It happens all the time. You see them parking in no parking zones, you see them speeding on the highway and you know we've all seen them weaving in and out of traffic. Who are these culprits constantly breaking the law? The very people whose job it is to uphold it.
There's no doubt societies need to have rules and regulations to abide by to keep that society functioning well. We can go on to say that in our society, police officers act as those people who enforce the law. But how many times have we seen them misuse their power?
Seriously, if a cop is going to go grab a cup of coffee at Starbucks or get some Jamba Juice, do they really need to park in the no parking areas that are located right outside of the store? If you head out to Starbucks and Jamba Juice at around 11 p.m., you'll definitely see a couple of police cars parked conveniently outside of the store, right next to the "NO PARKING" sign. They often hang out for awhile, leaving their cars parked there for a couple of hours. If any of us normal citizens were to do the same thing, our cars would either get towed or quickly ticketed. How do some cops act when there's traffic on the highways?
We've all seen police cars speeding down crowded highways or driving in the shoulder lanes next to the center divides because they want to avoid the traffic. We have probably also seen the police motorcycles weaving in and out of cars to avoid the traffic as well. When we speed down the highway, or when non-police officer motorcyclists speed down, and there are police officers around, I'm pretty sure we'd all probably get pulled over.
Of course, when there's an emergency, we don't mind these types of behaviors, but many times their sirens aren't on. It's easy to assume that since their sirens aren't blasting in our ears, there is no emergency. Doesn't that mean they should be driving through traffic like everyone else? There are even a few times when I've seen police officers turn on their sirens for a couple of seconds so that they can go through red lights, then turn the sirens off and continue to drive as if nothing has happened.
I'm not going on to say that all cops are bad. Police officers do a lot of great things for the citizens they serve and protect. They direct traffic when it's needed, and help people in their hour of need. However, it just doesn't seem right that we get pulled over for doing 65 on a 50 mph freeway, while they're able to do 70 without there being any apparent emergency, and no repercussions. Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't some of these actions, I don't know -- illegal?
Copyright 2003 Ka Leo O Hawaii
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