It is not normal that I do a story and then live the experience of what I wrote in real life – but it happened last weekend.
I did a story on Dallas Police response times last month. Not so much the response times on the most critical of cases but instead on the least critical of cases. Many people, if they fall into the fourth-most critical, or the least critical, they are waiting for hours for an officer to show up.
Then, boom. I was the victim of a hit and run. Minor damage to my car, no one hurt and they other guy fled. So, I did what any normal responsible citizen would do – I called the police. Two hours later, an officer showed up to take the report.
Flashing back to a few days before hand, listening to Dallas Police Chief David Brown explain to the City Council that they are working to make those times faster and the possibility of adding officers, let me add my voice. Yes fix the potholes and stuff – but please – let’s not make responsible citizens wait in the cold in a random parking lot for two hours because some guy crashed into them and fled.
-Eric Bushman