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The New Breed of Cops

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        Officer Franklin saw the tall young man exiting the 7-11 store on Madison Avenue. He noticed that the husky looking man carried a bottle of whisky under his right arm and a six pack of beer in his left hand. His right hand was suspiciously reaching under his black jacket.
        Suspecting something, Franklin yanked the patrol car’s steering wheel and headed into the convenience store’s parking lot. He saw the tall young man open the car door to a silver Lexus and parked the black and white patrol car behind the Lexus.
        After calling in his location Officer Franklin left the patrol car and walked towards the young man standing by the driver’s side of the Lexus.
        “Good evening, sir. Did you just make some purchases in that store?
         Before the young man could answer the clerk from the 7-11 store dashed out the front door yelling, “That’s the man, officer, that’s the guy who just robbed us.”
        Quickly turning to the suspect, Officer Franklin barked, “Stand right there, please. Put your hands on the roof of the car.”
        The suspect refused.
       Officer Franklin removed his service pistol from the holster, pointed it towards the young man and repeated, “I said please put your hands on the roof of the car.” The man defiantly stared at the officer.
        “I said please. And, oh, yes, turn around and face me first so I can take your picture. Please don’t move, now look at this little button on my chest. That’s it” The little camera made a noise.
        “Now sir, I have to ask you, did you pay for that bottle of whiskey and the six pack of beer?”
       “Sure I did, that dumb clerk just forgot that I did.”
        “Sir, something looks suspicious here. Do you have a receipt?
        “No, I didn’t get one.” 
        “Well, sir, I’m going to have to ask you to put your hands up behind your head and clinch your fingers. I know that this is going to be uncomfortable, but put the whiskey and the beer down on the ground, please.”
        “Screw you, I didn’t do anything.”
        “Sir, I asked you nicely, I said please, now once again, please put the beer and whiskey down and put your hands behind your head.”
        “And screw you, pig.”
        “Sir, that’s not a nice thing to say.”
        “You heard me, go screw yourself.
        “Now, sir, I’m going to have to ask you to put your hands out so I can put these handcuffs on you.”
        “I won’t do it. Up yours.
        “Now, sir, please stand there while I put these cuffs on you.”
        The athletic looking young man made a quick move to get into the Lexus. The officer took a single step towards the young man and a split second later the suspect opened the Lexus’ car door, slammed it into the surprised officer, knocking the cop to the ground. Before the suspect could get his car key and start the car the officer rose from the ground and yelled, “Now sir, you’re being unreasonable. Please get out of your car and put your hands behind your head.”
        The store clerk, watching the incident, urged the officer to stop the suspect from escaping – “Shoot him, shoot him.”
        Officer Franklin, still dazed from the fall, turned towards the clerk, “We don’t do that anymore sir, we try to reason with suspects and protect their legal rights. We’ve taken classes.”
        As the officer turned towards the clerk the suspect started the Lexus and backed out of the parking space, scraping the right rear fender on the patrol car and made his escape.
        Officer Franklin, rising from the ground, brushed off his uniform shirt and pants and tried to note the Lexus’ license plate number. He couldn’t.
        The 7-11 store clerk walked over to the officer and helped brush his shirt. He looked into the officer’s eyes and said, “Why didn’t you shoot him?”
        Officer Franklin answered, “We just got done with our officer training program where we learned to be good officers and treat everyone nicely. We were told that the old ways of the police don’t work well anymore. We want to be friends to everyone in the community we serve.
        The clerk, clearly frustrated and furious, hands on his hips, looked at Officer Franklin and shrieked, “What the hell is going on here?”
         “Just doing my job, sir. Just doing my job.
         Ten minutes later a silver Lexus was spotted going at a high rate of speed down the town’s main highway. The driver bore a wide smile on his face.