i know you have all been waiting for the latest long overdue installment of BroadArrow's adventures getting to know the local law enforcement!
so, i'm running down the "road of brotherly love" when a red cadillac drives past me slowly and stops at the stop sign 1/3 of a mile ahead. and stops. and stays. now, this is half a mile past the edge of town in the flat, flat cornfields. just before i get to the intersection, they cross and drive down another third of a mile and pull off the road. i dutifully continue my route and when i am halfway to them, they pull out and drive to the driveway of the one-of-only-two houses (with the farmers who always wave to me and even talked with me recently), turn around, and then sit at the end of that driveway pointed toward me. happily, an SUV came up behind me (i was naturally feeling a bit threatened, looking for escape routes, assessing potential interruptions to lines of fire, considering whether the farmers would shelter me, etc. and was at least running on the opposite side of the road to get a few feet between me and danger) so i was briefly shielded and ran on past. then, the caddy turns around *again* and drives past me and on down the road. whatever, people. check your map before leaving the house next time, huh?
i ran down to the T in the road and turned around like i usually do. i am about a quarter mile back down (around where the caddy passed me for good) when i see the familiar profile of a sheriff's deputy's car. hmmm.... i know what this is about... i decided to get my wallet out before they even stopped and go to the other side of the road to greet them before they perceive *me* to be a danger.
so, i says somethin' like, "hi! i guess i am overdue for this to happen again. somebody call you about me out running again?" i fiddled in my wallet and pulled out the piece of paper i got from the *previous* deputy. "do you know this guy? he's the one i talked to before, so he can verify that i'm not totally crazy. he said he would write up a memo so you guys wouldn't have to bother with me, but i guess it didn't work this time...." she was actually really nice about it and didn't waste massive amounts of my time. she still wanted a phone number and to see my ID and asked where i worked. seriously, i really need to talk to a real criminal justice person: i am sick of having to show ID for something that does not require a license (and she did verify that i don't need a license to run, so small victory there, i guess).
then, i remembered about my gender/women's/african-american-studies professor friend who i have been meaning to give a guest lecture for. my theory is to, of course, provide a window into how a white person can get the foggiest idea about what it's like to be, uh, not white. blah blah blah, go to the mall barefoot, blah blah blah. but, i figure it would be more interesting to also have the police's perspective and even better to have one of the very cops who were called on me to give their side of the story. so, i asked her if she would be willing to do so. oh, man! you should have heard her weaseling this way and that trying to say no without actually saying "no".
in any case, it was a boring crime day in the county because about halfway through, another deputy drives us and hops out to stand around in a pose intended to be impressive. i'm not sure that it really works because having seen it 2/3/4 times before, i'm not exactly intimidated by it. and if i wanted to run away, let' just say that i can probably run faster and farther than he can anyway. not enough to outrun bullets, but still.... and he had to maintain the facade and not even respond to your basic, "have a good afternoon!" upon parting. strong work getting the community on your side.
anyways, so i continued my run and was thinking, "but what about that lady in the cadillac? how come there are no consequences for her?" as fate would have it, the deputy had turned around and was coming back my way. so i flagged her down and said, "so, what am i supposed to do as a runner when a car behaves that way? let me tell you the backstory to you getting called....(yeah, yeah, yeah, i know it is anonymous, but 9 out of 10 says it was the cadillac not the friendly farmers who always wave to me...) can i call the cops on them? i mean, it is really scary when somebody is stalking you like that. and it is probably easier to call you guys than get a concealed carry permit."
she was like, "yeah. you shouldn't have to deal with that and you shouldn't feel unsafe out here. so go ahead and call it in if you feel like someone is making you feel unsafe or threatened. and then we'll come and check it out..."
so that was that.
since i had enough of an inkling of what was going to happen, this episode made me laugh as opposed to the previous episodes that left me really shaken. this one ended up more on the "faith in humanity" end of the spectrum rather than "weep for humanity" end. but, still: really people? come on. mind your own business. once in 18 months is better than the once every 6 months i had previously been averaging. but still, it should be "none-ce" in "ever".
and there is always one more thing you think of after the fact: when i flagged her down, the first thing she did was to put her phone down and say, "hold on, i'll call you back." ummm... as a law enforcement person, you *are* aware that it is illegal in the state of illinois to talk on the cell phone while driving, right? (ok, you can get away with hands-free; but if it were hands free, you wouldn't have to put it down, now would you....)