Rules are made to be broken!! Or are they?

  • Published
  • By Jerry Osban
  • 509th Security Forces Squadron
I wrote an article a few months ago and in it, I described Whiteman as "like its own little community with a store, gas station and all the other things we have on base."

Along with being our own little community, we also have the problems other communities have - crime being one of them. You might think we don't have a crime problem on base and I agree with you to a certain extent, but crime still exists.

Today it is almost fashionable to break the law and not even think about it until we are caught doing something wrong or something happens that personally affects us. We set our cruise control five miles higher than the speed limit, roll through stop signs, drive the wrong way in parking lots and many other things we don't consider significant during our day-to-day lives.

All of those actions are no big deal, right? Wrong. Laws are put into place for the safety and protection of everyone. We are quick to dismiss the "little" crimes as trivial or unimportant until it is too late. You may say I am talking about simple traffic laws and not major crimes. Ask yourself a couple of questions before you respond to this statement.

If someone gets hurt because you were speeding or ran a stop sign, is it a simple traffic law then? What if the situation was reversed and it was you or one of your friends or family that got hurt? All of a sudden the picture changes and that "simple traffic law" becomes a bigger issue.

The rules on base are the same as any other place you may drive, with speed limits, stop signs and traffic lights, etc. However, one additional rule has been in place since May 2006 -- there is no talking on cell phones without hands-free devices when driving on a military installation. Make sure you are following the rules of the road and looking out for each other.

Remember, the rules of the road apply to everyone -- not just everyone else.

For more information on crime prevention callĀ 687-4482.