Let me preface this by saying I love cops. For all their faults, cops are over-worked, under-paid, and put their lives at risk for us all every day. Hail, cops!

That said, I was rear ended at the intersection of Grand and Hamline in St. Paul this afternoon, and it took the cops well over an hour to show up. I was (am) uninjured, and the guy who hit me ran off, but still. Over an hour? Really? I called the police department back on their non-emergency line and the lady said they were having a lot of emergencies at the moment, and a cop would be there as soon as possible. And within about fifteen minutes there was a squad car to help me out.

I definitely saw no fewer than five cop cars patrolling through the intersection while I was waiting (which is good! But they didn’t see me, alas). So, I’m not 100% convinced of all these other emergencies.

I know if I were a cop I wouldn’t rush to the scene of a hit and run with no injuries: YAWN. For all they know I’m going to go all crazy and yell at them for not preventing it or something. But I was very polite, and the cops, once they arrived, were extremely friendly. So, I’m not sure what to think of it. On the one hand I had to wait a loooooong time to get police attention, on the other hand it’s possible they really were attending to more important things than me (which I am assured do exist).

What have your experiences been with St. Paul (or other) police response times? Better than this? Do you have some insight into the emergencies that might spring up if cops take ten minutes off their patrol to help out a beleaguered motorist?