It's an absolute shame that there are people out there that Jane's original post describes. It's even more frightening if that sort of stuff could ever really happen.
I have been a Safety Officer since December 2005. Since becoming certified, I have worked an average of three local level matches a month, and the vast majority of those I help set up the morning prior to shooting them in the afternoon. Anyone here can go see my scores to see if it has ever been an advantage to me in being on the set up crew.
I have never been on a set up crew for the 20 plus sanctioned matches I have been a SO for. I have never been in a position any different than any other competitor shooting those matches, especially when the only real focus I try to have during the SO portion of the match is how I can run my stage to the maximum benefit of the shooter. Very rarely do I get to concentrate on my game the way some think SOs get to. I have been lucky to bump from Expert twice during State level matches, and come up with a few first place wins to boot. But compare those wins with the number of sanctioned matches I've shot and you get a very small percentage of wins.
I have the privilege of shooting at The Range, home of The Carolina Cup, every week. Frank is always working on developing stages for his next Cup, and we (all competitors) get to see slivers of what he's coming up with. We never get to see what anything is really like until "go time" though. Timing always changes, stage elements are combined differently, etc, etc. He has a set up crew of 3-4 guys that work for three weeks solid to set it up. I've never seen ONE of them win first place at the Cup. Frank is of the mindset that he wants NO ONE to have any advantage. When his Safety Officers show up, we are seeing a completely new match. I tend to think this is how it is across the country. At least that's what I believe.
The only way I can think that MAYBE any SO would EVER get a break would be someone ignoring a procedural, or scoring a target incorrectly. I would like to think this doesn't happen on purpose.
As I said on another board, if I am not allowed to shoot for score with everyone else, I would cease to be a Safety Officer. I'd let some of the complainers step up instead.