What Does The Term Police Officer Mean To You

I believe this was my first public statement regarding my feeling about our police officers.  It was in response to the title question posed on the discussion boards of our cause on Facebook, ~A Tribute To Those Who Wear The Shield~.  I had just recently joined the cause and this was posted on April 10, 2009.

~~~~~

What does "Police Officer" mean to me? How long do you have?

First, I have to start by saying that I sort of got here late. I've always respected and admired all law enforcement officers, but it has only been lately that I began to fully understand what they mean to me. That's a shameful thing to admit since I have an ex-brother-in-law who was an officer, a sister who was the first female Deputy for the county where we were raised, and a nephew who is an officer now for the town I live in. When I first got on Facebook, I started joining some of the causes and groups that represented the law enforcement community just out of respect for who they are. I still didn't really get it. So what caused it?

Well, I was born in raised in Texas and still reside there. I'm proud to be a Texan. But, I have sort of adopted Montana in my heart as where I was supposed to have been born and raised. I've only been there twice, but like I said, I sort of adopted it. I get news feeds from several Montana news stations, and a few weeks back one of those emails contained a report of a traffic accident that involved a Montana State Trooper that was hit by a drunk driver. I read it and it upset me, but the report was that he was critical but stable. I checked the next day and there was no update. A few more days passed before I decided to check again and see if I could find out anything about how he was doing but I couldn't find anything new. The very next day, I got another email. One that said Trooper Mike Haynes was gone. That email hit me so hard. It was the last thing I expected and I find it difficult to even write this without tears. I can't explain why I felt the loss so deeply, but I did and still do. The more it weighed on my mind, the more I started thinking. I went to the ODMP page and started reading. So many...how can there be so many?

Every new name that appeared began to hit me just as hard as it did to read about Trooper Haynes. Then I found out about Tim Davis in Cedar Rapids and Chris Dewey out of Minnesota and signed up for both of their care pages. And every day, I spent more and more time thinking about what they give up every day for us. So after that protracted, rambling explanation of how I got here, let me tell you what "Police Officer" means to me.

It means that special breed of man or woman who pins on a badge each day and goes out the door to protect and serve the public. I've often heard it called a shield, and in one sense I think that's true in that it represents the person wearing it who tries to shield us. If only it were a shield for them. They spend their days and nights being cursed, ridiculed, slandered, and worse. And yet tomorrow, when the person who cursed them today calls for help, they will go. The next day, when the person who once swore he would 'kill the first cop' he saw is in trouble, they will go. The day after that, when the city that was up in arms about a drunk driver being treated "too harshly" comes under attack, they will go.

These people endure what the publich dishes out, day in and day out but they still get up every day and pin on that badge and go out the door. They see the worst in this world of what we do to each other. If they show no reaction, the public doesn't understand and ask if they don't have any feelings. If they do, the public doesn't understand and look down their noses at them like they thought they should be stronger. How can they be stronger?

It's a special few who put their lives on the line every day just to keep us safe and they ask their families to make the same committment because that's who they are inside and they don't know how to be anything else. And yet in spite of what they endure, in spite of what they see, in spite of what they have to do every day, there's room for a spot inside of them that makes them go out of their way to take a kid shopping at Christmas for toys they might not otherwise have. They still make time to participate in marathons for Special Olympics and all of those other fundraisers for worthy causes that most of us try to ignore because we're "too busy". They don't look the other way. They always come when we call. No matter what the circumstance, no matter who we are...they always come.

So knowing all of this, when did it get to be okay to have open season on these heroes? What makes someone pick up a gun and point it at the very person who would hold out their hand to help them if they just gave them the chance? I don't understand.

If I had to pick just one word to define "Police Officer", it would be a word that is much overused and misused these days, but in this case it is appropriate. Hero.
 
I used to be like most everybody, I guess. You pass a patrol car on the street and you glance at the speedometer as you wonder if he'll give you a ticket. I don't do that anymore. Now, when I pass that patrol car, or I see an officer on the street, in a restaurant, or any other setting...it's with one thought. Each incident results in a whispered prayer. 'God bless you and I pray He'll keep you safe.'