Living in the metro Chicago area and reading the Chicago Tribune daily one becomes numb to the stories of police misconduct.
That said, we have Drew Peterson, the officer who is under arrest for being a suspect in the killing of wives #3 and #4. (He was an officer of the Bolingbrook police, a south suburb).
We were recently hit from the rear at a red light. Seemed pretty simple. I took photos and we waited for the police. They came and did an "Exchange of Information" and did not issue a ticket to the 18 year-old kid who hit us. (I was not driving).
The officer told the kid, "Yes, you hit them. I see the marks. the light was red, you took your foot off the gas and went into them. However, there are not injuries since you were only going a few miles per hour."
I had no idea what could happen next.
We got all the insurance info on the kid and filed a claim. They said the kid is claiming we were in reverse at a red light and backed up into him.
WTF???!!!
So, they won't agree to pay until they get ahold of the officer and he says "Yes, the kid drove forward into them, they did not back up and were not in reverse".
Problem, this happened on the weekend and the cop works weekends and nights. We have tried for weeks to reach him.
Bottom line? Always get a ticket on the other person and never just do an exchange of information.
So, I found out that the cops (at least in this town) don't write tickets because they might have to go to court or might testify.
Do I trust them? Not totally.
They are human and bound to f^ck up.