TheeBadOne
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A Year After 9/11, Everything For Us Is Back To Normal
By David L. Wood
In the great motion picture The Wind and the Lion, directed expertly by fellow realist John Milius, Theodore Roosevelt - effectively portrayed by the late Brian Keith - tells an idealistic reporter while referring to other countries' perception of Americans, "They will never love us. They may grow to fear us, but they will never love us." He might as well have been talking about the general public's view of peace officers as well. Officers know all too well about being hated, despised, unappreciated, ignored, underpaid and demoralized.
This is our lot and more often than not our daily bread. We are only wanted when we are needed, and then when we are needed we can never get there fast enough. If we're not needed, we can fade into the woodwork. Most folks could care less if they ever see us, but actually prefer us to be out of sight.
The sudden surge in cop appreciation following the 9/11 attacks has all but disappeared as near as I can tell, except for the plaques and knick-knacks advertised for sale in police gift catalogs. These items will be purchased most probably by law enforcement family members for the officer in their family. The majority of the rest of society is back to seeing us as the media projects us - uneducated, abusive storm troopers. Except for the occasional little boy who waves at our passing patrol unit, everyone else has returned to their finger pointing, Monday morning quarter-backing, pissing and moaning.
Community oriented policing may have been well-meant by the politically oriented administrators who conceived it, but the reality-based results of this warm and fuzzy approach to law enforcement shows no substantial improvements in the public's involvement with helping to keep their communities safe. It may have propelled a few ladder-climbing badge managers but it has done nothing to improve the street cop's lot.
It is time to get back to the gritty business of protecting the good people by pursuing the bad. This is the only type of law enforcement that has ever, or will ever, positively impact crime. Everything else is just goodwill duff fluffing that may get or keep a few administrators in the good graces of special interest groups, but it has had no crime decreasing qualities. "They may grow to fear us, but they will never love us." We should have no interest in being feared, for this is the bully's path. But we need to forget about being loved and get on with our jobs.
David L. Wood is a deputy in the Edwards County Sheriff's Department in Texas.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Monday Morning Quarterbacks Should Stick To Football
By John P. Stone
In his opinion piece "Have lethal force standards crossed the line?" (September 2002 American Police Beat) Chuck Klein characterizes the April 1999 attack on Columbine High School in Jefferson County as an incident indicative of officers "worrying more about the safety of the police rather than an obligation to duty." Mr. Klein, a former police officer, joins the chorus of uninformed, second-guessing, macho critics of the Columbine response, none of whom were there that day. These literary Rambos advocate tactics that would likely have left a trail of dead and wounded officers - unable to assist anyone - leading into the school. Our responding deputies quickly engaged the heavily armed suspects, at distances well beyond the effective range of handguns and shotguns. Additional deputies established a perimeter, as dictated by generations of police training, to secure the building and prevent the escape of the gunmen.
Ad hoc teams of courageous deputies enlisted officers from two other agencies and quickly formed entry teams, using their individual tactical training to enter the school before SWAT teams were even en route to the scene. Deputies moved in under fire to assist the scores of terrified students fleeing the building, safely evacuating many injured children. Were the responders fearful? Were they cautious? They would have been foolish not to be. Regardless, despite the unimaginable chaos, the law enforcement professionals who responded to the terrorist attack on Columbine that awful day performed their duties in a disciplined, exemplary manner.
Examination of the Columbine response has produced new options for officers responding to the next tragedy. American law enforcement has forged closer relationships with fire and EMS agencies, planning and training with them and schools in their communities to ensure clear understanding of various operational roles. Our SWAT team, working with the NTOA, led the way in training our deputies and officers of other local departments in urban rifle and active shooter tactics. We now have far better public safety communications capabilities throughout Colorado. And members of my staff repeatedly shared the lessons of Columbine with our colleagues in law enforcement around the United States - reliving that horrible experience with each presentation.
Monday morning quarterbacks will continue to express their views from the safety and comfort of their recliners. We have learned, to paraphrase President Theodore Roosevelt: It is not the critic that counts. Those valiant souls in the arena, faces marred by dust and sweat and blood, who actually strive to do the deeds, are those whom we honor - the men and women of law enforcement who selflessly face danger every day - especially those who responded to Columbine.
