One day, in the first week of March, perhaps the 2nd or 3rd, I had driven my kids to school in the morning.  While on the way out, I observed a cop issuing some sort of traffic citation to another parent on their way in.  This was causing a major delay for hundreds of cars, due to this guy blocking the only way in and out with two stationary vehicles, one being the typical suburban full-time-parent kid-chauffeuring battle-tank SUV.<p>I may have allowed an annoyed look to appear on my face.<p>Seconds later, this same guy was pulling <i>me</i> over.  The reason?  My vehicle stickers expire February 28th.  I renewed online late in the month (the shortest month, naturally), and the replacement stickers had not yet arrived in the mail.  Fortunately for me, I had the printed receipt of my renewal transaction on the front passenger seat of my car.  (The stickers arrived in the mail later that day.)<p>While walking away, the guy tells me, &quot;Next time don&#x27;t wait until the last minute to renew.&quot;  ~Dude.  I&#x27;m sorry that my timely production of exculpatory evidence precluded you from ratcheting one tick closer to your ticket quota.~  If you&#x27;re going to be overzealous in enforcing the revenue laws, I don&#x27;t need to hear any complaints about me paying the full amount and on time.<p>Next time, and all subsequent times, I will try the &quot;not making your job easier&quot; approach.  You can&#x27;t treat people like moustache-twirling villains half the time, and soulless cash machines the other half, and still expect them to respect you.  I <i>know</i> he had an in-car computer that showed him my current registration and insurance status.  He probably pulled me over because I gave him a dirty look for screwing up car line, and he wanted to be an extra-big dick about it.<p>The policing for profit has to stop.  Whether its from dubious municipal court fines and fees or War on Drugs grants, the distorted flow of money is rewriting the relationship between police and public.  The public is simultaneously employer to and customer of the police.  That means that the cop has the burden of being professional and respectful at all times, even in the face of horrendous rudeness.<p>When a waiter or delivery driver gets stiffed on a tip, they suck it up, maybe post a pic to social media, and move on.  When a cop gets frowned at, they swagger up, solicit some respeck for their authoritah, and maybe hurt someone while the cameras are inexplicably turned off.  It should not matter whether or not the public gives or withholds respect.  Those cops are on the clock and serving customers.  If those customers are curt with front-line employees, perhaps it is because the company as a whole has been behaving as badly as AT&amp;T or Comcast.<p>Just as you may get better results being calm and polite with your customer service rep while on the phone with those companies, you still might get a freakin&#x27; Ernestine, not caring about you, because the company is a [local] monopoly and it doesn&#x27;t have to.  In that case, you&#x27;re better off sticking to your own script and recording everything.