And even more about Police Officers!!

[cowpuc]

Having just watched that You Tube arrest video about the older couple and knowing the implications toward LEO's that it has the potential of producing I thought I would post a positive one.

One of the things about "modern" life that has always bugged me is how wasteful we are. Seems like I have spent my life rescuing treasures from trash bins. I have rescued everything from weed eaters, lawn mowers, sheets of plywood, entertainment centers and on and on that were wrongfully headed to the landfill. Maybe its a curse from my childhood days of having to build bicycles from scrap pieces, where ever it came from - I cant stand wastefulness..

Anyway, last night Tip and I had to run into mainstream Muskegon to pickup some RX's, next door to the RX Store is a Radio Shack that is going out of business, beside the Radio Shack is their dumpster that was OVER FLOWING with all kinds of perspective treasure. My whiskers twitched as my feet dragged me over to the treasure chest.. I found two brand new boxes of peg board brackets sitting on top- COOL! Tip walked over and noticed a big spool of plastic banner she wanted me to dig out, while I was digging out the rolled up banner material I noticed a set of car keys laying way down inside of the dumpster.. It took some doings but I fished them out.. They were keys for a newer Dodge - had the "chip", door controls and panic button all built into the master key. Also on the fairly large key chain were numerous key chain mini cards for a variety of stores, one of which happen to be for Ace Hardware. I told Tip that the owner of the keys would probably want them back as just the car key would probably be 300 bucks to replace, let alone all the personal info on the mini cards, house keys and all that..

Because I am usually needing parts for stuff that I have broken, I have a pretty good relationship with our local Ace Hardware people. I stopped there today, showed the counter girl what I had found, she scanned the card and came up with a phone number, she called the person who assumably owned the keys (I was proud of her, even though she knows me she still gave me NO information) but the number came back as being disconnected.. There were lots of other cards on the chain but I thought it best to not attempt getting personal info on someone off any other cards. I drove back into town thinking maybe I could catch someone at the Radio Shack. The store was closed and I was SHOCKED to see the mess that other dumpster divers had made of the area where I had found the keys, I was not to shocked to see a police officer sitting there writing out a report.

He rolled down his window as I pulled up beside his car. I told him about noticing the stores trash last night and he smiled as I told him that I was a Professional Dumpster Diver and told him about the keys I had found inside the dumpster..

The officer thanked me for trying to locate the rightful owner of the keys, agreed that someone would be very happy to have them back (said they probably had dropped them in the trash by accident when cleaning out the store) and told me that he would take it upon himself to track down the rightful owner from the other key cards (had a couple Pharmacy cards on it so it might not be too difficult). The officer never even brought up the trashed area around the dumpsters even after I openly admitted to having found the keys in the dumpster the night before! Someone out there is going to be very happy that there are Police Officers who really are still serving the public and having our backs!!

[Yammer Dan]

There are some good ones. I ride with one.

[djh3]

I have maybe an odd view. But I personaly think those that want to throw thier weight around to show you the are in charge would do it weather a LEO or a valet parking lot attendant. Unfortunatly it has a worse effect if its already someone with a position of authority.

[GaryZ]

I have maybe an odd view. But I personaly think those that want to throw thier weight around to show you the are in charge would do it weather a LEO or a valet parking lot attendant. Unfortunatly it has a worse effect if its already someone with a position of authority.

 

An unfortunate truth about law enforcement is the ego needed to be an officer. This ego, although needed, can easily slip into a power trip. A study I read 30 years ago suggested that 40% of law enforcement officers started out, or have slipped into the power trip mode. I think this is still true. This doesn't mean these officers are bad people, however, they likely will react poorly to back talking and bad manners. Hey, here's a thought; Let's show good manners when speaking to the police and everyone else!

[Howard B]

I had a friend years ago who was a police officer in so. California. One night while on patrol he discovered a young couple talking while parked on the side of a very lonely road. He left them alone and left the area. Several hours later he returned to the area and saw the car still parked. He quietly stopped and discovered them sleeping after their "party". Her slacks were draped over the steering wheel where she had obviously put them before they started "partying". He very carefully reached into the open window and removed the slacks, then slowly drove away. Some officers do have a sense of humor!

[Flyinfool]

My dog always tells me whether the LEO is good or bad. It is something she can sense somehow as they are walking up. If she is all happy to see them and wanting to be petted, then they are a good one, if she just goes in the back seat and lays down, I'm in trouble. If they (or anyone for that matter) reaches into the car, it will get real ugly real fast.

[Vonwolf]

I had a Cop friend of my brothers install a A/C unit in my house on the side, he was telling me that "Granger" a huge industrial supplier of just about anything usually just throws returned items in their dumpster, without even checking them. He DD's there all the time and told me it perfectly legal, their dumpsters are right out front under a big light so I don't really feel like testing that statement, but he gets a lot of expensive tools, meters, all kind of things that are easily repaired out of them.