About arrogant cops.

It is easy to dislike policemen. They personify the old saying that “A little power is a dangerous thing”.

And while the donut and coffee vendors may rejoice at their number, the reality is that these individuals share the same demographic profile with those they seek to protect us from. Criminals.

My first encounter with an American cop, literally on my first day in New York, was on Sixth Avenue, when I asked one of the city’s finest for directions. Finest at what, they never say. Maybe it’s consumption of vast quantities of donuts, judging by the waistline of the average NYPD man in uniform?

“Move on bud”. That was this guy’s idea of giving directions. This fool probably thought he was in central casting.

And while New York’s greatest crooks go unpunished – they work on Wall Street – it’s hardly any wonder when they are being policed by a squad that has to remove its shoes and socks to count to twenty. Not the NYPD. The SEC.

So this snap brings back pleasant memories of what it’s like to be well distant from Manhattan’s fabled streets.

9 West 57th Street. 1982. Pentax ME Super, 40mm ‘Pancake’, Kodachrome 64

I carried that little Pentax and its even smaller 40mm ‘pancake’ lens – so named because it was almost dead flat on the body when in place – everywhere. It was my street camera, acquired right after I witnessed my first chain snatching in the subway. The woman’s screams still resonate in my ears. The Pentax was my “I-don’t-care-if-they-steal-it” camera while my precious Leica M3 stayed at home for the duration. Needless to add, the Pentax was never stolen. Must have been my insouciant attitude.

Nine West 57th Street has this huge numeral, a twenty foot tall, red ‘9’ on the sidewalk. God alone knows who they had to bribe to allow that, but I suspect the cops’ union was on the list.

In exchange, this arrogant policeman has parked his cruiser right next to the fire hydrant. At least the car is pointing the right way.

Yup, a true New York cop.

You think Chicago cops are more corrupt? Nah! As the great P G Wodehouse once put it “At least when you buy a Chicago cop, he stays bought”.

And California where their cars are cynically emblazoned “To Protect and to Serve”? How about early retirement from speeding tickets and crooked promotions which double the retirement check – at age 50? The French gave us our constitution. Maybe a new Reign of Terror would now be in order?

March 10, 2008 – Fact is stranger than fiction:

That Hammer of Wall Street, the Über cop himself, no less than the Governor of New York, has just ‘fessed up to being involved in a call girl ring. From Eliot Ness to Eliot Mess in one day. Then again, he would have denied all of the above in any case. You shouldn’t. At least the self-righteous schmuck ended his career at a Renaissance Hotel.