[quote]I am a police officer. That means that the pains and joys of my personal life are often muted by my work. I resent these intrusions but it is my job to do the things others fear to do. The label ‘police officer’ creates a false image of who I really am. Sometimes I feel like I’m floating between two worlds
My work is not just protecting and serving. It’s preserving that buffer that exists in the space between what you think the world is, and what the world really is.
My job isn’t like television. The action is less frequent, much more graphic and it involves all my 5 senses. What I Smell, Taste, See, Touch and Hear at these horrific senses will stay with me long after I close the file. It is not exhilarating to point a gun at someone. Pooled blood has a disgusting metallic smell and steams a little when the temperature drops. CPR isn’t an instant miracle and it’s no fun listening to an elderly grandmother’s ribs break while I keep her heart beating.
I am flattered by your curiosity about my work. What you need to know is I don’t keep a record of which incident was the most frightening, or the strangest, or the bloodiest, or even the funniest. I don’t want to share the images that haunt me with others.
But I do have some confessions to make: Sometimes my stereo is too loud. Andrea Boccelli’s voice makes it easier to forget the wasted body of the young man who died alone in a rented room because he was hooked on crack. Beethoven’s 9th symphony erases the sight of the nurses who sobbed as they scrubbed layers of dirt and slime from a neglected 2-year-old’s skin. The Tragically Hip’s angry beat assures me that it was ignorance that drove a young mother to not put her toddler in a car seat as she drove around today.
Sometimes I might seem rushed or impatient. I am having trouble shedding the adrenaline that kicked in when I discovered that the man I handcuffed during a drug raid was sitting on a loaded 9mm pistol.
Sometimes I’m not as attentive as you would like. I was distracted when you complained about your noising neighbour because I was remembering the apartment of the elderly women who lay dead and decaying for a week because no one came to check on her.
Sometimes I’m not as sympathetic as you would like. I’m not overly concerned about your ability to pay your speeding ticket, it’s because I really wanted to tell you that I attended a call just yesterday where a speeding careless driver took the life of a child. I didn’t sleep last night because I could still hear her mother’s screams.
Take a moment and remember what my job is and isn’t. Police officers are needed but what we do can leave lasting effects on my family and I. Take a moment and tell an officer that you appreciate their work. Smile and say ‘Hi’ when I am getting coffee. Bite your tongue when you start to tell a ‘bad cop’ story. Better yet, find the time to tell a ‘good cop’ story. The family at the next table may be a cop’s family.[/quote]
This edited text is from a Canadian website about PTSD which has since been removed. The original text can be found below
[url]http://uneflic.blogspot.com/2007/05/confessions-of-beat-cop.html[/url]
wa wa wa
if you wanted to become a police officer and thought it was going to be any different then they're kidding themselves
[highlight](User was banned for this post ("Trolling" - verynicelady))[/highlight]
[QUOTE=Pelican;42825038]wa wa wa
if you wanted to become a police officer and thought it was going to be any different then they're kidding themselves[/QUOTE]
There is a expectation of what is going to happen and you always hear stories about horrible things. But once you experience it first hand it is a total game changer.
Just because they take up the job does not mean they should suck it up when they see or deal with pretty horrific things. I think people like you forget the people behind the uniform are human beings and have emotions.
I hate people like you. why? Because you say shit like that but I bet when you have a "bad" experience with a cop you'll bitch and whine for years about it. If that does happen, wa wa get over it.
[QUOTE=MR-X;42825191]There is a expectation of what is going to happen and you always hear stories about horrible things. But once you experience it first hand it is a total game changer.
Just because they take up the job does not mean they should suck it up when they see or deal with pretty horrific things. I think people like you forget the people behind the uniform are human beings and have emotions.
I hate people like you. why? Because you say shit like that but I bet when you have a "bad" experience with a cop you'll bitch and whine for years about it. If that does happen, wa wa get over it.[/QUOTE]
i won't have a bad experience with a cop because I don't break the rules, and if i ever do i won't go "wa wa" because I will have obviously done something wrong, sunshine, that's how the law works
for the vast majority of cases, of course they should suck it up - they're not here to complain, they're here to enforce laws etc etc etc. you think fire fighters have a winge when they put out a fire that has killed some or a resident of a house? no, because that's the nature of their job
sure they see some abhorrent things and to deny they do would be silly, but if they want to share their problems they should go to a shrink. or write a book
also hating someone over the internet over an opinion - nice
Nice read op. Gives a good perspective on the average experienced cop's actions. But I believe it depends on the person when it comes down to these things. My uncle used to be a gang member, then later on he became a cop. Hes seen some shit. He has shot people and has been shot before. And yet he has no problems telling me these scary stories of things that happened to him. We even play gta v together and hes as happy as can be. He could be hiding it, but I really doubt it. I gotta say though, it takes guts to be a cop.
