Florida HP Stop of Miami Policeman Driving 120 mph

In my opinion this is being over thought,

Was the Miami officer wrong? Absolutely

Was the FHP Trooper wrong? Yes and no

Apparently things are different in Texas as a licensed officer for the state of Texas this issue would have been handled completely different. However I work in an area with less than 100 officers for all city, county, and different state agencies. If we saw something such as this we would contact the officer directly in a safe condition possibly late on, or make contact via dispatch or radio to see if there was an emergency not a felony stop and find out what the reasoning was for said infraction. If the issue could not be resolved it would be taken to the adminstrations for an internal review of the actions, this is why interenal affairs was implemented in the first place right?

There are times when it is easier to get to a call without lights and sirens, because when civilians see them around where I work all the do is lock up the brakes in the middle of traffic and cause a major traffic hazzard. This is not an excuse for the MPD officer, however this will cause undue friction for all law enforcement when the people on patrol have to rely on each other, IA is hated enough as it is let them be the ones to bring the heat on the officer.

WITH 40 YEARS ON THE JOB, AND A MEMBER OF THE PBA IN BOTH JERSEY AND FLORIDA, I WANTED TO GIVE MY OPINION ON THE MIAMI/FHP INCIDENT.

WITHOUT GETTING INTO THE "BROTHERHOOD" WE ALL SHOULD HAVE BETWEEN US, i BELIEVE THE MIAMI IDIOT SHOULD HAVE STOPPED IMMEDIATELY, APOLOGIZED TO THE FHP TROOPER, AND PROBABLY WOULD HAVE BEEN ON THE WAY TO HIS OFF DUTY DETAIL.

THE TROOPER HAD TWO CHOICES AT THAT POINT, LET HIM GO, WITH A POLITE, SLOW IT UP BROTHER WARNING, OR JUST TAKE HIS INFO AND REPORT HIM TO HIS AGENCY AND LET THEM HANDLE IT, WHICH THEY WOULD HAVE DONE. THE NEWS AND PAPERS WOULD NEVER KNOWN ABOUT IT, WHICH MAKES ALL POLICE LOOK LIKE IDIOTS.

THE FHP TROOPER COULD HAVE POSSIBLY GOTTEN THE TAG, CAR NUMBER AND REPORTED IT THAT WAY ALSO. You sir, do you honestly believe his agency would of handled it if reported to them. SERIOUSLY? Miami is the "septic tank" of the U.S.! When ever a serious felony or misdemeanor is commited where does the perp run to? SOUTH TO MIAMI, thats where....

HE WAS 100 PERCENT WRONG GOING THAT FAST, AND SHE DID WHAT ANY NORMAL, SENSIBLE POLICE OFFICER WOULD DO. END OF STORY

She should have handled this incident different; as a consequence, a tremendous rift in coherence has emerged between both departments that are supposed to work in unison.
It's out of question that Lopez was at fault, but after Watt's verified his identity there was no need for her to place him in custody and delay the event for almost an hour where the public was observing. This incident should have been dealt between both departments in an expedited manner, without letting the media interfere and portray the event in their way. It has been bad, nefarious for the credibility of both departments and the public trust has been undermined, hurt. Therefore, there no winners here.

She should have handled this incident in a different way; as a consequence, a tremendous rift in coherence has emerged between both departments which are supposed to work in unison.
It's out of question that Lopez was at fault, but after Watts verified his identity there was no need for her to place him in custody and delay the event for almost an hour in open view, where the public was observing. This incident should have been dealt between both departments in an expedited manner, without letting the media interfere and portray the event their own way. It has been bad, nefarious for the credibility of both departments and the public trust has been undermined, hurt. Therefore, there are no winners here.

What all of you are failing to realize is that this off duty officer was driving a City of Miami police car, which is in Dade County, at high rates of speed through Broward County. He was 15-20 miles from his jurisdiction. He was outside of his county and surely outside of his city. In my opinion, they shouldn't be able to drive their cars home. They surely shouldn't be able to drive them out of their own county. It is a GROSS waste of tax payer money. Who was paying for the gas he just wasted traveling at 120 miles per hour to another job, in another county? Since when are we providing cars to officers to drive to other jobs? Wonder why we need to raise taxes with all of the wasted spending?

