Today, I will not answer the radio call that there is an active shooter in your child’s school.
Today, I will not answer the radio call that your boyfriend or husband has come home drunk and is beating you, again.
Today, I will not answer the radio call that your 16 year old daughter, who is very responsible, is four hours late coming home from school.
Today, I will not answer the radio call that your store has been robbed or your house has been burglarized.
Today, I will not stop a drunk driver from killing someone. I will not catch a rapist or a murderer or a car thief.
Today, I won’t investigate the person peeping in your windows at 3 AM when you are asleep.
Today, I won’t find your teenage child or college student stranded on the side of the road without cell phone reception or injured in a crash on a secluded road.
Today, I won’t perform CPR on your mother or father.
Today, I will not answer the radio call that a man has a gun or tried to abduct a child or that someone has been stabbed or is trapped in a burning building and is need of rescue.
Today, I will not save your child whom you locked in a car or the child you were too busy to watch who went outside and fell into the swimming pool, but that I revived.
No, today I will not do any of those things.
Why?
Today, I was suspended from duty for doing my job. The media, a community organizer, a lawyer who formally represented terrorists, a mayor, a governor or a member of congress are anti-police agenda, who are afraid to tell people how it really is AND who know nothing about policing, have vilified my profession.
Or today, I was killed by a drunk driver while I was helping push a disabled car off the highway.
Or, I was shot and killed during a routine traffic stop. I simply wanted tell someone that they had a taillight out.
Or, I was killed in a traffic accident as I rushed to help a citizen.
Or, I was shot and killed serving a warrant on a known drug dealer.
Or, I was killed by a man when I came by to do a welfare check. His own family was too busy to do it for themselves.
Or, I was killed trying to stop a bank robbery or the robbery of a grocery store.
Or, I was ambushed checking a house, a business or a school.
Or, I was ambushed by people who have heard the anti-police rhetoric daily and want lawlessness to succeed.
Or, I was killed just doing my job.
A chaplain and an officer will go to a house and tell an unsuspecting person that their son, daughter, husband, wife, father or mother won’t be coming home today.
The flags at many police stations will fly at half-mast today, but most people won’t know why – or care why.
There will be a funeral and my fellow officers will come. Many of them will cry because they are my brothers. A twenty-one-gun salute will be given, and taps and bagpipes will be played, as I am laid to rest.
My name will be put on a plaque, on a wall, in a building, in a city somewhere.
A folded flag will be placed on a mantle or a bookcase in a home somewhere and a family will mourn.
There will be no cries for justice.
There will be no riots in the streets.
There will be no officers marching, screaming, “No justice, No peace,” because that would be ‘racist.’
No citizens will scream that something must be done because that wouldn’t be part of the social agenda.
No windows will be smashed, no cars burned, no stones thrown, no names called.
There will only a lonely someone crying themselves to sleep at night. THAT will be the only sign that someone cared for me and that I am missed.
I was a police officer.
At the bottom line, it’s all about saving just ONE life.
AMERICA
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I believe it’s time for Officers to be very picky what calls they respond to, and for the police unions to file law suits against wrongful filed complaints and bad information printed by the media.
Management does not back it’s officers because they are cowards and fear for their jobs. Most have forgotten what it’s like to work the street, and fail to admit who commits most of the crime in this country. Most police departments in this country have major problems recruiting for new officers. If it continues we will become a lawless society.
Agreed.
This is so sad and unfortunately true. I have friends who are officers or retired police officers. I feel for every post I read about the death of another officer. This is not the society I grew up in. I appreciate everyone of you who go out and protect our cities. I lived in Tallahassee for 23 years and when I was there I was at every police Memorial session they had. It was so difficult to watch the children and parents who had lost a loved one. Thank you for your service everyday. You are loved. ❤️❤️❤️
I am the wife of a LEO (Retired) with 40+ years and I can tell you it can be the most thankless profession but it can also be the most rewarding profession too. LEO are special people and deserve better than they are receiving…there are some bad apples in the barrel but all should not be judged by the bad ones. God bless the LEO!
This will bring out the haters, but if you feel this way about policing then perhaps another profession would be a better fit. I was a policeman for 10 years, and left (to self-employment in construction) when all the issues raised here affected my outlook beyond what I felt was acceptable for serving the public. I was never disciplined, and was honorably released. Though you may not believe it, there will be enough idealistic, young recruits to take your place. The world will survive without you, even if not to your standards. “It’s not like it used to be when I joined”. Everything said by the writer might be the reality of the job, but having that outlook can only result in more police shootings, and more police suicides, as well as the extreme physical and mental toll that stress does over a long career. So don’t do it.
I often recall an assessment that a person said to me years ago about the police field: “Anyone who wants to be a police officer should be immediately disqualified”. Policing tends to attract mostly Type-A, assertive, control seekers. That’s understandable. Which is why recruiting has sought more mature, university educated, and diverse candidates these past few decades. No different than firefighters needing Chemistry diplomas more than hulking physiques now in order to handle modern job requirements. The police examination is also designed to exclude those with a high IQ. That is because those who are deep thinkers will tend to be easily dissatisfied with all the problems they encounter, so well mentioned above. Those who will be compatible with the nature of policing and get through their service mostly intact, and tend not to rock the boat or be the subject of complaints, are going to be those who always take a positive attitude each time they put on their uniform and, despite all the numerous setbacks and annoyances, wish nothing more than to be able to help people that day.
Dan – As you may have noticed, this article was written by an unnamed person. While I have no way of knowing for certain, I suspect the author is an LEO who is feeling frustrated with his world. He wanted a manner to vent without casting a bad light on himself or his agency, i.e. just wanted to blow off some steam. It was published to help other cops who have similar feelings to know that they are not alone.
So, my recommendation: Don’t over-think it.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts, as well.
No problem, Jim. I had all those feelings as well. And I think I made the right choice for myself, and the public I served, by deciding to leave and use my skills in other areas – I was also going through a divorce, like many do. There are plenty of officers out there that can do the job for 20 or more years without becoming cynical or bitter. I leave the policing world to them.
“Don’t over-think it”. Understood.