Funny Story
"So a funny thing happened to me on the way to the police station this week..."
I had to get my police check done for my application to Big Brothers this past week. Big Brothers gave me a letter indicating that the police check was for a volunteer organization and they gave me the address to visit, downtown near Duncan and Adelaide. On Thursday at lunch I drove down. There are several one-way streets there and it took me a while to get into the police parking lot.
Once I got into the parking lot, I had to drive right to the back to find a free spot. After having found one, I got my van and started backing up into that spot slowly and... CRUNCH! I backed right into a cop car. With the police officer inside it.
I had turned a corner in the parking lot and then the cop had come out of underground parking just behind me. When I was going to back up, the driver thought that I was leaving the parking lot and he tried to squeeze past me. It was an unmarked black car in my blind spot so I didn't see it when I checked behind me.
Ever so fortunately for me, there were no markings or dents on either vehicle, so the cop said it was fine. I asked him if I was just really, really, really lucky and he said yes, I was. And so he left, and so I parked.
I went inside to get the application for my police check - only to learn that London Police does not provide police checks for people that live in Dorchester, like me. All of that for nothing.
That was a Thursday. On Friday at lunch, I went to the OPP station, which does provide police checks for people that live in Dorchester, like me. Ironically enough, the OPP station is on Exeter Road, a few blocks from my workplace and about 12 minutes closer than the London Police station.
So, after traveling down Exeter Road in the wrong direction and stopping to ask directions, I finally drove up to the OPP station and parked. This time the parking lot was empty, so there was no chance of hitting another cop car. I walked up to the main door - and found it locked. No wonder the parking lot was empty, the place was closed during the lunch hour. There was even a sign on the door indicating that anyone looking for a police check was supposed to come back at 1:00 pm.
So I went back to work, ate lunch and then drove back one more time. I finally managed to get everything right and I submitted my application for a police check. Of this entire story, there was one good part - well, besides getting off free for hitting a cop. Police checks in London for volunteer organizations cost $10.00. At the OPP, these same police checks are free. So while I cost myself a lot of gas, at least I got a free police check in the end.
"So a funny thing happened to me on the way to the police station this week..."
4 comments:
that's brutal - makes me cringe! one little phone call or one extra question could have saved you hours! none-the-less, good to hear the brother thing is coming along so well :-) it's so exciting!! ~L
Sounds like something I would, Jamie, not you! I'm proud to say, I've never had a run with the police. Agreed with Laura, good to hear things are coming along. But did you pass the police check?? ;)
Yes, I prefer to learn some things the hard way, apparently. The trick is that you have to be smart enough to know what you don't know, and that's tough to pull off.
I won't have my police check done for another week or so. In the meantime, I had a child safety training session at Big Brothers last night. We covered things like how to respond to revelations of child abuse, proper limits, safety issues, that kind of thing. I submitted my application yesterday as well, so the next step is to wait for them to contact me for a personal interview.
Haha, police checks yeah, I've done that three times now. Here's my beef. In Ottawa I paid $11, I had to get them done twice while going to school. Here in Wawa I had to pay $30 to get one when I started my job at the hospital. I don't think I should have paid for any of them, or at least have been reimbursed or something considering the only reason I needed one was for admission to school, to 'volunteer' at school and for employment reasons. A rip off? Yes.
Cheers,
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