I don’t care if officers drive fast
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This was a question brought to the forefront recently by a college student who questioned a deputy’s speed in what many locals call the “citizens arrest incident,” the name emanating from “The Andy Griffth Show’s” episode involving Gomer’s attempt to write a ticket to Barney Fife.
In case you’ve been living under a rock, a local youth pulled in behind an officer and basically asked him what gave the officer the right to speed for no reason. An exchange of words followed which escalated into the youth’s arrest and the arrests of three more family members who appeared on the scene.
Granted, this is no laughing matter seeing the reputations of a family, all arrested for allegedly causing a scene, and the reputations of several deputies, not to mention what could be a huge lawsuit, hang in the balance based on which side you believe. The case will likely play itself out over the remainder of the year.
Regardless of who you believe, the whole incident brings up something that has been murmured by folks as long as I can remember, that being, should lawmen be able to get away with things for which others might receive a ticket? It is an especially sore subject to a person who has just paid a $115 ticket for speeding (not me), who then sees an officer exceeding the speed limit without lights and siren activated.
Now I’m not saying law enforcement is disregarding the traffic laws of our state, because frankly, they are amongst the safest drivers out there when you consider you don’t see many crashes involving officers. And, generally when you do, they involve the officers trying to stop a fleeing suspect, not an officer running a red-light to make it to supper on time.
Now, most of you I’m sure will say an officer should not be violating the rules of the road if his blue lights are not running.
However, I’ve got to part with the conventional wisdom and say, who in the world cares? If you’ve got so much free time in your life that all you can do is sit there worrying about why a deputy is doing 10 miles over the speed limit, then maybe you need to find a hobby or something. The way I figure it is if there’s gun play at my home (and it’s not my gun being played with), I not only want the officer to get there as fast as possible, with or without blue lights, but I also expect him to put himself in harm’s way to protect my safety. If my only concession is that he exceeds the speed limit once in a while, hey, that’s a small price to pay.
“Looky there, Sherrill is supporting law breaking so long as you’re a police officer,” some of you are saying.
No, actually I just despise the common practice of making a mountain out of a molehill and generally the people who do it are just people who are so bored with life that they have nothing better to do with their time. It’s equivalent to a person calling me up to tell me they found a misspelling in my column.
While that person may feel all intelligent and empowered, I just look at them like they’re a jerk. Your call won’t make me a better speller nor will it change spelling policy at the paper. It will simply make me think there’s something abnormal about you or that you’re a stalker.
Hey, if someone, an officer or civilian, does something seriously wrong, I say drop a dime and turn them in. But when it comes to splitting hairs, give it a rest.
Duane Sherrill is a reporter for the Standard. He can be reached at 473-2191 or by e-mail at news@southernstandard.com.