John P. Stone is the sheriff of the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office in Colorado.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Heroism is About More Than Just Survival
By Mike Roseen
It was very interesting to follow the story in Pennsylvania where nine coal miners were trapped for several days. The miners had become trapped while doing their job and now were fighting for their lives in the cold damp mine. An army of people worked around-the-clock to help free the trapped miners. After they were lifted to freedom, we were told that America now had some much-needed heroes. The rescued miners were interviewed on all the national news shows, were awarded trips to Disney World and signed lucrative movie, television and book contracts. These people were given treatment normally reserved for the MVP of the Super Bowl.
A few days later, another person doing her job got into a situation that didn't have the same happy ending. While doing her job, Melissa Schmidt was trapped in a cold bathroom, lying on the floor, fighting for her life. There was no army of helpers, just Melissa and her partner. There was no governor giving the television news audience a play-by-play report, just local politicians trying to portray the murderer of Melissa as a victim. There was no trip to Disney World - just a hundred mile ride to a cemetery in Wisconsin. A story like the trapped coal miners only happens once every several years in the United States. A story like Melissa's happens every several days in America. When a car bomb explodes and kills someone in the far off Middle East, we are all given all the details of the incident. When a law enforcement officer is killed in Texas or Idaho or Alabama, it's not even worth reporting.
On September 11th, we are all going to be reminded of our heroes of a year ago. There will be moments of silence and thought for those who so bravely performed their duties on that tragic day. I think we should also take a moment to remember and think of all the Melissa Schmidts who are also heroic, even if the circumstances of their deaths weren't international news. They may not have died during a national tragedy, but their cause was no less. It's you and me and cops from every state in the nation that are making America strong.
Even though what we do is not rewarded with trips and movie deals, we know we are making a difference in the lives of the people we help.
- Mike Roseen is president of the Hennepin County Sheriff's Deputy's Association. He's a crime lab technician for the Sheriff's Office.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
We Walk With Our Heads High
By Kevin W. Brandon
We ask ourselves why? Why do we do it? Why risk our sanity, pride and health to pursue a career in this thing called law enforcement? Is it because we have been the product of an unjust personal experience? Perhaps it is because we have seen the injustice of this society thrust upon those undeserving sheep, seeking only to provide a decent life for themselves and their families.
We do it because we see the tide. We see the enormous tsunami of predators roaming the streets of American society.
We see that every man, woman and child should have the right to walk down the street without fear.
People should have the right to get in their car, put that card in the ATM, or sleep at night with the windows open without fearing the wolves will come and devour their innocent soul.
We have chosen this life. We don’t know why, but the job has also scarred us for life. We do not seek recognition. We do not seek riches or a pat on the back for a job well done.
We do it because it is right. It is a just and noble cause. It is something that we feel in our soul has to be done.
Someone has to take a stand. Someone has to bear the scars for the society we serve.
We have to proclaim to innocent families and ourselves – “No one is going to hurt you when I am here. No one is going to take your innocence from you.â€
Our job reminds me of the fable of the sheep, the wolf and the sheepdog.
The sheep have the luxury of leading lives innocently, unaware of the danger the wolves pose to them.
We stand as the noble sheepdog that, without fear or thought, places our lives in harm’s way to protect the lives of the sheep.
It is inherent in us to stand and face the fear that others run from.
While others debate the worthiness of this profession and reduce it to a level of cost of operation and a necessary evil, we will stand by their side and protect the right for them to think so.
We have not chosen a monetarily rewarding career and it certainly does not bear well on our sanity, but it does do one thing – it affords us the opportunity to walk with our heads held high, to be proud of our accomplishments and go home each and every day knowing that we make a difference.
Kevin W. Brandon is a police officer with the Kansas City, Kansas P.D.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Getting The Truth About Our Pay
by Daniel P. Fagan
What is a police officer worth? Well he or she certainly is worth the $52,000 that he maxes out at for his 40-hour week. But what about the intangible worth?
Once again in Boston, the media goes to print with their annual, predictable, “The Cops Make Too Much Money†attack article.
Every year, we, the police collectively, run for coverage and ride out the abuse.
