I didn't get this reply, so I'll comment in this post... A police patrol in this context is a noun - a person, place, or thing. If the law said what you had said in reply "police on patrol" or police patrolling, then that would be the meaning that you are looking for. The fact that its exact wording is "a police patrol" further re-enforces that it is specifying one thing, not an action.
I have a few issues with this reply too. First, it's not possible to file a complaint if the cop is operating within the law. Second, Police are always on duty, whether they're punched in or not (but yes, I know what your meaning is), and in most cases if they're off duty they're not going to be driving their patrol car around. My third point is that we use that law to help us do our job. Police vehicles are marked so that people know what they are and what their purpose is. We routinely zip in and out of traffic, park in places we need to park in, and respond to calls where people's safety is often at risk. Texas has special exemptions to normal law for those reasons, says that the operation of the emergency lights is at the option of the driver because it can cause worse problems at times, and has a statute saying that a police vehicle isn't even required to have emergency lights. Like I keep saying, police vehicles are not normal traffic. I've had people call in on me before, not knowing the full story of where I'm going, and it's never been an issue.
-- --- jaybird --- I am not the cause of your problems. My actions are the result of your actions. Your life is not my fault.
