THOUGHTS ON POLICE/THIS HAPPENED TO ME
Having a Fun Interaction With the State Park Police Today
A humorous misunderstanding led to an interesting conversation
Today seemed just like every other day we’ve been back at the state park after a couple of days away at the truck stops. We only have to leave when availability at the state park campgrounds is at capacity and we haven’t booked in time.
Today, it was warm but not oppressively so. The clouds made it feel nice and the shade looked very welcoming on a day when the heat didn’t make me want to die. We were outside after we parked and my partner started putting up our antenna after we had relaxed for a bit and had eaten some Chinese food and drank our favorite zero-sugar juice.
As he was setting up our Internet signal for the umpteenth time this season, we saw a familiar site. It was our friendly local state park police patrol. I hear people have horror stories in the news all the time about interactions with police. I haven’t experienced anything quite like that but I have had things come up.
In the case of the state park police, they always drive by casually on the busiest days to check on everyone and make sure they’re okay. These are the kind of police that you wouldn’t ever necessarily associate with the type you find on the news.
On this particular day, despite this being our third summer here, this was actually the first time they stopped and said something to us.
The female officer looked familiar and she seemed very kind. She pulled up to us. I was oblivious to all of this because I was just watching Mike as he was getting frustrated trying to get the direction of the antennas correct on the back of our RV. I was making sure he wouldn’t fall off of the ladder from getting too worked up.
“Excuse me,” a voice cuts through all of this very clearly as I’m hyperfocused on Mike’s frustration and handiwork, “Excuse me.”
I turned around slowly as I couldn’t figure out where the noise was coming from. It was the police car I had just seen coming around the loop that I assumed had just passed us as it always had. “Oh, hi. How are you, officer?” I said politely and calmly.
“I just noticed but your guys’ inspection tags are set to be renewed soon.” I was a bit confused. I know that her car says “New York State Park Police,” so it made sense that she would be concerned with that type of thing but I wasn’t sure of her jurisdiction on the matter at the time. At the moment and even afterward, I thought about it. She had to make sure all of the inspections and registrations were current.
“You will want to get that renewed soon,” I remembered that we have Vermont, and not New York plates, on our RV and I replied that we were here registered on out-of-state plates and that the stickers she saw on the windshield were old and from the previous owners of the RV who lived in New York.
She kindly informed me that I could remove them legally and that I didn’t need to worry about them going forward. I was relieved that was all she had to say. It was also one of the few times I’ve felt at ease around the police from start to finish. She was kind, polite, pleasant, and looking to help. I knew that since we had been regulars at the campground and were well-recognized by the employees and even by the officers and rangers, we were always in good hands when we arrived here.
I thanked her for her time and said that I hoped she had a great weekend. She had a smile on her face and drove by without any other concerns or questions for us. I promptly went to the front windshield and spent a couple of minutes getting the stickers removed with a wet cloth and a bent paper clip.
The windshield was way too hot on this day, even though it’s not the hottest it’s been this summer. I had to protect my hands to complete this task, obviously. They were easy to remove and I was just done with it. I know in the future we won’t ever be in a confusing situation like that again while we’re still in New York. I was given a quick heads-up and it was taken care of within minutes.
I feel grateful to all of the wonderful people in this area working hard to ensure the safety and security of all of their travelers and campers. The interaction was fun and useful. I didn’t feel like the police were harassing us at all. And I felt safe and protected in the moment.
My partner was oblivious to what that was all about at the moment focused on optimizing our internet signal. I explained what happened afterward and he was also grateful to the wonderfully friendly officer for what she had done for us. It’s good to know that the cops that work for citizens in real life don’t always have to be reduced to the caricatures we see of them many times in sensationalized news stories. They are just everyday hard-working people looking to truly “serve and protect.”
