On Being A Cop

I was an accidental Cop.  I got a degree in Sociology with an emphasis in Corrections and Criminology.  I THOUGHT I was going to go back and get an MSW (Me Social Worker), but I didn't get accepted in graduate school right out of college, so I went to work.  Thinking I might try again later.

Well, you get married, you get a house and a mortgage, and a kid and, well, things change.

And you end up working for Corrections.  Then you end up going to the Police Academy and the next thing you know?  You are wearing bullet proof under ware and kicking in doors in meth labs on, "No Knock" search warrants.

And thinking, "How did I end up here?  I wanted to save the world.  Now?  I'm kicking it's ass!"

So it goes.

I have no regrets.  It gave me a good living, let me meet and marry my wife and now I'm retired and have a pension.  We both do.  I could have made a lot of worse decisions.

But I was just thinking about how people don't really understand what being a, "Cop" means.  You can watch, COPS on Saturday and see the bad stuff, but they also edit out a LOT of bad stuff.

You don't see what happens with the kids when the Cop has to put the parents in jail.  The Cop has to wait for hours for the DEA to come and clean up the meth lab, and DCFS to come and pick up the kids.  And when they pick up the kids?  It tears your heart out.

The parents put their kids in that position, but I put them in the hands of the state.  I did the right thing, but it never feels right when you do it.

I had to put people in jail for shit that they should NOT have gone to jail for.  Smoking pot?  Really?  Well, I took the oath, and it's against the law.  I did my job.  But it was not always the right thing to do.

You see the worst of the worst of people.  The poor, the, "underclass" of America are the folks who come in contact with guys like me.  The Cops.

In the 23 years I was doing probation and parole, I had ONE case of a guy who lived in Willow Creek.

The middle of the road folks were the worst ones to deal with.  The privileged, Mormon, white, Republican families that live in Riverton, Herriman, and those areas thought they were above the law.  They wouldn't even open the door for us sometimes.  Pricks.

But most of the time, we dealt with folks most of you wouldn't know about.  Associate with.  Live around.  And it's true when they talk about, "The thin blue line" between society and anarchy.

We kept the society from having to deal with the folks who would bring anarchy.  If they could.  Cause they wouldn't CHOOSE to live like they do.  And yea, they WILL take your stuff if you leave it unlocked. 

I'm not thin, but I was sure a part of that line.  And I think I did a good job.  But it did leave me a little fucked up.

I was retired six years before I could go into a restaurant before I could sit with my back to the front door.

I still carry a gun sometimes.  I get nervous being downtown or in West Valley City or Magna when my son plays a soccer game out there.  Because for about ten years, I was THE Parole Agent for everything south of 2100 to 4700, and west of 3600 to the mountains.

I'm much more relaxed now.  But when my friend got married in Michigan a number of years ago, a guy pulled his truck in front of us while we were walking across a street in front of my wife's blind cane, and I kicked his truck!  Probably wouldn't do that now. I'm not as tightly strung.

But after all those years of having to be in, "condition red", it took some time to wind down.

So when you encounter a Police Officer, be it for a traffic ticket or some other reason, please keep in mind that we/they live in a different world.  One in which every encounter with a person could be a life or death situation.

After all, the van he/she pulls over for speeding could be mom, dad and the kids late for a soccer game, or a parole fugitive from out of state.  And he won't know until he gets to the window.  So give a guy a break.  The Cop is not trying to be a prick, even if they come off as one.

They are just trying to be careful and cautious.  You get treated with the respect you want, by the respect you give.  Not to the Cop, but to the badge.