'We're not robots': Police officer hits out at nasty note left on car parked at supermarket

A police officer returned to their car to an unpleasant letter written by a notably peeved stranger who believed the officer was “shopping on duty”.

The random member of the public issued a handwritten “£100 fine” (AU$194) and slapped it on the windscreen of the police car parked at a shopping centre in the north of England.

In a post to Twitter on February 17, the officer expressed they were “wound up” after receiving the unsolicited message, explaining they had just spent several hours tending to the sudden death of a child.

“Just left Tesco. Handwritten note on the windscreen of my patrol car. ‘£100 fine for shopping on duty’,” the tweet read.

“If only I could tell the person who wrote it that I have just spent the last seven hours at the sudden death of a baby. I’d bought a sandwich. We’re not robots.”

The officer also added hashtags #BeKind and #WoundUp.

More than 2000 people left a comment on the post, with over 9000 showing their support for the officer by retweeting it and nearly 73,000 people hitting “like”.

While most expressed their support for the officer, some were convinced police weren’t any more entitled than regular citizens when it came to excusing themselves from work while on the clock.

One person asked to borrow the phrase, “we're not robots”, for the next time they were fined for going a few kilometres over the speed limit.

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Another social media user shared a similar sentiment, writing: “Because if you have a heart-wrenching excuse the police would always throw away your speeding ticket. One law for us.”

Others praised the officer for their hard work and encouraged them to ignore the “hateful” act.

“Take no notice. You do a fantastic job. Greatest respect to you,” one wrote.

“Thank you for being there for the hardest of day of someone's life today. I hope you're OK. I'm sorry some idiot felt that note was an OK thing to do,” another said.

The officer shared a second tweet shortly after saying they were “absolutely blown away” by the positive response from the public.

“It's hard to see at times, as we deal with the worst society has to offer most days, but the good people clearly far outweigh the bad based on the messages I have received,” they said.

“My faith in humanity is restored. Thank you.”

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