Sunday morning, drunk guy is trying to parallel park in front of our house. He kills the engine and gets up on the curb several times. If he'd stop, get out and stagger away there'd be no story. Instead, he back and backs into and up onto another car in the street. And then he peels away. A 911 call. They catch him (almost up onto sidewalks along Main Street) on an otherwise peaceful Sunday morning. A cop comes buy to document the damage to the hit car. And since it's a nice day, he stays to chat.
First he wants to assure me that the guy is in custody and will go to jail. Then he says this beats his earliest DUI arrest by a half hour. And he shakes my hand to tell me I did a good thing. Otherwise, the driver might have killed somebody. None of this really matters … except that he took the time. On one level he was maybe just working me, trying to get me to be that citizen who is quick to call in when there's trouble. But then I realized maybe I was being schooled in a good way.
Part of what the policeman was doing was trying to build rapport and relationships with the community. I never much thought about that before and I never really understood why "beat cops" were such a nice part of cities. But when the shit comes down and the police must act, their efforts are probably successful to the degree they are assisted and supported by citizens. In the end, it really didn't matter that he was unable to offer an easy solution to my spouse's query about how to stop cars from honking instead of bothering to ring a doorbell. What did become apparent is that this policeman was teaching us how to help him do his job and make us happy citizens at the same time.
In another context, Zero was dismayed that he was being treated as an educational expert as if he knew the answers. I now wonder whether just taking the time to talk about the situation might not be good pedagogy. Having conversations, and dare I suggest this could be social capital investing, might just be a reasonable way to spread expertise and educate others.
First he wants to assure me that the guy is in custody and will go to jail. Then he says this beats his earliest DUI arrest by a half hour. And he shakes my hand to tell me I did a good thing. Otherwise, the driver might have killed somebody. None of this really matters … except that he took the time. On one level he was maybe just working me, trying to get me to be that citizen who is quick to call in when there's trouble. But then I realized maybe I was being schooled in a good way.
Part of what the policeman was doing was trying to build rapport and relationships with the community. I never much thought about that before and I never really understood why "beat cops" were such a nice part of cities. But when the shit comes down and the police must act, their efforts are probably successful to the degree they are assisted and supported by citizens. In the end, it really didn't matter that he was unable to offer an easy solution to my spouse's query about how to stop cars from honking instead of bothering to ring a doorbell. What did become apparent is that this policeman was teaching us how to help him do his job and make us happy citizens at the same time.
In another context, Zero was dismayed that he was being treated as an educational expert
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