Can a person be arrested for speeding in a school zone?
Yes and no. In Texas, people cannot be taken into physical custody and arrested for a speeding offense. A citation must be issued or a warning given. However, if driving so fast in a school zone that your behavior shows a willful or wanton disregard for the safety of others or property, you could be arrested for reckless driving. Mere speed alone does not equal reckless driving. For example, someone driving 100 miles per hour on IH35 at 3am is likely only going to be dealing with a speeding ticket. Someone doing the same during rush hour might be moving into the territory of reckless driving depending on the circumstances.
Do police officers ever give each other tickets?
Yes! Contrary to popular opinion, it does happen. I wouldn’t say this has always been the case but it certainly is true today. There has been a culture shift and higher expectations are prevalent. I won’t say that an officer will always get a ticket but the same is true for those who are not officers. Last year, we warned 80 percent of the almost 14,000 drivers we stopped.
Do cops get nervous when they have to testify in court?
I guess it depends. Testifying is not something we do very often in our careers, believe it or not, because most cases are disposed of before trial. I would say the first few times you testify you are nervous and certainly in those rare “big” cases you would be nervous because a lot is at stake. We testify most frequently in municipal court and even that is not often. Like I said above, 80 percent of our stops are warnings.
Do Georgetown officers ever visit schools or other groups to share information with the community?
Yes! We are very engaged with our GISD partners! Whether it be Chase the Chief, the school resource officer presence, or patrol checking by the schools during their shift, engaging our youth is a huge priority. Today we just completed one of our key stakeholder meetings with our CommUNITY initiative by meeting with some of our pastoral community leaders. One of the expected outcomes of those stakeholder meetings is how can we better engage with the community and share information.
Why don’t we have mounted police in Georgetown?
We actually have a few officers who would like to. I would love it and I think it would be a huge hit but right now the ROI is just not there. Maybe when we have an actual park unit then the ROI would be there. The horses are expensive to maintain, feed, and house. Right now, given our staffing they would likely only be used during special events which doesn’t justify the cost.
Please send your questions to info@fpgtx.com with the subject “Ask the Chief”
