Words of Truth

>Has anybody ever tried to call the police about a non-emergent matter? It’s next to impossible to get through the layers of bureaucracy. Here’s what I’ve been through:

My insurance company told me that I need to get the accident report amended if we have any hope of winning our case in arbitration. I called the officer who filled out the report and left three messages in two weeks. He never called back. So I called to speak with a supervisor. “It’s after 2pm,” they told me. “You need to call back tomorrow between 0500 and 0515 to talk to one of them. Or you can call after 0530 and leave a message with dispatch, and they will have a day shift supervisor call you.”

I called this morning at 0530. “you need to call back after 0615.”

I called at 0625. I confirmed that the man on the phone was a “day shift supervisor.” He gave me his name, and then told me, “We are all civilians here in communications. I don’t know what happened to your messages. The only thing we can do in communications is to page the officer.” He then took my name and number, confirmed that the officer was working “later on today,” and told me he would have the officer call me.

Now I sit and wait for this guy to call me. I thought I was going to speak with his supervisor (a policeman who was superior to him) and instead I got a civilian who just passes messages along. So after this two week long process of trying to get in touch with this officer, I am right back where I was the first time I tried to talk to him: giving someone a message for him to cal me. This is really starting to get frustrating.

If he doesn’t call me today, I am going to get very upset. I guess I will then move up the chain again. Maybe the supervisor of the supervisor is someone who can help me.

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>I talked to the insurance companies at length yesterday morning. The other guy’s insurance company says that they believe their driver, who states that I was in the right lane. They point out that his account matches what the accident report says. The “investigating officer” wrote in his police report,

The report specifies me as driver #1.

So basically the officer is saying that I was in the right lane and moved into the left lane where the other guy was innocently driving in full compliance with the law, causing him to run into me. I want to talk to this officer, and here is what I want to ask him:

How did you determine who was in what lane? I only told you that he was to the left of me. I was in the right hand side of the left lane. Is there any way we can amend the report, because there is no way we can state who was in what lane, without looking at physical evidence. The pictures that I took show that my motorcycle went down on the left side of the left lane, which would be impossible if I had come from the right lane. I didn’t get a chance to move more than a foot or two before being struck. The only witnesses we have to the accident are me and the other driver.

I get the feeling that the officer is not going to amend or change the report in the same way that a baseball umpire will not change his calls at the plate, no matter how wrong they may be: he has spoken, and it must therefore be so. But if they are going to take this stand, I would like them to explain to me how my motorcycle ended up facing forward so far over in the left hand lane, if I supposedly started in the right hand lane.

Another thing: The guy told me that he didn’t see me. If he didn’t see me, then I am the only reliable witness who can state where I was. I say I was in the left lane. That should be the end of that, right?

I have been told that if State Farm agrees with my version, and therefore disagrees with Liberty Mutual’s version, this will all go to “arbitration.” From what I understand, I have nothing to do with that, and I don’t get the chance to defend myself. Correct me if I am wrong.

I get the feeling that this will not be over for some time.