Posted on 06/18/2011 7:40:27 PM PDT by Crapgame
Thoughts from a cop who just retired. Just before retiring, some young Officer was busting my chops about how law enforcement has changed, and the system is improving for the best. I just smiled and gave him a little laugh.
He asked what was so funny. I told him that I felt sorry for him. When asked why, I told him, "Because in about 15 years, THIS is going to be your good old days."
We all saw the change in our jobs. I came on in 1990. And the first order we received when we were assigned to a district was from our sergeant. His order was "Don't you EVER bother me, kid." Now that person has never worked a beat car, he's been promoted and you're still pushing a black and white.
Law enforcement then, was much different than the current mission. We delivered babies, got rough in the alley when we needed to, made "Solomon-like" decisions at least once a tour, and often wound up being big brother to the kid we roughed up in that alley a year or so ago. And, for some reason, none of that managed to get on a report. And the department didn't really want to know. All they wanted was numbers, and no ripples in the pond. Unfortunately, I made plenty of ripples early in my career.
Because of the changing times, and the evolution of law enforcement, the modern young officers will never see that form of policing, and of course this is best. The current way is the right way... Now. But it was different then (ergo, the Dinosaur Syndrome).
When it's time to go, we wonder if we're going to miss the job. After all, other than our kids and a few marriages for some of you, it was the most important thing in our lives. Actually, it was the other way around. The job was first, but only another cop could understand how I mean that.
It's not the job we miss after all. It's what we, as individuals, had accomplished while in this profession that we miss. The challenge of life and death, good and bad, right and wrong, or even simply easing the pain of some poor bastard for a while, someone we will never see again.
We know the reality of what's happening out there. We are the ones who have spent our entire adult life picking up the pieces of people's broken lives. And the bitch of it all is that no one except us knows what we did out there.
I was once told that being a good street cop is like coming to work in a wet suit and peeing in your pants. It's a nice warm feeling, but you're the only one who knows anything has happened.
What I will miss mostly, though, were the people I worked with. Most of us in my tenure came on the job together at the age of 21 or 22. We grew up together. We were family. We went to each others weddings, shared the joy of our children's births, and we mourned the deaths of family members, brothers and sisters in blue and marriages. We celebrated the good times, and huddled close in the bad.
We went from rookies who couldn't take our eyes off of the tin number of the old timer we worked with, to dinosaurs with hash marks to his elbow. Now I'm a dinosaur with five hash marks.
After all, what they gave us was just a job. What we made of it was a profession .. We fulfilled our mission, and did the impossible each and every day, despite the department regulations, budget and concessions.
I think the thing that nags you the most when you first retire is: After you leave the job and remove your armor, the part of you that you tucked away on that shelf for all those years, your last lonely feeling, comes out. It looks at all the things you've hidden away. All the terrible and all the wonderful things that happened out there. And it asks you the questions that no one will ever answer: "Do you think I did OK? Did I make a difference? Was I a good cop?"
You know what? Yeah, you were a good cop! And you know it!
Be safe!
That was an inspiring e-mail to the department from your friend. He showed his love for his fellow officers, his profession and respect for the public he served. We need a lot more of that positive and inspiring expression in our society.
Here is what my dad did with his navy buddies after retirement: Poker every Saturday night (the wives played cribbage) and golf once a month on Sunday. They took care of each other as they aged and visited with each other often.
When my mom died, my dad was lost. One of his Navy friends figured out the toughest time was in the morning at coffee time when mom and dad sat together at the table, read the paper and planned their day. So, this friend showed up often in the morning and they read the paper and drank their coffee together at the table. They talked about their plans for the day and then he moved on.
There is no reason for the interaction to break up when you retire if you are committed in friendship to one another and smart enough to spend time together and help one another.
Thanks for being a good cop, a good friend to your fellow officers and for serving the public.
I spent thirty years doing specialized work in Hollywood. It, too, was an all consuming job, and few outside it understood what we went through. We all tended to socialize within a small circle. Retirement, and the exposure to people who were living normal lives, was like being reborn into a world I’d never seen before.
