Hating the Police

          Several years ago I was stopped by a Hertford police officer on Burgess Road where it ends at Holiday Island Road.  It was dark, and because I had not seen headlights coming from either direction (or the police car in the shadows), I turned left without making a full stop.  I was wrong and prepared to be ticketed.  When the officer came to my open window and asked if I knew why he had stopped me, I admitted the violation, but I also asked that he keep his voice down, because my two granddaughters were in the back seat sleeping.  He checked.  I guess the sight of the little girls tugged at his heartstrings: he let me go with a warning.

          I thought of this incident while viewing pictures of rioters and protestors accusing police of racism in Ferguson and New York.  I asked myself if I would have been ticketed for my transgression had I been black.  I suppose I’ll never know.  But what I do know is that in dealing with local police officers on several occasions over the last 12 years, I have always been treated with fairness, courtesy, and efficiency.  I can also say the same for judges, prosecutors, and court personnel, even when decisions didn’t go my way.  Come to think of it, I couldn’t be more pleased with local public servants in other branches of the judicial system and Social Services, as well as with school officials and teachers in Perquimans County.
          This is not to say that there aren’t any problems with police actions elsewhere or that all our local public servants are without blemish.  But before we excuse arsonists and looters as victims of discrimination; before we claim to understand why rioters march under the banner of civil rights; before we vilify law officers as racist oppressors; before we empathize with race hustler and presidential advisor Al Sharpton as he flouts the rule of law and justifies violence in the name of justice; before we find ourselves inclined to do any of that, we should stop and think about how we are blessed to have people who serve us with unswerving dedication and who would unhesitatingly sacrifice their very lives to ensure our safety.    
          We do not live in a police state.  God forbid we should be forced to become one by the haters and the radical extremists among us.