DrRent writes (responding to “Speed limits apply to officials too”):
“… a marked patrol car is at a stoplight… and apparantly is not happy with the length of the red light where there is no traffic in the other street (hey, who isn’t). So.. all of a sudden the lights come on.. he runs the red light.. then lights back off. … Must be nice”
Police officers and other government officials are people just like everyone else (loath though some of them may be to admit it to themselves) – which means that they are certainly subject to the same human temptations to “push the envelope” and to get by with whatever they can get away with.
Perhaps more so, since they are generally much less likely to suffer enforcement penalty – who watches the watchers?
Not that it doesn’t happen. Police officers and others (even state governors) who are found in violation of even minor traffic laws, even while on duty, can and are cited and fined for their transgression.
The real harm of the human tendency to sometimes “get by” with whatever one can get away with, especially if it appears that no one will be harmed by it (ever gone through a long stop light in the dead of night when there wasn’t a car or soul to be seen for miles?), is – as has been observed – the example it sets and the resentments it fosters against those who seem to be benefitting from “privileges” or passes not allowed to the rest of us.
We expect law enforcement officers to do just that – uphold and to enforce the law. What message does it send when they themselves at least appear to ignore those same laws to which the rest of us are subjected.
Now here’s the slightly non sequiteur connection:
If you are one of those who grumbles a bit watching the police patrolman use his lights to “slide” through an intersection, or blatantly exceed the speed limit without lights and siren, and without any apparent emergency in progress, or maybe get a “pass” by his brothers-in-blue during an off-duty traffic stop, then you should begin to understand the growing resentment building toward those who sidestep the established legal process of entering and maintaining residence in this country, and toward those who advocate and make excuses for such illegal immigration activity.
(As an aside, DrRent was NOT “grumbling” in his quote above – but was providing an observed example to the issue raised by someone else in an earlier LTE. Follow the link to view the entire thread.)
http://forums.wausaudailyherald.com/viewtopic.php?p=9783&highlight=#9783
