Opinion : R-E-S-P-E-C-Ting the Uniform

(*No this isn't an article about Aretha Franklin, but her song title sums up the topic of this article.) Okay, I admit it. I like to drive and fast. I love the states where the speed limit is 80 mph. Of course, when you are driving in those states, that's the speed in the slow lane. Sometimes, all bets are off when it comes to the flow of traffic. But that's another topic. After all of the vidoes about people being absolute morons when they are pulled over, I thought maybe I should do a first hand account of what a "normal traffic" stop is, when "normal" lawbreakers are stopped. It goes something like this. *Scene opens with a car trucking down the road, over the speed limit because I'm the one driving" "Oh crap", I say, and I see the car I met do a u-turn behind me. I know exactly who it is and why they did a u-turn. I see the lights flashing behind me, so I slow down and pull over. "Hello," says the kind gentleman, "You know why I stopped you?" I figure there's no sense in beating around the bush, we BOTH know why we're here. "You were going a little fast" he says, then tells me how fast I was going. I don't argue with him, I knew that I was in the wrong. "Can I see your license and registration please?" he politely asks. I already had my license out, now to locate the registration and insurance card that I knew he'd want to see. It's in the glove box SOMEPLACE but where? After fumbling around, I finally locate the needed paperwork and hand it to the officer. He returns with my ticket. I sign, I thank him, yes, I thanked him. I then head home. Simple, straightforward, no screaming and yelling or a need for body slamming anyone to the pavement. Amazing how that works. Actually when you cooperate things go pretty quickly too. Show respect to the officers when you're the "bad guy" and they will always respectful to you. I don't know, about you, but I am a little tired of all of the hit stories about our officers that put their lives on the line, and deal with morons, every day. No, I'm VERY tired of the slanted stories on our law enforcement. I don't know about you, but I understand that 911 is one of those phone numbers that caters to your needs. When you call this number, the folks that come running when something bad is happening to you, are the same ones that pull you over on the highway. They are the ones that come when most of us are experiencing some we've never experienced before. These are the guys and gals that will be on the scene if you are unfortunate enough to be involved in an accident. People on the end of that line are the ones out there saving our necks when we need it. Give these folks the respect that they deserve. I'd go a step further and suggest that if you have friends in your circle that have nothing good to say for our officers, I'd get new friends. So here's a shout out to you Officer Lynch, you probably did me a favor.