Jake is a rookie cop and he’s on his first day in a patrol car.
His partner is Vinny, an experienced cop who’s been around the block a few times and he knows the score.
Nothing much happens for the first hour of their shift but then suddenly they get a call on the radio asking them to disperse a group of people who’ve been reported as loitering on Main Street.
“Let me deal with this one Vinny”, says Jake, all pumped up and ready to go.
“OK buddy, go for it!” Vinny responds.
As their patrol car approaches Main Street they can see a small crowd on the corner.
So Jake jumps out of the patrol car, approaches the small crowd and says, “Okay people can we move along now, please? Come on now, as quickly as you can. Nothing to see here. Surely you’ve all got homes to go to?”
The crowd ignores Jake’s instruction, so he feels compelled to repeat his command, “Come on now move along, please. There’s nothing to see here. Failure to comply with a police officer’s instruction is a misdemeanour and I will have to book you if you don’t move along.”
Well, his comment about being booked seems to do the trick because people then start to drift away in different directions.
His confidence now boosted by his apparent success, Jake gets back into the patrol car.
Jake smiles at Vinny and says, “Not a bad start don’t you think?”
“Yeah, I guess so”, says Vinny, “pity it was Bus Stop though.”