Thanks to those who called and e-mailed to ask about a police motorcade just spotted along California SW in the Admiral vicinity – we’re checking with the precinct. When it happened around this time last year (late May to be precise, WSB writeup here) it was a training exercise. 2:23 PM UPDATE: And thanks to the Southwest Precinct‘s Lt. Steve Paulsen for speedy confirmation that yes, this is/was “annual training.”
yeah, we were all kind of curious. i was just happy not to see a hearse, yanno?
What a waste of taxpayer money (and gas)!!! I sat for almost 5 minutes at a light on E. Marginal near Boeing and couldn’t even see the “motorcade” for several minutes even though I wasn’t allowed to turn or proceed. Ridiculous!! I lived in Wash. D.C. for several years and the motorcades were much faster and better run. Why don’t they practice somewhere where they don’t tie up traffic – please! How about paying me for the gas I wasted sitting there idling away with no motorcade in sight? This city gov’t and police administration are a bunch of morons.
i think its training all around i noticed a bunch more patrols in the area today, giving out speeding tickets!
Waa, Waa, Waa… It’s training. If it’s not close to realistic, it’s not training, but a waste of time. And the speeding tickets, with more police in the vincinity, they are bound to catch more traffic violators, which we complain about too. If if you think having the police around is a problem, please move! I’d rather have that than the sporadic traffic enforcement we have today.
Forget the motorcading, I want to be there when they have their doughnut-eating training session! “Don’t forget, bring the doughnut to your mouth not your mouth to the doughnut!”
.
One of the funniest news stories I have ever read in Seattle (sometime last year or the year before?) was about a drunken man who came out of a bar and stole a doughnut delivery van that was left idling somewhere long S. Rainier Blvd. Several drivers spotted this truck weaving all over the road and called 911. One of the back doors was open and big wholesale trays of doughnuts were spilling out all over the road so it wasn’t hard for the SPD to track this guy. Somehow the image of all these police cruisers giving chase to this van full of doughnuts had a great Chief Wiggum quality to it.
Yesterday was a bit of a surprise when the 37 person motorcade came barreling thru with policeman on motorcycles, then the state patrol, then county mounties, sheriff’s dept. etc even riding double on California & in the turning lane,
Glad to know today that it was merely training,
However….. today when it just happened again!
What Gives? What didn’t they get with the training?
Jacquie do you think that after doing something one day the training is done?
LOL…I witnessed the motorcade on Wednesday at Admiral as they turned southbound on to California. Some of the cars were driving next to each other as they turned right, which, as we all know, is not exactly legal. What happened to a single file motorcade? Regardless, I’m with Jacquie. It was not an impressive sight, to say the least, especially after reading that’s exactly what they did yesterday. Some of them must have been really excited to drive along California Ave.
Just fwiw, I was down at the precinct this afternoon to check police reports and talked a bit with Lt. Paulsen, who used to run the department’s motorcycle unit. I didn’t set out to discuss this particular situation but talk turned to it and there is an amazing amount that goes into motorcade coordination. You can’t just get the guys and gals together once a year, run a couple miles and call it good. Nationwide motorcade work kills a couple officers just about every year – there are some fascinating intricacies that I’d write up if I had taken notes on our conversation. And I was reminded, this is an election year and there’s going to be a presidential candidate visit or two, at the very least, so they need to be practicing now, and maybe more than usual. — TR
Sorry, comment time is over.
| 10 COMMENTS