PSA: Beware Vicious GPD Traffic Cops

Ordinarily, I wouldn't necessarily post something I received in an e-mail as fact unless I could independently confirm it. However, this is from a friend of mine who I know to be honest to a fault.

The circumstances involve the road work being done on University Avenue between 34th Street and Ben Hill Griffin Stadium. Apparently, traffic detours from University onto Second, but there are no signs indicating this and the GPD traffic cop was vicious to the point of lying to a confused motorist with intent to intimidate. I'll post his e-mail next and my further comments will follow. These events took place on October 7th 2006.

I used to think you and my brother were exaggerating about the cops in this city. Consider this my apology for doubting you.

Last night (this morning really), a little after midnight, I had just left my girlfriend's. Instead of going straight home, I had to go back to the office to get my jacket... I needed a piece of mail that was in my pocket and I had forgotten it when I left work. I decided to take University Avenue, which is the most direct route. Well, when I crossed the intersection of University and 34th, I saw a sign that said "Road Work Ahead." That was fine, they've been working on that road. About half way between 34th and Ben Hill Griffin Stadium is where things got sticky. There were cones blocking the east-bound lane and a GPD car with it's blue lights flashing behind that. There was a sign that said "Uneven Lanes." Well, from where I was driving, the only obvious way through was to drive around the cones on the left; there are two lanes on the west-bound lane. I just assumed that traffic would be diverted to the extra lane. There were no signs indicating a detour and the officer was just getting out of his car so I assumed that they were just getting set up. I slowed down to about 10 or 15 mph so I could see the cop in case he had any signals to give me (he was holding one of those traffic-directing lights.) What he did was totally unexpected. He ran up to the side of my vehicle and tried the passenger's door handle and peered in the window just like a predator would. And I was confused. I tried to get my vehicle all the way into the inside lane so I wasn't obstructing the outside lane while I talked to the cop to find out why he was acting like a hooligan. At this point I assumed I had done something wrong, but I didn't know what.

I rolled down my window while I tried to adjust myself so I was only in one lane. But the GPD hooligan wasn't having it. He was yelling at me to stop right there -- very rudely, too, I might add, considering I was obviously going to listen to what he had to say and was coming to a stop. He came up to my window and asked me why I had driven around the barricade. Then without waiting for me to answer, he said that it was an "arrestable offense" and he asked if he had to arrest me to get my attention. I have no idea why I was so calm, but I just blinked at him. I wasn't quite sure why he was so exercised. Ordinarily if someone was this rude to me I'd be seeing red, but in this case, my blood pressure didn't change at all. I didn't feel angry... a little concerned that I might get arrested, but I was reacting to it more as an academic problem than a physical threat -- I happen to know that an officer is not empowered to arrest someone for driving around a barricade. For some reason, he felt the need to bully me.

I answered him in a calm, conversational tone of voice... it was not a put on, either... I was as calm as I would have been ordering a pizza on a slow afternoon. He didn't want me to ask questions, though, he just wanted to yell at me (not tell me) that I was in the wrong and I had to admit that I understood it. So I said yes. Then he directed me to back up and turn onto a side street that is not obvious unless you know it's there. Never once did he use the word detour.

I looked at him and smiled. I said "So traffic is detouring onto second?" In response, the hooligan adopted the sort of expression of exaggerated stupidity (the type you see when you are making fun of someone who you think is stupid) and said, "UH HUH!!" in a sarcastic tone of voice.

In retrospect, I suppose I would have felt the same as he. If I were directing traffic and some idiot ran around the barricade, I'd be pretty pissed off. In fact, I feel like that all the time at work. But I don't take it out on the customers. I am always nice and try to get to the bottom of the problem. Getting mad and being rude doesn't solve anything and is really something to be avoided (unless they continue to be rude to you after at least two good-faith attempts to placate them). I really don't think it is professional to threaten to arrest someone for something when you don't actually have that power. I am not a criminal and I don't appreciate being treated like one. The place of the police department is not to bully the average citizen, it is to protect them from bullies. I drove back along University after I picked up my jacket to look for a detour sign. I did not see one. The only two signs were a "Work Ahead" sign and an "Uneven Lanes" sign. How on earth was I reasonably supposed to know that there was a detour? There was NO DETOUR SIGN. Likewise, the GPD hooligan on the scene was not directing traffic, he was standing next to his car.

I would like to complain to GPD, but I don't really feel like drawing attention to myself (I don't need the police to be out to get me). Plus, he wasn't all bad... he would have been within the law to give me a ticket, but he didn't. However, it is unacceptable to behave in an aggressive manner toward a private citizen who needs some assistance. It's still not big enough to stick my neck out in a public vendetta against GPD. But what I can do is never donate to a police benevolence association, and I can refuse to ever offer special rates to police officers even though it is industry practice to do so. My girlfriend doesn't give them discounts at her job, mainly because she thinks that they are bullies and she enjoys seeing them pissed off that they can't get their discount with nothing they can do about it -- you can't threaten to arrest someone just because they don't give you a discount.

And there you have it. I drove on University Avenue myself that evening after work. Construction hadn't started yet but the signs were there. I only saw three. An "Uneven Lanes" sign, a "Work Ahead" sign, and there was actually a "Detour" sign, but it was fixed in place and only visible from the westbound lane. The arrow pointed to the left. This sigh could not be turned around and used to detour people to the right, which would be necessary to detour the eastbound lane onto second.

I also checked the Florida Statutes. FS 316.078(1) states that "It is unlawful to . . . drive around any barricade erected for the purpose of closing any section of a public street or highway to traffic during the construction or repair thereof or to drive over such section of public street or highway until again thrown open to public traffic." FS 316.078(2)(b) further says that "[a] violation of this section is a noncriminal traffic infraction, punishable pursuant to chapter 318 as [a] moving violation for driving around any barricade erected for the purpose of closing any section of a public street or highway to traffic that is under construction or repair or driving over such section of public street or highway until open to public traffic." I suppose an arrest would be proper for additional criminal acts performed during a traffic stop, but the proper procedure for a noncriminal traffic infraction is to issue a ticket.

Shame on you, GPD traffic cops, for fostering the kind of atmosphere that makes your officers think it's okay to bully private citizens. And for the guy who actually bullied my friend, bad cop!! No doughnut for you!


Florida Gainesville Traffic Congestion University Avenue Gainesville Police Department GPD Traffic Cops Bad Cops Alachua County