A week ago, when a girl was mugged at the Metro Rail station, my question was, “Where was the officer that is usually stationed there?” The next morning, I get pulled over by an officer who was hiding behind a building-oddly enough he was hiding about two blocks away and several buildings from where I supposedly committed the infraction. Weird.
As I am sitting on Ponce Blvd, about half a mile away from where I had supposedly taken a stop sign, I see two other officers chit chatting away in their respective cars; laughing it up as one of their other buddies drives by them at over sixty miles per hour. Good job guys.to protect and serve, eh? Your own agendas, I’m sure.
In my cousin’s complex, a girl was in her house by herself when someone started to bang on her door trying to get in. The cops took 30 minutes to get there. In 30 minutes the guy could have walked in, made himself a sandwich, perused any magazines her dad had in the bathroom and rummaged through every room, eventually finding the girl. This isn’t Home Alone; there’s no little kid running around with micro-machines, paint buckets, an assault rifle and ninja spiders. This was a real teenage girl scared out of her life. Instead of the cops getting there within five or even 10 minutes (because you know there’s a cop at least five minutes away, hiding behind a tree waiting for someone to go five miles over the speed limit), it took them a half hour! That’s unacceptable.
I think that I wouldn’t be as pissed off and ornery with the police if they caught me say in a different manner, like chasing me down I-95 in a high speed chase, or having ninja officers jump out of trees, stab out my tires then give me a ticket; at least there’s effort shown! Well done indeed! No, instead they willy-nilly hide behind trees, rocks, the homeless, and George W.’s weapons of mass destruction. Not only did they not do anything to deserve making you stop, they walk up to your car all condescendingly, and then lecture you about how speed limits and stop signs are there for a reason and how you must abide by them.
Look: Before you come around lecturing me about the rules of the road and talking down to me as if you had any education besides your high-school diploma, why don’t you actually do your job and abide by the rules you say you enforce. Instead, people are being mugged and crimes are being committed while you hide behind trees and buildings, getting your rocks off at the thought of ticketing someone.
I know not all cops fit this description. There’s one officer from South Miami who teaches several classes in women’s self-defense, and feels bad whenever he has to give a ticket. But the great majority does fit the description.
It’s a shame, though, that this will never change, and no matter how many people detest officers, they’ll continue acting the way they do: imperviously.
Jovanni Bello is a senior majoring in computer information systems and can be contacted at j.bello2@umiami.edu.