Especially of the “Constable” variety.
This law enforcer illegally parked his cruiser so he is blocking the entrance to one of the largest surface parking lots in the area and the sidewalk adjacent to it. I usually use that entrance, but I watched the guy ahead of me try to make that turn and promptly curb his right-rear wheel. I decided to go around the corner and use a different entrance. When I picked up my parking stub, two other guys were there and complained about the same thing. Both of them had hit the curb trying to negotiate the turn.
The constable was “parked” there so that he, four other cops, and two firemen could deal with a homeless guy. The homeless guy was probably sick or maybe on drugs, either way, he wasn’t much of a threat. This wasn’t an unusual situation as there are lots of homeless folks in the area and there is a county building nearby so there are a lot of cops in the area too. It’s also not unusual for the cops to block that entrance.
That entrance is important because it serves as the primary guest parking lot for the county building across the street. That means a lot of people who are coming to downtown for the first time and don’t know their way around. They don’t know there are other entrances. Mapping apps direct them to use this one.
I decided to say something.
Me: (approaches cops, stops about 10 feet away, gets the attention of the closest cop) “Excuse me, is this your car?”
Cop: “No.”
Me: “Would you mind identifying the officer and ask him to move the car? That’s the primary entrance to the lot and there are a lot of people who use it.”
Cop: “Can’t you see that we’re dealing with this guy?”
Me: “Yes, I can see that, but I also see four officers and two firemen, perhaps someone could take a moment to move the car.” (the firemen were probably paramedics)
Cop: “Who do you work for?”
Me: (showing the cop my employee badge) “I work for unspecified office.”
Cop: (sarcastically) “We’ll move it as soon as we are done with this guy, sir.”
That’s when I took my leave of the situation.
To be clear, I’m just a contractor, but I do have a badge that made the constable think twice about being a total ass. No matter what, he probably did what he wanted to do anyway, but at least I gave him something to think about.