Sometimes they surprise you. by Fremdfirma

REAL WORLD EVENT DISCUSSIONS

Sometimes they surprise you.

POSTED BY: FREMDFIRMA
UPDATED: Monday, December 19, 2011 02:59
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VIEWED: 949
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Friday, December 16, 2011 9:18 AM

Y'all know I ain't too fond of police, or even the IDEA of police in general, no doubt - and while I got a hate-on for the Detroit/Wayne County goons as they've fallen pretty far without Evans to keep em in line...

I have repeatedly mentioned the substantially improved and on occasion downright sterling professional conduct of the Washtenaw County Sheriffs Dept, despite a certain rivalry personal and professional, yes ?
(With extra shout out to Roy and Kreigs who are helping turn West Willow around, by using old school traditional policing)

Well this one is pretty nice - mind you these kids and their families are usually quite poor, I should know cause I'll be spending a chunk of the day running fruit baskets from the local farmers to some of the same folk, courtesy of Second Harvest...
http://www.annarbor.com/news/ypsilanti/area-children-shop-with-a-cop-a
nd-take-ypsilanti-township-walmart-by-storm/

I like the whole idea, and especially the chance to make personal connections outside of official business with the young people of the neighborhoods, cause that can make a huge difference - knowing your local cops as human beings, flaws and all, instead of as faceless jackbooted storm troopers who see you as one more faceless perp - that HUMAN connection, aided by these programs, and again by Roy and Kreigs, is more than any clampdown or terror campaign, what is going to turn West Willow from a warzone back into a neighborhood.

Mind you, personal interest here - West Willow is like, across the street from here, literally, the apartment unit I picked is in fact the closest one to the road and the intersection here so I can keep an eye on it, ergo less trouble there means less overflow here.

S'funny, I'll relate this one cause it kind of applies too...

Tues night/Wed morning as I was patrolling the back stretch that faces the road, I hear a car approaching which is obviously suffering severe mechanical difficulty, not uncommon around here, but it finally gives out RIGHT there and coasts to a halt across the street - which is yeah verily, on the other side of the "line" and not my issue or business (technically) whatever, but it was dark, cold, and that's West friggin Willow over there, NOT a place you wanna be stranded in - so I broke off and wandered over there to see two young white folk, a guy and his ladyfriend, and while racial concerns ain't so bad here as other places it's still a really bad idea for any cracker other than me or the Sherrifs dept to go wandering around over there after dark, okay ?

And I note (as they've not yet seen me approach) they look pretty damn scared, he's flaking out at the car, and she's actually freakin praying, and when they see me they have this "Aww shit" look on their face prolly figuring imma hassle them - but instead I ask if they require assistance, and find that the fuel guage of their car is broken (so is mine, I know the feeling) and a miscalculation has left them out of fuel at an inopportune moment.

I look around, and dismiss immediately the notion of calling a tow for them as that would involve time, noise, lights, and even possibly Washtenaw showing up in hopes of ticketing somebody, their greed about that being one flaw I still hold against em - basically noise and chaos disturbin the dark, silent calm of my neighborhood, but nor am I gonna leave them swing - fuck society, fuck the rules, when they leave people swinging at the windy corner...
All this passes through my mind in an eyeblink moment and I tell em, sit tight a moment and I'll bring the car around, and before they can even say huh-WHAT, I've humped it back to the office to grab my wallet and car keys, and moment after that pull up beside em, no-questions-asked.

They hop in, cause the car itself will be safe enough, not like it's goin nowhere, and leaving someone in it wouldn't be, as I advised them - and I haul it as quick as I can without risking a ticket to the gas station and mini-mart just up the road, which is NOT a nice place really, but none of the hangers-on around there are gonna cross irons with ME in the dark, especially when I am all suited up and on-the-job, and the locals will so inform the unaware of just how bad an idea that is right quick like, so it's safe enough.

The stranded folks didn't have a gas can and I hoped to buy one, we could always put it in the emergency kit the office has (I later added one, just in case) but they apparently didn't sell them - the night manager there is a downright crook but when I told him the situation he goes and gets HIS gas can and loans it to me, AND fronts me the fuel without a blink, knowing my word is as solid as it comes, and so in short order we're hauling it back to the car and dumping that can into the tank with my car set to shield it with the hazards blinking, and I get them on their way, paying little mind to their thanks and brushing off any notion of compensation, then return the gas can and settle up with the night manager before returning to the grounds and resuming the round, nailing it down with five minutes to spare on top of the ad-hoc rescue mission.

