United States Park Police

I don't know if this is any indication of as to how the Hexberg Trip to DC will be but on my way to pick them up last night at the Metro Station I was pulled over. It had been raining and I passed a guy that was turning and apparently I sped up quite a bit a may have passed a police car. IT WAS DARK and RAINING. Well he came up to my window and the first thing he said was..."what they don't have speed limits in California?" My mind thought what a dumb question or statement, I said yes and explained that I was passing a car and not intending to speed so excessively. Then he proceeds to lecture me and tell me speeding 55 in a 25 is not smart. I apologized and he closed it with, "I won't give you a ticket, be careful and don't speed." I said thank you and he left.

Here's where it gets interesting, he speeds off and I catch up next to him at a light and find out this JERK FACE is a PARK POLICE. I started wondering if he can even issue traffic violations. Well I got the Hexbergs - they look good and got them settled at the Hotel Old Town Alexandria (my casa)...more blogs will follow on their visit later.

Back to the park police and his duties...I did a little searching and my conclusion so far is that this guy was trying to be a hard @#!% but in reality he couldn't issue me a ticket. Here is what I found out - please feel free to chime in and let me know your thoughts.

The United States Park Police (USPP) is the oldest uniformed federal law enforcement agency in the United States. It functions as a limited service law enforcement agency with responsibilities and jurisdiction in those National Park Service areas primarily located in the Washington, D.C., San Francisco, and New York City areas and certain other government lands. In addition to performing the normal crime prevention, investigation, and apprehension functions of an urban police force, the Park Police are responsible for policing many of the famous monuments in the United States and share law enforcement jurisdiction in all lands administered by the Service with a force of National Park Rangers tasked with similar law enforcement powers and responsibilities. The agency also provides protection for the President and visiting dignitaries. The Park Police is a distinct unit of the National Park Service, which is a bureau of the Department of the Interior. (cited - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Park_Police)