Great idea, poor execution...

I saw this on some tv show once except the fuzz would give flowers and other crap to the drivers. Kinda creepy if you ask me... some burly dude with a thick moustache and aviator glasses pulling me over for doing the right thing. Ehh I'll pass.

A police chase ended in tragedy today after a man plowed into a school bus full of children. The man pulled away after police tried to pull him over for being a good driver. No word yet on why the man ran.

REALLY stupid (and most likely, illegal) idea. My time while driving is worth much more than a $5 gift card, even if I do like Starbucks from time to time.

I'd be pissed if I got pulled over for driving well.

They can just put them in the mail...

I hate Starbucks, so I'd be really pissed. Can't they just note my license plate and remember it when they pulled me over for doing wrong?

Also, it sounds like a sneaky way of getting past reasonable cause.

I thought a traffic stop required probable cause?

The neighboring city did something similar but handed out gift certificates for movies theaters. Nice gesture, but I'm with others.. I'd rather not have my time wasted.

I've been pulled over only once in my life, and I know that whenever I'm around police cruisers, I get this heart-pounding nervousness because I feel like if I speed just 5 miles over, they might pull me over. If I got pulled over, it's possible I'd be freaking out, and then really, really pissed that they did it because I'm a good driver and they thought they should stop me to let me know. But hey, one coffee!

Ancientsociety brings up an interesting question - what happens when they pull someone over for good driving and notice a blunt in the ash tray or the like?

And I feel like there's enough real crime out there that it's a waste of police resources to spend time pulling over people who aren't doing anything wrong. Not to mention that police stops can be deadly - how many world's wildest police chase videos are there of someone plowing into someone stopped on the shoulder?

Tell you what....if you see me driving well, take the $5, donate it to the local food bank, and DON'T PULL ME OVER.

I'll buy my own coffee.

$5 doesn't get you much at the Starbucks I stop at from time to time.

If it was like...$20...I might be okay with it. Otherwise it does just seem like a way around probable cause.

your tax dollars at work.

I rather they give back $5 to all good taxpayers.

Oooh..I have a better idea...if you see me driving well, stop me, give me back the $100 for the bogus speed-trap speeding ticket you gave me this summer and take it off my record. :)

Man, this is stupid idea. They did something like this on the subways in Boston. Undercover agents would handout Dunkin Donuts gift cards to people who were polite on the trains. Like, standing up for a pregnant woman or... well, or standing up for the elderly. Though I question the need to have a legion of undercover courtesy cops, they just gave the gift card to you. You got a reward and it took no time out of your day.

Pulling someone over for obeying the law? What's next? Taking me down to the police station in the back of a cruiser to give me a "Walking in the Crosswalk" certificate? Look, I get that we want to reinforce good behavior, but there is a limit to what's appropriate in congratulating people for obeying the law. You can't set the bar for success too low, or the laws will seem meaningless. Focus on the people breaking the law. Not the people doing what that are supposed to do.

Virtue is its own reward.

Is starbucks going to start providing the pigs with FREE Donuts or something...

It's just another pretext stop. Wouldn't be surprised to see them pull over blacks and carloads of hispanics for "good driving."

Wasting my time and the ensuing minor panic while I am trying to figure out what I did wrong and worrying that I forgot to put my new insurance card in the glove box is worth at least a $20 gift card.

A few years ago I read that they did this in Texas - Stopped 'good' motorists and gave them Rangers tickets. I thought it was stupid then and still do. Some bosses won't give a hoot why you're late, just that you're late. might be on my way to visit my dying grandfather who only has 5 minutes left to live, and I might be driving safely anyway despite my desperation to get there, and "Oh well! At least I got a gift certificate for Starbucks!"

I'm in my car. I'm obeying the law. I'm driving safely. Leave me alone!

Maybe they should send out stickers to people in the mail like junk mail. If you're cool with getting stopped, put one in your back window. Everyone else, leave them alone.

@Coder4Life: No, one of the cops came up with the idea himself, and raised the funds to cover the cost of the gift cards by talking to local businesses.

Also, this thread is full of grinches.

Kudos to the police for finding another way to fuck with the lives of law abiding citizens. Keep up the good work.

I appreciate the attempt, even if it is spectacularly stupid. Or maybe even a little bit because of it.

Between buffoons wielding tasers and buffoons pulling over law-abiding citizens, I have now concluded that our nation's law enforcement is made up of toddlers.

