Well, okay. A good word for one cop, anyhow. In one specific circumstance.
One of the little towns near here recently had a holiday weekend “do,” that included a kiddie carnival, a parade, a barbecue, and suchlike — along with a series of prominent locals volunteering for their turn in a dunk tank. You know the thing I mean: throw a ball, hit a target, and into a cold tank of water falls the mayor or the town’s richest citizen.
Well, my friend Leslie, who found me my house, has a son who’s a cop in that town. (Yes, I have a dear friend who loves a cop. I find it hard to believe, but there it is.) And cop-son was perched above the tank when a great, big hairy, tattooed biker dude shows up in the laughing crowd. A true Harley-Davidson guy, you can tell at a glance.
Leslie, the gregarious sort, gets to taking with the guy. He’s from out of town. Just roared over for a day of “therapy,” he says. And he doesn’t know who’s up there above that water. At that point, Leslie’s daughter-in-law — cop-son’s wife — chirps, “Hey, that’s a cop up there! Your can take your aggressions out on him! Buy a chance!”
The biker buys himself his three throws, pulls back to aim — and the cop on the perch calls out, “HONDAS RULE!!!!”
Unfortunately, the biker never hit the target. But Leslie, with her “wimpy arm,” did. And sent her beloved first-born plummeting.
Okay, it doesn’t make up for all the national news of puppycides, wrong-house raids, seized stuff, and videotaped beatings. But to be fair, I haven’t heard of any of that going on in this area in many a year. And it’s nice to have a cop give you a laugh now and then.
Nothing’s all bad-some years ago, I helped some friends move. Circumstances were such that it had to be done in one day-really, a single afternoon. All three vehicles were way overloaded in a big way,including my 1958 Willys Jeep and its trailer(I had stuff tied to the hood,bumpers, and front fenders). A local cop pulled us over,and, after hearing the story, gave us an escort(just moving a few miles). He could have been a complete jerk and written us all tickets, but he didn’t. There’s decent cops out there.
Well, I have to chime in here..I’ve had my share on run-ins with the boys in blue…most of them benign, some awful. Always negative…until one morning about 9:00 AM on my way to work.
It’s a long story, and I’ll not repeat it all here. I’ll cut to the punchline.
I had a fatal heart attack. Cardiac arrest. Flatline. A couple of cops dragged my *dead* body out of my truck (needing to break a window because the truck was locked)…and assisted as the paramedics put the jumper cables on me and jolted life back into me.
I later tracked them down and thanked them. We made a little small talk, and then one thanked me for making the time to find them …he said that I was the first one that he had helped with that made it….
Yeah, it was their job.
But I owe my life to a cop. And a couple of paramedics…..and one hell of a lot of luck.
Thank you Claire. I seem to have always had the good fortune to meet nice, fair-minded cops, and I’ll admit I get rather annoyed at the police-bashing that goes on sometimes.
Down the road from my land, there lives a semi-retired state trooper, who likes to go for long walks along said road with his dog, occasionally letting the dog hunt rats in the brush. I’ve mentioned before that my land is experiencing an infestation of sulfur cinquefoil, which during certain stages of growth looks very much like another, more popular weed. You can see how this could quickly turn into an unpleasant situation.
This summer, when the cinquefoil was blooming and looked as un-like marijuana as is possible for a plant to look, I happened to see Mr. Retired Trooper out on one of his walks. During the usual catching up on local news and warnings (another neighbor had messed with the wrong plant while clearing brush, and now has parsnip burns over 90% of her body, know your plants!) I mentioned my worries that one plant looked so much like another, etc . . . long story short, turns out he has the same cinquefoil growing all over his place, and so do most of the full-time cops in the area. Since most of them are farmers themselves, or the children, wives, or husbands of farmers, the local cops are well aware of this look-alike, and it’s nothing to worry about.
I love this place!
Here is another nice story about cops: last night the church next to our home was broken into and the pastor’s office computer, scanner and box of gift cards (for emergency aid to help buy food, bus passes, etc) were taken. The broken window was seen by a passerby who called the cops. three minutes later the cop showed up and searched the place to find a back door taped up to stay unlocked.
They soon had a team doing the whole CSI finger print thing and when that was done the cop fixed the office door so it would shut and helped the custodian board up the broken window.
I think the normal patrol cop is generally a good guy. it’s those rapid response teams that seem to get in the most trouble, even when they are doing the patrol thing.
There’s no question that there are some decent folks who are cops. I don’t dislike cops as people – I don’t approve of the idea of cops. They were a bad idea in 1829, but like all failed government programs, they just go on and on.
I too have restarted someone’s heart. I found him with no pulse and no breathing, but he walks the earth today. I didn’t need a costume or stamped jewelry to do it. It wasn’t my job but I did it anyway.
Creating a class of people who live above the law is bad social and civic hygiene. The world got along fine without cops for 12,000 years. I expect the bad idea of cops to collapse rather sooner than the bad idea of paper money.
“The world got along fine without cops for 12,000 years. ”
Ummm . . . when was this? The history that I’ve studied, it was a rare thing for a society NOT to have some group of people whose official purpose was to enforce the law. Some societies did better at this than others, but that’s human nature. So, what time period are you referring to, and which continent did that happen on?
s has well said…you defend yourself in some jurisdictions in this country and your off to prison…trust me on that! Same goons they hire these days are the same kind of goons burned people in ovens 60 years ago…
Most cops are not bad people, but society has ceded to the police things that it should not have. They are simply doing what society (not you in particular) has asked them to do, be responsible for controlling them.
I would also say that over the years I have found a LOT of libertarian cops and soldiers. They may not be as libertarian as you or I but they are far more libertarian than most members of the two dominant political parties that I am aware of.
I’ve recently gotten my permit to carry and though in MN, the weapon does not HAVE to be concealed, I prefer not to draw attention to it and have been doing my best to keep it hidden. I am still a bit self concious of it, but I am noticing that if anyone else can see I am carrying they have not said anything.
While filling up at the gas station a while back I entered the building to pay at the same time as a state trooper. We chatted a bt in line as we waited to pay. He politely stopped me outside the door and asked if I was armed. I told him yes, and offered to show him my permit. “Yes, please. Reach for it slowly, if you don’t mind.” He had a bit of a grin on his face, I suspect he knew I was a bit uncomfortable.
As he handed me the permit back he asked what I had with me. “Taurus .45”
“Nice to have you on our side,” says the trooper Have a nice day!
Some of ’em are pretty cool!
understood, Mike…some are the best…but…