h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I read with some disappointment that you are no longer a police officer. If we're going to have police, they should be sincere, intelligent and questioning. It's the most important and responsible of jobs, a caring proffession no less. And i'd be a lot happier with a force full of Two-bits than a lot of the bottom feeding police officers i know in this country.

And of course, if pinkos like myself are to continue seeing the police as their nemesis then those caring sincere individuals should also be right wing - a double loss to your community.

Thank you.

I've found that most cops are just the same as most people. They just have a different job and a jaded eye. I've run into guys from the stereotypical thowback to the days before the civil-rights era ro gays and buddhists. I had to crack down on the guys one night about running down Christanity in roll-call, I didn't know if one of the guys might be one. (That would be a hell of a ACLU complaint.)

I'm still a cop, sort of. I'm a deputy sheriff in a limited service sheriff's office. We don't respond to 911 calls. We serve the courts by serving warrants and civil papers, protecting the courts, and keeping the county jail.

It's dull work, but they pay is pretty good. The people I work with are really easy to get along with. You can tell they're not use to policing. They don't have my suspicious mind and drive to get the bad guy. But they are very nice. We have the same powers as police (more in fact), but we're not pushed to perform like police officers are. The sheriff just wants things to run smoothly and for the papers to get served.

They also don't mind when I get into police mode and start engaing in self initiated activity or answering the odd call when the police dpeartment is tied up.

And you use pink handcuffs?

It's the only color they offer here.

Actually, some officers do use pink handcuffs. To some extent, they think it's funny to have offenders, who generally try to portray a macho image, in pink handcuffs. It also helps keep your handcuffs from being borrowed by other officers. When a lot of people get handcuffed, it can take a while to sort them all out later. Having pink ones makes them easier to find.