[QUOTE=Pelican;42825038]wa wa wa
if you wanted to become a police officer and thought it was going to be any different then they're kidding themselves[/QUOTE]
Can you read at all? hes not complaining about his job, he is just saying to appreciate cops and understand their position and their experiences. Everyone treats cops like they go through the same boring stuff that everyone else does everyday and think the cops are just out to get them when that's obviously not the case.
Like read the article properly before you comment also your comparison to fire fighters is pretty stupid, fire fighters don't get called for every single little thing, fire fighters don't get treated like shit or bashed on a daily basis, fire fighters don't need to write something to remind someone of the daily stress they go through because people treat them nicely and don't shit on them everyday.
Coming into this thread to shit on police for choosing to give up their freedoms for the job is a terrible thing and you should feel terrible.
My father is a retired state trooper and he occasionally tells me of things he saw in highway patrol, and it's easy to see why it's traumatic
Police officers are generally wonderful people; it disgusts me when people call them pigs... especially when a person only has a negative disposition towards police officers for having gotten into trouble with the law. How does that make police officers pigs? It makes you an asshole for blaming other people for your own wrongdoings.
[QUOTE=Pelican;42825038]wa wa wa
if you wanted to become a police officer and thought it was going to be any different then they're kidding themselves[/QUOTE]
Should I have no empathy for anything, because it's just life and I already expect bad things to happen?
[QUOTE=Pelican;42825038]wa wa wa
if you wanted to become a police officer and thought it was going to be any different then they're kidding themselves[/QUOTE]
because a person knew what they were getting into when they signed up means that they aren't allowed to cry or complain about the fucked up things they've seen preserving society and making sure shut in middle class white teenagers in a gated community (for instance, YOU) don't get shot or robbed.
yeah ok bud
[QUOTE=Pelican;42825038]wa wa wa
if you wanted to become a police officer and thought it was going to be any different then they're kidding themselves[/QUOTE]
Yeah man, all those soldiers with PTSD are such babies.
it's unfortunate anyone suffers through the distasteful job of police work. you are a flawed human being, a passionate, wonderful person, put into a position where you are expected to become "artificial". you are imperfect in a job that requires perfection, because imperfection leads to hurting other people. more importantly, you get front row seat to all the terrible experiences this society has to offer. you get to witness the death, hate, violence, and injury humanity is capable of, and you are expected not to suffer.
i don't "appreciate" police, by any means. i do, however, feel sympathy for the people trying to fill the role of an officer. so i guess here's to hoping for a day where nobody has to fulfill the role anymore.
[QUOTE=yawmwen;42826189]
i don't "appreciate" police, by any means. i do, however, feel sympathy for the people trying to fill the role of an officer. so i guess here's to hoping for a day where nobody has to fulfill the role anymore.[/QUOTE]
You'll probably recognize how critical they are to society when you need them.
[QUOTE=Rangergxi;42826198]You'll probably recognize how critical they are to society when you need them.[/QUOTE]
like the time i was robbed at gunpoint? or the time i got jumped by like 5 people? what about when my parent's house was burglarized? are those the points when i was supposed to recognize how critical they are to society?
[editline]11th November 2013[/editline]
i'm not going to bash police in this thread because this is obviously aimed at sympathy for those who have had to suffer from the terrible occupation. but don't try and think that my denial of police comes from being some middle class kid who has never experienced crime or violence in my life.
[QUOTE=yawmwen;42826287]like the time i was robbed at gunpoint? or the time i got jumped by like 5 people? what about when my parent's house was burglarized? are those the points when i was supposed to recognize how critical they are to society?[/QUOTE]
Unless you want to live in a police state with a SWAT officer on every corner and a CCTV camera in every room of your household, cops aren't going to be able to prevent every crime. Damming them because cops aren't absolutely inescapable is just silly. It's not like they're prejudiced towards specifically you and your family and come late after the crimes already done.
