Misguided Jurisdiction

I was rushing to work the other morning, as is my wont, and I got pulled over. The intersection of the incident was at the 3-way stop at Henderson Rd. and Burnham Rd. I was almost all of the way to Luckney Rd. before the cop caught up with me. I was not going particularly fast; he was just going quite slow. It was like he was acting funny. Come to find out, I think he was acting funny.

One thing I cannot stand is when police use their "power" excessively or unnecessarily. This practice happens all of the time. One day, take notice on the way home from work. You might see a cop turning without a blinker. You might see them speeding, without their lights on, mind you. They are just heading home or to the restaurand, just like the rest of us. You might even see one of them use their lights on you, just because they can. They may have no reason to pull you over, but they are going to flash their lights at you, just because they "can."

A while back, this actually happened to me with a "City of Brandon" employee. This particular car was not police, but rather a black Crown Vic that had "City of Brandon" on the back and sides. I was passing by Brandon Middle School, and it was time for school to let out. There were cars trying to get out onto the road. This guy was one of them. He tried to pull out in front of me, edging his way out. I honked at him because I was already going 45 (the speed limit), and I would not have been able to slow down enough not to hit him. Well, he pulled out behind me quickly (which he should have done anyway, because that is where the open space was) and turned on some blue lights. What in the world? First of all, why does a "City of Brandon" employee even have a car that is equipped with blue lights in the grille and up by the top of the windshield? Also, why is he using these on me? Because I honked at him? I could see his little middle-school-aged daughter sitting in the passenger seat, so I knew he was not on his way to a "call." It was clearly an abuse of his power (this word is used here to mean that he had a blue-light-equipped car).

I got on the phone immediately. I called the Brandon police department. I asked to speak to the chief or whomever would be responsible for a person like this. Come to find out, it fell under the jurisdiction of the Fire Chief. Apparantly, this guy worked for the Fire Chief. I was not able to speak to the chief immediately, but they asked if I would like to leave a message. I did, even though I had little faith that anyone would call me back. When he called me back, I explained what had happened. The chief apologized and stated that the "City of Brandon" employees have already been warned about doing just such a thing. He agreed with me that it is a clear abuse of power, or of the blue lights.

Now, back to the more recent issue. As the cop was pulling up to me on Henderson Rd., I was able to finally read what his motorcycle read…Flowood Police. I have lived in the Greater Metro Jackson Area for over twenty years now, and am pretty familiar with all of the county and city lines, and this guy was out of his jurisdiction. He was in Pearl, mind you, when the "incident" supposedly occurred. (On a side note, I did stop at the sign….it was just a very abrupt stop. I drive a manual shift car, and I am able to stop and start very quickly. Plus, remember, I was hurrying to work that morning.) I know the place he was questioning was in Pearl, because Rebecca and I looked at a house just a block from there, and it had a Pearl address.

Anyway, he comes up to the car, asks me if I know what he pulled me over for. I hate this. Even if I did, am I just going to admit it. I mean, what logic is this? I think it is all part of their breaking down your psyche. I am sure they have a "Police School of Acting" and they practice this out on people. They must pass an evaluation, not on how to shoot and nab actual criminals, but how to harass innocent, law-abiding citizens…whom pay taxes, and the police's salaries. Ironic, isn't it? I mean, the very people that are paying to be "Served and Protected" are being "Harassed and Haranged." That should be the new motto, "To Harrass and Harrang."

After he calls in everything about my license and tag, it comes back that I am clean. He tells me, "I need to stop when I see a stop sign. Come to a complete stop…not just a rolling stop." I really don't think he could have done anything, even if I would have "broken the law." The incident happened in Pearl, and he was employed by Flowood Police. He was not even allowed to cite me for anything. It was out of his jurisdiction.

This type of abuse of power just really gets me. I cannot stand it. They are just flexing their law-enforcement muscles, when they should be finding people that are "actually" doing something dangerous.