Of course, I took a certain unspoken amusement in them apparently taking the matter as a validation of their Christian faith, as I am a most unlikely "angel" if there ever was - and that my motives weren't nearly as altruistic as some might think at first blush since my primary concern was avoiding the noise and disturbance of a towing or them getting messily mugged/killed and thus disturbing the quiet peace of my evening...

That and I hate, hate, HATE the local towing companies - I still have issues with Stadium hiring a two-time loser sex-offender who formerly abused the kids at his wifes daycare center and THEN had a pending case against him for trying to assault a woman he was about to tow in the middle of nowhere, seriously, would YOU hire him as a tow truck operator?! - ergo I wouldn't trust NONE of these bastards without a weapon close to hand, and besides that a Wrecker in or near my "turf" in the wee hours of the night makes me friggin psychotic cause the line between Repo and outright theft around here is really thin, and even a "legit" repo is in material breach of the peace if they come HERE after-hours since while they're allowed to violate the debtors private property, they've no right to violate that of a third party, especially in such a fashion a to provoke that third partys hired security into getting all manner of on their case about it - laid back or not, when the sun goes down on this place, it's MINE, MY complex, MY people, and you screw with that, I become a jackbooted imperial fucking stormtrooper on you, damn quickly.

So no, I wasn't gonna leave em at the tender mercies of them crooks, or the local thugs, or even Washtenaw, who'd shake em down and hassle them, maybe ticket them, and then perhaps-maybe assist them if they damn well pleased to, not on your life - help em out quick and quiet and get them the hell AWAY from here before something ill can come of it, right ?

Even so, as I pointed out in an effort to deflect their effusive thanks, I been down and out myself before, and help was long in coming if at all - to not render aid would be awful damn hypocritical of me given all the times someone left ME swinging at the windy corner, and to pass that wrong forward instead of putting an end to it by acting otherwise, unconscionable.

I *DO* have morals yanno - they're different from yours, often very much so, but they are there.

-Frem

I do not serve the Blind God.

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Friday, December 16, 2011 11:01 AM

CANTTAKESKY

Quote:
Originally posted by Fremdfirma:
I *DO* have morals yanno - they're different from yours, often very much so, but they are there.

Nobody would ever think otherwise.

-----
"Christmas is a time when kids tell Santa what they want and adults pay for it. Deficits are when adults tell the government what they want - and their kids pay for it." - Richard Lamm

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Sunday, December 18, 2011 7:09 PM

RIONAEIRE

Beir bua agus beannacht

That's good about the police force trying to make connections and do their job right Frem.

Relationship, kindness and helping others are always the best way. I don't put as much stock in motivation as others as long as the right thing is done, I don't much care why its done, I'm sort of odd that way but motivation and controlling one's motivations is something that is missing a piece in my ability to conceptualize myself and the world so I fail to understand why its important, actions speak louder than reasons or words.

"A completely coherant River means writers don't deliver" KatTaya

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Sunday, December 18, 2011 8:30 PM

FREMDFIRMA

Well, it's always been my opinion that the reasons for peoples actions mean far less than the actions themselves - WHY people do things is less important than the things they do...

Which is why I get on so well with a certain Paladin despite being an unabashed Villain, cause often as not despite coming at it from diametrically opposite ends of the moral spectrum most of the time we come to the exact same conclusion on what action should be taken, something that never fails to amuse the hell out of both of us in an ironic sorta way.

What you BELIEVE means nothing, what you DO, means everything.

-Frem

I do not serve the Blind God.

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Monday, December 19, 2011 2:59 AM

CANTTAKESKY

Quote:
Originally posted by Fremdfirma:
What you BELIEVE means nothing, what you DO, means everything.

Nothin' truer.

Ideology is empty.

Compassion is everything.

-----
"Christmas is a time when kids tell Santa what they want and adults pay for it. Deficits are when adults tell the government what they want - and their kids pay for it." - Richard Lamm

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