First off, let me just say that I’m a big fan of the job Police Officers are supposed to be doing. They are here to keep the peace and help citizens in need -Though they seem to have turned their backs to most of that in favor of their primary focus: Law Enforcement.
"How's my hair?"
Police officers are supposed to be the leaders of the community. Role models. The people we look to for guidance. You get the picture.
So it really pisses me off when all I see recently is Police breaking the very laws they are sworn to uphold and protect. The fact that the laws they’re breaking are simple traffic laws doesn’t matter. They are supposed to be upholding the very rules they’re breaking. It’s not just the speeding or the talking on cell phones while driving, it’s not using blinkers, not using seat belts, parking wherever and however the fuck they want to, turning on red at a no turn on red light, etc…
Fuck you I park where I want.
I just don’t understand it. Do they think that once they strap on that suit and get permission to drive one of those cars that they are suddenly above the law?
This is my 'O' face. Take that criminal!
Now, I’m not saying that some of the law’s aren’t stupid. In fact, I’m not a big fan of laws made to protect stupid people. If someone wants to not wear a seatbelt it should be their decision not to. The same with motorcycle helmets. If they die, one less stupid person- Why make a law about it? But I digress…
The cell phone law scares me because what is next? No doing anything but driving in a car because anything else is taking your mind off of the drive. Will we have anti radio laws next? No talking to the person in the passenger seat, it ruins your driving focus. Do people not feel the grip of the laws squeezing tighter? We are gaining the illusion of safety and all we need to give up for it is our freedom. It’s just a tiny thing after all. And hell, the illusion is still there and that’s really what matters, isn’t it? Well all of you fuckers certainly act like it is.
My freedom looks like a white rabbit! Should I follow it down the hole?
Don’t even get me started on the traffic cameras.
What, I'm constitutional. You all just TL;DR that document anyway right? So how do you know?
I said Law Enforcement earlier, but really, why do they give out tickets? Why do they try to find new and exciting ways to hide their cars and “catch citizens in the act” of law breaking? Why do they have quotas to fill?
Because they have become tax collectors. Well, maybe that’s a bit harsh.
Whoever heard of law enforcement collecting taxes from the people? ...Oh.
The thing is, they need to make their time profitable. They aren’t hired to serve and protect, they’re hired to make money for the state. And wow do they. State patrols collected somewhere in the neighborhood of $2.3 Billion dollars in 2003, and the cost of tickets have only gone up since then.
This is not the post I meant to write. It started off because today, like many days there was a police car in front of me while i was driving. He didn’t start out in front of me, he merged in front of me so he could hurry up and get off onto the beltway exit. Did he use a blinker? No. Was he speeding? Yes. Is that legal? No. Will he get in trouble for it? No. Is that fair?
What do I want to see? Regular citizens can’t give out traffic tickets to cops, though I wish we could. How about the members of the police force who hate hypocrites do something about it? If you see one of your fellow officers breaking the law, pull them over. Give them a ticket. Go to court when they show up to argue it. (It will probably go a lot like this the first few times.)
Don’t get me wrong. I am a big fan of the police. I am not a big fan of hypocrisy. I’m not perfect. I break laws accidentally from time to time. I speed on occasion. I’ve forgotten to use a blinker once or twice. The issue is not about the one-offs. If this is just some strange crazy coincidence where the police I see are accidentally messing up that one off time, then I apologize. What is more likely, is that this is a serious issue that gets glossed over because, “Oh, they’re cops, they can do what they want.”
Why is this how people have come to think? Why shouldn’t we expect the police officers who enforce our laws to follow them as well? Does it matter that the laws they’re breaking are small? How small is small enough? Is it ok to make that distinction?
What do you think?
Sometimes I Get Angry 