My Leo is a hero

May 25, 2003 | Arpege92

[Arpege92]

I know alot of people have no room in their heart for Police Officer's and in a strange way, I understand that sometimes but before anyone makes a final judgement on all police officer's, please allow me to tell you my side of this debate.

I have been married to a police officer for twelve years....some good and some bad. He has seen some of the most tragic and de-humanizing sides of people and he has seen the best as well. He is the kind of police officer to stop at the house of a lonely elderly man who just lost his wife. He is the kind of police officer who will take the time to fix the mailbox for a family who can't afford to get it fixed for themselves....of course, he does this on his own time and with his own money.

He is the kind of police officer who cried at the drowning of a two year old little girl. This happened while I was pregnant with our son and to this day, he refuses to get a swimming pool. He is the kind of police officer who will drive a man to a hospital where his wife is fighting for her life and it doesn't matter how long it takes or how long he has to wait.

He is an excellent father to his son, he is an excellent husband to me and there isn't anything he wouldn't do for his entire family. His father is disabled and whenever he needs my hero, he is there.

My husband has been called just about every bad word you could think of......his patience has been put to the test.....and yet, he has this quality about him of never letting his anger get the best of him. His ability to stay in control in some of the worst circumstances is mind blowing and the respect he has of his junior officers is well known.

Am I biased? You damn right I am....police officer's don't get good quality press time. In fact, the only time cops get press time is when something has gone wrong. The press isn't interested in the truth about police officers....it's better stories for them! Al Sharpton and his cronies are the first to appear in front of a camera when a black person is killed at the hands of police officers and they aren't interested in the whole truth. It doesn't matter to them! Look at Tawana Brawley, this happened in my own back yard and the lives he ruined are just casualties in his quest for top black leader!

So, when you accuse all cops of being looters, murderers and whatever else you can come up with, please have the common courtesy of knowing all of the facts before you make final judgements. That is my hero you are talking about!!!

[conservativefromGa]

I don't blame the cops for enforcing stupid laws, I blame the politicians who made them.

[Roscoe]

civilian noun [C]
a person who is not a member of the police or the armed forces:

Cambridge International Dictionary of English

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Pronunciation sE vIl yEn
Definition 1. a person who is not serving in the military or the police.

The Wordsmyth English Dictionary-Thesaurus

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PRONUNCIATION: s-vlyn
NOUN: 1. A person following the pursuits of civil life, especially one who is not an active member of the military or police. 2. A specialist in Roman or civil law.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language

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civilian
noun [C]
a person who is not a member of the police, the armed forces, or a fire department

Cambridge Dictionary of American English

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Main Entry: ci·vil·ian
Pronunciation: s&-'vil-y&n also -'vi-y&n
Function: noun
Date: 14th century
1 : a specialist in Roman or modern civil law
2 a : one not on active duty in a military, police, or fire-fighting force

Merriam-Webster

[Lurker]

I told the story of my experience here about three years ago.

And I'll stack my credibility up against your's any day of the week.

L

[Roscoe]

Perhaps there's a grain of truth in the story, but who knows what was altered or omitted?

[Fawnn]

I can't even begin to tell you what a drain useless calls to 911 are on our resources.

It's amazing the number of yahoo's who call 911 when their cable goes out! ;)

[Lurker]

Certainly not you. You weren't there.

So, in the vernacular, you don't know sh** about what happened. You're just another jerk with an uninformed opinion about what happened.

That's ok. The world is filled with uninformed jerks.

The problems happen when uninformed jerks like you start acting like they actually know what's going on.

Maybe where you are all cops are shining examples of selfless action. Somehow, I doubt it though.

What I do know for damn sure is that you weren't there the day I called them. You didn't see how they waited down the block, asking me to come out so they wouldn't 'endanger themselves'.

You didn't see some fatass deskbound jerkoff tell me how he wanted to take my guns away, even though I was the one who got shot.

You weren't there when the Prosecutor said "This is no big deal, you lived right?"

You weren't there for any of it bright boy, so spare me your uninformed opinions. Let me know when 'LEOS' are solving 90% of the robberies, rapes, and property crimes of the world.

Maybe then you'll have earned a shred of respect.

All I see them doing is running 'seat belt compliance' checkpoints. Pardon me if I'm not impressed.

Till then, color me a sceptic.

Regards,

L

[Roscoe]

So, in the vernacular, you don't know sh** about what happened.

