Gee, Officer Krupke

First of all, let me say how much I love our police force. They risk their lives every day to keep me and my family safe. They are wonderful people. And I'm pretty anti "Let one bad apple spoil the whole barrel". But, seriously. WHY?

Last night as I was driving home from work on a very busy street I saw a friendly officer in the median. His lights were flashing. He looked to be on official business. So, being the good, responsible citizen that I am, I immediately pulled over and stopped. After enough cars had done this, (And this is a seriously busy road, 6 lanes and a median during rush hour.) Mr. Officer proceeded to flip around turn off his lights and then drive 5 miles under the speed limit. Yes. It's true. Mr. Officer turned on his flashing lights just so he could flip an illegal U-ie (I have no idea how to spell that...). He wasn't on official business. He wasn't in a hurry. But he has the lights, so he used them.

What is it about some police officers that makes them think they can do whatever they want just because they are a cop?

Along with this, there was one certain officer in the town where I grew up that used his clout as a cop to do all sorts of annoying things. Example: parking in illegal no parking spots at Wal Mart. It is my understanding that the "No Parking" zones are for official people on official business. Not the cop that ran out of toothpaste. I don't think he ever got that call over his radio. "Officer "Do whatever I want" We're out of toothpaste. Please hurry to your local toothpaste buying store and remedy this problem. Lives are at stake!" He was the only cop that would do this. But he ALWAYS did it.

*On a side note, once while I was working retail, we had a lady pass out in the check out line. We called 911, but it took the EMTs forever to get there cause they couldn't find a place to park. Too many of our regular customers felt like they were cooler than a bag of Cheetos so they had parked in the tow away zone. No parking means NO PARKING! The lady could have died! She didn't, but come on!*

Really, I do love our police force. In fact, if I had an ice cream store (a life long dream of mine) I would give a free scoop to every officer that came in my little shop. That's how much I like them. (You may think that is a very small way to say thanks, but if you knew how much I love ice cream, you would understand the sacrifice.)

So, to most of the Officers out there: Thank you SO much for all that you do.

To the Officer Krupke's in the world: Just because you have flashing lights doesn't mean you should be able to disregard the law. But thanks to you too. If nothing else, you give me something to blog about.

I know, you're probably thinking "Man, Paily. Some people have real problems." I know. But it's my blog, so I can say what I want. so there. :P