Stop Complaining About CMPD

Nothing grinds my gears more than the endless whining about CMPD Officers.

I get it you called and it took CMPD 40 mins to respond to your traffic accident in the Walmart parking lot. 

Or the bike nerds who are always complaining about a CMPD Ford Explorer parked in the bike lane Uptown. As if there is some mythical Kraken that prevents cyclists from going around?

The endless crying about speed enforcement and the claim about quotas and the department needing more revenue.

Not to mention the really bizarre stuff that shows up on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram every night.

So, yesterday @Summer_McAlpine aka "Motivum" on Twitter had a nutty over a couple of CMPD Officers:

"Tonight, around 8:30 pm 2 CMPD officers who were sitting at a construction site on W Rocky River Rd. went from 0-60 mph in the matter of seconds with no lights or sirens. In an area where there are pedestrian cross-walks and children at play, that should be absolutely mandatory!"

Summer continues:

"The story gets better. My boyfriend and I were taking a walk and put our hands up in confusion like so (🤷🏻‍♀️) because it literally looked as if the 2 cops were racing. There was a (another) couple walking not too far behind us that responded the same after first cop flew by...

The second cop who took off seconds after the first slammed on his brakes and proceeded to roll down the window and yell with attitude that they had a 911 call - which I find interesting because don’t you think if there’s a dire 911 call that you’d… 

1. Turn on your lights and sirens to alert people and cars in the surrounding area that you’re coming through and 

2. Maybe not take the extra time to stop and be an asshole to people walking on the sidewalk. 

Law-enforcement entitlement at its finest."

OK I understand couple of CMPD Officers were having a little down time or maybe even talking over the latest B&E around the corner and for whatever reason they decided to move out in a hurry.

Summer has some certainly valid points - but lights and siren are not mandatory for fast starts and in many cases either optional or avoided for a reason. 

I have too many family members and friends with CMPD to go into the details and reasons for not lighting up the neighborhood. Bacilly I'm not busting a red light so don't mind me.

However, the perception of speed from a driver vs pedestrian point of view offers a huge difference. If you're walking close to the road 35 looks like 70.

I drive crazy slow in my neighborhood when I see people walking because I understand this fact. Plus I've spent much of my life going better than 250 knots in the air and still for some reason 18 knots in an 80 foot motor yacht seems like I'm living on the edge.

That said my grandfather once told me that if I wanted my adult neighbors to respect me more than my fellow teenagers, I'd drive through the neighborhood with the radio down low and the speed lower. Yep it works like that.

But Summer if you are in a habit of throwing up your hands whenever you get confused I’m not sure if any explanation they’d offer will appease you. Don't be tossing up your hands a CMPD Officers that's not respectful and it looks like you're flipping them off. 

Finally the boots on the street are all we have and CMPD Boots are down by crazy numbers how about cutting the uniforms some slack?