Remember your first encounter with a POLICE OFFICER? I don't...so, let's move along. I do remember fearing the OVERSEAS coppers. You don't want to end up in some foreign prison with dirt for a floor and a hole in the ceiling for air and light. It's so Midnight Express!
I did have my encounter with the arm of the law in Australia. They have really small police cars. They looked like colourful toys from my dinky car set. WHAT'S TO FEAR? How can you take an officer seriously when they're driving a vehicle on par with a Volkswagen beetle.
To their credit they were the best ambassadors of their country. I KID YOU NOT! My travelling partner and I were lost in Sydney and we went up to a foot patrol policeman to ask him if he could tell us where we could go to eat..something 'fun and funky' for an out-of-towner. Well, this guy, all decked out in his national colours, walked us 4 blocks to a little Italian restaurant, paid for the meal and shared a few stories. Now, either he was dressed up as a police officer or there is NO CRIME Down Under. Bliss!
Back in Canada I had some pretty scary moments. I had an entire line-up of officers on the front lawn with high-beam lights on my house. My parents were away and my siblings were also out. I was alone. Very Macaulay Culkin. I was pressed up against the wall waiting for a spray of bullets shattering glass and plugging holes in the wall. I know, a bit dramatic but, I did see Reservoir Dogs and the Godfather Trilogy!
It ended up being a false alarm but, I thought...boy, if I was a crook, this would give me a full throttle heart attack. Makes explaining a little hard when your parents come home.
"So, how was your evening dear?"
Today things are very different. You have the international mix of officers: short, tall, women, men, turbans on top, the taser special, side of pepper spray, smile 'you're on cop corner video'... IT'S A WHOLE NEW WORLD!
If , if..and it's not happening, I was a police officer I would be one of those guys who rides a Clydesdale through Stanley Park. Or, I would be a dog trainer. I love watching those dogs train.
Men dress up in their Pillsbury Dough Boy outfits and run for barbed-wire fence. One whistle and off goes 'CHANCE', the one-track Shepherd! Heroes in their own right. The horses don't get much credit but, the kids love to stop and pet the NICE OFFICERS PONY! Also, photo ops are great!
I got my first speeding ticket a week after I was driving my sister's little Datsun. I was going over the bridge and forgot (sort of) to take my foot off the pedal at the other end of the bridge. I was horrified! I had three friends in the car with me, all laughing hysterically.."YOUR FIRST FINE DUDE!!" I told them to SHUT-UP as I didn't want to be dragged into the back seat of a police car. We all go through that first speeding ticket 'crisis'.
I wouldn't want to be an officer today. GANGS, MENTAL ILLNESS, ROAD RAGE, DRUG WARS..it's just ugly! No more Cops at the donut shop talking it up with the owner. The job is anything but 'romantic' or 'heroic'...now, the police are accountable for every slip-up in history and tossed on the front page of the papers.
One thing I will say, the RCMP throw the best Weddings! My mother married an R.C.M.P. officer and it was one big formal affair with bagpipes and full uniforms. I felt very safe! As time went by, I got really sick of hearing the bagpipes every weekend. The novelty of having a cop for a father wore a little thin, but I still felt safe.
I loved it when the police came to my school to do their 'presentation'. Everything from dog antics to 'Good Touch, Bad Touch'. We got to touch their badges (not guns-BAD TOUCH). There were always so nervous! I thought how do these sweating men in uniform save lives when they can't get through the tough Kindergarten questions? I thought the Firemen put on a more exciting show because we got to play with the extinguishers.
So, in our changing world, we have cops on 10 speeds, in cars, on horses, on ROLLERBLADES, foot patrol, in boats and soon, I'm sure they'll be skateboarding past you and slapping a fine on your backside. Times are a'changin'! And, we cannot forget the brave men and women on the force, in the line of duty who HAVE GIVEN THEIR LIVES TO PROTECT OTHERS...
Remember your first encounter with a POLICE OFFICER? I don't...so, let's move along. I do remember fearing the OVERSEAS coppers. You don't want to end up in some foreign prison with dirt for a floor and a hole in the ceiling for air and light. It's so Midnight Express! 
I did have my encounter with the arm of the law in Australia. They have really small police cars. They looked like colourful toys from my dinky car set. WHAT'S TO FEAR? How can you take an officer seriously when they're driving a vehicle on par with a Volkswagen beetle.
Today things are very different. You have the international mix of officers: short, tall, women, men, turbans on top, the taser special, side of pepper spray, smile 'you're on cop corner video'... IT'S A WHOLE NEW WORLD!
If , if..and it's not happening, I was a police officer I would be one of those guys who rides a Clydesdale through Stanley Park. Or, I would be a dog trainer. I love watching those dogs train.
One thing I will say, the RCMP throw the best Weddings! My mother married an R.C.M.P. officer and it was one big formal affair with bagpipes and full uniforms. I felt very safe! As time went by, I got really sick of hearing the bagpipes every weekend. The novelty of having a cop for a father wore a little thin, but I still felt safe.
I loved it when the police came to my school to do their 'presentation'. Everything from dog antics to 'Good Touch, Bad Touch'. We got to touch their badges (not guns-BAD TOUCH). There were always so nervous! I thought how do these sweating men in uniform save lives when they can't get through the tough Kindergarten questions? I thought the Firemen put on a more exciting show because we got to play with the extinguishers.
So, in our changing world, we have cops on 10 speeds, in cars, on horses, on ROLLERBLADES, foot patrol, in boats and soon, I'm sure they'll be skateboarding past you and slapping a fine on your backside. Times are a'changin'! And, we cannot forget the brave men and women on the force, in the line of duty who HAVE GIVEN THEIR LIVES TO PROTECT OTHERS...
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