Proud public service

 I have been law enforcement sense I was 20 years old in a small county in central Florida. One thing that struck me about the times was that police and deputies word meant something.

On the other side of the coin I watched the same Florida state trooper have resist after resist on almost everyone he brought in to Central Booking. This person was later hired by the Tampa Police department go figure. This type of behaviour in law enforcement is not common in larger departments any more. Education and younger trainees  are the norm now.

From time to time we see exemplary people in the business, some of these people become great investigators and even stand out as carrier patrol cops. By far most people who go through all the trouble of paper work, academy training , shooting, hand to hand, and of course the phycological end up as just regular everyday next door neighbor cops.

I live in a small town now in North Georgia, the climate is fair but we had a lot of snow this year. Coming from a city of over a million or so, police work is a little different. Thats not a bad thing there's just more crime and more problems to fix.

A Little story to compare the difference of departments. In 1986 I was injured during an armed burglary where I was acting like John Wayne again. Young cops like to compare themselves with the famous cowboy except we use real bullets in the ghetto's. I survived needless to say with only a shoulder injury to me,I made two felony arrests and I was only on my way to work that day. The short story is I had a operation and was in the hospital a week for my deeds and not a visit or card from anyone from work. I retired shortly after this me and horse moved up here in a small town rest.

Starting my carrier over again at fifty going through the academy was fun. This is when I realized that the world had changed around me. Kids with guns, dam this was scary they were all supermen. This was eye opening for me to see the change in personalities in the young cops to be. I can say that going through the academy again was fun and learned a few things also.

There's only one problem about being an old cop in a young sport, the way we get to the end. I don't see much talking to people about there crazy driving only ticket writing. I guess in my hay day I had more of a hands on approach to solving some of those little problems. Sometimes kids and older adults just need someone to talk to.   

Oh well I still love the business even though I'm just sitting at a metal detector now. I sometimes believe that the higher you are in the business the further away you become from the business end of police work. We as street cops  are given the responsibility of solving all problems without complaints from the customers. Again in the beginning complaints were a sign of you were doing your job,if it was really bad the sergeant would meet you at the truck stop for coffee and words and of by the way you were just reprimanded,  have a good day. 

Is there a torch that we hand over or do we just get old and end up working at Wal Mart as a door greeter. Just ask any old cop he or she has more than just old stories to tell, people do the same stupid stuff that we could help with. Don't be surprised if the world is once again taken over by old people as the bible called us wise men, have a great day and keep working.