I've had a different opinion about traffic police officers.

(Baonghean.vn) - My job as a journalist has given me many opportunities to accompany traffic police officers. But honestly, I don't understand why I haven't felt as much affection for them as I do for security, criminal, and anti-drug officers…

Then one day, my thoughts about them changed.

An event that changed my perspective just happened. At noon on June 13, 2017, the weather was incredibly hot and humid, with temperatures reaching 39-40 degrees Celsius. Leaving work, I, like my colleagues, hurriedly got into our cars, turned the air conditioning up to full blast, and sped off to get home as quickly as possible.

A traffic police officer performs a rescue operation for a car that broke down in the midday sun on June 12, 2017. Photo by Nhat Lan.

As the car sped through the Customs roundabout (Vinh City), a Getz car with license plate 37A-01300, driven by a young man, suddenly broke down in front of me. This startled me and the entire crowd, who were rushing along, causing us to brake sharply. The young man in the Getz tried his best to restart the engine, but to no avail. Every time he revved the engine, the car would lurch forward before stalling and dying. Nearly ten minutes passed, and the traffic jam behind us began to grow impatient, complaints erupting, while the young man's face turned red with anger, his forehead drenched in sweat…

When shouts of "Call an ambulance for him!" rang out, a traffic police officer on a motorbike sped up. He calmly approached the Getz, gestured for the young man to lower the window, and instructed him to shift the gear to neutral. At the same time, he told the young man to steer, while he went behind the car and pushed the Getz onto the sidewalk. In just over a minute, the road was clear again, and a stream of people left the congested area…

That's all there was to it, but I'm still haunted by the image of the dark-skinned traffic policeman pushing the car to help the crowd escape the traffic jam on that sweltering summer afternoon. I asked myself: Why? Just a few "rescue" actions from the traffic policeman cleared the traffic jam, yet the whole crowd, including me, couldn't think of doing it. Were I, and the rest of the crowd, too indifferent, even heartless...? Then I consoled myself, every profession has its own demands. Only traffic police officers, whose duty it is to ensure traffic safety and order, could have thought of such a solution in that situation.

And from what I witnessed firsthand, my opinion of you, the traffic police officers, has changed. To be honest, my job as a journalist has given me many opportunities to travel. And on quite a few trips, I've interacted with or accompanied you officers. But for some reason, I don't feel the same affection for you as I do for other forces in the industry, such as security, drug, or criminal investigation officers…

Positive images of traffic police officers need to be shared more often. Photo by Nhat Lan

I understand that every profession is noble and necessary for society. For example, our profession of journalism is noble, and we have many colleagues who deserve the title of journalist. However, even so, there are still those who abuse their professional credentials to do wrong, tarnishing the reputation of genuine journalists. And from that, we can infer the same things about other professions.

But with traffic police, as with some people, I still harbored some suspicion. Only now do I realize how unreasonable I was. The traffic police force, with tens of thousands of officers and soldiers, is carrying out its duties amidst countless difficulties, so why should we have such negative thoughts just because a few individuals have fallen from grace or behaved inappropriately…?

I had a different opinion, believing that traffic police officers deserve respect and admiration. And I hope to see more positive images of traffic police officers. I wonder if you share this view?

Ha Giang