Road Blocks and Friendly Officers

Last weekend I was lucky enough to pass through a road block. I was met by very friendly officers who told me to stop my car (I’m being a smart ass). At that point another very friendly officer asked for my license and registration (Also, being a smart ass). When I opened my wallet, my girlfriend’s license fell out and the officer demanded that I give it to him (we had been out on the waterway and she had me hold it, she was also not with me). I asked him why I needed to give it to him and his answer was a very smart assed ‘because I said so’. At that point I told him I was a lawyer and that was not a sufficient answer. Thereafter he explained why and I gave it to him. It’s no wonder why people run, resist and do not co-operate with officers. I am a law abiding person and was met with a smart ass officer’s attitude along with other officers looking through my car with their flash lights. One can’t help but feel violated at a stop like that but with an officer’s bad attitude, it makes the whole experience that much more unbearable. That night had I been asked to co-operate I would have thrown up every legally allowable challenge I could have just to annoy the officer. A simple respectful attitude no matter what I looked like or how I acted would have been the professional benchmark, but it seem to me that those officers were incapable of that standard. Not every person that puts on the uniform is meant for police work. I recently had a conversation with a retired police station psychologist who stated that while there are written exams that screen out those that should not be officers in the first place, some get through and become officers. Don’t get me wrong, I really appreciate what those officers were doing that night. Probably saved a couple of lives, but be a little more professional or don’t be an officer at all. Professionalism. Myrtle Beach already has a bad name as far as law enforcement is concerned, lets try and improve that.