Letter: Hold police to same driving standards

I applaud the state’s crackdown on distracted driving, but shouldn’t we hold police officers to the same standards?

Recently, I was driving north on Oregon Street when a Pasco police cruiser went past me in the other lane as we approached Lewis Street. I could see that the officer was looking down and operating his on-board computer. The traffic light changed, but the policeman drove right through the busy intersection on the red. There were no flashing lights or sirens — just a distracted driver who was oblivious to the fact that the light was red. And, no, it was not amber when he entered the intersection — it was clearly red. He was lucky he wasn’t T-boned by traffic on Lewis.

Because the officer wasn’t holding a device in his hand, perhaps his only violation was running the red light, even under the new law that went into effect this month. But there are many places on that street where he could have pulled over and stopped before operating a computer. If that’s not already part of police training, it probably should be.

This story was originally published August 2, 2017 at 1:25 PM with the headline "Letter: Hold police to same driving standards."