Readers report cop ‘speeders’

Following last week’s column on the senseless deaths of two Metro officers killed after speeding in their patrol cars, I received dozens of contacts from readers. A few were angry that I’d have the audacity to suggest Sheriff Doug Gillespie needs to get tougher on his troops and that cops who die from excessive speed who aren’t on a call aren’t heroes.

But most of the messages I received were positive.

And a few were compelling for other reasons: They told of areas of town where Metro officers commonly drive well over the speed limit while not apparently rolling on calls. It’s a very hard issue to quantify. I don’t know many people who want to put a speed gun on a patrol car, and fewer still who are unwilling to give hard-working cops the benefit of the doubt. I fall into the latter category, for sure.

After a week, the calls persist. It leaves me to wonder if we’ll actually see substantive changes at Metro before, heaven forbid, another speeding accident occurs.