Lacrosse tornado police incident 5/25/2012

[WillTownsWx]

Kansas is definantly an interesting place to chase. Ive been tailed by cops several times during chases up there. It seems the generally disregard for Emergency Management crews by some bad chasers has tarnished us as a whole. The whole incident on the april 14th High Risk day was the tipping point for the situation and now im afraid all chasers will probably have to contend with Kansas officers. Cops dont really realize the situation like we do but we cant argue with them because, Well they are the law.
Chasers provide a crucial service by reporting severe weather to the National Weather Service and Kansas efforts to keep storm chasers from doing there jobs could result in less eyes on the storm and more chances of a Tornado not being reported ASAP and could in the end cost lifes...But its up to Chasers to act responsibily which didnt happen on the 14th of April. Now Kansas will forever have a bad taste of Storm Chasers.

 

[rdale]

What facts are you basing that off of?

 

[J Tyler]

I think (!) that the vast majority of police realise that 80% of chasers/spotters are a good thing to have. Unfortunately, I have seen enough asshat moves by chasers to fully understand the frustration of officers. BUT! It is not ok for them to profile chasers any more than it is ok for them to profile you based on your race. Just because I am a chaser does not mean they can treat me like garbage, talk crazy to me, threaten me, arrest me for nothing knowing they will just release me later after causing me pure hell.....If an officer does that, get his info and turn him in. On the other side of things, how about some peer pressure for good? How about making it clear that parking IN A LANE OF TRAFFIC ON A HIGHWAY TO TAKE A PICTURE OF A TORNADO IS *NOT* OK. Driving 100mph is not ok. Driving on peoples property (thru yards, fields) is not ok. Acting like an A hole is not ok. I think officers need to do with chasers what they already do with the general public, and that is issue tickets if/when they are warranted. But, I can't go off on an officer because I'm mad that McDonalds screwed up my order. The officer can't go off on me because he is mad at some other motorist.

Here in Dallas, young guys on sport bikes were TOTALLY out of contol with the stunting. Groups of 30 riding wheelies thru traffic in rush hour. One afternoon, a huge group of sport bike guys SHUT DOWN the major toll way by stopping traffic so they could do stunts! It was unreal! Finally, some guys in the sport bike groups started pushing back on the crazyness. Internal peer pressure in the sport bike groups has made the change that the police and courts could not.

All my interactions with LEO have been top notch while chasing. But, just like there are some bad chasers, there are a few "bad cops". I will eventually be treated like crap by one while chasing. I will get his info, and move on.