Somebody had to say something. Somebody should defend us. Why didn’t headquarters call a press conference and so we could have someone supporting us on the 6 o’clock news?
Something simple, like “ . . . we have strict rules that police officers work under. While doing a difficult job, they earn their money. Cut, and it’s a wrap. If no one wants to go on TV or on record, why not issue a one-paragraph media release stating something similar?
Somebody has to send the message to the public that the Boston Herald and The Boston Globe seriously distorted the whole picture to fit their agenda.
Why not write a story about how many officers made $15,000 or less in addition to their base pay?
Why not spell out the number of hours required to earn this kind of money? For a “mere†$15,000 a year, one would need to work a 40 hour week, plus work on one of their day’s off every week for 52 weeks of the year.
When discussed in realistic terms, it would be hard to begrudge anyone the financial benefit from working that hard. Someone has to tell the public that earning $100,000 a year by working 80-plus hours a week, 52 weeks a year, is not an excessive amount of money.
Is $100,00 dollars per year a lot for a lowly patrolman? Yes it is. It is not a lot for two lowly patrolmen in the City of Boston. At 80-plus hours a week, that is what $100,000 buys. Two patrolmen. Two police officers doing their job, out in the public, trained, armed, ready to sacrifice their lives, for the citizens of Boston. Two patrol officers, or 80-man hours a week.
No one seems to understand that the city is getting two police officers for the price of one if the officer is willing to work 40 hours of overtime. That’s one firearm. one academy training, one health insurance plan, one uniform allowance, one set of vacation/personal/sick days and so on.
The City has saved millions of dollars in costs because police officers work overtime. Our union knew no one in the administration would defend us so we decided to speak up for our members. We bought a series of radio ads to get the real story out to the public about the facts on police pay. Our state and city is facing tough financial times ahead, but we expect our contract to be honored.
Boston police officers have done an excellent job for the citizens of this city and we expect a fair contract in return. But my fear is that our union will continue to face broken promises and attacks on hard won benefits and conditions of employment that we have negotiated over the years.
If that happens, the Boston Police Patrolmen’s Association will continue to do what we’ve always done – fight hard for fairness and justice for all of Boston’s cops, no matter how long or hard the battle becomes.
Daniel Fagan is Treasurer of the Boston Police Patrolmen Association
Messing With Your Image
If the past is any kind of indication, there is going to be a huge outcry from police about the show "The Shield." The outrage is understandable. The show paints cops as racist, sex-crazed psychopaths - an image that isn't exactly what folks have in mind after watching all those cops at ground zero giving their lives to save hundreds of people.
But the question is this. If a really badly written and poorly acted cop show airs on the FX network, does anyone watch it? This is a cable network whose flagship program is Howard Stern's "Son of the Beach." And even if some folks do wind up seeing this piece of crap, is it really the kind of thing that merits serious attention from anybody?
If watching "The Shield" is going to be a critical factor in the publics' assessment of law enforcement, then the battle is already lost. And if individual police officers and their representative associations have to respond to every portrayal of cops on television, there probably won't be enough time left for real-life crime fighting. The fact is that the show is not only really bad, but also totally offensive. They may have slipped in a few jerks on "NYPD Blue" but no one ever graphically depicted a sex act involving an eight-year-old. If this show somehow finds an audience, then it will be time to marshal the troops. And that time may be here sooner than we think. One reviewer just called it "the best new show on television."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Those people are the reason I do this job"
by Russ Craven
Recently, I attended the funeral of St. Louis Police Officer Bob Stanze. Officer Stanze was gunned down by a suspect who had been arrested for his involvement in another shooting of a police officer. During the funeral service and the remarkable procession of hundreds of police cars from all over, I had an opportunity to think about a couple of things.The funeral service itself was quite spectacular. The setting of the majestic Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis, the Mass, presided over by Archbishop Justin Rigali, the pomp, the ceremony. A service befitting a fallen hero, which Officer Stanze certainly was.The funeral was unmistakably Christian though undoubtedly many of those officers attending might not have been. The ceremony was to say goodbye to a middle-class, white, Catholic man, though many of those officers attending were none of the above.
