With all the 'cops gone crazy' stories I thought I'd share an upbeat, nice cop story.

[mainegreen]

It can make you so angry reading all the stories here about police using tasers on epileptics, engaging in wild west gunfights and behaving in generally racist and thug like manners, it becomes easy to generalize about police as a whole. I know I've thought to myself rude things about the police when reading these articles, but the truth is most police are nice people who are more interested in helping than hurting. One experience for me stands out in particular as exemplifying this.

A few years ago I lived in a rather large apartment building with a roommate. Parking for the building was across the street in a parking garage. I came home from work one day, parking the car in the garage as I normally did, and made my way across the street and up into my apartment. My roommate at the time was a bit of a hippy, and having already arrived home from work had proceeded to stink up the apartment with his daily relaxation routine. Half an hour after I arrived home, there was a knock at the door. On opening the door I was greeted by a cop. At that point my stomach dropped about as low as it could possibly go. Convinced that we were about to be arrested for my roommates heavy smoking ways, the officer held out my car keys. He then proceeded to tell me how walking up the street he found my car keys. Noting that the keys had one of those 'panic' buttons on it, he proceeded to the garage, assuming correctly, that the car associated with those keys was in the garage. He walked around and up the garage, pressing the panic button until he found my car. Turning off the alarm, he then noted my plate number, went back to his car and referenced the plate number to the address. He then walked into my building and up to my apartment to deliver my keys. As I took the keys, he did a rather *dramatic* air sniffing expression, grinned foolishly and me and said "Have a nice day" before walking back down and out of the building.

He could have busted us. He could have left the keys on the sidewalk. Instead he spent the time to do a really nice thing an chose to not make our lives a living nightmare. I'm sure stories like this happen thousands of times every day in this country, but you'll never hear them as they make terrible news stories. I thought I'd make sure that at least one nice cop story is shared here.

:)

[raccoon]

1. Thanks, mainegreen. There are decent cops out there. nt

[dionysus]

2. It IS Portland after all;)

Sanford native here!

[ellie]

3. I have a nice cop story, too

This past July, my husband and I went kayaking out on the local river. Recent rains had made the river very rough and high but we went anyway because we are stupid. Anyway, my husband capsized and his kayak went floating upside down down the river. The keys to our car, his wallet, and our cell phone (the phone we were going to use to call our ride at the end of the trip) were in his kayak. He had to go get it back. I gave him my kayak, made him put on his life jacket and started walking toward the road.

Meanwhile, someone called the police because they saw the overturned kayak barreling down the river and they thought someone was trapped underneath. Police helicopters, search and rescue boats and ambulances all converged on the river. My husband finally caught up with his overturned kayak and told his story to the police. They were so nice, one of them went out looking for me while I was walking and took me back to where my husband was. Then, because our cell phone was no longer working and I couldn't call for our ride, took me back to our car. They were so nice!

[Catherine Vincent]

4. That's nice. He was probably a pot smoker himself.

:)

[Book Lover]

5. Well, it does save time later, preventing a car theft and all, but yes

The man didn't have to be nice about it.

[eliphaslevi]

6. Cops are human too

I gotta give them credit for all the sh*t they put up with on the job while staying sane. Thanks for sharing.

[zreosumgame]

7. reminds me of the way cops used to be in Key West

it was a real change for me when I went there, cops that respected the people in the area, and did not think of them as 'civilians' and obsticles like the ones we have read about the last couple of days.

[ecstatic]

8. Are you white?

I'm not trying to flame or be sour here, but different people have different realities when it comes to dealing with the cops.

[mainegreen]

9. Yes.

And Maine is something like 99.98% white so it's hard to extrapolate much (ie are our cops racist?), but clearly this was a *nice* guy to go out of his way like he did.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

10. He, and the sheriff who refused to enforce an unconstitutional, racist ordinance in Nevada. -nt

[mainegreen]

11. Never heard about that. Sounds Interesting. Got a link?

Good to hear though.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

13. Took me a while to find but here it is. Worth a read.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=364&topic_id=2792287

[baldguy]

12. Ever hear of the "bad apple"?

The entomology is that apples used to be packed in barrels for shipment. As an apple turns and rots, it gives off ethylene gas, which causes the nearest apples to ripen faster, then rot faster; which in turn causes the other apples to turn. Soon the whole barrel is bad.

Having one bad cop committing crimes against those he has sworn to protect & serve causes evey cop to be looked upon in a diminished light.

[freeplessinseattle]

14. I caused an accident this summer, in a conservative area

north of Seattle. turns out the guy I hit was an off duty cop, but he was so freakin' nice to me, maybe bc he was with his girlfriend, I don't know, but the responding officer was ultra nice, too, and I had genuinely been worried that my "Bush Knew" and "No One Died When Clinton Lied" bumper stickers wouldn't sit well with him. He didn't even give me a ticket for my tabs which he noted were 2 weeks expired, and offered to give me a ride to my destination. He blasted the radio when Billy Joel's "It's My Life" came on, which happens to be one of my favorite songs, and I sang along for awhile until I realized he could probably hear me. (I must say that the thought crossed my mind that he may not have been so friendly if I didn't happen to be a girl wearing a tight little dress, but I'll never know and prefer to think he was just a good guy who knew I was just having a bad day)

[niyad]

15. will share my "nice cop" story as well. MANY years ago, when I was

moving from colorado to Lake Tahoe, having gotten very bad directions, I was driving (unknownst to me) around the lake, in the dark (it was about 2 in the morning) in a big, fully-loaded u-haul. It was clear to me that I was lost, and the gas gauge on the uhaul wasn't working, and I was getting quite nervous. I spotted a highway patrol car in one of the lay-bys, and stopped as soon as I could. Went up to the car, explained my predicament to the officer, who, having warned me that the next 6 miles of road were switchbacks, guided me to my destination, about 20 miles further down the mountain. Just a nice, courteous oficer, helping a traveler in distress. obviously one who took "to serve and protect" seriously.

[IdaBriggs]

16. I have had more "positive" interactions with police officers than negative.

Oddly enough, most of my "negatives" were with female officers who were being super strict sticklers on stuff. One of my favorite incidents was (being young) I ran out of gas on the way to my grandfather's funeral visitation. Two very nice officers WENT AND FETCHED GASOLINE FOR ME, got me unturned around (I'd been crying and was confused as to where I was in relation to where I was going), and then got my car started. My father worked with law enforcement for over thirty years; you'd better believe I have the utmost respect for what those brave people do! It makes the occasional "idiot report" that much more annoying when I know how poorly it reflects on those who do take their "serve and protect" vows seriously!

Kick for the Good Guys (& Gals)!!! Yeah, them! :)

Best, Ida

[puebloknot]

17. You silly girl!

Why didn't you invite him in to share a joint? :)

Nice story!