According to this Letter to the Editor in the Farmington Independent, one Farmington resident wonders if police officers should be allowed to ignore fire safety rules just because they’re cops and/or they’re carrying a K9 unit in the back of their squad car.
From the Letter to the Editor:
At about 10 p.m. on March 7 I observed squad 92 pull into Kwik Trip here in Farmington and proceed to dispense fuel into his running squad in defiance of the law forbidding the dispensing of fuel into a running motor vehicle. While squad 92 is a K9 unit I am sure Bosco would have been fine in the squad without the heater for the couple of minutes that it took his officer to fill the squad. Instead this officer risked a fire hazard and therefore the safety of other citizens and his canine, Bosco, to keep the heater on.
Whether or not police officers should be above the law has been debated numerous times on Lazy Lightning. However, in this case, we should discuss whether or not this is a real issue to worry about, not whether the cop was in the right or wrong. Yes, there have been fires started by static electricity and pumping gas while the car is running. However, these cases are generally because people are getting in and out of their cars while pumping gas, creating the static electricity in the first place.
Do you pump gas while the engine is running? Do you get in and out of you car while you are? Do you think this Letter to the Editor will effect change? Do you think the cops should leave their cars running when they go into the store (something they frequently do) knowing the effect it has on your tax dollars? Do you believe static gas station fires are of such a safety concern that it should prompt legal action from the state? Whatever you have to say about this one go ahead and comment on as I’d love to hear your thoughts.
Dakota Complaints Map
Dakota Inmate Dashboard
Loading ...
March 18th, 2013 at 7:48 am
Moron + free time = Letter to the editor.
Next.
March 18th, 2013 at 8:14 am
I hope no one is shocked by this – happens all the time. I always turn my car off, even when it is 20 below. Would love to leave it on, but not willing to risk it. That being said, I refuse to run my clothes dryer when I’m not home either. My teenager just asked me if I did this yesterday while filling up the car, and I told him yes, he should always turn the car off. Would anyone feel any different if someone sat there smoking a cigarette while pumping gas? Cops should turn their cars off – and if they don’t – they should be reprimanded like everyone else. Probably worse, because they are supposed to set an example.
March 18th, 2013 at 9:28 am
Rules are for everyone, or no one at all. Safety is theoretically their primary role in the Community, so I’m thinking they should follow the rules too. There are certainly cases where their training supersedes some rules in some circumstances, like speeding to a crime, operating their onboard computer while driving and such, but they are people of regular intelligence and capabilities and should always use common sense. Common sense is less common now, so that requires special training too ;)
March 18th, 2013 at 9:32 am
Pumping gas is one of the more dangerous things we do in every day life. Not because of the how things work, but because of how bad things can go when it doesn’t work. A running car has more components that could become an ignition source than a car turned off. Fuel being dispensed into the tank is not generally a problem, it’s when fuel starts spraying all over the place that you have a problem. From a malfunctioning handle, to a malfunctioning pump, to a damaged pump, or even a malfunctioning human (sudden chest pains while pumping gas).
So due simply to the dangerous that lurk at the gas station, I turn my car off and have all the time except for 1. That was the one time my beat up 72 chevy 4×4 had water in the fuel and took me running it on 3 cans of starting fluid until it warmed up enough to thaw the fuel line. I then drove it to the gas station, dumped 3 jugs of heat in the tank and topped it off with gas all while it ran.
As long as the police will still harass folks for having plastic cover over their license plate or they only have a rear plate and not a front one, or harass them because the tint on the soccer mom’s SUV is too dark then I think they should get the same treatment. If the law says don’t run your motor while getting gas. Well you shouldn’t do it, no matter who you are, and especially if you are a law enforcement officer.
March 18th, 2013 at 9:35 am
I do not leave my car running, your car will not freeze in the 3 minutes it takes to fill your tank.
I do believe that officers are required to leave their vehicles running while on duty, even if to step into a building… I could be wrong. In the event I’m right, I feel common sense should apply at the gas pump.
Turn the car off..
March 18th, 2013 at 12:32 pm
I always figured that if I left the car running, I could never fully fill it up and that I would be standing there for years and years waiting for the pump to trip.
My time is more valuable than that.
March 18th, 2013 at 12:50 pm
Seems like they should follow the rules. I assume that, as noted above, there is some level of danger in having your car running while filling with gas. Assuming that is true, then they should shut the car off.
I have a dog, that I take with me all over the place in the winter. Inside a closed car she could survive for hours or even days without the heater turned on with no issues, even on the coldest days. Heat, obviously is a different matter, and is the reason my dog is only a constant companion in the winter.
March 18th, 2013 at 1:02 pm
This doesn’t really bother me.
What bothers me is the 5 state trooper cars I saw left running while the troopers accompanying them sat around a table at a gas station in Lincoln, Nebraska, talking. The clerk said they do it every night and had been there for 2 hours that night. This kind of waste would have had me writing a letter if I’d seen it in Minnesota.
Leaving a car running while pumping gas though? Not going to get my attention.
March 18th, 2013 at 2:18 pm
It’s not required for cops to leave their vehicles running while parked. They do it because there are a lot of gadgets that drain their battery. On the other hand, I’ve seen where the clerk shut the pump down because the operator left their car running while filling up. I don’t think it would hurt for anybody to turn their engine off while fueling. Even in the coldest weather your massive chunk of metal for an engine block won’t lose that much heat in 10 minutes time.
March 18th, 2013 at 2:47 pm
Bosco, meet Porter. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWAK0J8Uhzk
March 19th, 2013 at 7:01 am
Yeah, and it’s a bad idea because, you know, there are fires at gas stations from people leaving their cars running all the time. It happens all the time, right? No? Then who cares? Get a life!
March 20th, 2013 at 8:16 am
One question, if it’s so dangerous to have fuel in the tank how come there aren’t more car fires while driving? The ignition spark doesn’t travel down the fuelline. As long as he didn’t leave it pumping unattended, this is a complete non issue.
March 20th, 2013 at 10:48 am
Never heard or read about fire or explosion at a gas pump due to the vehicle left running, I don’t really care if I see someone else do it. I will confess to leaving mine running in below zero weather. As far as cops go, that car is a tool that needs to work-instantly, I don’t want the officer wasting precious seconds getting his keys out, finding the correct one, get it in the ignition, turn to start,waiting for fluids and gauges to normalize and then floor it to an emergency that just took an extra 10-15 seconds to get to. Canine cops probably have additional reasons. I’m guessing the writer to the editor had an issue with cops