The officers who attended this funeral, I thought, were not there representing their faith, their race or their gender. Though they wore many different uniforms, they were not really there representing their various jurisdictions either.The officers attending Bob Stanze’s funeral were not black, white, Asian, or Hispanic. They were not Catholic, Baptist, Methodist, Lutheran, Buddhist, Moslem, or Jewish. They were not male or female. For this short span of time, none of these characteristics mattered.They were cops. They were family. And that was all that mattered.The majority of those officers in attendance probably did not know Officer Stanze personally; I didn’t either. What I knew of him, I read in the newspaper accounts of his death, and learned from the touching eulogies given at the funeral. That we didn’t know him well before this tragedy also didn’t matter; he was still family.
An event such as Officer Stanze’s murder makes us all think about the very real possibility of death in this profession. This possibility can bring on feelings of cynicism and despair. Who among us hasn’t thought at one time or another during our careers, "Why am I doing this? What good does it do? Who really cares?"
As I drove in the procession from the cathedral to the cemetery that Friday, probably thousands of people stood at the curb. Many no doubt were just curious onlookers awed at the sight of hundreds of police cars with their lights flashing passing by. Some were probably perturbed at the traffic delay the procession was causing. Those weren’t the people I noticed, though. On Chippewa Avenue near Kingshighway, a young girl stood at the curb, proudly holding an American flag as we passed. Employees at a couple of the auto dealerships along Kings Highway – sales, clerical, and service personnel – stood in ranks. Utility and construction workers stood, hard hats held over their hearts. People all along the route, of all ages, races, faiths, and callings, stood in reverence as the procession passed. Some saluted, some just removed their hats. Some held signs, saying "God Bless You" or "We’re Praying For You." Some had noticeable tears in their eyes. And after the graveside service was completed and the multitude of police cars left the cemetery, one man stood at the exit holding high a hand-lettered sign which read, "Police Officers Are Heroes – God Bless You All."
I don’t know about you, but those people, and the good people just like them are the reason I do this job.
Be very, very careful out there.
Russ Craven is president of the Missouri Union of Law Enforcement AFL-CIO-IUPA Local 57.
A Year After 9/11, Everything For Us Is Back To Normal
By David L. Wood
In the great motion picture The Wind and the Lion, directed expertly by fellow realist John Milius, Theodore Roosevelt - effectively portrayed by the late Brian Keith - tells an idealistic reporter while referring to other countries' perception of Americans, "They will never love us. They may grow to fear us, but they will never love us." He might as well have been talking about the general public's view of peace officers as well. Officers know all too well about being hated, despised, unappreciated, ignored, underpaid and demoralized.
This is our lot and more often than not our daily bread. We are only wanted when we are needed, and then when we are needed we can never get there fast enough. If we're not needed, we can fade into the woodwork. Most folks could care less if they ever see us, but actually prefer us to be out of sight.
The sudden surge in cop appreciation following the 9/11 attacks has all but disappeared as near as I can tell, except for the plaques and knick-knacks advertised for sale in police gift catalogs. These items will be purchased most probably by law enforcement family members for the officer in their family. The majority of the rest of society is back to seeing us as the media projects us - uneducated, abusive storm troopers. Except for the occasional little boy who waves at our passing patrol unit, everyone else has returned to their finger pointing, Monday morning quarter-backing, pissing and moaning.
Community oriented policing may have been well-meant by the politically oriented administrators who conceived it, but the reality-based results of this warm and fuzzy approach to law enforcement shows no substantial improvements in the public's involvement with helping to keep their communities safe. It may have propelled a few ladder-climbing badge managers but it has done nothing to improve the street cop's lot.
It is time to get back to the gritty business of protecting the good people by pursuing the bad. This is the only type of law enforcement that has ever, or will ever, positively impact crime. Everything else is just goodwill duff fluffing that may get or keep a few administrators in the good graces of special interest groups, but it has had no crime decreasing qualities. "They may grow to fear us, but they will never love us." We should have no interest in being feared, for this is the bully's path. But we need to forget about being loved and get on with our jobs.
