Ride-along - Issues With Ride-alongs

Issues With Ride-alongs

Ride-alongs face a variety of issues.

For the most part, the safety of the person on the ride-along must be considered. Officers with ride-alongs generally will drop off the person in a safe place prior to an emergency call if they believe the call may pose danger, and another available officer will attempt to pick up the person. Some departments require applicants to sign a liability waiver prior to participation. It is not always possible for the officer to avoid a situation where the person riding along may be in danger.

In 2007, a woman in Boise, Idaho was on a ride-along when she witnessed two police officers fatally shoot a suspect following a high-speed chase.

The TV series Top Cops, which aired 1990-1993, once told the true story of the 8-year-old son of a police officer whose father took him on a ride-along after obtaining an exemption to the department's policy in which the minimum to apply was 14. During the shift, the officer was called to a bank robbery, in which the robber claimed to be armed with a live-wire bomb, and demanded the tellers take him to the vault. The boy, who did not understand the potential danger, was not harmed.

Most participants in ride-alongs do not have ill intentions; however, in 1991, famed journalist and serial killer Jack Unterweger went on a ride-along with the Los Angeles Police Department allegedly to learn the location of the area's red light districts. Shortly thereafter, several area prostitutes were murdered, and Unterweger was considered the prime suspect.

In the United States, ride-alongs have raised privacy concerns. In 1999, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that allowing journalists or photographers to enter and film private homes during a ride-along is a violation of the Fourth Amendment.