Mood:  irritated

An incident happened yesterday that just didn’t sit well with me at all. I seem to lack the sense of entitlement that everyone else seems to have. When I am in uniform I am always concern with how I am perceived by the public. I just don’t understand why others aren’t.

Yesterday afternoon our seasonal ranger was talking to some folks in the VC lobby when a guy came in and flashed his badge and said he is with the Wake County Sherriff’s Boat Crew and he needed access to the boat ramp. He said that he had forgotten his key and he was supposed to be meeting people there. The ranger told him to let him finish up with the folks in the VC and he would go let him in. When I saw the guy walk past the window I noticed he wasn’t in uniform. Instead he was in a Hawaiian shirt, kaki shorts and flip flops. This struck me as odd because if he was here on official business he would have been in uniform. The Seasonal Ranger went down the let the guy into the boat ramp and when he came back he said the guy’s girl friend was in the car. This didn’t sound right to me at all so I decided to drive down and check it out. I tried to give him the benefit of the doubt. Maybe the boat had broken down and he was here to fix it or maybe they were going undercover.

When I cleared the turn to the ramp I saw the guy’s personal vehicle park by the ramp and he and his girlfriend were out fishing on the shore line. BUSTED!!! I got out of my vehicle and approached the female (she was closer) and asked if this was her vehicle. She pointed to the guy and said it was his and called him over. I asked him what they were doing there and he looked at me and then looked at his pole and said, “Well it would appear we are fishing. Is there a problem?” I replied, “Well the fishing part is okay but having your personal vehicle down here is not. This area is for official business only.” He started to get a little upset at this point and said, “Well the other ranger let me down here, and He didn’t seem to have a problem with it.” Trying not to lose my temper I said, “That is because you led him to believe you were here on official business. Had he known that you were here to recreate he would not have allowed the vehicle down here. “

Next he did something that I notice a lot of the “good ol’ boy” cops do and it upsets me more than being lied to. He got into my personal space and puffed up. It is used as an intimidation tactic. They make them themselves look big and scary hoping that I will be scared and back down. The fact that he tired to use this tactic on me…a female ranger doing her job…almost pushed me over the edge. I started to see red and I was so close to just going off on the guy. But I kept my cool and kept it professional. Using this “puffer tactic” he told me in an aggressive tone that he has been doing this for 5 years and we have never had a problem with it till now. I said that it wasn’t that we didn’t’ have a problem with it but that he just hadn’t been caught until now. He then wanted to know the guy’s name that issues the keys. I responded that it was a girl and that girl would be me. He stated that he hadn’t gotten his key from me and then wanted to know who the manager was. I told him that it was Tom, He said, “Yeah Tom! He lets me do this and has never had a problem with it.” I laughed and said I know for a fact he was lying and offered to call Tom on my cell phone and ask him if this guy was indeed allowed to park is personal vehicle at our boat ramp and fish. When he saw that I was not intimidated by him, he backed off and said no he didn’t want to bother Tom. That he would leave but said he would discuss that matter with someone higher up. This made me even more mad because he viewed me as a lowly female ranger and he would take it up with the men folk. I know that Tom and the other men in my office wouldn’t allow this behavior so I gave him Tom’s card and told him to call first thing in the morning and discuss the situation with him. He ripped the card out of my hand and left.

I hate cops that think the badge entitles them to special treatment. That they should somehow get something more that what is offered to the public. I take my job…my badge…seriously and I never want to give the public the impression that it is okay for me to break the rules because I work here. Unlike some cops I know, if I broke the law I wouldn’t pull out my badge in hopes that I wouldn’t have to pay the consequences. I am so upset that he came in here and flashed his badge to make it appear he was here in an official capacity. That he would then, when caught, try to intimidate me because I am a female. It is cops like that that give law enforcement a bad name. The whole thing makes me so mad I could spit.