Gotta Love The Police

As I gaze out the window of my real job I see a police vehicle parked in front of the beauty salon next door. Generally this should be a cause for alarm as I did see them pull up an hour ago. But, much to my relief, it is not an emergency of any kind. And as the officer sat next to his official vehicle, smoking his cigarette in his shorts and t-shirt while he no doubtingly waits for his partner to get her hair done, it occurred to me, I'm in the wrong line of work.

I think it's absolutely ridiculous that the police get to take there cars and use them for personal usage. And who gets stuck with the gas bill while they're out there gallivanting all over town? You and me, that's who. There really should be a lot more outrage then there is, but there isn't. There is actually more outrage coming from police who feel that they have every right to use these tax-payer fueled vehicles, and are angry when anyone thinks that they should have to pay to take it home, let alone fill it up. I guess the only thing they're serving and protecting is their own personal interest.

Before you judge me as some whiny cop hater, here is the legitimate list of "run-ins" I've had with these people:

• Called 911 when my neighbors car got broken into, almost 2 hours later a cop arrives
• driving home, a car starts to drive in reverse in my direction, I honk, he flashes his lights and stares me down
• driving to work and I almost get cut off, I honk my horn, this female officer flashes her lights while in front of me and starts to slow down. I slow down too, and take an alternative route. I called the community liaison, give them the plate number, and they tell me that is not one of theirs, and all but call me a liar.
• driving my son and wife around and almost got t-boned by a rent-away truck while there was an officer at the opposite light. I honk to get her attention, nothing. I called to complain and was told that if there are 2 people in the car, they don't do traffic stops
• driving home from work late one night, I get pulled over and get the third degree about where I'm headed. It takes 2 more cops to ask me questions as they flash their lights into my car looking for something. Didn't even get a ticket.
• Driving in the rain many years ago in a town I wasn't too familiar with. A police officer gets up on my tail, so I assume I'm going too slow, so I speed up. He pulls me over for speeding.
• After college my friends and I were setting off fireworks in a field. It was 4th of July and we figured they would just come and take our fireworks away. 2 squad cars jump the curb and continue to chase us.
• My best friend and I were walking to his house one night to play some N64. Some cop stops us and starts to question us about where we got those N6 controllers.
• I had watched the news where they just up'd the speed limit. A cop, who was headed in the opposite direction, pulls me over for speeding. By the time the fine was due, the new limit had already been posted, and I wouldn't have been speeding.

None of this even includes times I've seen cops use their cars for grocery shopping, eating lunch with their kids, and doing 90 on a 55 mph highway. These are way too many incidents for one person to have with police who are meant to serve and protect, not harass and ignore. And I'll openly admit that this also doesn't include the times I got pulled over for expired tags and no insurance.

I understand that the police have dangerous jobs and all that. However, there are too many cases where people pretend to be cops and take advantage of people. So, if one day a "cop" pulls me over in his shorts and a t-shirt and steps to my vehicle while putting out a cigarette, I only hope that the real cops will do something about it, that is if they aren't too busy with driving their kids to soccer practice on my dime.