Did anyone see this in person? A bunch of cops chased a dude in a white van all around town this afternoon.

I heard it on the scanners. It was a pretty intense 45 minutes. I counted ~20 cops behind him when he went past the 440/glenwood avenue camera (we get the live feed from DOT at work). Chopper 11 picked up on it sometime when he was on 40 and followed it to the end.

Quote :

"RALEIGH (WTVD) -- A man driving a stolen white 2007 Ford Econoline van led police on a chase through Raleigh Friday evening. Raleigh Police spokesperson Jim Sughrue says the incident started after the driver refused to stop for a license plate violation on Hammond Road. When the van did not stop, police say they did not start to chase the driver, but called for backup. Authorities say the van then traveled to I-440, then took the New Hope Road exit, crossed New Bern Avenue and made his way to Trawick Road. From there the van drove to Capital Boulevard, where a Highway Patrol trooper attempted to stop it. The van again refused to stop and drove until it reached I-440 taking the outer loop. The driver stayed on the highway until he exited the wrong way on the freeway entrance ramp to reach Lake Boone Trail, crossing Blue Ridge Road. Police say after the driver made a few quick turns, the van returned to Blue Ridge Road and drove to the Wade Avenue Extension entrance ramp. The van went to the end of the extension and onto I-40, which it followed until exiting on I-540. The van later exited on Creedmoor Road. Just before the van turned onto Creedmoor Road, a Highway Patrol trooper threw a tire deflation device in front of the van, causing some of the tires to deflate. After driving a short distance, the driver pulled onto a concrete median and surrendered to police."

http://abclocal.go.com/wtvd/story?section=news/local&id=7221612 for WTVD story

[Edited on January 16, 2010 at 12:33 AM. Reason : ]

1/16/2010 12:29:58 AM

yeah I followed them around in person and saw the whole thing

1/16/2010 12:31:54 AM

I bet cops love that.

In my internship I spent a day riding with a cop, someone called in a hold up and the dude was excited as hell.

1/16/2010 12:33:11 AM

i wonder if he was selling speakers

1/16/2010 12:40:53 AM

I realize this thread is about being involved in a police chase.... which I have not. Hear me out, maybe I can offer some insight.

I am in outside sales, which is currently salary+commission, but will move into straight commission starting at the beginning of July 2010. I have been in this position since July 2009. I have competition from several direct manufacturing sales reps, large distributors, and local distributors. Here are the advantages and disadvantages of each:

Direct Advantages: Immediate knowledge of new technology, no middle man mark up, one shipping bill (paid by manufacturer or buyer of goods), access to larger range of non-commodity items, control inventory, have access to many distributors that can effectively sell their goods which increases market share, and set prices of commodity they manufacture.

Direct disadvantages: Typically have 1-3 sales reps per region (i.e. southeast, mid-atlantic, northeast, etc.) limiting the number of accounts they can successfully manage/cold-call, lack physical customer service or physical technical service available to or affordable for smaller users or altogether, are sometimes not trustworthy because they will go in behind their distributors that sell their commodity to one account in large quantities (i.e. they missed a big account, and have found out about it through a distributor selling their particular product) which leads to the distributor not selling their product anymore, have too many distributors selling the product ultimately driving the set price down through deviations, possibly rely on distributors to actually sell the product, and competition from other direct sources.

Large distributor advantages: have access to other commodities that go hand in hand with other manufacturers (poor example- grocery stores sell milk as well as cereal), get direct pricing, many locations regionally or nationally easing the shipping burden of buyers with multiple locations, personal service either customer or technical, many sales reps that are able to cover a broader territory, access to multiple manufacturers of the same commodity allowing to keep prices in check, service programs that smaller companies can't offer and direct providers can't match in price or value, and experts of many many commodities as opposed to one or a few.

Large distributor disadvantages: smaller local distributors creating price wars (think Michael Scott Paper Co vs Dunder-Mifflin), direct mfg's going in behind and stealing business, limited access to all of the mfg's (you won't find Harris Teeter name brands in Food Lion and visa versa), can't truly set prices because it's based on both supply and demand, territory management, and tough growth prospects in slower economies (this is true for direct as well really)

Local distributor advantages: Typically a good ol' boy setting where the seller and the buyer know each other for years (this does happen at all levels, but mostly at the local level), local folks are right down the street and can be used in emergencies, if the local guy buys at high enough volumes then there is no shipping charge to the end user, and access to both direct mfg's and large distributors.

Local distributor disadvantages: easily beaten in price, array of commodities, array of technology, lack of trained staff, low cash flow, etc etc etc.

This is what I have noticed in my six months, I am sure there are plenty more that need mentioning. The way I am setting myself apart as a sales person is this: I go after the big accounts right now while I am new. The big accounts, if I land them, will take care of me while I am new and building a customer base. The money made off of those allows me to focus free time on smaller accounts that get me higher margins. I build up big accounts, I would like to have 5-10 of these, then get 20-30 medium accounts. If I lose 1 or 2 big accounts, the 20-30 medium accounts keep me afloat while I go after new big accounts. I don't really waste time on small accounts simply because they basically pay for breakfast or something really small.

I will say this, if you can't get a big account in the first 6-8 months (assuming you have cash flow that you can ride this long) you could be in a world of trouble. If you can get one, it will really make going after the others a lot more enjoyable and less stressful. It's simply just very exhausting wasting any time on anything other than big accounts in the very beginning. You work just as hard on the medium sized accounts and see 1/3 to 1/36 of the money in my situation.

If you have any other questions, you can PM me. I hope this helps in the slightest!

1/16/2010 12:45:52 AM

^ I really don't understand this. why is it getting posted in every thread?

1/16/2010 12:54:55 AM

Quote :

"A bunch of cops chased a dude in a white van all around town this afternoon"

Was it the white van that tried to sell cheap speakers to people?

1/16/2010 12:56:05 AM

^ yes, because there is only one white van in Raleigh.

1/16/2010 12:58:00 AM

^^^ Need to spend more time in the Lounge

message_topic.aspx?topic=585855

1/16/2010 1:14:11 AM

1/16/2010 1:18:37 AM

^^ Yea, but why does it keep getting posted. not funnay

[Edited on January 16, 2010 at 1:19 AM. Reason : .]

1/16/2010 1:19:15 AM

Quote :

"I bet cops love that. In my internship I spent a day riding with a cop, someone called in a hold up and the dude was excited as hell."

"Few people understand the psychology of dealing with a highway traffic cop. Your normal speeder will panic and immediately pull over to the side. This is wrong. It arouses contempt in the cop-heart. Make the bastard chase you. He will follow."

1/16/2010 1:42:44 AM