DRIVING WHILE WHITE

"...for he beareth not the sword in vain:  for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil."  (from Romans 13:4)

That verse is kind of hard to understand in the old King James Version (above) but it's actually referring to law enforcement officers as "ministers" (or servants) of God who "bear the sword" (or carry guns) to enforce order.

I've got sort of a confession to make.  I have a love/hate relationship with police officers.  Like my daughter Rachel, I LOVE to watch "Cops" on the FOX television network.  I guess in that way I like to imagine what it would be like to be a cop, and how I'd handle the situations the police on that show encounter.  Many of you know that my father was a career law enforcement professional.  He started off as a Boston Police officer in 1951.  In 1956 he became a Registry of Motor Vehicles officer (that's NOW a division of the State Police).  He retired in 1982 as a Registry of Motor Vehicles official.  "Back in the day" growing up in our home in Canton, we were raised to practically revere the police.

I began to get a bit soured on that when I actually encountered police in traffic stop situations.  I've been a licensed driver in since 1972.  I had never been stopped until 1987.  Since that time, if my count is correct, I've been stopped a total of eight times.  Five of them have been in Framingham by Framingham police officers, and one was in Ashland by an Ashland police officer.  Six of the times have just resulted in brief verbal warnings, but two resulted in expensive tickets- one of the tickets was by a Framingham cop.  I really believe the Framingham police are motivated to find bizarre reasons to stop people.  From my friend, the Rev. Dr. J. Anthony Lloyd, I know there is a feeling by African-Americans that Black people in MetroWest are stopped an excessive amount of times for trivial reasons.  Honestly, if I were Black, I'd assume that it was because of my race, but I'm WHITE and it happens!  In fact, two of my stops in Framingham were by the same "gung ho" Black police officer!  (Those stops were about sixteen years apart!)  Around downtown Framingham, I can't tell you how many times I've seen people speed right through red lights.  I've seen it just a couple of times this week!  Usually the person who runs the light is a tough young male in something like a "low rider" Toyota, and usually that person DOESN'T get caught.  Conversely, if you start counting the number of teary 35-year-old white women with little kids in the car (or more likely, minivan) who are pulled over for some really trivial thing, you can find those incidents all over the place!  I tend to think that because the cop who pulls me over quickly discovers a nervous 50ish somewhat passive Caucasian white-collar male, he or she can't wait to bully me and verbally "read me out" about some trivial thing.  Meanwhile, three "low rider" Toyotas with young male drivers wearing baseball caps turned the wrong way go "bombing" right by us!

Once, I rounded a corner to IMMEDIATELY encounter a construction site policed by a cop with an attitude.  He thought I rounded the corner too fast and without anticipating there might be a construction site there.  Now, tell me, how many construction sites do YOU expect to encounter when you round a corner?

I could tell you several similar stories.

I suppose this would upset my late father, but NOW when I glance in the rear view mirror and notice a cruiser there, I make it a practice to turn into the first side street I can find.  If the cruiser follows me into the side street, which sometimes happens, I turn into the first driveway I can find.  So far, they all drive away at that point!

I really DO respect most cops and I think they've got a very tough job, BUT I don't want any more stops or lectures.  In case you're thinking I must have just been stopped, the last time was 7 months ago and the last TICKET was over 8 years ago.  For some reason, this is on my mind today.

For you Framingham residents- am I overreacting or do you think the police overdo it with stopping non-threatening middle-class residents?