I've been in the business 20+ years now, on East and West Coast, local and Fed agencies. I can tell you this: these cops running "speed traps", writing people tickets for less than 15 mph over the limit on freeways, and small municipalities running their own private highway patrol to pad the city coffers are an EMBARASSMENT to the profession, PERIOD. Trust me, in nearly any metro, suburban, or rural jurisdiction with any population, bagging bad guys is a turkey shoot. In big cities day and evening shift cops don't have time for much hunting, they are going call to call.....late evening and midnights, for Christ sakes, drunk drivers, warrants, stolen cars, hot calls, take yer pick. The morons running around writing books of tickets with chicken feathers on them are just that, morons. There are plenty of good traffic tickets to write for aggressive dangerous drivers and/or serious violations.
Funny, I have NEVER seen the "thin blue line". NEVER. I agree with to a point with popplecop, some of us good guys stick together, but IMHO, my enemy isn't the guy whose warrant I am trying to serve, it's the people in my own office. Obviously I respect the profession, and most of the rank and file. HOWEVER, most of today's LEO managers are creating an environment where common sense in the profession isn't a requirement for employment, and have let politics and $$$ get in the way of doing the job.
My attitude on and off the job towards other cops is the way I want to be treated on the job: I'll give them respect and admiration until they give me a reason not to. This means they "do the right thing" when using officer discretion. Sorry if any of you have been hounded or mistreated for no reason.
Just wanting to retire,
RR