David L. Wood is a deputy in the Edwards County Sheriff's Department in Texas.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Monday Morning Quarterbacks Should Stick To Football
By John P. Stone
In his opinion piece "Have lethal force standards crossed the line?" (September 2002 American Police Beat) Chuck Klein characterizes the April 1999 attack on Columbine High School in Jefferson County as an incident indicative of officers "worrying more about the safety of the police rather than an obligation to duty." Mr. Klein, a former police officer, joins the chorus of uninformed, second-guessing, macho critics of the Columbine response, none of whom were there that day. These literary Rambos advocate tactics that would likely have left a trail of dead and wounded officers - unable to assist anyone - leading into the school. Our responding deputies quickly engaged the heavily armed suspects, at distances well beyond the effective range of handguns and shotguns. Additional deputies established a perimeter, as dictated by generations of police training, to secure the building and prevent the escape of the gunmen.
Ad hoc teams of courageous deputies enlisted officers from two other agencies and quickly formed entry teams, using their individual tactical training to enter the school before SWAT teams were even en route to the scene. Deputies moved in under fire to assist the scores of terrified students fleeing the building, safely evacuating many injured children. Were the responders fearful? Were they cautious? They would have been foolish not to be. Regardless, despite the unimaginable chaos, the law enforcement professionals who responded to the terrorist attack on Columbine that awful day performed their duties in a disciplined, exemplary manner.
Examination of the Columbine response has produced new options for officers responding to the next tragedy. American law enforcement has forged closer relationships with fire and EMS agencies, planning and training with them and schools in their communities to ensure clear understanding of various operational roles. Our SWAT team, working with the NTOA, led the way in training our deputies and officers of other local departments in urban rifle and active shooter tactics. We now have far better public safety communications capabilities throughout Colorado. And members of my staff repeatedly shared the lessons of Columbine with our colleagues in law enforcement around the United States - reliving that horrible experience with each presentation.
Monday morning quarterbacks will continue to express their views from the safety and comfort of their recliners. We have learned, to paraphrase President Theodore Roosevelt: It is not the critic that counts. Those valiant souls in the arena, faces marred by dust and sweat and blood, who actually strive to do the deeds, are those whom we honor - the men and women of law enforcement who selflessly face danger every day - especially those who responded to Columbine.
John P. Stone is the sheriff of the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office in Colorado.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Heroism is About More Than Just Survival
By Mike Roseen
It was very interesting to follow the story in Pennsylvania where nine coal miners were trapped for several days. The miners had become trapped while doing their job and now were fighting for their lives in the cold damp mine. An army of people worked around-the-clock to help free the trapped miners. After they were lifted to freedom, we were told that America now had some much-needed heroes. The rescued miners were interviewed on all the national news shows, were awarded trips to Disney World and signed lucrative movie, television and book contracts. These people were given treatment normally reserved for the MVP of the Super Bowl.
A few days later, another person doing her job got into a situation that didn't have the same happy ending. While doing her job, Melissa Schmidt was trapped in a cold bathroom, lying on the floor, fighting for her life. There was no army of helpers, just Melissa and her partner. There was no governor giving the television news audience a play-by-play report, just local politicians trying to portray the murderer of Melissa as a victim. There was no trip to Disney World - just a hundred mile ride to a cemetery in Wisconsin. A story like the trapped coal miners only happens once every several years in the United States. A story like Melissa's happens every several days in America. When a car bomb explodes and kills someone in the far off Middle East, we are all given all the details of the incident. When a law enforcement officer is killed in Texas or Idaho or Alabama, it's not even worth reporting.
On September 11th, we are all going to be reminded of our heroes of a year ago. There will be moments of silence and thought for those who so bravely performed their duties on that tragic day. I think we should also take a moment to remember and think of all the Melissa Schmidts who are also heroic, even if the circumstances of their deaths weren't international news. They may not have died during a national tragedy, but their cause was no less. It's you and me and cops from every state in the nation that are making America strong.
Even though what we do is not rewarded with trips and movie deals, we know we are making a difference in the lives of the people we help.
- Mike Roseen is president of the Hennepin County Sheriff's Deputy's Association. He's a crime lab technician for the Sheriff's Office.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
We Walk With Our Heads High
By Kevin W. Brandon
We ask ourselves why? Why do we do it? Why risk our sanity, pride and health to pursue a career in this thing called law enforcement? Is it because we have been the product of an unjust personal experience? Perhaps it is because we have seen the injustice of this society thrust upon those undeserving sheep, seeking only to provide a decent life for themselves and their families.
