See? #notallcops! 
…all depends on the culture of the given department… so you get Officer Friendly with Helpful Henry patrolling in one precint and Billy Baton with Pepperspray Pete in the next one…
Now, how to get the latter two fired and replaced with the former two lookalikes?
Pepper spraying elderly white women who appear to be lost is hard to justify, and they won’t be able to rely on their army of useful idiots on social media to get them out of that mess.
Divide et impera. They are not a monolithical structure. Create internal divisions between the departments, separate the good from the bad, and you’re in better position to push at the bad ones because the good ones will be on your side.
You have even cops out there voicing concerns about police militarization. (Radley Balko - Rise of the Warrior Cop, a book that deals with this problematics.)
Nothing is really black and white. Even digital logic has hazard states.
OMG!!! I know that very intersection! I used to live a couple blocks from right there! The troopers up in that corner of the county actually usually are pretty cool. Lucky for that lady to be lost in that area.
Cop, schmop. That guy was being a decent human being.
Some people do such things on purpose!
She’s such a Rascal…mine’s a hybrid!
These few good apples might un-ruin the whole bunch…
Hmmm… if only it worked that way.
I’ve been wanting to see that… a G-rated david Lynch film…
I gather her scooter wouldn’t fit in the trunk, and I don’t blame her for not wanting to leave it behind even if I can think of a few reasons why I’d rather get a ride from the officer.
4 miles off course on a 6mph scooter, lets see, a little of the maths, 40 minute ride home.
Thanks for the balance. It’s hard to see clearly at this point. It changes nothing in my overall outlook but does remind me of what they could do if they were selected, trained and paid appropriately. Hopefully we won’t hear that his partner drug the poor old thing off course and then filmed the rescue.
It’s very worthwhile, if not up there with his very best stuff. Interesting for how it helps highlight the conservative roots of his vision.
Or maybe he just wasn’t an asshole. It happens occasionally.
I am concerned that the woman might have dementia. Getting lost in a familiar area is a symptom. I hope someone is looking out after her.
Lynden’s a border town right? Maybe the cops don’t feel like being assholes because the asshole quota is already topped off by the border patrol? I used to go to Canada all the time, never had an issue, border crossing was quick, and the agents there were friendly. Until 9/11 of course. Now I avoid going to Canada if I can help it. The last time I crossed back into the US they held me up for 2 hours and ransacked my car. I guess they got suspicious when I declared a bag of lodgepole pinecones (BC has a terrible problem with Mountain Pine Beetles)
Or maybe the department just has made good hiring decisions…
Do we know it’s a familiar place to her? She might have just moved in…
Definitely a valid concern, but I would hope that cops would be able to notice dementia and have some training. Probably they don’t have training, if prior experience is any indication. But even us Joe Average Publics notice dementia pretty reliably. It’s just not our job to take care of the elderly, so the bystander effect ensues when we see an obviously very confused elderly person who appears to be having trouble navigating, rather than helping.
The people at the port of entry are not Border Patrol, they are Customs and Border Protection. There is a difference between the two departments.
I am assuming that she is familiar. Plus she didn’t stop after getting on the highway.
As a dementia caregiver I can assure you that most police do not recognize it, that very few of the public recognize it. I can confidently state that most doctors do not recognize dementia, nor do most neurologists who don’t specialize in it. Getting a dementia diagnosis takes time, sometimes years, especially for non-Alzheimer’s dementia.
The driving, getting lost, not asking for help, not stopping is too familiar. But I am just throwing out a possibility, I would never diagnose someone based on this small bit of information.
