Professional Courtesy

I'm not talking about getting out of tickets (a practice I don't particularly agree with), I just mean being civil, polite, and courteous to fellow officers, even if they're not in your agency.

Tonight I was driving to one of our monuments, so I was outside of my jurisdiction. I went through an intersection and heard a huge crash behind me. I lit up and turned around. I heard a woman screaming, the sound echoing off the tall buildings. I found her car on its side in the middle of the street, surrounded by a cluster of bystanders (where did they all come from at midnight?). I called out and asked for Boston officers and EMS (redundant, since a bunch of people were calling 911), then I hopped out of my cruiser, grabbed my EMS bag, and got to the car just as the group of bystanders were lifting it up enough that the driver crawled out of the window.

She was hysterical, but amazingly unscathed. She wasn't the huge trauma victim I anticipated. The people in the car she hit were uninjured, and they were some of the people who'd helped her get out. She emerged from the car and I took her over to the sidewalk. I tried to get her to sit down, but she was too panicked. It took me forever just to get her name. Thankfully, the ambulance was there in seconds and they led her away.

A BPD officer showed up, some short lady I'd never seen before (most women are short compared to me; she was probably 5'7"). There were a bunch of people still milling about. I went over to talk to her, point her in the direction of the people involved and the witnesses who'd actually seen the accident. She completely snubbed me, turning her back when I approached. I stood there, stunned. I thought surely she'd at least acknowledge me. Nothing. Instead she went to talk to the woman in the ambulance (I bet she got all kinds of good info from the woman who couldn't even calm down enough to tell me if she was hurt).

I was still standing around when she came out. I should have left instead of staying around so she could ignore me again. She went to talk to the other people involved. Her cruiser was blocking traffic from one direction; mine was blocking it from the other way. Once the fire trucks and the ambulance left, we were the only traffic control. Believe it or not, people were driving around our cars and trying to maneuver through the scene.

She never even looked at me. Never said a word. I didn't even get the nod. Nothing. I was so offended I wanted to leave and let her deal with the cars that would inevitably wander into her scene and then have to back out or drive on the sidewalk. The cabs are the worst.

The only thing that kept me was the tow truck. About the time I was mad enough to leave, it showed up. It was the same company who comes for all of our stuff. I like those guys, they're the fastest dang tow company I've ever dealt with and they're always very nice. I stayed so the tow truck driver could do his job without getting run over or hassled by stupid drivers. He was almost done when another BPD car pulled up and I left immediately. If they don't want to even acknowledge me, why should I stay?

It's not like I expect them to be friendly or to even speak to me, but blatantly ignoring me when I'm there being helpful is a little hard to take. I've never seen anything like this. In every other place I've worked the different law enforcement agencies have gotten along. Sure, some of those AK state troopers have big egos, but they were still polite, professional, and courteous to the rest of us.

Sigh. I'll get over my hurt feelings and I'll do the same thing next time. I will do whatever I can to help those guys out, even if they're rude and don't appreciate me.