The People Are the Police

3 am – I simultaneously sit bolt upright in bed and gasp. I could swear I heard a motorcycle whining on the wet road and then not. Just a thud – abrupt. I tell this to Kevin who grabs a flashlight and walks the road, then drives the stretch and returns seeing no signs of someone running off the road. It must’ve been a dream, I think, having spent the evening with our motorcycle-enthusiast friends – that would make sense.

It hadn’t dawned on me to call the Sheriff’s Department until Kevin mentioned it. A thought: I’m not sure what I heard, whether it was real – I’m having a hard time trusting myself. Another thought: I don’t want to bother anyone if this is nothing. Another thought: What if they would need an officer’s car to stop and talk with me – I want to go back to sleep and I don’t want Lucy to start barking and wake Mateo up. Another thought: some body could be in pain or unconscious or dead in a ditch. I called the police.

The next morning there was no word back from the Sheriff’s Department and I had convinced myself that I was just dreaming or hearing things amplified from the wetness outside. Kevin took a walk along the road and saw nothing suspicious. I went to work.

10am – Kevin calls at work: “I think they found him.” I can hear sirens in the background and sirens leaving from town and my eyes burn. A short while later Kevin calls again to confirm and says he thinks the guy will be alright. When I get home from work, Kevin is not so sure the guy is alright.

This is an enormous and timely lesson. Trust your instincts. Listen to that voice.

Last week my family had a conversation about the public’s involvement in law enforcement. According to Mom, in England the people ARE the police. Not to say that England’s law enforcement crew is incapable, but that they cannot be everywhere and, as such, people are expected to help out a little. Same here, right? In this case, I feel like we did everything we could. We were unable to find anyone, the county was unable to find anyone, but a motorist passing by noticed something and called it into the village. I do hope this man makes it. And I am grateful for the intuition that we all have. And I intend to honor mine.