Howdy, Sher'ff ...

It's been a year since the Suffolk County Police turned highway patrol duties over to the Suffolk County Sheriff's Department. For serious commuters like me, it's been Nirvana ever since:

A state senator said Tuesday Suffolk should reinstate the police department's highway patrol unit and he called for a $50 surcharge on traffic tickets to fund it.

State Sen. Brian X. Foley's remarks came in response to a Newsday story Tuesday that revealed that the number of traffic tickets dropped by 63 percent after County Executive Steve Levy shifted patrol of the Long Island Expressway and Sunrise Highway from Suffolk police to Suffolk deputy sheriffs.

...

The deputy sheriffs are cool. Unless you're being a complete idiot, they leave you alone. I regularly cruise at 80 - 85 and I slow down to 72 - 75 when I see one of 'em sitting in the center median. As long as you don't rock his car when you blow by, he's cool - quite unlike the Suffolk Gestapo Police.

I got a thing going with one of the guys who works afternoons. I generally get into the "car pool lane" if it's clear (I get out of work before the restriction starts), put my foot down and go. A few weeks back, this deputy snuck up on me as I crossed the county line, had me dead to rights going 85, and all he did was go around me and take off. Not one to pass up an opportunity, I matched his speed and followed about a hundred yards behind. He led me all the way to my exit at 90.

So, yesterday, I blew past him as he's having a donut sitting in the median. He let me get about a 1/2 mile before taking off. No lights, no sirens, but closing quickly. I figured he'd had it with my hijinks and was gonna write me up so I slowed to 75, hopped two lanes to the right, and got off at the nearest exit (why push my luck; I was a couple miles from home and could take back roads). As I'm sliding onto the exit ramp, he catches up to me and comes around on the left. I look over and he's laughing at me. He waves and stays on the highway and I head down the ramp.

Wonder what game we're gonna play today? Off to work ...