Stoneage Ramblings

By John R. Stone

Shootings of motorists by law enforcement have been getting headlines for years and people seem to think that there is one solution, police shouldn’t draw arms or maybe even be armed when they approach a vehicle on a traffic stop.

I don’t fear being stopped but I am white and that probably makes things different in many places.

But I also do what I am told if I am stopped. It has been a while since I have been stopped but I don’t want to give an officer any reason to think I am anything but a decent person who might have made an innocent mistake.

I can’t imagine being a police officer going up to a car in a traffic stop. Sure, he or she is probably going to check my license plate before approaching the car to see if it is stolen. That might give the officer a little warning about whether or not this is a risky stop or not.

But that officer won’t know for sure until your window is rolled down and he or she can tell whether or not you intend to follow instructions if he or she is in a risky situation.

Your response will tell the officer the level of risk he or she faces. It could be “did I do something wrong officer?” or “why are you stopping me, why don’t you go after some real criminals,” or “the city council president is my next door neighbor” or “write me a ticket and I’ll sue your pants off,” or “I’m out of here, catch me if you can.” Or the person may pull a gun and start shooting.

Those are a lot of options and you can tell from the list most are not pleasant and some signal danger, real serious danger. And any of the answers above could be masking the effort of a driver or passenger in a vehicle to reach for a weapon.

And at the same time most of us want the idiots who excessively speed, cut us off, roll through stop signs, drive while intoxicated, ignore the normal right of way rules at four way stops to be stopped and dealt with. Those drivers are a danger to the rest of us.

Looking at it from the outside I would think that traffic stops may have to be one of the more frightening aspects of being a police officer. I heard from some that domestic abuse situations are even more dangerous. There, emotions are high, people are mad or frightened and threats may already have been made. In either case I would not want to be an officer who has to deal with either situation.

So I’m glad we have people who are willing to step forward and do this work. Thank God there are people willing to do this sometimes very dangerous job.

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I’ve often wondered why people vote for candidates with the biggest mouths.

If a person is making up a professional team, which government leadership is, you should want the best “players” on your team.

A coach doesn’t pick the people who talk the best smack to be on his team. The coach will pick the people who can do the job. That means they have the skills necessary to do the job, the willingness to keep those skills sharp, the willingness to be a team player and not hog the ball all the time, the willingness to be supportive to other team members and an appreciation of the fact that the team supporters expect results.

Nobody goes to city hall, county board, state legislature or Congress and gets anything done on his or her own. Everything requires the cooperation of others and the agreement from others that what is proposed is something worthwhile and beneficial.

And when something is agreed to it is the employees of the governmental unit who must carry out whatever program has been developed, expanded or changed. They need to be on board, too.

We are the coaches, each of us. We need to pick the team that can be the most effective. We need to pick team members who will work with others for our benefit, not just their own.