This is an everyday occurence in Broward County. Officers from Miami are constantly traveling at high rates of speed on their way home and it is only a matter of time before someone gets killed.

Officer Watts should get a promotion for being one of the VERY few officers that actually enforce the law equally. Her supervisor that ordered the traffic stop halted, should be terminated. Mr. Lopez should have been terminated already and his law enforcement credentials should be permanantly revoked. His attitude, while polite, was very arrogant in the fact that she shouldn't stop a marked patrol car for any reason. He was wrong and he should be fired for having that mentality alone. What makes him special? The badge? The Gun?

I have to say that I have a bad taste in my mouth for police officers because of stuff just like this. Trooper Watts should be commended for being honest and loyal to the citizens in which she was hired to protect. At least we know there is one honest Trooper serving the citizens of Broward County.

Rather than setting up DUI check points this week, lets set up a "stop the cops from speeding check point". Lets do a test and see how many Miami cops they can catch flying through Broward County!

As a citizen, I recommend Trooper Watts for "Officer of the Year" for having the guts to do what is right, which is enforcing the laws equally!

....If he was speeding he should be ticketed, but I see LEOs SPEEDING all the time, and I doubt they're all go to a call....I think this incident will only fuel infighting amongst the departments, but hey; look on the bright side, maybe they'll start shooting at each other :evil:

I am a retired Trooper and I agree mostly with the Fl. Trooper stopping the Miami PD car for an outrageous speeding violation. And the Miami officer deserved a ticket. But, if she had stopped me in the same situation and stuck a pistol in my face, we would have had a big problem. I would have not submitted meekly to arrest.

I agree with you 100 % on the speeding issue (if you want to take it that far) but at gun point or even handcuffed, there would definitely be a problem. Either one is a recipe for disaster.

Smacky Wrote " But, if she had stopped me in the same situation and stuck a pistol in my face, we would have had a big problem. I would have not submitted meekly to arrest."

Oh! Smacky, that's how we all feel when any of you pull out a weapon on us, it must feel great to be exempt of being subjected to it, Miami Police Officers have work very hard to earned a reputation of being corrupted, pre-potent and above the law.

To tell you with all respect, that in Miami the time has come to fear the police more than the criminals themselves. Very sad!

Well, done Officer Watts!!!

I see only two solutions to this controversy caused by the lack of tact from Trooper Watts who mishandled Lopez's wrongdoing and let the media interfere, which has been detrimental to the credibility of both departments.

Well, the first solution could be the throwing of a big party where officers of both departments could socialize and interact amicably. The other solution: a boxing match where Troopers and MP officers could retaliate and forget everything about the dispute afterward.

After reading some of the posts I can fully understand how we are all presumed to be guilty of all charges by civilians before any case disposition is made. Of special note are many young cops (along with some old-timers) who are ready to believe anything printed in the news and ready to convict fellow officers based on these embellished statements. Are they in for a rude awakening! First of all, based on the reported story neither officer was right. Imagine if both cars were involved in an accident due to the speeds involved causing their own and civilian deaths. The reason many jurisdictions have no chase rules for minor incidents is due to the history of chase related injuries and death. If we use a speeding police car as probable cause to initiate a chase then we will be spending all our time chasing each other. Let's face the facts - one cop (Miami) was allegedly exercising poor judgement and discourtesy and should have been dealt with administratively by his own department after notification by the FHP; the other cop (FHP) was exercising poor judgement by initiating an unnecessary dangerous chase and failing to comply with orders to cease that pursuit and she also should be dealt with administratively. The fact that she drew her weapon and no cross department shoot-out occurred is another miracle. If she thought that a police car and uniform was stolen the he could have thought that some EDP did the same and was chasing him. If both had equal levels of poor judgement at the same time then we could have read headlines about a weird shoot-out on the Florida highways. It is time to step back from the raw nerves and emotions that this incident has precipitated. Let each department hopefully deal with their own personnel and let's stop messing with each other. It is time to return to the days of reasonable "Professional Courtesy" and put our verbal and literal guns back in the holster.