Some. I know your allegations.

[babaloo999]

I checked out your Dear Abner advice column a couple of days ago. Highly recommended. LOL.

[Arpege92]

Your personal experience still does not justify a belief that all cops are bad.

There is no sure fire way to guarantee that anyone who becomes a police officer is going to be good at it and I am sure you are intelligent enough to realize that. So when the bad cops are exposed, you look at the entire profession in a negative light and that is unfair!

[Arpege92]

Well thank you and I totally agree!

[Arpege92]

Ahhh, ya see....you started off real nice but you had to make that little dig.

[Arpege92]

That's the same set up we have in my community and the volunteer's are the biggest pain in the a$$'s! Yes, it's noble to volunteer your services but it's also very dangerous when these same volunteer's pretend they know more than the police.

Who's a$$ is on the line should a volunteer medic get hurt? You? Me? No, the cops.....it all rolls back onto them for not securing a situation before allowing the volunteer medics in.

[Arpege92]

Your story is growing larger and larger....it sounds like the police got a call of shots fired and responded to the scene. How in the hell are they going to know who fired the shots until everyone is out of the residence.

Sounds like the dispatcher did a good job of keeping you on the phone and then telling you to step outside once the cops got there. That my friend, is what saves lives....your life as well as the cops.

[eno_]

Of course it is ridiculous. But so is $100k per solved crime. That number has to improve by 10X before you are even in the ballpark of being effective against crime. At current solution rates and prices, the NYPD amounts to trowing money away at a furious pace while doing almost nothing against crimes other than murder (maybe rape, too, I don't know the stats). Against robbery and burglary, the NYPD is impotent.

So far, according to your numbers, the number of police will fall, by next year, to something like 20% below peak levels.

Did the budget number decline, too? In 2001 it was about $3.5 BILLION. A big number, no matter how you slice it. Is it 20% lower now? Will the number of solved crimes per cop go up? What, if anything, is being done to improve that number.

[eno_]

I don't blame the cops for enforcing stupid laws, I blame the politicians who made them.

Correct on the surface, until you find the cop lobby and union supporting the stupid laws.

Make it very unpleasant for cops to enforce stupid laws and watch them change, quick. Actually, just make it unprofitable. Take away property siezure and watch our gung ho Drug Warriors go limp.

[headsonpikes]

Ms. Sugar, I was right about the doughnuts for Roscoe, wasn't I? LOL!

You are a nice lady, loyal to your husband; Roscoe is a 'known-to-posters' apologist for the worst kind of abuses by authorities.

Hanging out with him could leave stains.

[eno_]

Citizen's prefer to be referred to by other citizens, their equals, in situations where they are - theoretically anyway - equal under the law as citizens.

Using the term "civilian observer" implies police operate under differnet laws. While this is increasingly the case in practice, tolerating this is wrong.

You did say you knew police are civilians, so you were not clueless. Roscoe on the other hand...

[Cap'n Crunch]

Thanks for the ping, lately it's been the neverending shift for me.

Friendly cop threads are scarce around here.

I saw that you have two sons on Dallas PD. One of our guys has a brother on Dallas PD. I'm sure your very (and rightfully) proud of them. I'll keep them in my prayers.

It ain't easy bein' blue. LOL.

[nightdriver]

"Ahhh, ya see....you started off real nice but you had to make that little dig."

Sorry. No offence meant.

I'm still smarting over the way the police manhandled me when my car was stolen. I was treated like the criminal and the thief went completely free.

[jimt]

So, when you accuse all cops of being looters, murderers and whatever else you can come up with, please have the common courtesy of knowing all of the facts before you make final judgements. That is my hero you are talking about!!!

In all my years here (5+) I can think of maybe one nut who said something like you seem to think is rampant.

Most of us have great respect for police officers and the work they do. It's a very difficult job and requires great dedication (and a great spouse)!

Where some of us tend to get critical is when we read of grossly inappropriate tactics. For example, breaking in an old lady's door, tossing in a flash-bang grenade, rushing in screaming four-letter-words while wearing ninja suits and face masks, and forcing the old lady to the floor.

It was later determined they were in the wrong house. She died of heart failure as a result of the Rambo-style raid.

I can think of very few times when such tactics are appropriate.

That said, real police officers are not involved in such stupid, rights-violating behavior, and deserve our wholehearted thanks and appreciation. Those who are do not deserve the title "police officer", and as such, are beyond the scope of the discussion.