[carfixer]

I did a few ride alongs back in 2005-2006. I received no training, just given instructions on where the shot gun was in case we got into a situation and my trooper was incapacitated.

I was a Lincoln Mercury tech with a supercharged Marauder at the time. Florida Highway Patrol acquired a bunch of Marauders and gave them to their "high producers". I was the only tech that worked on the one in my area and became good friends with the trooper that was driving it. I tossed him the keys to mine and he was hooked. He wasn't able to convince the higher ups to add a supercharger to his. Anyway, I got to do ride alongs to gather "technical data on the car".

Anyway, we had a lot of what I considered fun. We drove Alligator Alley while clocking traffic going the other way and crossing the median at 70 mph (hit my **** head on the roof), then getting up to 130 mph to catch the speeders. All the while we were talking as if nothing was going on. We worked a DUI check point. We were the unit assigned to catching people avoiding the stop by turning off just before the stop. We'd chase em down and turn them over to a marked trooper while we'd go back for more. We went to a couple of domestics to back up the local police but I had to stay in the car. Mostly, we'd cruise the streets looking for people speeding and drunk drivers. We would cruise the middle lane on I75 and pick people going by us at huge speeds. His personal policy was to only pull over when they were going over by at least 15 MPH. It was quite a few years ago... If I'd gone on ride alongs at a younger age, I would have become a cop for sure.

Anyway, his Sergeant, who was also a friend, was worried about liability and was told I couldn't go anymore unless I took a similar class that you took. I just didn't have the spare time to do it so that was the end of it.

Anyway, please post your adventures as you get to go on ride alongs.