Professional courtesy

[garbon]

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/07/27/BAE818UQMG.DTL

Police payback: Here's a story that gives "professional courtesy" a whole new meaning.

On May 18, San Francisco meter reader Necole Armstrong was working her beat in the Castro when she stopped to ticket a Nissan for parking at an expired meter.

According a letter Armstrong later sent to her superior, as she was writing up the $50 tag, a guy carrying a small child walked over and flipped up his shirt to reveal a badge on his belt.

"Hey, no!" the guy said as he approached. "I'm a police officer!"

Armstrong says the man added, "Be a professional. Give me a courtesy. I fed the meter. I was just picking up my child."

Armstrong didn't care much for the guy's attitude. Words were exchanged, with the end result being a ticket.

"I better not catch you driving without a license or making any illegal U-turns," the guy warned as he took the tag, according to Armstrong. "I will pull you over and deal with you."

A couple of hours later, as Armstrong was driving her cart down Castro Street, she was indeed pulled over by a squad car. Out stepped the guy, she says - Officer John Keesor - now in full uniform.

Keesor told her told her she was being cited for not wearing her seat belt.

"This is what a courtesy would look like," the officer supposedly said. "You're not getting one."

Armstrong is fighting the ticket and has filed a complaint with the Police Department, says her union rep, Dominic Garrett.

Keesor did not return calls for comment. His boss at Mission Station, Capt. Stephen Tacchini, said, "It's a personnel matter. It's under investigation, that's all I can say."

Internal affairs is doing the investigating.

After all, one courtesy deserves another.

[Berkut]

LOL, what a dumbass.

[Berkut]

You want to hear a really good one?

A fellow official I know was doing a baseball game. Some kind of dispute about a call arose, and someone came out of the stands screaming and yelling at him.

He tossed the guy, of course, and the gentleman refused to leave the field. Eventually, the ump basically said that the game would not contionue until he was gone from the field, and the home manager told him to leave, which he did, after threatening to "get" the ump.

Rest of the game finishes uneventfully. Ump gets in his car and drives away. A mile down the road, he is pulled over by a local police officer, and guess who strolls up to his car?

Yep, the guy he just tossed from the game, and now he is in uniform. Cites him for speeding, reckless driving, and some other bullshit ticket. My buddy tells him "Seriously, you really don't want to do this, do you?" but he does in fact want to do this.

Of course the officials organizations lawyer gets involved, some kind of oversight committee, etc., etc., turned into quite the disaster, and I believe the officer ended up being fired over the incident.

[DGuller]

She's lucky that John Keesor guy didn't shoot her.  Another unarmed guy wasn't as lucky three years ago, according to some Google search: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/06/10/COPSHOOT.TMP .

[Barrister]

What a jackass (both from the media story, and from Berkut's story).

Being a professional means understanding why another professional is doing what they are doing, and NOT taking it personally.  What those officers displayed was the complete opposite of professionalism.


I've always struggled with how you handle thta kind of thing.  For example I was pulled over a couple of weeks ago for speeding (first time in years I've been pulled over).  RCs pulled me over, and it was a member I did not know.  I'm pretty sure if the officer knew I was a Crown he wouldn't ticket me, but I was also pretty sure that if I tried to deliberately play that card I was guaranteed to get a ticket, and potentially a call to my superior.

Anyways, in my case no ticket was issued, and my job never came up.

[crazy canuck]

Professional courtesy doesnt mean not doing your job.  It means doing your job in a way that understands the difficulties others work under.

For example if another lawyer is having trouble meeting a deadline and calls me up to ask for my consent to extend it, absent special circumstances, I would always agree to that.

But if I was suing another lawyer for negligence I wouldnt hold back just because its another lawyer.  I would not be doing my job.

[crazy canuck]

You want to hear a really good one?

Not sure whether his actions at or after the game were worse.  It is a bit unsettling to think that a police officer would do either those things.  Thankfully he revealed his character in a way that nobody got hurt and he could be fired.

[Strix]

You want to hear a really good one?

A fellow official I know was doing a baseball game. Some kind of dispute about a call arose, and someone came out of the stands screaming and yelling at him.

He tossed the guy, of course, and the gentleman refused to leave the field. Eventually, the ump basically said that the game would not contionue until he was gone from the field, and the home manager told him to leave, which he did, after threatening to "get" the ump.

Rest of the game finishes uneventfully. Ump gets in his car and drives away. A mile down the road, he is pulled over by a local police officer, and guess who strolls up to his car?

Yep, the guy he just tossed from the game, and now he is in uniform. Cites him for speeding, reckless driving, and some other bullshit ticket. My buddy tells him "Seriously, you really don't want to do this, do you?" but he does in fact want to do this.

Of course the officials organizations lawyer gets involved, some kind of oversight committee, etc., etc., turned into quite the disaster, and I believe the officer ended up being fired over the incident.

It wasn't in Greece was it?