"But you didn't do anything wrong."
His father nodded.
"I know."
"Then why did he act like that?"
The older man looked toward him.
For several seconds, he was silent.
Then he said, "Some people mistake having authority for being more important than the person they're speaking to."
The boy thought about that.
His father continued.
"Don't become one of them."
Years later, when his son announced that he wanted a career in public service and law enforcement administration, his father supported him.
He didn't warn him that every officer was bad.
He knew too many decent officers to believe that.
One had helped his family after a storm knocked trees across their road.
Another coached local children without accepting payment.
And a third had once stayed with an elderly neighbor until an ambulance arrived.
His father understood that a department could contain both honorable service and serious misconduct.
He wanted his son to help strengthen the former and confront the latter.
The commissioner carried that lesson through college, professional training, and years of increasingly difficult assignments.
His father died five years before the appointment.
He never saw his son become commissioner.
But the son kept a photograph of him on his desk.
In it, the older man stood beside a yellow school bus, holding a wrench and smiling as though he'd just solved the most interesting mechanical problem in the world.
That photograph would be placed inside the commissioner's new office the morning after the roadside assault.
And each time he looked at it, he'd remember the difference between the badge he'd been given and the responsibility it represented.
At two-thirty that afternoon, the commissioner left the administration building.
He had spent several hours discussing staffing, records systems, and the process for reviewing older complaints.
His senior operations director suggested a formal tour of the department's facilities the following morning.
The commissioner agreed.
He also requested a briefing on the police towing contract.
That request surprised the director.
"Is towing a priority already?"
The commissioner nodded.
"It came up repeatedly during the appointment review."
The director looked toward his notes.
"We have a contract through an outside recovery company."
"I know."
"The arrangement has been in place for years."
The commissioner studied him.
"That doesn't tell me whether it's working properly."
The director hesitated.
Then nodded.
"We can provide the records."
The commissioner thanked him.