We often hear how people complain about police officers being above the law. In some cities and states, this usually happens, and we’ve seen many LEOs abusing their powers to harass people or cause other terrible situations. However, there are a few cases where it may seem that law enforcement officers are breaking the law, but they aren’t. Such a case happened in Phoenix, Arizona, where someone took pictures of a couple of police officers seemingly parking illegally in the street to get their lunch. However, may have had the right to do so.
The pictures come from user Super-Perspective324, who posted them on the r/phoenix subreddit. In the images, you can observe a Phoenix police SUV parked “illegally” next to a red line and blocking a person’s driveway while the officers were getting their lunch.
At first sight, this doesn’t look good. How are police elements breaking the laws they try to enforce? It should be outrageous, shouldn’t it? Well, some people provided context on the matter.
“Actually, a fun fact: while on duty, police officers can park in fire zones to get food. This is completely legal.” – runnerhasnolife via Reddit.
“I was a firefighter long ago, and people got mad at where we parked. The reason was that we parked close in case there was an emergency. If you are in danger, do you want us to take 5 minutes just to get back to our vehicles?” – Grouchy_Concept8572 via Reddit.
It would seem that, despite the not-so-ideal parking, police officers are allowed to do so, especially if getting food. Plus, the explanation looks legit. If there were an emergency, police officers would have to run to their vehicles to respond to it, so the further the worse. However, there are a few things that don’t sit well with the Phoenix community regarding the police officers’ parking.
For starters, they parked across from the food establishment. If you look at the second picture, the officers had ample space to park there. Assuming there was no car there to begin with. Second, they parked in front of a person’s driveway. In this case, the officers are at fault. Even if they are trying to get their lunch quickly, they shouldn’t block a person’s access to their home.
Ultimately, this topic may be open to interpretation and somewhat situational. In the above case, I think the officers should’ve parked closer and not blocked the driveway. If they were in a hurry, parking next to the establishment would’ve made more sense. However, we don’t know if a vehicle was occupying that spot first, so it remains a mystery.
