The methodology of traffic stops

Of the roads surrounding the IU campus, 17th Street, Third Street and Atwater Avenue offer the greatest chance to nab speeders for officers of the IU Police Department. That's why the officers set up "speed traps" more often in these high-traffic areas than any other, IUPD Officer Brice Boembeke said.\nBoembeke said 17th Street has a lot of speeders because it's a long, straight road with virtually no stops. Third Street measures up about the same. In addition, Atwater's speed limit is 25 mph, and Boembeke said most people don't like traveling that slow.\n"Who wants to drive 25 miles an hour," Boembeke said. "We have so many violations on Atwater because people are used to driving 35 mph or above, and they don't make the jump down to 25 when they hit Atwater."\nBoembeke said traffic stops are a necessary thing to keep drivers following the "rules of the road."\nWhen a driver is pulled over by a police officer, the officer has a great deal of "officer's discretion" in whether or not to issue a ticket. If you are pulled over, however, it's very likely that the officer has decided whether or not to give you a ticket before you hand over your license and registration, he said. \nBut many drivers think they can talk their way out of the ticket they're going to get, he said.\n"Most people actually wind up talking themselves into a ticket," Boembeke said. "People say to me, 'I have to get to work.' \n"So leave earlier," he said.\nFor typical speed traps, Boembeke said he looks for places to set-up and watch traffic in areas that give him a high-level of visibility, which equates to a greater amount of time for him to clock traffic and make a decision on whether or not to pull a car over. He said he also looks for areas that give him varying levels of concealment and easy access to traffic. Boembeke said his favorite spot on campus is the Memorial Stadium parking lot adjacent to 17th Street and Fess Avenue; he said this position leaves him totally exposed to serve as a sort of a visual deterrent. This method, Boembeke said, is an effort to get drivers to police themselves instead of him or another officer doing it. \nBut he said he sometimes likes to keep a low profile -- virtually concealed so drivers can't slow down until he flips on the lights and is calling in their license plate to the dispatcher. Boembeke said he has a "favorite spot" for this on Third Street.\nWhile Boembeke was running a speed trap Friday from the Memorial Stadium parking lot, a gray Ford F-150 pickup blew down 17th Street and was clocked going 52 mph in a 30-mph zone. \nBoembeke dropped the radar gun. All in one fluid motion, he used his left hand to throw his Ford Crown Victoria model Police Interceptor into drive and flip on his red and blue warning lights. With a blow or two of his airhorn, he gunned his engine and swung the patrol car into traffic heading west on 17th. \nBoembeke had to speed up to over 65 mph in order to catch up to Richard E. Pearson of Bloomington.\n"'What did I do? I was just following traffic,'" Boembeke said Pearson asked during the initial encounter once he approached the car.\nBoembeke said he decided to pull over Pearson because he was going well over the 15 mph grace he sometimes allows drivers. He said he felt he had no choice but to pull over Pearson and issue him a traffic ticket.\n"He was going faster than everyone else," Boembeke said. "I was looking at the crowd of cars, and you get a feel for everybody's driving. You have to make a judgement call of not pulling over the ones keeping up with traffic, and pulling over those who stick out."\nSome of the dangers with traffic stops for police officers don't always lie in an armed encounter; many are associated with sharp tongues.\nIUPD Lt. Jerry Minger recalls a traffic stop he conducted several years ago at the corner of Third and High Streets.\nMinger said he was working the graveyard shift from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. when he saw a man speeding down Third Street at around 1 a.m. Minger said he pulled the driver over because he felt the driver may have been driving under the influence. \n"The most rude person in the world," Minger said of the man he pulled over.\nHe said the driver became belligerent, which Minger said he felt provoked into being angry in return. Minger said he behaved calm and cool through the entire encounter until the driver got out of Minger's squad car, where he was being detained for questioning, and slammed the car door so hard it made the car shake. Minger said he made the driver close the door quietly. The driver then returned to his own car and slammed that door so hard, Minger said, the window glass shattered all over the street.\nMinger said in situations like that it's very hard for officers to convey an attitude of professionalism and courtesy.\n"It is a challenge because sometimes it seems like they want to aggravate us," Minger said. "But that's why we teach cadets and officers to retain their composure and not get angry."\nJunior Hillary Morrow said she's no stranger to being pulled over by the police. She said one time she was driving late at night around Bloomington when she was pulled over by a Bloomington Police Department officer. The officer said she committed a rolling stop, failed to yield and was going 50 mph in a 25-mph zone.\n"He was not nice," said Morrow of the officer who pulled her over. But she wasn't given a ticket or a written warning, she said. Instead, the officer simply cautioned her not to drive when she was fatigued.\n"I realize they're doing their job, but they could explain a little more clearly why you're pulled over," Morrow said.