We do it because we see the tide. We see the enormous tsunami of predators roaming the streets of American society.
We see that every man, woman and child should have the right to walk down the street without fear.
People should have the right to get in their car, put that card in the ATM, or sleep at night with the windows open without fearing the wolves will come and devour their innocent soul.
We have chosen this life. We don’t know why, but the job has also scarred us for life. We do not seek recognition. We do not seek riches or a pat on the back for a job well done.
We do it because it is right. It is a just and noble cause. It is something that we feel in our soul has to be done.
Someone has to take a stand. Someone has to bear the scars for the society we serve.
We have to proclaim to innocent families and ourselves – “No one is going to hurt you when I am here. No one is going to take your innocence from you.â€
Our job reminds me of the fable of the sheep, the wolf and the sheepdog.
The sheep have the luxury of leading lives innocently, unaware of the danger the wolves pose to them.
We stand as the noble sheepdog that, without fear or thought, places our lives in harm’s way to protect the lives of the sheep.
It is inherent in us to stand and face the fear that others run from.
While others debate the worthiness of this profession and reduce it to a level of cost of operation and a necessary evil, we will stand by their side and protect the right for them to think so.
We have not chosen a monetarily rewarding career and it certainly does not bear well on our sanity, but it does do one thing – it affords us the opportunity to walk with our heads held high, to be proud of our accomplishments and go home each and every day knowing that we make a difference.
Kevin W. Brandon is a police officer with the Kansas City, Kansas P.D.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Getting The Truth About Our Pay
by Daniel P. Fagan
What is a police officer worth? Well he or she certainly is worth the $52,000 that he maxes out at for his 40-hour week. But what about the intangible worth?
Once again in Boston, the media goes to print with their annual, predictable, “The Cops Make Too Much Money†attack article.
Every year, we, the police collectively, run for coverage and ride out the abuse.
Somebody had to say something. Somebody should defend us. Why didn’t headquarters call a press conference and so we could have someone supporting us on the 6 o’clock news?
Something simple, like “ . . . we have strict rules that police officers work under. While doing a difficult job, they earn their money. Cut, and it’s a wrap. If no one wants to go on TV or on record, why not issue a one-paragraph media release stating something similar?
Somebody has to send the message to the public that the Boston Herald and The Boston Globe seriously distorted the whole picture to fit their agenda.
Why not write a story about how many officers made $15,000 or less in addition to their base pay?
Why not spell out the number of hours required to earn this kind of money? For a “mere†$15,000 a year, one would need to work a 40 hour week, plus work on one of their day’s off every week for 52 weeks of the year.
When discussed in realistic terms, it would be hard to begrudge anyone the financial benefit from working that hard. Someone has to tell the public that earning $100,000 a year by working 80-plus hours a week, 52 weeks a year, is not an excessive amount of money.
Is $100,00 dollars per year a lot for a lowly patrolman? Yes it is. It is not a lot for two lowly patrolmen in the City of Boston. At 80-plus hours a week, that is what $100,000 buys. Two patrolmen. Two police officers doing their job, out in the public, trained, armed, ready to sacrifice their lives, for the citizens of Boston. Two patrol officers, or 80-man hours a week.
No one seems to understand that the city is getting two police officers for the price of one if the officer is willing to work 40 hours of overtime. That’s one firearm. one academy training, one health insurance plan, one uniform allowance, one set of vacation/personal/sick days and so on.
The City has saved millions of dollars in costs because police officers work overtime. Our union knew no one in the administration would defend us so we decided to speak up for our members. We bought a series of radio ads to get the real story out to the public about the facts on police pay. Our state and city is facing tough financial times ahead, but we expect our contract to be honored.
Boston police officers have done an excellent job for the citizens of this city and we expect a fair contract in return. But my fear is that our union will continue to face broken promises and attacks on hard won benefits and conditions of employment that we have negotiated over the years.
