I saw a police car run a red light.

Context
Today is January 2, 2006. It’s a holiday for local and federal government, but I went to the bank and it was open and the library system I work for is also open. The streets of downtown Shreveport were not completely bare, but considerably less trafficked than usual.

Commentary
My adherence to the Quaker testimony of integrity requires me to say that I didn’t actually see the cop run a red light, in that I didn’t see her light. I saw her drive through a crosswalk that had a walk signal. It’s possible the traffic light was malfunctioning.

Traffic violations are a sore point for me, because this seems to be an entire body of law that most people consider optional. “It’s OK to cross against the light. Nobody’s coming anyway.” “Speed limits have a 5-10 mile-per-hour cushion to them.” It would be interesting if we treated other laws the same way. “Bigamy’s illegal, but we only get really upset on the third or fourth wife.” “It’s OK to kill this guy. Nobody’s going to find the body.”

I watch a lot of television. Now that we’re in the Tivo™ era, I can skip the commercials if I want. Sometimes I don’t want to, because I have favorites. All I remember from many commercials are the slogans, not the products, which must drive advertisers crazy. Anyway, one of my favorites was, “just because you can do something doesn’t mean you should do it.” I think the idea behind the ad was a daredevil-type thing, as in “just because you are able to squeeze your body through the railing outside the window doesn’t mean it’s a good idea to do so.”

I think of it on a more ethical level, as a matter of personal responsibility. Sometimes we are permitted to do things that would normally be considered wrong. Like when there aren’t enough law enforcement resources to punish us for minor infractions. OK, you can do it, but should you?

What about when we’re given the power to break the rules under certain circumstances? After all, we expect police cars to run red lights when they need to get to a crime scene quickly. The officer I saw today, on the other hand, had no lights flashing and looked pretty carefree about life (something I am normally happy to see in law enforcement). Was it OK for her to run the red light? Nobody coming, no harm, no foul? Or is it an abuse of power? Did she just do it because she could?

What did you see today?