I bet that's how cops pick up hot women.

Unless you are one really cold fish, getting pulled over by the cops even when you know you are doing nothing wrong will still get you pretty scared. Anyone see any tasering video lately? Whose going to be the first to die from a stress induced heart attack when getting pulled over for being a good driver?

Don't get on my case for being grinchy. I understand it is nice to get a carrot from time to time instead of the stick every time.

Put me in the "bad idea" brigade...

Any time the police pull over a car, they run the license plate, ask for ID (and in most states, proof of insurance) and run the ID through the system. They also look inside the car and visually inspect the driver.

The law says that a police officer needs probable cause to do these things. Good driving != probable cause.

Any time you pull over enough cars, you'll find unrelated violations. (expired tags, no insurance, outstanding warrants) Police love reasons to pull over more vehicles, because it has the aggregate effect of improving their "stats".

Saying I hate starbucks, this would piss me off to no end.

@DallasDMD: I agree. If they can mail us a ticket for running a red light, then they should just mail the starbucks gift card.

@Shadowfire: Did he raise money to cover the cost to the drivers for lost time? What about all the tax dollars going to cover the officer time involved?

Also, I'm seriously doubting that "serve and protect" is intended to mean "serve coffee."

If it was implimented as a full time thing (compared to the holiday) it could create less problems on the road. If someone sees a cop car now, they slow down, but the moment the car is out of sight they speed up again (we all do this). We have been trained to fear police officers, if they brought good things to us more often a lot of our fears would subside. Though they should give city wide gift cards for at least $50, opposed to business specific ones.

Do a search for the "Plain View Doctrine" and then you will understand why the cops are doing this...

How about a get out of jail free card instead of giving a gift of a stimulant/ drug, caffeine ?

@The_Duke: Not just that, but why not ask the driver for his license and registration while we've got him stopped.

"I noticed you were a little nervous there, citizen. Are you trafficking in any drugs or illegal items?

Let me just get my narc dog who's trained to alert on command."

I suggest that the general public start a campaign of approaching "good" police officers, and giving them free donuts. Then they can have their time wasted for no good reason as well.

Rancho Cordova? That area has a high-er instance of minority residents than other areas of Sacramento County, no doubt. Seems like an excuse to exercise the Plain View Doctrine.

The police need to worry about actually doing their job instead of adding additional tasks to their plate.

I'm tired of being cut off by cops in their cars with no siren. Or being in front of a moron on the road causing an unsafe situation as a cop turns a blind eye to the situation and speeds right by.

I'm waiting for them to start calling the rampant use of tazers the Christmas Light Special, to get everyone in the holiday mood.

that would freak me the hell out but I would love the free starbucks.

@Akamaru: Interesting, I'd like to see the demographic information of those motorists who get pulled over for the "free Starbucks".

@iMike: Unfortunately, I'll bet you're right.

Also, police officers don't like being called "cops" or "pigs". Please show appropriate respect for people you don't know and haven't met.

This sort of thing has been done for a long time. My grandmother got pulled over and was given movie tickets back in the 60's.

Can we opt out with a bumper sticker? [tinyurl.com]

As one who was recently pulled over for one of these "Goodwill Gestures", I can assure you my laundry problem was the SAME as if I had been pulled over for a ticket.

Is this a way for Starbucks to develop a marketing partnership with an organization? I'll bet Starbucks marketing dept has a problem with associating themselves with what is usually an unpleasant, and often expensive, experience. How about just mailing me a coupon for $5 off my state taxes?

And caffeine is something I don't want when my heart is beating out of my chest from getting pulled over.

I'd be super pissed because $5 doesn't even cover what I get at Starbucks.

Damn, you people are ungrateful...

@comopuedeser: Then stop being such a great driver! Jesus Christ, do I have to solve all your problems for you?

Also, consumerist comments often leave me with headaches.

Similarly, I wanted to reward a cop with a Dunkin Donuts gift card, so I ran towards him, yelling unintelligibly and waving a small dark object in my hand. I don't remember what happened after that.

@ceejeemcbeegee:

My reward for being a good driver should be NOT getting pulled over, at all, ever.

And the time they spend patting me on the back is time they could be spending looking for people who actually ARE a problem.

I wonder if these revenue agents hand out the certificates before or after they've met their monthly quota.