SF Police - a dichotomy

So today I took part in the weekly routine of having to move my car for street cleaning. You know the street extortion practice akin to that of the lettered parking stickers, the practice in place merely to generate revenue for the city -from the salaries of the drivers and mechanics to the bureaucracy surrounding the processing of the tickets. Little of this money is used for public service and the beautification enhancements by the machines themselves is negligible. A couple of folks with brooms could do a better job and there would be benefits to the community, the "intangibles" as it were. The whole racket is a sham.

But we all know this. What about the title of the story there Dave?

Well as I was sitting at a stop sign it came my turn in the cycle to proceed. Looked left, nothing. Looked right -whoa a cop car approaching his stop sign. Go easy on the accelerator, I thought to myself. I slowly released the brake on my car but WAIT!

The cop is running the stop sign and turning down my road(a left for him). Shit. Hit the brake again. I glower at him as he cruises through the intersection. I start to remove my foot again but WAIT! Another cop car hangs a left right in front of me, running the stop sign. What the hell is this? I look for lights in my rear view, I look for turn signals -anything. Nothing. I survey the area again carefully. I can go now but as I do I notice that the first cop has done an illegal U turn and parked right in front of a hydrant. The second cop has mad the same U turn but noticing that there is no parking in tandem with the first cop he cruises through the intersection again and cop 2 finds another hydrant to park in front of in the same intersection. Never signaling, no emergency lights. They must be doing a crack down or something.

I decided to let it go and go find my spot. Luckily it was a short ride and I found my spot. Coincidentally, to get back to my house I had to walk back by that same intersection. There were the cars still in front of the hydrants. I needed a cookie.

I walked in to the coffee shop and low and behold there were our two officers ordering up their breakfast. The uglier of the two had two eggs scrambled.

So I decided to ask them some questions.

"Have either of you guys ever arrested someone for a traffic violation?"
1: "Sure"
2: "Yeah"

"Parking violations?"
1: <icy stare>
2: <chew chew>

"Do you guys live here in the city?"
1: "Nope. Could never afford it."
2: "To freaky for me here. Too much crime."

"Well what kind of example do you think it sets for the people that live here for you to come along and endanger them with reckless driving and other flagrant abuses of the law merely to find a convenient parking place for breakfast?"
1: <laugh>
2: <laugh> "Go away."

"You don't think that engenders a certain type of mistrust in you and any faith in the police to do right by the citizens?"
1: <chew chew><ignore>
2: <ignore angrily>

"Don't you think it is of the utmost importance for the policing authority to live amongst the citizens it protects?"

Cop 1 starts to get a little red faced at this point and reaches down for his gun... but I realize he is only going for his napkin.

1: "Didn't you mama ever spank you?"

I'll leave it at that. You get the point. The only way to solve any moral dilemma is through violence.