This is why I get anxious

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Well, it's one of the reasons why I get anxious. Running into these kinds of authority figures. Let me elaborate:

A few years ago they had brought in some sort of law where the parents of any child between the ages of about 6 and 15 seen out in public by a cop not at school on a school day could face a fine or at least be confronted by a cop. So anyway my cousin, who was still school-aged at the time, was walking along the street with his dad - during the school holidays - when a cop confronted them and asked him why he wasn't in school. Obviously my cousin said that it was the holidays, but the cop wouldn't have it. She was like "well even so, you shouldn't be walking around the streets, there must be something open at your school that you could do, blah blah blah", and both my cousin and his dad were all baffled by this policewoman's arrogance.

It was as if she just wanted to show authority and would take "it's the school holidays" as an answer so still had to find a way to use her power, just because she could. And you get quite a lot of these sorts of authority figures around. They make me so anxious. Why do some authority figures abuse their own power like this?

Positions of authority tend to attract people who seek to lord power over others.

Once those personalities have authority they feel at least partially insulated from the consequences of mistreating others so long as they do so in ways that can be plausibly justified.

Further and specifically with cops they're often overseen by their fellow cops and this might reduce incentives to actually hold lawbreakers (within the force) accountable.

I was driving south on an interstate highway and there was some sort of stoppage and traffic was WAY backed up, We sat there so long, people were getting out of their cars, walking around, getting out sandwiches. Whatever it was, was so far ahead we had no idea what was going on.

So finally, apparently, things were fixed and we could move on.

This cop comes stomping down the roadway yelling at everyone to get back in their cars or be arrested. He yelled he was going to handcuff us and take us in. He said he was SERIOUS. And he had the guns and the handcuffs, so I got back in the car.

Sorta reminded me of Barney Fife. Except there was no Andy to get us out of any mess I might get into.

^Sorry you had to run into an idiot cop like that.

Thanks for the concern, but I am really okay with cops. I have had so much interaction with them due to my work that I have pretty much gotten used to it. I think I freak them about it a bit.

I've bailed clients out of jail. Gone into jails to see clients in holding cells, in the rooms for visitation. I've called up the county police to complain about the treatment one of my autisitc clients got from county officers. Deputies saw him somewhere and told him to stop. Told him to put his hands up. You know, this guy was nonverbal, under 60 IQ. But he was also walking while black. So they took him down. He's lucky he didn't get shot. Seriously. I was pretty unhappy and let them know it.

So, back to Joe, dear. There are a lot of idiot people in the world. Gets me frustrated and angry, but what are you going to do about it? It's like the weather. Always poorly behaving people showing up.

I remember during the height of the pandemic I was given a letter from work that explains that I'm a key worker if I was ever stopped by a cop asking where I was going. All the other workers were like "oh good, I'm glad I got this letter I can show", but I thought "what if I run into one of those arrogant sort of cops that won't listen to any reasons why I'm out, even if I show them the letter?" I did hear of some cops not even letting people go for a walk or even be in their own gardens - even though the government guidelines said we were allowed to take a walk or sit in your own garden as long as you don't have people from other households over. Some cops just take it too far and be intimidating jerks to innocent people.