To the Policeman Who Put My Life in Danger

Dear Mr. Policeman,

Perhaps by the title of this post you're already on the defensive, wondering what you've done wrong this time.  It seems like you can never please anyone no matter how hard you try.

But maybe it will surprise you to know that I am not angry nor am I going to accuse you of wrongdoing.

In fact, my purpose is just the opposite.

I'll spare you and anyone else reading this the details of what happened, but while you were headed to an emergency, you did something a little out of character and put me in potential danger by the way you were driving.  It shook me up pretty badly when I realized what had just happened.

But the more I considered the incident, the more I found myself appreciating you and hoping that I could encourage others to do the same.

Perhaps you had assessed the situation much more rapidly than I could have and you knew there was no real danger even though it felt that way to me.

Or perhaps you were so pumped full of adrenaline that your brain didn't quite react the way you knew it should have had you not been in such a high intensity situation.  I actually did a little quick search on adrenaline and found several forums where policemen and other emergency workers were discussing how they were frustrated at the way they'd driven in an emergency situation and were hoping for some pointers so that it wouldn't happen again.

I appreciated that these policemen were concerned for the safety of everyone on the road and wanted to do everything in their power to make sure they were protecting everyone involved.  I believe you feel that way too.  Just because you may have made a mistake one time doesn't mean that cops are power-hungry jerks who don't do anything except drive fast, eat donuts, and hand out tickets just for fun.  I hope more people will realize that.

If this incident wasn't a mistake – awesome.  That means you knew exactly what you were doing and even though it felt scary to me, I can trust that you are protecting me.

If it was simply an adrenline-induced lapse of clear thinking, may I remind anyone reading of a pertinent fact?

Heroes are still human.

None of us should expect a policeman to have superhuman abilities.  However, sir, the difference between your human body and that of an average civilian is that yours has the word hero attached to it.

So instead of calling  you out for yesterday's incident, I want to thank you for putting your life on the line day in and day out for the citizens of this country.  You endanger your own life and work so incredibly hard with so little to show for it.  I for one would like you to know that I'm grateful.

I'll close with Paul Harvey's thoughts on “What is a Policeman?” because I feel it is so true and something I wish every citizen of this country would understand.

Thank you for all that you do.

*This post has been heavily edited from its original version for the sake of clarity.  I want my point to be perfectly clear. I want every policeman and civilian to have no doubt that our policemen deserve a great big “Thank You!” instead of the disgraceful treatment that seems to be popular these days.*