59 to 65 was supposed to be the route we took through Birmingham AL on our way to Gulf Shores. We didn't. We stayed on 59. This led to a 2 and 1/2 hour odyssey through Birmingham, in the process learning about the city's streets, its restaurants (we had lunch), and its police department. Well, actually Bessemer's police department. It has a long and wordy mission statement you can read here. In essence, like every other PD, it is to protect and serve, although they add language about bringing to justice those who violate the law and disturb the peace of Bessemer. That tells you the orientation right away.
Well, just as I realized we were on 59 in error we came upon a traffic jam, right by an exit. And we did not exit the off ramp quite fast enough. Instead we crawled forward about 200 yards in 10 minutes to the entrance ramp. No one was going up that ramp. And several cars decided to escape the mess by going off the on ramp. I don't know about anyone else, but I have done that before, and lots of people have in similar circumstances.
And at the bottom we found- two representatives of the Bessemer PD. They had blocked off the ramp with their cars and were directing people away from the jam, which had traffic at a standstill because all lanes were blocked.
Now, it seems to me that a responsible action by the PD would be to block the ramp with two cars and one officer to direct people away from the ramp, and then to get the other officer at the top of the onramp to direct people down it in a safe and orderly fashion.
But NO! Instead, the officers were stopping the citizens who so wrongly took initiative to get out of a standstill jam, and they were giving them tickets. And of course they did so with maddening slowness. We sat for a half hour while these two functionaries checked out our license plate, etc,etc.
I am not in any way claiming I did not break the law. I did. I went the wrong way on a street. But here is the difference between the letter and the function of the law. These two 'officers' were enforcing law at the expense of reason and safety. They were not serving and protecting, but they certainly were enforcing. How proud they must feel! People could swelter in their cars, need diabetic meds, be hungry, need a bathroom, but all those legitimate needs take second place to preventing people from driving down an onramp that IS ALREADY CLOSED! The ramp had been closed by- the police! But instead of serving and protecting, instead of helping, instead of applying law situationally, they merely enforced the letter while inconveniencing people for no good reason.
These are the sort of police that would issue tickets for driving the wrong way on a street during a hurricane evacuation. That of course is under the direction of the police, but so was this. They had closed the ramp. I can only suppose they lacked in imagination or initiative to do the unusual to help people rather than do the idiotic to enforce the law.
Having experienced capricious authority I am not one to talk to or back to a policeman. And I didn't here. My wife was all chatty and pleasant, her way of dealing with oppression and stress. And I was tight lipped and silent, my way. But I don't have to be silent here, or in writing their chief of police, or the Birmingham papers.
And I don't EVER have to drive through that damnable, officious city. And I don't have to support their institutions or refer to their doctors. And I am entirely free to publish here and elsewhere, such as TripAdvisor, my opinion of a city whose PD extracts a dozen 200.00 tickets from people stuck in an immobile traffic jam.
And I hope they suffer for it.
Ted
Well, just as I realized we were on 59 in error we came upon a traffic jam, right by an exit. And we did not exit the off ramp quite fast enough. Instead we crawled forward about 200 yards in 10 minutes to the entrance ramp. No one was going up that ramp. And several cars decided to escape the mess by going off the on ramp. I don't know about anyone else, but I have done that before, and lots of people have in similar circumstances.
And at the bottom we found- two representatives of the Bessemer PD. They had blocked off the ramp with their cars and were directing people away from the jam, which had traffic at a standstill because all lanes were blocked.
Now, it seems to me that a responsible action by the PD would be to block the ramp with two cars and one officer to direct people away from the ramp, and then to get the other officer at the top of the onramp to direct people down it in a safe and orderly fashion.
But NO! Instead, the officers were stopping the citizens who so wrongly took initiative to get out of a standstill jam, and they were giving them tickets. And of course they did so with maddening slowness. We sat for a half hour while these two functionaries checked out our license plate, etc,etc.
I am not in any way claiming I did not break the law. I did. I went the wrong way on a street. But here is the difference between the letter and the function of the law. These two 'officers' were enforcing law at the expense of reason and safety. They were not serving and protecting, but they certainly were enforcing. How proud they must feel! People could swelter in their cars, need diabetic meds, be hungry, need a bathroom, but all those legitimate needs take second place to preventing people from driving down an onramp that IS ALREADY CLOSED! The ramp had been closed by- the police! But instead of serving and protecting, instead of helping, instead of applying law situationally, they merely enforced the letter while inconveniencing people for no good reason.
These are the sort of police that would issue tickets for driving the wrong way on a street during a hurricane evacuation. That of course is under the direction of the police, but so was this. They had closed the ramp. I can only suppose they lacked in imagination or initiative to do the unusual to help people rather than do the idiotic to enforce the law.
Having experienced capricious authority I am not one to talk to or back to a policeman. And I didn't here. My wife was all chatty and pleasant, her way of dealing with oppression and stress. And I was tight lipped and silent, my way. But I don't have to be silent here, or in writing their chief of police, or the Birmingham papers.
And I don't EVER have to drive through that damnable, officious city. And I don't have to support their institutions or refer to their doctors. And I am entirely free to publish here and elsewhere, such as TripAdvisor, my opinion of a city whose PD extracts a dozen 200.00 tickets from people stuck in an immobile traffic jam.
And I hope they suffer for it.
Ted
Comments
Post a Comment