Devil’s advocate here, and not boot licking… please just hear me out…
if we are to assume that officers are good faith Emergency Response personnel, right? Then parking in the fucking boonies, or around the block means that it takes longer for them to get back to their vehicle and respond to an emergency situation. Also, having the police car visible protects it from vandalism (protecting tax payer money), to include theft of additional weaponry (shotguns, ARs, less lethal shotguns, etc) and helps deter crime for other local establishments around the parked cop car. Then there are also the K9 vehicles, which have additional need to be close and observable. The police officer is human and has needs, so they’re going to the coffee shop anyway.
But, sure. I hate when ANYONE parks in the bike lane, we have one at our local park that’s always full of concert or event staff vehicles, and that shit pisses me off. I have to go into oncoming traffic to get around these bozos, and our lane is separated by those dumb plastic bollards.
Some states explicitly blanket exempt emergency response vehicles from laws, to include parking with or without flashers or in or not in an emergency capacity at that time. Whether the officer is getting themselves some coffee, they are still working in the capacity of a police officer, they don’t turn off being a cop for getting coffee. They’re on the job and actively working, by their mere presence they’re deterring crime and subject to civilian encounters. They may also have to respond to an emergency situation, there at the coffee shop or across town requiring them to immediately get to their VIC and go, and seconds could matter. Didn’t for Uvalde… but, hey…
Two officers per VIC isn’t always possible in every jurisdiction. Most I’ve seen have been 1 per, in my area.
Edit: and you might say “this guy’s bootlicking! We don’t do that here in this sub! Burn the witch!” And I know! But, what I’m saying is… this is low hanging fruit kind of ‘police problem’ stuff. There are bigger fish to fry, plus there are justifiable reasons for doing this. Not that cops are just being lazy here…