Posted on 09/09/2011 11:28:52 AM PDT by flintsilver7
OK, so we've had a lot of rain recently in Northern Virginia. Yesterday into today accounted for about 8 inches, with another four inches earlier in the week. There is a small stream down the road which flooded badly, bringing down some trees around the bridge. It's marginally passable if you were to take one car at a time. In any case, the bridge is closed. Fairfax County Police, in their infinite wisdom, chose to block entry to the road at the nearest intersection. What they didn't consider was that they were blocking access to several hundred homes as well.
When I came upon an officer at this intersection, I asked him what I should do because I lived there. His very rude reply was to yell "the road's closed." Thanks, asshole, I can see that, so I replied "Yes, but I live here and I'm returning home." He then yelled, rudely again, "Can't you see the road's closed? Go up the road." I asked him where, saying again that I lived there and you can't just block almost 400 homes off without telling the residents where to go. I suggested a sign that said "local traffic only" or "residents only" and his response was "too bad."
Seriously, why does it seem like the only people who like cops have never had an experience with them? Are they all this obnoxious? (In my experience, yes, but that's another story.)
They are there to protect (their pensions) and serve (their unions).
I’m well aware of that.
I just want to know why every single one of them seems to be an asshole. Seriously, you’re blocking off a housing development. The *one* thing you should expect to have to take care of is telling residents where to go. I asked him and all I get is a snappy response. Yeah, I know he’s putting his life on the line sitting in his car in a middle-class suburb and all, but would it be that hard to direct the very people you’re blocking out?
Only people with a sense of entitlement would throw a tantrum because a road was closed, and then bother to post a vanity about a “rude” police officer.
The “me” culture. It’s what’s for dinner.
The majority of police are non-unionized. Epic fail.
Your attitude probably gets you that response from a lot of people, not just the police.
Entitlement mentality tends to bring out the worst in others.
“I suggested a sign that said “local traffic only” or “residents only” and his response was “too bad.”
Our staties usually ain’t d!cks, but we’ve got one real town clown within driving range.
Go to the central office of the agency in question, and politely ask to speak to the ranking officer on duty, and nicely ask why you were prevented from going to your home. In case you missed them, key words: Politely & nicely.
You may have incited his rudeness by being too far away to intelligently discuss the situation.
As a trained traffic control authority for the local EMA we are given specific instructions regarding access and egress. We dare not deviate without explicit instructions from our commander.
Next time, park your vehicle in a safe spot and approach the officer, asking him to discuss the situation. If traffic volume is high, wait until s/he can converse.
Give them the respect and space they need as you aren’t the only person who wants access. In the end you will be the person who gets the officer to understand. Bonus; into the future, you may see an increase of patrols in your neighborhood.
>>>>I was never rude to this asshole. He was rude to me. Try to understand that, bootlicker.
You are acting towards folks here much worse than this cop was to you.
Your present attitude here will get you nowhere.
He may have been right, or not. Out west, where sudden flooding is a problem in a normally dry place, it quickly turns into a nightmare for police when people try to cross running water, either on foot or in their vehicle.
It is counterintuitive, but running water just slightly higher than your ankles can often sweep you off your feet, and water just over the middle of the wheels can do the same to many vehicles. Which is already bad when the water level is stable, but during a flood, it may vary by a few inches in a few seconds.
In any event, rescuing people either on their own, or from their vehicles, which are lost, is both dangerous and very expensive. So much so that at least where I live, if you drive across a running wash posted as do not cross when flooded, and you get stuck, once rescued, if you are lucky enough to be rescued, you may get a bill from between $30-60k.
Well, I wrote all this because whatever the situation on the ground, that officer’s police department may have had a rigid policy about flooding. Not so much an issue in Virginia, I would think, but you never know.
You’re demonstrating the rude and arrogant attitude the of which the OP poster complained. Not doing your cause any good.
Humm.....I don’t know. After reading your reply about a ‘tantrum’ I reread the orginal post again. I don’t see where he threw tantrum. And being denied access to your home when it isn’t necessary to for your safety. I think I would be pretty upset also. Probably you would be to if it happened to you.
Imagine yourself in a situation for a moment. In your job, you’ve been asked to work dozens upon dozens of hours extra, standing out in the rain, day and night. Imagine working on less than four hours of sleep for three days of work. Imagine every other person you confronted at work were rude or hostile to you. No imagine that your work also involved on a daily basis seeing abused children, people dying from auto accidents, or the risk of tweaked out drug users shooting at you.
Now imagine those were your good days.
Putting yourself in the police officer’s shoes, maybe a good way to deal with him is to offer to bring him some coffee and say thanks.
Officers often start with a tough-first interaction with people.
Anything you can do to stay calm, positive, helpful, pleasant and confident will usually result in a better conversation with the officer. And it helps not to bug him if he has more than one thing going on at the moment.
I already did that. I called dispatch and suggested the alternative signs since I was left with no obvious way to get home. I didn’t blame the officer there or anything - I just pointed out how he couldn’t really give me any guidance on where to go.
I’ve never had a bad experience with dispatch. They’re always pretty good on the phone.
I always try to be courteous and keep my encounters with law enforcement as short as possible.
This is because really bad things can happen otherwise.
Understand that if you are questioned by the police, they are to elicit evidence to charge you with a crime or at the very least cite you.
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