Well, it *was* a nice gesture.

[madmusician]

A police officer had to arrest a homeless lady who kept all of her belongings in a shopping cart. Instead of abandoning the cart, he pulled it behind him 12 miles to the police station.

He might be formally reprimanded, though, for acting inappropriately. He is being celebrated by citizens and ridiculed by fellow police officers.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070116/ap_on_fe_st/officer_shopping_cart

What's your opinion? Was it proper work etiquette of him to tow her cart?

[audhs]

I'm not sure if it's proper work etiquette or not but it say's alot about him as a person.  It was a kind gesture.

[dawbs]

It was a kind thing to try to do...

Although I question the safety on the road.
And while I'm loathe to point it out, most such shopping carts are considered "stolen property" as they actually belong to whichever grocery store they were taken from...

[IndianInlaw]

Oh gosh, Dawbs, this city is headquarters for stolen shopping carts.  People use them to cart their groceries home and leave them in the street.  That doesn't include the homeless people who have their "own". 

Yes, it was nice of that officer to do that, though.

[MineralDiva]

I'll bet it was quite the sight to see!  But it was kind of him to do it.

[hobish]

From that article it does sound like a nice gesture on the part of the policeman.

[Clara Bow]

I'm touched that he would think to do that. That poor woman has enough problems without losing what little she has left.

[Bijou]

A police officer had to arrest a homeless lady who kept all of her belongings in a shopping cart. Instead of abandoning the cart, he pulled it behind him 12 miles to the police station.

He might be formally reprimanded, though, for acting inappropriately. He is being celebrated by citizens and ridiculed by fellow police officers.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070116/ap_on_fe_st/officer_shopping_cart

What's your opinion? Was it proper work etiquette of him to tow her cart?

I am all for helping our fellow human beings, but it does seem very strange for him to have done that.  (And how on earth did he pull it alongside his cruiser?) 
I wonder why he didn't just put her belongings in a bag and put them in the trunk of the car to transport them, or call for assistance (especially if he thought her belongings contained evidence of some kind.) 

[Clara Bow]

She may have had too much stuff for his trunk. I like your idea of placing a call for assistance, maybe they could have sent him one of the vans or SUV's to put her things in.
See, this is why I'm not a cop. I'd have never thought of that.

[Sharnita]

I also don't know that it would be wise or safe to start moving stuff from cart to bag because you don't know what all is in the cart - possibly used sharps or something.

[lizzyillustration]

 think it was one of those moments when a person  decides he's going to  robotically follow the requirements of his  job,  and only do what is required of him, or if he is going to make a humane decision, of his own free will.
 I think he chose the latter, and I admire him for it 

[Morty'sCleaningLady]

I hope I don't get flamed for this, but I think it was silly.  It took the officer an hour to get through town while towing that cart.  Could he have done something else during that hour? We don't know what calls he was unable to take (if any) while that hour long tow was occurring.  Were the travel conditions that easy going that he didn't impede traffic with his towing? 

While I've never been arrested, I always thought when the cops showed up to bust you, that was that.  I'll admit my knowledge largely comes from Fox's Cops, but I sort of thought you didn't get to clean your house, change into more comfy clothes, or do your hair when the cops came.  I thought cars were left where they were should you be arrested while driving.  The cars would be impounded when the city or town had time.

[HogwartsAlum]

While I've never been arrested, I always thought when the cops showed up to bust you, that was that.  I'll admit my knowledge largely comes from Fox's Cops, but I sort of thought you didn't get to clean your house, change into more comfy clothes, or do your hair when the cops came.  I thought cars were left where they were should you be arrested while driving.  The cars would be impounded when the city or town had time.

I think sometimes, depending on the jurisdiction, things like that are at the officer's discretion.