Of course. I guess I have never seen an HP in trouble such that I could decide to help or flip. And if they need my help, how pathetic is that.
Obviously you must live in a far more populated place than I do..... I've helped HPs and other LEOs a number of times both off and on duty........ Coming along on a lonely Montana highway at night and finding an HP trying to deal with a wreck by himself many miles from the nearest town.... 30 in that instance. Sawing up a tree that had fallen across a bridge during a flood in another case while he directed traffic around it..... I happened to have a chainsaw in my pickup that day. I've several times stopped and helped move cattle or sheep off the highway when I was the only other person there...... Out here a radio call to the dispatcher my take seconds, but it may take half an hour or more for help to arrive! I even drove one home from the bar when he was off duty, and had too much to drink... (a friend).
Out here they are friends and neighbors........ You know their kids, or they go to the same church..... Even if you are across the state ...... Montana is 650 miles from Idaho to North Dakota, you nearly always have common acquaintances if you've spent your life here. They aren't super men, just guys trying to do a job, and they understand that the job they do is keeping the highways safe and traffic moving........... Not just writing tickets to raise revenue, and harassing people pointlessly as they do in some states.
One of the classic Montana traffic stops that happened to me about 15 years ago on a remote highway....... between Winnett, and Jordan ( 80 miles of remote nothing ): I had my van on cruise at 80 mph.......... 2 lane highway posted at 70....... zero traffic, good visibility, dry roads. I met a HP heading the other way, and we each waved as Montana motorists always do....... I never gave it a thought. We all drive that highway at 80. A few minutes later, I noticed a vehicle behind me in the distance gaining on me rapidly, so I flipped off the cruise and let it coast down to 70. He pulled me over and walked up to the van and I rolled down the window. Asked for license and registration, and asked if I knew why he pulled me over......... I said "probably because I was doing 80 when I met you".......... We both chuckled at that and he confirmed it. "I see you have 40 plates...... Sweet Grass County....... ya know Spud C___"..... "Of course.......He's a neighbor"... How about _____ and ____........... I won't print the names as they are both LEOs and both still alive and in the area...... and it went back and forth for about half an hour. I knew members of his family and he knew people in my area. Spud, by the way was briefly famous as sheriff of Jordan, Montana, when he got too many DUIs and had his driver's license suspended.......... He patrolled on horseback until he got his license back. "Well, I gotta be moving along"....... and he writes me a ticket for $20, and I pay the ticket right there.......the way we did here for many years. "Now you slow down"......... "You know damn well that as soon as I'm over the next rise I'll have the cruise back on 80..."..........a laugh.... "have a nice day"......
If you aren't hostile, It's always friendly........... We are on the same side after all. It isn't "us versus THEM" like it is in some places.........
H.W.
