Keeping An Eye on the Cops

Tacos & Cops

Ted D. Nelson

1/30/15

Today I slipped into my neighborhood Del Taco for one of my favorite

quick lunches; grilled chicken tacos and a churros with a cup of water (for

about three and a half bucks, including the tax).

As I was relaxing in the dinning area enjoying my meal, a cop came in and stepped up to the ‘order line’. (I don’t know about you, but whenever I see a cop, whether I’m

driving my car or just eating a taco, I can’t help myself; I start evaluating

what I’m doing through the eyes of the cop to make sure I don’t slip-up and

give him a reason to notice me.)

After a quick self-evaluation, I was pretty sure I was in the clear; I was confident that I was unlikely to experience “Police Brutality” or any other special attention from him this day so I kept eating my taco, but I still just couldn’t suppress the urge to keep track of the cop out of the corner of my eye; so I watched him.

Once he finished at the ‘order window’, he didn’t come into the dinning area

where I was to wait for his number to be called, but instead he just stepped

back a few steps and waited near the door. He seemed to be patient as he

stood there, (he had the appearance of a somewhat younger Trey Gowdy).

I took a break from watching the cop wait for his order and looked to my left,

out the window. To my surprise, I saw another cop out in the parking lot (he

had the physical appearance of a much younger Arnold Scharzenegger). He

captured my full attention.

He was talking with a young mother and her two young children near a very busy entrance/exit for the shopping center. I’m pretty sure I have seen her (or someone similar to her) with her kids at that same spot before, “panhandling” as the cars exited the parking lot.

I completely forgot about the Trey Gowdy cop and became totally

committed to what might be going on with the Scharzenegger cop and the

little family. I had to strain a bit in order to keep an eye on them over my

left should (I’ve had a stiff neck for awhile now making it tough to turn my

head to the left as far as I needed to for the best view but I fought through

the pain so I wouldn’t miss a thing).

Of course, the Scharzenegger cop wore short sleeves unlike the Trey Gowdy cop. (Each time the Scharzenegger cop bent one of his arms, I thought that he might rip his shirt as his biceps expanded.) At first he stood face to face talking with the mother (I couldn’t image what he might be saying to her); he then squatted down for a face to face encounter with each of the kids. Was he reading them their rights? He

was greatly out numbered!

Suddenly the Trey Gowdy cop came into my vision as he approached his

partner and “The Family of Interest”. He had managed to exit Del Taco

without me noticing; obviously he was on his way to reinforce the

Scharzenegger cop! He had three bags in his hands.

As he closed in on the group he started with the kids; he immediately

dropped to a squatting position and gently handed one of the bags to the

first kid and then a second bag to the other (the bags looked like they might

have been “Kid’s Meal” bags).

He then stood straight up in front of the young mother and presented her with the third and significantly larger bag. The young mother accepted the bag, loaded her kids into their carriage; reorganized her ‘stuff’ and headed down the sidewalk, away from the cops.

As for the cops, they talked together for a few minutes and then went to their

separate patrol cars and headed out the driveway up the road. The last thing

I saw were the words painted on the back of their cars, “Orange Police”.

Is that how cops are supposed to act???