"To get out of a ticket... Don't break the law."

That's the advice given by a police officer to the public on a website called "Cops Writing Cops: Where's the courtesy?" (hattip Scott Greenfield at Simple Justice) By "Writing" they don't mean love notes or blog entries, but mean tickets. Or, in the words of the officer who created the site, the purpose is:

If you are a police officer, trooper, court officer, correction officer, telecommunicator, highway patrol, federal agent, or any other type of police (peace) officer... that has been disrespected or insulted by another police agency (officer) by not receiving some sort of professional courtesy, please email staff (at) copswritingcops.com with the information."

Yes, the "don't break the law" advice doesn't extend to the brothers in blue as further down the page, the same guy who wrote this writes:

"Yes it’s true, cops usually don’t give other cops tickets. Think of it as an employee discount, perk or benefit. Other Cops are family and you wouldn’t give your brother a ticket if you were a cop either."

The Equal Protection clause isn't very fashionable here, but I'm sure those other parts of the Constitution are taken very seriously!

Reminds me of when I was in high school and my girlfriend at the time was babysitting for a police lieutenant's family. As the girl was getting a ride home, they were pulled over for speeding and the first words out of the officer's mouth weren't "your license and registration" but "I'm sorry! I didn't know it was you!" And that was the end of the traffic stop. I remember being shocked at this episode, at the lack of principle or even concern for whether the law was broken.

But wait, as a criminal defense attorney, don't I qualify as a "court officer" entitled to a little "professional courtesy" under the above definition. What am I complaining about? I'll just pull out my "Nebraska Criminal Defense Attorneys" card at my next traffic stop and threaten to expose their lack of "professionalism" on this site if they have the nerve to ticket a fellow "court officer."

Anybody want to bail me out afterwards?