Survey crew

    The puzzlement for today: There was a survey crew working on Bluff Road this morning. The puzzling aspect was that they were all in police uniform and there was a police car nearby. This leads to two possibilities. First, the police may have needed some surveying done and just sent out a couple of officers, saying, "You figure it out." More likely, though, is that the city decided to make their surveyers part of the police department. My best guess is that the thinking would be that drivers would be more attentive if the surveyers were in uniform, especially if the survey work required them to direct traffic.
    I guess I'll find out if I start seeing surveyers in police uniform every time. Neighboring Cayce doesn't seem to feel this way, because I saw survey work there, too. (Big day for survey work, apparently.) And no police cars nor police uniforms were in sight. Perhaps it's a trend.
    Of course I'm still guessing and I may be guessing wrong. But if the city is putting its surveyers in police uniform, there are slightly creepy overtones. If it makes the surveyers safer and more effective, it's a good idea, but where then does it stop? Street sweepers in police uniforms, garbage collectors in police uniforms, water meter readers in police uniforms? I am of course over-reacting for effect, especially to a single observation, but there is a sort of militaristic mindset that may be at work here that I'd rather not see. (That said, I DO wish the surveyers the best, and the greatest safety.) And of course, what I saw may have been police cadets receiving special training. It's just that I don't see a lot of overlap between the skills of police officers and survey workers. I could be totally wrong of course.