Nothing ever happens where I live. Ever.
I know that a passing read of this website would give the casual observer such a magnificent impression of daily excitement and adventure that you and your fellow readers would do well to turn green with envy. But they are just the highlights. Mostly I spend my days looking out of the window waiting for something exciting to happen.
Something exciting like the sound of multiple police vehicles getting closer and closer to my flat.
And then closer still.
Then staying really loud, i.e. not disappearing into the distance like they normally do, but staying REALLY close.
I was starting to wonder what could possibly be happening when a black 4×4, driving way too fast, passed by my kitchen window and into the cul-de-sac court where I live. I wandered through to my living room to see it reappear at the other side of the block, but it did not arrive.
I walked out onto my tiny balcony and looked to the right to see that the 4×4 had mounted the grass and had been abandoned by the driver and passenger after knocking down a fencing post. To my immediate left a police car arrived and skidded to a halt. The policeman looked up at me and spoke to me with both speed and authority.
“Which way did they go?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did you see what they were wearing.”
“No.”
“Can you describe the driver or passenger?”
“They were white, I think.”
Then, without so much as a thank you, or acknowledgement of my help, he went off in pursuit of the fleeing potential criminals.
It is public snubs like this that ensure we civilians feel like we have no rapport with the modern police force. How hard would it have been for him to ask how my day was going? Or whether I was coping all right and dealing with the stress of witnessing a brief moment in a live police chase. This is how people develop Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
Later I learned that there had been a robbery at a jewellery store in the town, and despite my assistance they have not yet detained the suspects.
Is it any wonder the youth of today do not feel like helping the police?
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TOWTAL · February 27, 2008 at 8:55 am
I would be genuinely excited at thought of a 25ft tall car passing your kitchen window. It’s amazing that cars are that tall you can see them from well worn seat of your first floor sofa. I congratulate you on your attempts to fight crime. When are we going to see “Angry’s Guardian Angels?”
GeorgeC · February 27, 2008 at 9:14 am
Perhaps Angry, he was just a nervous Bobby who was unsure of the current legal obligations and ensuing paperwork that would follow with striking up a conversation with a member of the public. There is most likely a PC1.1a to fill in after the conversation, then he would have to submit a PC2.4c or PC2.4d depending on the outcome of the situation!
Or perhaps he was waiting for you to initiate the pleasantries? Next time there is an exciting real life criminal drama outside your door, ask the policeman what he had for his lunch? Always a good icebreaker if you are in the market for a food related discussion!
Lin · February 27, 2008 at 9:21 am
If a 4×4 went past your window one way and you live in a cul de sac did it also have wings and take off, or maybe it nipped into a private garage……..you need to investigate this.
Shambo's revenge · February 27, 2008 at 10:03 am
Apparently they need DNA to solve crimes anyway, full descriptions aren’t admissible in court just think yourself lucky they didn’t ask you if you’d spectrographically analysed the ‘perp’
Salvadore Vincent · February 27, 2008 at 11:05 am
You could have asked him what the time was.
Lin · February 27, 2008 at 11:27 am
Definitely a case for CSI….do own a Columbo mac?
xl · February 27, 2008 at 1:59 pm
In a world where Al Gore is a Nobel prize recipient, driving a 4×4 clearly makes them environmental criminals as well.
skinnyskinny · February 27, 2008 at 5:03 pm
Maybe he just didn’t have time to talk to you then and there. He probably nominated you for a Brave Citizen Award when he got back to the station. If you haven’t heard anything by next week you should call them to chase it up.
Aimee · February 27, 2008 at 6:45 pm
“Mostly I spend my days looking out of the window waiting for something exciting to happen.”
I thought that elderly fellow who had a heart attack after a really engaging session of hide-n-seek with you had come back around.
you should have alerted the police about him too. anyone who enjoys a street game of hide-n-seek with strangers to the point of cardiac arrest is a bit suspicious.
clarissa · February 27, 2008 at 7:23 pm
Really! He should have given you a hug in your time of need.
sooz · February 27, 2008 at 10:12 pm
My claim to errr ‘helping police fame’ was when I noticed some lads breaking into a shed. I’d been to the gym and I was tired.
I went to sleep for a while, still clad in lycra shorts and then thought I might just mention to the household what I’d seen.
(I’d said ‘I say!!!’ to the chaps who were using a crow-bar and one of them said ‘fuckin’ ell’…
When I told the nice policeman that one of the lads was about 4ft – and the other was half the size of him – their eyes sort of glazed over and I left…
Anna · February 28, 2008 at 12:56 am
Did sooz have a snooze?
annie · February 28, 2008 at 3:55 am
Well, I didn’t hear you offer them tea, so perhaps it was YOU who was doing the snubbing!
ubermouth · February 28, 2008 at 9:31 pm
I went fabric shopping once and noticed the sales girl at the counter was leaning over having a serious conversation wiht her beau. I asked her if she had any polycotton blends to which she said no and the guy looked at me oddly. Of course being rather , well extremely, beautiful I was used to that…until I realized he had a gun on her and it was a stick up.
I didn’t even have lipstick on for when the hot police officers arrived.