A traffic court judge in Portland, Oregon has ruled that police officer Chadd (Too Many Letters) Stensgaard can't in fact park willy-nilly in "no parking" zones in order to pick up dinner and watch some of a basketball game.
Officer Stensgaard had received a ticket for illegal parking after refusing to move his cruiser after a citizen asked him to. The cop argued in court that nearby restaurants with parking lots didn't suit his fancy, and that he couldn't park legally for his chosen vittles for fear that someone might break into his cruiser or damage it in some way.
Well, then you just can't eat at that particular place while on duty, Officer. Bring a lunch or go somewhere else, just like anyone else with time or location restrictions on their lunch breaks.
"'We've got patrol officers who are patrolling the streets for 10 hours a day in their car,' said Stensgaard's attorney, Steven Myers, who was paid for by the police officers union. 'It's almost incomprehensible . . . that those public servants need to drive around at public expense burning gas to find a spot to get the food that they enjoy.'" (Emphases mine)
I'm just not feeling a lot of sympathy here. Lots of people don't get to "get the food that they enjoy" whenever they want it while on a break from their job.
Those parking restrictions are ostensibly there for a reason - fire lane, etc. Obviously, an emergency situation is a different matter, but public employees when not on official business have to be subject to the same laws as the rest of us. Otherwise, history has shown that they then begin to think that none of the laws apply to them, as well.
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Officer Stensgaard had received a ticket for illegal parking after refusing to move his cruiser after a citizen asked him to.
I'd love to learn what that process involved. Calling another cop?
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