Professional Courtesy:. Politicians

In bygone days, a cop didn't issue a summons for every violation or traffic stop. We exercised an option called 'professional courtesy.'

In this option, we used empathy and a little common sense, traits that are becoming increasingly difficult  to find in the law enforcement community these days.

I have occasion to come in contact with the public quite often in the capacity of 'writer'; when I discover a veteran for potential interview, for example, I'll often give them a little of my background in the process, hoping they'll be a little more at ease talking with me.

And, quite often, I'll hear a story of a bad experience they once had with law enforcement.

The words most often heard are 'rude', 'unbending', uncaring' and 'arrogant'. The biggest word in that group, at least to me, is 'arrogant'. Think about it, a time when someone treated you as if they were better than you or spoke down to you.

Not a very good feeling, was it?

Young coppers today need to realize that the citizens pay their salaries, and that they have problems just like the policemen do...most times, worse problems. A citation or traffic ticket should be a last resort, depending on the severity of a violation.

Rent, car payment. medical bills, school clothes, upcoming holidays, utilities, insurance...none of that comes cheaply unless you're still living in Mom and Dad's basement.

Courtesy goes a long way in police/community relationships.That is a key. Give someone a break, do something good for someone and I guarantee they'll remember it.

Sometimes, that good will comes back at an odd angle.

Early on in my career, I was working a day shift in which it was snowing like crazy; it was slick and difficult to see. As I'm going through a business area on the two-lane road, I noticed a car that was having trouble entering the roadway from an unplowed business lot, its wheels spinning madly. As I'm almost passing by, the rear wheels caught and the car shot out in front of me, nearly causing a collision with my cruiser.

I stopped the car, seeing the driver's window come down as I approach on foot. I recognized the man immediately; he was the mayor of a neighboring municipality. The man was very apologetic, saying he would totally understand  if I needed to cite him. I told the mayor that a citation wouldn't be necessary, asking only that he drive more carefully. The mayor thanked me and drove off.

A week later, our city's mayor walked into the police department, a councilman in tow. Upon seeing me, in his best politician voice, he tells me, 'Officer Clark, I want you to know that I just got a call from Mayor (X); he told me you stopped him last week and extended some professional courtesy, which impressed him greatly. He spoke so highly of you that I'm considering giving you a commendation...'.

My blood pressure shot through the ceiling. More on that in a minute.

I responded, "Well, Mayor, I look at it this way: a pat on the back sometimes is just a high kick in the butt."

That shocked him; his face immediately turned beet-red. The Mayor did an about-face and marched out of the department, councilman following right behind him. That was the last time the Mayor ever spoke to me, as I'd leave to take a job at Mansfield PD a few months later.

Why had I responded in such manner?

A couple of months earlier, while working nights, another officer and myself apprehended half of a four-man, multistate burglary ring that specialized in hitting farm implement stores. These mopes, out of Columbus, had shot out the security lights in the rear of the store, cut a hole in the property's perimeter fence and broken into an unalarmed building used to store excess stock. They'd piled up crates of unassembled bicycles, stacks of tires, cases of oil and leather gloves, anything of value that they could fence for cash. The stolen property amounted to thousands and thousands of dollars.

A dayshift officer, assigned to do follow-up on felony offenses, later told us that he'd called Columbus PD's detective bureau to get a little more information on these criminals we'd caught. The CPD detective told him that they'd been after these guys for over a year, and that one of the men we'd arrested had made a comment that he'd kill the next police officer that tried to arrest him. CPD investigators said this ring was tied to burglaries/thefts in Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky.

What did we hear from the Chief or the Mayor after such a high-profile arrest?

Nothing. Nada. Not a peep. We'd just been doing our jobs.

Yet this Mayor, a few months later, wants to commend me for giving a politician a break on a traffic violation.

The neighboring Mayor had been no threat, hadn't commented that he'd kill the next officer he came in contact with, like career criminal and convicted felon James Baer had.

A commendation for being courteous....which, too, was part of the job. While it was a kind gesture for Mayor X to express his gratitude, I'd probably been wrong to respond the way I had, but our Mayor's comments chafed me. My 'commendation' came when both men were convicted and sent to prison.

The feeling I got from knowing my partner and I had sent these mopes to prison was worth much more to me than a suitable-for-framing piece of paper with a nicely-worded 'attaboy'.