[QUOTE=Trunk Monkay;42826299]Unless you want to live in a police state with a SWAT officer on every corner and a CCTV camera in every room of your household, cops aren't going to be able to prevent every crime. Damming them because cops aren't absolutely inescapable is just silly. It's not like they're prejudiced towards specifically you and your family and come late after the crimes already done.[/QUOTE]
i never damned them because they are inescapable. i was addressing the idea that i haven't come to justify their existence because i have never "needed" them. my opinions and ideology is a synthesis of personal experience, theoretical knowledge(i.e. from books and shit), and my own morality. it isn't like i was beaten by a police officer one day and decided i was going to be anti-police. i feel in my heart the possibility for something better, writers have given me the ability to begin thinking that there is a logical possibility for something better, and my own experiences help show me a world that has the possibility for something better than police.
in the meantime i will continue to oppose police while simultaneously feeling sympathy for those who suffer due to their work.
[QUOTE=yawmwen;42826287]like the time i was robbed at gunpoint? or the time i got jumped by like 5 people? what about when my parent's house was burglarized? are those the points when i was supposed to recognize how critical they are to society?[/QUOTE]
They can't prevent every crime ever but without them criminals would have free reign.
[QUOTE=yawmwen;42826356]i never damned them because they are inescapable. i was addressing the idea that i haven't come to justify their existence because i have never "needed" them. my opinions and ideology is a synthesis of personal experience, theoretical knowledge(i.e. from books and shit), and my own morality. it isn't like i was beaten by a police officer one day and decided i was going to be anti-police. i feel in my heart the possibility for something better, writers have given me the ability to begin thinking that there is a logical possibility for something better, and my own experiences help show me a world that has the possibility for something better than police.
in the meantime i will continue to oppose police while simultaneously feeling sympathy for those who suffer due to their work.[/QUOTE]
lolwhat
what possible scenario could there be no police and people still retain their freedom but not collapse into total anarchy? That special feeling in your heart (lol) that theres a logical solution to something thats not a problem, but that feeling is only goin to take you so far bud.
How to treat cops is almost as difficult as how to treat soldiers. It's the dilemma of the Hero or the Villain.
Suppose you see a man in uniform on the street corner. Do you greet him as a Hero or a Villain. He might be a hero, who went off to fight because he believe in what he was doing. He's suffered more for less than you have, has seen friends die and maybe even has touched the lives of people he never knew with compassion and understanding.
On the other hand he might be the most disreputable scum. He might have signed on because he didn't have anything better to do, slumped his way through basic, and during his first duty shot an innocent man dead for no better reason than an itchy trigger finger.
On the mysterious third hand, he might just be a guy like you, who did some good things and some bad things and now he's standing on a street corner, smiling and waving at you because it's his job.
I tend to think of it as the third hand. I see no reason to give Cops a hard time or slander cops during dinners. I've known good cops and bad cops. A friend of mine was an MP, who became a cop because it was what he had experience in. Another friend wants to be become a cop, and I'm pretty sure he's going to shoot someone through the throat.
They're just people doing a job that you aren't. You don't have to be nice, just be decent.
[QUOTE=Trunk Monkay;42826416]lolwhat
what possible scenario could there be no police and people still retain their freedom but not collapse into total anarchy? That special feeling in your heart (lol) that theres a logical solution to something thats not a problem, but that feeling is only goin to take you so far bud.[/QUOTE]
nah the "special feeling in my heart"(aka my morality) gave me a feeling without purpose or goal. it's where you see something wrong with society, how it violates and contradicts itself, and just feel that it isn't right and there has to be a solution. it was through research, a lot of self-questioning, self-doubt, and many "political conversions" that i can actually begin to have a logical basis with which to think that something better is attainable. the feeling helps give me drive, the logic gives me purpose and goal, and my personal experiences give me a tool with which i can constantly challenge my own perception of the world to hopefully become a better person than i was before.
and btw look at my avatar, the possible scenario is "anarchism", specifically through egalitarian society(i.e. communism). pm me for further details because to explain either here would be unfair and completely derail the thread.
[editline]11th November 2013[/editline]
[QUOTE=Rangergxi;42826373]They can't prevent every crime ever but without them criminals would have free reign.[/QUOTE]
that wasn't my point. i'm saying that just because i have been in situations where you might think i would "need cops", it hasn't driven me to the conclusion that you think it should have.
basically my opposition runs deeper than such a superficial and immature line of reasoning.