If that happens, the Boston Police Patrolmen’s Association will continue to do what we’ve always done – fight hard for fairness and justice for all of Boston’s cops, no matter how long or hard the battle becomes.
Daniel Fagan is Treasurer of the Boston Police Patrolmen Association
Messing With Your Image
If the past is any kind of indication, there is going to be a huge outcry from police about the show "The Shield." The outrage is understandable. The show paints cops as racist, sex-crazed psychopaths - an image that isn't exactly what folks have in mind after watching all those cops at ground zero giving their lives to save hundreds of people.
But the question is this. If a really badly written and poorly acted cop show airs on the FX network, does anyone watch it? This is a cable network whose flagship program is Howard Stern's "Son of the Beach." And even if some folks do wind up seeing this piece of crap, is it really the kind of thing that merits serious attention from anybody?
If watching "The Shield" is going to be a critical factor in the publics' assessment of law enforcement, then the battle is already lost. And if individual police officers and their representative associations have to respond to every portrayal of cops on television, there probably won't be enough time left for real-life crime fighting. The fact is that the show is not only really bad, but also totally offensive. They may have slipped in a few jerks on "NYPD Blue" but no one ever graphically depicted a sex act involving an eight-year-old. If this show somehow finds an audience, then it will be time to marshal the troops. And that time may be here sooner than we think. One reviewer just called it "the best new show on television."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Those people are the reason I do this job"
by Russ Craven
Recently, I attended the funeral of St. Louis Police Officer Bob Stanze. Officer Stanze was gunned down by a suspect who had been arrested for his involvement in another shooting of a police officer. During the funeral service and the remarkable procession of hundreds of police cars from all over, I had an opportunity to think about a couple of things.The funeral service itself was quite spectacular. The setting of the majestic Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis, the Mass, presided over by Archbishop Justin Rigali, the pomp, the ceremony. A service befitting a fallen hero, which Officer Stanze certainly was.The funeral was unmistakably Christian though undoubtedly many of those officers attending might not have been. The ceremony was to say goodbye to a middle-class, white, Catholic man, though many of those officers attending were none of the above.
The officers who attended this funeral, I thought, were not there representing their faith, their race or their gender. Though they wore many different uniforms, they were not really there representing their various jurisdictions either.The officers attending Bob Stanze’s funeral were not black, white, Asian, or Hispanic. They were not Catholic, Baptist, Methodist, Lutheran, Buddhist, Moslem, or Jewish. They were not male or female. For this short span of time, none of these characteristics mattered.They were cops. They were family. And that was all that mattered.The majority of those officers in attendance probably did not know Officer Stanze personally; I didn’t either. What I knew of him, I read in the newspaper accounts of his death, and learned from the touching eulogies given at the funeral. That we didn’t know him well before this tragedy also didn’t matter; he was still family.
An event such as Officer Stanze’s murder makes us all think about the very real possibility of death in this profession. This possibility can bring on feelings of cynicism and despair. Who among us hasn’t thought at one time or another during our careers, "Why am I doing this? What good does it do? Who really cares?"
As I drove in the procession from the cathedral to the cemetery that Friday, probably thousands of people stood at the curb. Many no doubt were just curious onlookers awed at the sight of hundreds of police cars with their lights flashing passing by. Some were probably perturbed at the traffic delay the procession was causing. Those weren’t the people I noticed, though. On Chippewa Avenue near Kingshighway, a young girl stood at the curb, proudly holding an American flag as we passed. Employees at a couple of the auto dealerships along Kings Highway – sales, clerical, and service personnel – stood in ranks. Utility and construction workers stood, hard hats held over their hearts. People all along the route, of all ages, races, faiths, and callings, stood in reverence as the procession passed. Some saluted, some just removed their hats. Some held signs, saying "God Bless You" or "We’re Praying For You." Some had noticeable tears in their eyes. And after the graveside service was completed and the multitude of police cars left the cemetery, one man stood at the exit holding high a hand-lettered sign which read, "Police Officers Are Heroes – God Bless You All."
I don’t know about you, but those people, and the good people just like them are the reason I do this job.
Be very, very careful out there.
Russ Craven is president of the Missouri Union of Law Enforcement AFL-CIO-IUPA Local 57.
