Five - O

As I walked to my Brooklyn home the other night, I found myself tensing up. Was there some shadowy figure sauntering behind me threatening to take me cell phone and any other valuables I possessed. Quite the contrary. I saw a police car idling by an emergency management center a quarter mile ahead of me. This is a car that has been stationed since the attacks of 9-11. The sideway has been blocked off since then to prevent terrorists from doing anything, theoretically. (It still baffles me as to what them being stationed there means because someone like me can just walk along side it and throw some time bomb on top of the roof like every Hollywood action movie of the past 25 years) Nevertheless, I tensed up. Started telling myself to just be cool. Then I realized I was an idiot.

I wasn't doing anything wrong or performing any other suspicious behavior. My face didn't resemble some fugitive on the run. So why did my brain get all freaked out and try to calm itself down. I must say I've always had an uneasy relationship with the police. I have no reason why. I lived in a predominantly white neighborhood that had little crime. I honestly don't remember seeing them as a child. But maybe growing up watching snippets of Def Comedy Jam and Comedy Central, I guess I developed a distaste. In each of my confrontations with police I have always been surly and walked past them. After Louima and Diallo, I guess I stopped carrying my wallet and learning my plunger nunchuks skills.

I do respect them for what they do. If I ever worked for the police though, I'd be the guy they all hate in Internal Affairs, busting their chops on the simplest of regulations. This year I hope to make friends of the 5-0.