Yin and Yang

One of the most depressing things to me is when I witness people in power abusing their power or position. I suppose I shouldn't find it so sad, since it was one of the motivating factors that caused me to want to become an attorney. I get a real high from exposing and destroying abuses of the public trust.

So it is with some sadness that I relay the following: yesterday, I was in Municipal Court for a traffic offense. I was representing one of my favorite clients: me. A month ago, I had the unfortunate occurrence of (allegedly) failing to obey a certain traffic law.

Now, one thing you need to know is that when a defendant goes to this particular court, he needs to get in a line and wait to speak to someone who is called a "liaison officer". This is really just a fancy term for "low man on the totem pole", and the officer they assign to this duty evidently must, by state statute, be obnoxious.

Another thing you need to know is that I was advised by the Prosecutor to ask the liaison officer to give me my ticket so that I could give it to the Prosecutor and have him deal with it directly.

So, as I approached the officer, I was not wondering IF he would say something annoying to me; instead I was wondering just exactly WHAT pithy comment he would have for me.

I was dressed in my lawyer costume, so the first words out of my mouth were going to be (what became apparent was a misguided attempt) to explain to him that, although I am an attorney, I am here for myself and I need you to do something that you normally don't do, which is give me the ticket so I can give it to the Prosecutor. Clearly this was not going to go well.

"Good Morning, Officer. I'm an attorney, but I'm actually here --"

"I don't care who you are, attorney, whatever, waddya want?"

[This is where I lowered myself to his level -- I am sorry but I could not help it]

"Ok, that's great, you're a cop, and I couldn't care less about that either, so let's start over. I'm here to get my ticket --"

"Oh yea, I am a cop, which means I have more power than you!" [He literally said that]

"Really? You think so? How many friends do you have that you can call Governor?" [I know, I know....but there was no resisting it. Sorry :(]

"Yeah, well, I can write you a ticket."

"Yes, and I make my living beating them."

[At this point it is clear I had trumped him]

"Ok, waddya need?"

The entire conversation lasted less then 30 seconds, but it was nonetheless 30 seconds on the taxpayers' dime that could have been saved if the officer had kept his introductory sarcastic comment to himself and just done his job professionally.

Normally this would be entirely unbloggable, but I felt the urge to include this because of something that happened this morning.

As I was packing my car up in the pre-dawn hours, I inadvertently left an interior light on. Walking out my front door one final time, I was surprised to see a police car blocking my driveway with an officer, flashlight in hand, walking around my car. I knew immediately that the interior light must have made him suspicious, apologized for taking his time, and thanked him for his efforts.

So there you have it: two polar opposites of policing in less than 24 hours. Yin and Yang, as they say.

Thank you Officer Yang: a letter to your Chief is already on it's way. As for Officer Yin: I'll see YOU in Court. Just please don't hold against me again that fact that I'm an attorney. After all, I just may be the guy that saves your ass one day.