Illustraton by Josh Hagler

Friday October 19, 2001

Two summers ago, I was driving down a highway in Casa Grande, a small town about 70 miles northwest of Tucson, where I went to high school. Actually, I was about 5 miles outside of town, but headed in that direction. There were no streetlights on this strip of the road, and for the first couple miles, I was the only car in sight.

As I was about to make a left turn, I noticed another car pull close behind me. I didn't think anything of it; it was dark to the point that I couldn't tell that it was a police car. That is, until he put his damn lights on.

At this point in my life, I had never been pulled over before. So my immediate thought was, "What the hell can I possibly be doing wrong?" I looked at my speed; I was going 60 mph. The speed limit was 55. "Are you kidding me?" I thought to myself.

So I made the left turn and pulled to the side of the road. The cop came to my door and asked me how fast I was going. Aggravated, but at the same time nervous as hell, I said, "Uh, about 60, I guess?" The cop looked at me, with that "you oughta know better" look, and said, "61."

I always go about 60 on that road. Everyone does. It's one of those unwritten, "just keeping with the flow of traffic" things. At least I thought it was - until this bozo pulled me over.

So between the ticket he gave me and the time I missed from work to go downtown and pay it, I was out a hundred bucks. But that's not what irritated me.

See, Casa Grande is just like Tucson, only with a lot less of the same crap. At any given time, half of the town is either engaging in underage sex, underage drinking or smoking pot. And there I was, just driving to a friend's house, and you'd think the cop had nothing better to do.

Like most of us, I've always considered cops a necessary evil. I know that their job takes a lot more guts than what most of us will do for a living, and I also know that nearly all cops begin with the intention of wanting to help people and to do something valuable with their lives.

But I have to believe that, eventually, the "power trip" mentality seeps into many of their heads. I don't think it's wrong, because it's only natural. Think about it: Nearly all of us held a job where we had to serve the customer and be polite at all costs. If a customer treated us rudely or with disrespect, we had no recourse. Cops have the opportunity of lousy customer service that very few of us have.

If one of the "customers" that officers are assigned to protect and serve passes through a street light as it turns red, changes lanes without using a turn signal or, God forbid, travels 61 mph in a 55 mph zone - with no one else in sight - police hold the advantage of punishing that person with no repercussions.

By the same token, I'm glad they exist, and I couldn't imagine having it any other way. When 30 or so morons decided to make a ruckus at the UA last week by staging a violent protest about some squirrels and telescopes on Mount Graham, the police were there to dissolve the situation and keep the rest of us non-wackos safe. When the twin towers came down in New York City last month, dozens of police officers paid with their lives - the price one pays for courage, I suppose.

Every police officer goes to work each day knowing that, by the means of some unforeseen circumstance, it could be his or her last day on Earth. While even I would have rolled my eyes at that statement a couple months ago, none of us do now.

The moral of the story? I guess all I can say is this: To all the men and women in blue out there, thanks for doing your job every day to keep us safe. But the next time you see one of us doing 61 in a 55 in the middle of nowhere - for the love of God - give us a break.