Ellemental

While I was going about my business yesterday at work I heard something that sounded like a man talking through a bullhorn.  My first thought was that maybe the man on the bullhorn was telling us to get out of the building because it was collapsing.  I know that sounds sort of over-the-top-Drama-Queeny, but I work in a really old building and for a few weeks this winter they had the sidewalk roped off because things were falling off the building.  Apparently not structurally *important* things, but things that could definitely Hurt You if they landed on your head from seven stories up.

Anyhow.

My co-worker and I walked to the front door to see if there was indeed a man on a bullhorn.  We rounded the corner around the receptionist desk and looked out…

…at three police officers standing in the road on the far side of a car parked directly in front of our office with their guns drawn and pointed…

…at us.  I almost crapped my pants.
Ok, they weren’t actually pointed at *us*.  They were pointed at the gentleman in front of us,  getting out of the passenger side of the car.  Somewhere there *was* a man on a loudspeaker / bullhorn type thingy suggesting that the gentleman Put His Hands. On. The. Car. NOW.

This, my friends, comes scant weeks after a totally amazing and eye-opening experience I had when I was given the opportunity to ride along with an officer for a few hours.  Although it was extremely quiet and uneventful for most of the time, there was one incident where the officer said to me before he got out of the car, “If there’s shooting or anything, get down.” (not a problem!).

So in the past few weeks I’ve had an upclose behind-the-scenes look at an officer’s view *and* a behind-the-scenes (literally) peek from an alleged law breaker’s view.

My Law Enforcement Circle of Life is complete.