes the PD puts officers in places so they can move quickly around the county for emergency calls. But if the are running radar maybe they are bored

I did some driving today, and didn't see a single police officer doing traffic work. What they did on arlington blvd was put up cones intersections in essence making them no longer 4 way intersections, so that gets passed the 4 way stop rule. I did see some people drive through the cones though.

Leesburg Pike was a disaster around the trader joes area because in addition to the out lights were the gas lines. Took me about 35 minutes to move several blocks on my quest to find ice.

Light was out at Washington and Glebe, no one directing traffic, 50% of the people stopped as they should have the others tried to blow through.

What are the cops supposed to do.  While running radar when this is going on, they should find a better use of time.  But directing traffic at EVERY intersection.  REALLY?  The cops can't babysit every intersection and babysit every single idiot who can't negotiate and unlit intersection.  Trees down aren't the police's responsibility, its public works.  Caution tape, why is that the Police's job?  Maybe you should take some time and see how many elderly were reloacted to cooling shelters by police or how many streets were opened by the Police, NOT public works…..Morons, always blaming the police.

redstang423 said:

I'm sure ACPD is completely overwhelmed today with storm issues, but I felt a little frustrated on my way home. Many areas still have traffic lights completely out, every gas station is backing up into traffic, and trees are still partially blocking the roads. I haven't seen a single officer out trying to direct traffic or smooth flow. Instead, I saw a total of FOUR ACPD officers sitting on 66E between Falls Church and exit 72 (3 of them were between Glebe and Lee Highway) with speed traps. Obviously I have no idea how things are prioritized, but there's some serious public safety issues out there right now. Heck, I even nearly saw two fights break out at the gas station over who's turn it was next to pump (seriously, why is everyone freaking out about getting gas AFTER the storm?). Has anyone seen any officers helping traffic flow today? Hopefully I've just been unlucky and driving in the areas they aren't.

I hope everyone made it through safe last night and is prepped for tonight as well, just in case.

I didn't see any police directing traffic at any of the major intersections around my part of Arlington on Saturday, Sunday, or this morning.  When I drove to work around 6:30 this morning, Lee and Washington Blvd. had blinking red/amber lights but no police (at that time anyway) directing traffic.  That intersection could be a real clustermess once normal rush hour comes.  But the Exxon at Lee & Washington at 6:30 a.m. didn't have long lines and their gas pumps were working. 

Maybe there is a reason why there weren't any police directing traffic at major intersections (too many intersections?  not enough police available?).  I don't know.  But when similar incidents happened (Agnes in June 1972, Floyd in Sept. 1999, Isabel in Sept. 2003), I recall that the police were at major intersections where the traffic lights were out directing traffic.

dynaroo said:

CW said:

Enough already said:

What are the cops supposed to do.  While running radar when this is going on, they should find a better use of time.  But directing traffic at EVERY intersection.  REALLY?  The cops can’t babysit every intersection and babysit every single idiot who can’t negotiate and unlit intersection.  Trees down aren’t the police’s responsibility, its public works.  Caution tape, why is that the Police’s job?  Maybe you should take some time and see how many elderly were reloacted to cooling shelters by police or how many streets were opened by the Police, NOT public works…..Morons, always blaming the police.

So I guess you will be called as a star witness defending ACPD in the forthcoming litigation sure to arise due to the fact that a poor soul lost his life last night at a darkened intersection with no police presence?

So can we sue the police every time anything bad happens because they weren’t there?

Sure. You can sue anybody, at any time. Whether you win or your case gets thrown out is a different thing. In this case, it would be up to a judge or jury to determine whether the Department was being sufficiently derelict in its duties to warrant it having some liability. Given that it is charged to “protect and serve”, and that this was a major public safety issue which had been present for over two days, I'd think that an argument could certainly be made that the department was being remiss in not fulfilling its duty to ensure the public safety.  

CW said:

dynaroo said:

CW said:

Enough already said:

What are the cops supposed to do.  While running radar when this is going on, they should find a better use of time.  But directing traffic at EVERY intersection.  REALLY?  The cops can't babysit every intersection and babysit every single idiot who can't negotiate and unlit intersection.  Trees down aren't the police's responsibility, its public works.  Caution tape, why is that the Police's job?  Maybe you should take some time and see how many elderly were reloacted to cooling shelters by police or how many streets were opened by the Police, NOT public works…..Morons, always blaming the police.

So I guess you will be called as a star witness defending ACPD in the forthcoming litigation sure to arise due to the fact that a poor soul lost his life last night at a darkened intersection with no police presence?

So can we sue the police every time anything bad happens because they weren't there?

Sure. You can sue anybody, at any time. Whether you win or your case gets thrown out is a different thing. In this case, it would be up to a judge or jury to determine whether the Department was being sufficiently derelict in its duties to warrant it having some liability. Given that it is charged to “protect and serve”, and that this was a major public safety issue which had been present for over two days, I'd think that an argument could certainly be made that the department was being remiss in not fulfilling its duty to ensure the public safety.  

I'd say that if the police were wasting their time directing traffic at all the intersections without lights instead of attending to more important duties, THAT would be not fulfilling their duties.

Power is out. People need to be careful and not blame others when they aren't.