I took my son to a playground in the neighborhood where we live. It was fairly early in the AM, and there were no other kids around.
About 20 minutes into playing, a law enforcement truck pulled up, and a local city police officer stepped out and began speaking to the one of the occupants of the house near the playground. They were chatting for a bit, clearly about something pertaining to the law, or some issue.
But what I found interesting - and what I found disturbing - is that the cop pulled the vehicle up on the wrong side of the street and shut off the engine. In other words, the cop was essentially blocking traffic going the other way on the street and had the engine off, but no flashers or sirens turned on.
Anyone else had done the same thing - would be breaking the law. And so was the cop.
As an aside, I would've taken a picture, but doing so (being a non-white male) would result in death in this country for me.
Granted it was early in the day and there weren't any cars moving around at that hour. On the other hand, traffic laws in this state exist 24 hours a day/7days a week; so it's not like they don't suddenly not exist at any given moment in time.
Maybe it's just second nature to the cop. Maybe it's their way of doing things. Maybe it's what they are trained to do, or how to act. Or perhaps he didn't realize what he was doing. The most obvious conclusion is that he figured that he was operating in the line of duty, and that gave him the right to circumvent any pertinent laws.
But in any of those cases, it's not about intent, but rather what results that has the most impact.
The cop broke the traffic law simply because they can.
But I think of it as a reminder that in this country - there are two sets of rules: one for those who wield power over others, and one for those who don't.