[QUOTE=yawmwen;42826556]nah the "special feeling in my heart"(aka my morality) gave me a feeling without purpose or goal. it's where you see something wrong with society, how it violates and contradicts itself, and just feel that it isn't right and there has to be a solution. it was through research, a lot of self-questioning, self-doubt, and many "political conversions" that i can actually begin to have a logical basis with which to think that something better is attainable. the feeling helps give me drive, the logic gives me purpose and goal, and my personal experiences give me a tool with which i can constantly challenge my own perception of the world to hopefully become a better person than i was before.
and btw look at my avatar, the possible scenario is "anarchism", specifically through egalitarian society(i.e. communism). pm me for further details because to explain either here would be unfair and completely derail the thread.
[/QUOTE]
are you for real right now
like are you even a real person
and yeah pm me with your ideology, I'm genuinely curious.
In high school so the "FUCK THA POELEEC" mentality is in full swing for a lot of people
damnit
where's a time machine
I thought about being a cop before. Maybe it'd help me feel things again, even if it's agony.
My father's been a police constable (Also a trained PSU medic) for about 10 years now, there were many nights where he would come home and barely say a word. The worst i saw it affect him was after one night when he came back very late with this distant look in his eyes that didn't leave for days. He wouldn't speak about it to me when i asked so i just let it be and acted normally around him but you could tell there was something very wrong. Eventually i asked if he had said anything to my mother and she told me. He had been first response to an rtc involving a young boy (Who was the same age as me at the time) getting off a school bus and stepping out into the road. A careless driver overtook the bus and went straight into the boy, I can't remember the exact details but the boy was in a critical condition when he arrived at the scene. He tried to keep him stable until the ambulance arrived and followed it to ER. I don't remember exactly what happened but he ended up being with the boy when he died later that night. The boy's parents had not yet been given the news of their son's death so he had to make the call to the family's house in person. Understandably the family was horrified, as a shock reaction they took the blame out on the first person they saw for not trying hard enough to save their son's life. I can't imagine how rough that must have been, I'm pretty sure he blamed himself slightly. He's told me countless stories before and many sound much worse than this but this hurt him pretty deeply I think.
[QUOTE=yawmwen;42826556]nah the "special feeling in my heart"(aka my morality) gave me a feeling without purpose or goal. it's where you see something wrong with society, how it violates and contradicts itself, and just feel that it isn't right and there has to be a solution. it was through research, a lot of self-questioning, self-doubt, and many "political conversions" that i can actually begin to have a logical basis with which to think that something better is attainable. the feeling helps give me drive, the logic gives me purpose and goal, and my personal experiences give me a tool with which i can constantly challenge my own perception of the world to hopefully become a better person than i was before.
and btw look at my avatar, the possible scenario is "anarchism", specifically through egalitarian society(i.e. communism). pm me for further details because to explain either here would be unfair and completely derail the thread.
[editline]11th November 2013[/editline]
that wasn't my point. i'm saying that just because i have been in situations where you might think i would "need cops", it hasn't driven me to the conclusion that you think it should have.
basically my opposition runs deeper than such a superficial and immature line of reasoning.[/QUOTE]
Do you have to derail the thread into anarchy discussion, you had your own damn thread for that.
I worked as an EMT; never forget the day I quit, I had seen many bad crashes in my year of being an EMT I once saw some douchebag evaporate when he hit a guard rail at 97 miles an hour on a bike with no protection.
The day I quit was a cold December day; we got a call about a drunk driver and it had said there were kids involved; I protested to going as I particularly didn't want to see hurt children.
My superior insisted I go as I had been having second thoughts about my job choice he said "Tonight we find out if you can really handle this shit; you'll be faced with death, control your emotions"
When we show up the mother is hysterical having survived the crash; screaming like a rabid animal.
This is when I see the kids, the little boy in the front car seat was.. smashed against the door frame, the older little girl had forgotten to buckle up and had been ejected from the front of the car and splattered onto the road infront of me.
This is when I vomited.
After we cleaned up and went home I put in my two weeks.
I still have nightmares.
Speaking of car crashes involving people being ejected.
One happened last night where a 16 y/o went 100 through a curved road and uprooted a powerline. He was ejected from the vehicle and was DOA. Its still developing, but its rumored that one of his friends was also involved in the crash and had fled the scene. That friend committed suicide today.
[QUOTE=Pelican;42825038]wa wa wa
if you wanted to become a police officer and thought it was going to be any different then they're kidding themselves[/QUOTE]
there is this thing called "empathy"
Brought a tear to my eye...
I have been arrested and I do not like cops all that much but reading that little bit has actually shed new light on cops in my mind
Is there any way you can share stories, Areolop? I've always wanted to hear what it is like as a cop FROM a cop. Interests me a lot, since I've considered working in the field when I'm older.
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