So, I take your friend’s “have good friends outside the job” admonishment to heart. There’s wisdom there.
Very nice read. True nobility. May we always be protected by good and wise men.
Godspeed. I hope you find work that will fulfill the best years ahead.
Great vanity, btw.
Did you respect The Constitution? Did you consider yourself to be something other than a Civilian Police Officer? If you answered yes to the first question and no to the second question then you were a good cop. Thanks for your service.
Bingo! Gold Star for JRF.
He's already retired?
lol...
Sounds a lot like a liberal "elite" politician.
I disagree.
With the avalanche of cop, jail, and crime reality shows, plus a half dozen ex-cop best selling authors, I think many people understand the job quite well.
I do agree that most people, including me, would prefer not to do it.
Cops “customers” are usually sociopaths or people at their worst...
Drunk, drugged, irrational, violent, unclean, contagious, deranged, injured, terrified, deceitful...
Cops make considerable sacrifices, but the pay is quite reasonable, too.
I live just east of Seattle.
Cops here average about $70K after 20 years and can retire out with $3000 per month in their early 40’s.
As I recall, my town gets a dozen qualified applicants for every job opening.
Cops have many reasons to moan and groan, but there is always someone willing to step up and take their job if they don't want it.
Bless you all! Keep Safe! Keep your oaths!
Or a Sheriff’s Deputy.
We need far fewer "law enforcement officers" and far more "peace officers".
Law enforcement has always been clannish- usually socializing only with each other- if you think about it there are some good reasons for that,from their point of view. I think the difference is they used to interact more with people in the community while on duty- really got to know the people in whatever area they were working. They knew who the good and bad people were. Now even in these smaller communities that type of policing is actually discouraged. Now it is thought that if they are too familiar with people the bad guys can be right under their noses and they will overlook them. It is much more of an “us against them” mentality; that feeling used to mean LEO vs criminals, now it means LEO vs any civilian. That is just not right and it causes a great deal of mistrust and misunderstangings both ways. Fear of the unknown from both sides is not a good situation.
There are still many great LEOs, I meet them all the time where I work- the problem is most people never talk to any LEO unless it is official and that is not the best circumstance to meet anyone.
I remember one hot day my pickup broke down at the bank and I had my elderly mother with me. A deputy sheriff on duty came by and took us home. I am sure that is not allowed any more either. That is the type of policing that keeps people from seeing LEO as just the people that write you a ticket or make arrests/kick down your door in the night. I think it really made a huge difference, people in general had more respect for LEO then. LEO really used to “serve the community” not just enforce laws. I don’t mean that police should be running a taxi, but there are times when it would be good PR if they did when the situation called for it.
My comments are pre-Hawaii. Getting out of the SoCal cesspool was a major goal. No solid idea how the local cops perform, but plenty of anecdotes. They were bad enough on Oahu. How much concern over your stolen car was directly proportional to the relative status of your neighborhood. And give up hope if the cops found out that the perps was related to another cop. Extended family rules.
No clue, have you? If you are comfortable letting the police into your life and home, be my guest, don't really care. Leave me out of it.
I think it is true that many don’t trust LEO. I trust those I know- but when I encounter those I don’t know I sense many are really leary of everyone- suspecting the worst of people. That makes me not trust them- I have no way of knowing if the nervous officer is going to also be trigger happy. I do not feel the same trust and confidence in LEO in general that I used to. I encounter many at work too, but those I don’t know just seem so edgy it makes me edgy. I don’t think it is a good thing.
My point, in better words. The relationship with the people has been mostly severed. Badge-lickers do not like that clear statement of what is happening, with SWAT, random roadblock checkpoints, and all the modern "conveniences" of law enforcement. Anyone that denies there is a healthy "them vs. us" mentality is out of touch, at best.
May I ask what you mean by hash marks on your elbow?
You are to be honored for not following the herd into the "cop only" bars and all the rest of the life style that so many perceive is the issue with cop-civilian relations these days.
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