this last week, i got an amazing surprise in the mail. a two-year-old traffic violation got dismissed. which means i got the obscene amount of money i paid to the LA Superior Court in 2009 back. being newlyweds and budgeting for law school means every little bit helps. so hooray for money that once was lost and now is found. its like finding a $20 bill in your winter coat. except better. but now that the case is finally resolved, i feel it is high time i vent about the horrific experience i had and the incredible failure i like to call our justice system.
when i was in baghdad, i once had someone explain that their liking/disliking of americans can be compared to our liking/disliking of cops. you like the cop who comes to your house to stop a burglar or violent crime, but you dislike the cop who is a giant doucher on the freeway – the one who treats you, the law-abiding citizen, like he has a dead hooker in his trunk.
(un)fortunately for me, i have only had the opportunity to encounter the latter breed of officer. the ones on the power trip with little man syndrome. the ones who try to bully you into punching them in the face so that they can take you, a person who heretofore did nothing wrong, to jail. because what else are they supposed to do on a friday night? catch real criminals? now that would just be dangerous.
of course, i have friends who are officers of the law. who i love and admire and respect. but this is in a personal sense – not a professional sense. because i know them personally, of course they, specifically, would treat me well if they saw me. i'm not talking about these types of relationships. i’m talking about the officers who don’t know you, who don’t know youre the daughter of a sheriff, the wife of a CHP. i'm talking about how an officer, who doesn’t know you from adam, would treat you.
and i can certainly acknowledge that there are officers who do not behave this way, but i have yet to hear/witness of these encounters personally.
in fact, i would venture to say that the majority of us do not have the privilege of meeting an officer of the law who is genuinely trying to help us out slash make us feel safer.
i wont go into details about what i was ticketed for – just because it was a sort of long list and i (honestly) was only guilty of one of the violations (which was more or less a “fix-it” ticket). let’s suffice it to say, apparently it is illegal to drive in the state of California with a driver’s license from another state (if you have resided in California for more than 10 days.) they can impound your vehicle and book you into jail for said offense. wow. book you into jail. and they will threaten you with this punishment, even if you are polite and patient, six or seven times in the course of your detainment. i didn’t realize taxpayer dollars were best spent booking citizens into jail who just didnt have the time to stand in 4-5 hour lines just to go get a new driver’s license at the los angeles dmv. particularly when they have a perfectly legitimate driver’s license AND are leaving for another country in a few days. but whatever. i did it. and then moved from the state of California in less than three months. thank you for a genuine waste of time.
but i digress.
i respect that a law enforcement officer puts his (or her) life in harms way often. with lots of bad people out there, i can appreciate that they often deal with people who are less than amiable. however, i also feel that it would be prudent to treat those who you have sworn to “serve and protect” with a degree of respect and, well, kindness. i submit that this means that law enforcement is not for everyone. dealing with scumbags sucks. treating scumbags with a degree of kindness and respect has to suck worse. but those are the kinds of men and women i want out on the street keeping me safe. the kind of men and women who are willing and able to keep their pride in check and treat everyone with dignity – guilty or innocent. being a hard-ass can’t possibly be the most effective way, particularly when every GOOD citizen you come across ends up hating you and your condescending, above-the-law attitude.
i was told by the sweet little pair of officers i dealt with that “politeness” was not in their job description and that they were not there to serve and protect me, but rather there to serve and protect the innocent people on the street who my lack of CA driver’s license was apparently attempting to kill.
this is one of the major points i entirely disagree with. obviously, i’m not a fan of criminals. i know there are some skeezy tweekers out there and i do think they deserve the full force of the law. but in general, why do law enforcement treat everyone like a criminal? like i said, i know dealing with a lot of scumbags every day cant be easy, but somehow you find it in your heart to treat people nicely when you don’t have your badge on, right? you wouldn’t shine a flashlight into some old lady’s eyes at the grocery store or accuse her of being drunk if she’d done nothing to warrant that. all i'm saying is, chill out a little. every tax-paying american pays your salary and, in theory, wants you there to help keep law and order. try to remember that you are there for THEM. even the ones who break the law. your commitment was to serve and protect everyone, even if that means protecting them from themselves. but when you treat us all like we’re cooking meth in our basement, why should we trust you? have some higher standards and stop trying to stick it to nice people.
go find a rapist or something.
oh and in the words of daniel tosh... i got my money back after all that so... na na na boo boo, stick your head in doo doo.
with love -
the rogers
xx
