Exemplary Driving!

So this last week at work I was dispatched to a family fight. The dispatcher made notes that a 15 year old was being verbally abusive with his mother and that the fight was escalating. I knew that another officer was about to go on scene so I hastened my driving a bit and arrived with a sense of urgency. As I arrived and got out of the car I saw a pickup truck pull up close to my car and it appeared the driver was a bit worked up so I immediately thought this was maybe Dad from the family fight or something... I stopped walking to wait and see what this guy was going to do or say and he ended up rolling down his window and yelling at me "Dont cops have to obey all traffic rules or are you above the law?" I said "excuse me" as I tried to process what he said because I was totally expecting him to be talking about this event I was heading to. He then said something to the effect that I think I am above the law because I dont follow all the traffic laws and that I made a lane change without using my turn signal.

I said to him "did you seriously follow me to tell me I didnt use a turn signal?" He said went on with some drama about police thinking we are above the law and I interrupted him saying I had to respond to this family fight and to wait if he thinks its important enough to discuss with me. I entered the house and we dealt with the call and about 10 minutes later I came out of the house and sure enough he was there still on his phone reporting me to the dispatcher for not using my turn signal.

Now that the urgency of the call was gone and I had more time I approached him and asked him how I could help him.... he went on about me thinking I'm above the law and so forth and so on.... I told him that in normal circumstances I am an exemplary driver and that when responding to an call with more urgency I forget the details of using my blinker. I told him I was sorry for being human and making mistakes while driving. He wanted to continue to talk to me but it truly was at the wrong time as many more calls for service were coming out and there were no units available to take them. I told him I no longer had time to talk and continued my duties....

Once I was away and had time to actually think through his complaint I got more and more frustrated and mad. I can see if a citizen follows a police officer and observes civil violations that it would be frustrating if that officer was only going to the coffee shop, or doughnut shop, or just to eat, or socialize with another officer, etc... I was actually heading to a call for service where another citizen felt unsafe enough to call us in the firs place. I responded in a sense of urgency and when responding to certain calls I am justified in violating certain traffic laws... Some calls even warrant speeding, running red lights, driving in oncoming traffic, etc... So why did I apologize to this citizen for failing to use my blinker when I dod nothing wrong! Ahhh! I didn't have the time to sit and explain all of this to him so it left me frustrated and thus I am venting.

I wish I could have told him that one day it will be him or a family member with an emergency and that he will wish to God that day the officers responding are not following every single traffic law but are driving with a sense of urgency to his emergency! I can see his point of view if I were driving to something that does not require urgency but this was not the case and the fact that he followed me and stopped me from responding one minute earlier just gets to my nerves. I hope he understands one day that there is a difference in complaining about what I did and what other officers have done and do when driving indifferent to the law simply out of convenience with no actual urgency or service at the time.

Anyway that is enough about that!