To the Editor:

Last Tuesday evening, I was pulled over by a state trooper because I had a headlight out. I was given a fix-it ticket and was told to take the ticket to the Potsdam Police Dept. where, once I replaced my headlight, they would sign off on it and send it in to the court; no points, and no fine, as it should be for a fix-it ticket. This is where my grievance begins; when I took the ticket (and newly replaced bulb) to the Potsdam PD, it seemed as though I was the largest inconvenience of this particular officer's day.

Walking out the door and watching me flash my headlights was apparently just too much to ask on this drizzly Saturday morning. Not to mention giving me his signature on the ticket. I was also informed that there was a ten dollar charge for this "service." Not a fine; a charge. The Potsdam Police Department, a publicly funded service, is charging the citizens for the grievous chore of signing a piece of paper. A service that private mechanics will perform free of charge. The PPD has no business charging for anything; fines and village funding from tax money are how revenue is to be generated for a public service such as the police department.

Finally, at the end of this encounter, I was also informed that they couldn't be bothered to send in the ticket to the court, as the trooper told me they would.

Any of these incidences alone would not have been enough to trigger this letter, but as a compilation I felt justified in calling attention to this inconsistency and sheer rudeness directed towards myself.

If nothing else, some of these officers could do with a basic lesson in how to deal with the public. The ten-dollar charge would have slid by without complaint if I had not been treated like an interruption and inconvenience by this individual.

Their motto is "serve and protect;" that doesn't pertain exclusively to the instances they find interesting. They are public servants, paid by the public and in place for the good of the public. They ought not lose sight of that.

Connor Hardiman

Potsdam