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But you think police officers are lazy and overpaid?
Then let me ask you this:
Have you ever attended an autopsy on an innocent little 4-year old boy that was pulled out of a pond on Easter Sunday?
Have you ever seen the remains of a university student that was raped, beaten and set on fire?
Have you ever attended the autopsy for a mother of 5 that was shot in the head then forced to sit in court for weeks on end to guard the smiling, self-righteous, millionaire husband that had her killed?
Have you ever given first aid to an officer that was shot, promised that he’d be okay and then died while you knelt at his side?
Have you ever seen the lifeless bodies of two murdered children who still clutched little bags of candy in their hands after they were stabbed to death?
Have you ever listened to the confession of a grandfather that had anally penetrated his 3 year old grandson?
Have you ever picked through the remains of a house fire to gather up the charred remnants of the victims?
Have you ever interviewed a young female officer that found her dead police partner after he was shot in the head?
Have you ever had to console a boy who just watched 2 men murder his aunt?
Have you ever searched ditches for body parts that were cut off of a female murder victim?
Have you ever investigated the rape and murder of a young girl and brutal attack on her mother?
Have you ever had to search a dumpster for the body of a toddler?
Have you ever laid on the cold ground all night while a maniac fired shots over your head?
Have you ever sat face to face in an interrogation room with a smiling teen psychopath that had butchered 3 people?
Have you ever comforted a close friend after he shot a killed an armed suspect?
Have you ever been punched, kicked, spit on and bled on, but still had to put on a happy face and finish your shift?
Have you ever interviewed a frightened 5 year old after an adult stranger grabbed her so hard he bruised her vagina?
Have you ever watched a father identify the body of his beautiful and successful university student daughter after she committed suicide?
Have you ever had a broken-hearted boy bury his face in your stomach and bawl his eyes out after his police officer father had been shot and killed?
Have you ever sat with a crying father as he debated whether to pull his police officer daughter off life support? Did you ever stop a car in a desolate area in the middle of the night - while alone, to find the driver was an escapee that had murdered 6 people?
Have you ever entered a home through a window all alone, to find an elderly man because neighbours were concerned, only to find him long deceased by suicide?
Have you ever had to crawl around a dark yard during the night looking for 2 teens that shot up their teacher’s house over a classroom issue?
Have you ever been face to face with a drunken career criminal as he screamed obscenities at you, claiming that he “pays your salary” when he reality he’s never had legal employment in his entire life?
Have you ever crawled around a burning and smoke-filled house with your partner, trying to locate a sleeping victim?
Have you ever entered a house to find and wrestle with a hiding gunman?
Have you ever rolled down a staircase with a naked psychiatric patient that had slashed himself up and was still armed with a butcher knife?
Have you ever been to a violent domestic quarrel on Christmas Eve and watched little kids crawling around a dirt floor as you took away their drunken parents?
Did you ever respond to a shooting where the gunman had long fled, but arrive at the very moment he returned with his rife?
Have you ever climbed inside a twisted vehicle to console an elderly man as firefighters worked to free his mangled legs from the dashboard?
Have you ever investigated a suicide where a man killed himself with a shotgun blast because he thought he was dying of cancer…but he really wasn’t?
Have you ever had to knock on the door of a house and deliver the horrendous news to a family that their young loved one would not be coming home…ever?
I didn’t think so, and I’m truly happy for you.
Well, I have done each and every one of those things, and lots more, and I never felt I was being overpaid for a moment while I did. Thankfully I safely made retirement after 36 years and although I would do it all again, it took away some pieces of me that I’ll never get back.
It also left me with horrendous memories that will haunt me forever.
Many police officers and other emergency responders across the land have done all of that and much, much more. Some paid with their physical and/or mental health, while others gave their lives.
But do you know what? Every once in a while, one of those officers will make an honest mistake while truly trying their best. When he or she does, the armchair-quarterbacking, second-guessing, over-sight, isolation, investigations, rumor-mill, criticism and negativity – from those who should know better and many who don’t, will be boundless. But they will persevere, because that’s what they do on the street – take the crap, move on and try to stay strong, knowing that the good days will still outnumber the bad.
Please support them. They do it all for you.
