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I recently wrote this letter to the media. There has been alot of bad things being said about our Law Enforcement Officers (LEOs). I one day aftr hearing a story on the news, which may have been true may not have been, I said this is enough. I sat down and within the hour I had this written out. The next day I typed it up and I plan on sending it out. This is by no means a short letter, but I wanted to make sure that I got everything that I was feeling at that particular moment in time on paper. And everything about I still feel today, otherwise I wouldnt have put this on here.
To Whom It May Concern:
I would love to be able to share my name in this part of this letter, but for fear of what might happen to my husband and my mother, I cannot. I have lived here my entire life. I am proud to say that I live here, and would not live anywhere else. However, I have notice a problem that we are having, and I feel the need to address it. My husband is a Law Enforcement Officer (LEO) and my mother is a MEDICALLY retired LEO. I emphasized medically, because my mother now has to live with a seizure disorder that will affect her for the rest of her life. My mother is not able to drive anymore, and the only way that she can go anywhere, is to rely on someone else. All because a BOY decided that running away from the police was more important than MY mother’s life. Now lately I cannot help to notice all the bad "publicity" that have surrounded our LEOs, the same ones that put their lives on the line for us everyday! Like my family. I say "our" for a reason, because they are serving and protecting every one of us. This issue is not just in the local news, its national and its running free on the internet. I know that I alone will have trouble stopping this madness, but from what I understand, one voice can make a difference. Well I am one voice; I am one very irate voice!
I want to start off first by saying that I know that all LEOs are not saints. I know that there are LEOs out there that do NOT deserve to wear the badge/star that they wear. But I also know that there are way more good ones out there than bad ones. And because of the media (YOU) OUR LEOs are getting more and more hated by the public. I cannot understand how so many people could have such a passion for bashing LEOs. I am NOT saying that you shouldn’t report the bad stuff, what I am saying is you should report the good stuff too. Not only are you putting the lives of LEOs in danger, like my husband. You are also putting the lives of their families in danger too, ME. Let me explain this to you, when you report ONLY the bad things, the public will eventually feel the need not to listen to officers that are truly trying to make a difference, which in turns makes more "enemies" for the officers. The more "enemies" that an officer has the more likely that his/her family will suffer from the side affects. I personally have had a man that has come to my house looking for my husband, and found me instead. Though nothing escalated because of the way that I was able to handle my self, I pray that I am never in that situation again. The media is making it very hard for my prayer to stay answered.
My husband is a hero in more ways than you can even dream of. My husband has saved countless of lives in his years with the force. But he is so humble about it. He has a passion for what he does, and people like you are slowly taking away that feeling of appreciation. My husband is great with kids, and knows just what to say when child is in need of his guidance. I have seen my husband break down and sob (a grown man about 6’5 and 300 pounds of muscle, cry) because he couldn’t save that little boys life that day. How dare you make him feel worthless. SHAME ON YOU! It sickens me to the core every time I hear something on the news about what an officer did this time. Do you have any idea what might have happened before the incident that you now have televised? You are not getting or not putting the whole story out there, you put out there what you think the people will respond to. You are only telling half (if that) of the stories. And you are not even telling the good ones. Do you realize that the last good story that you told about an officer was at Christmas time, which aired for one day, for 2 minutes. I say again SHAME ONE YOU!
My mother is an angel, I swear sent straight from Heaven, to help people. She has a passion to help people bigger than I have seen in anybody. And now because of one boy, one day, one incident, her life is changed forever. And you know what, my mother still lobbied for the easiest of punishments for this boy, with hopes that he will be rehabilitated. Well, he is not. He is still in and out of jail, currently in, but 3 months from now out again, DRIVING around with nothing to do. I have an idea why doesn’t he give my mother rides back and forth everywhere she needs to go? Like doctors appointments she is still going to from that faithful day. My mother doesn’t even have enough money to support herself, but never once have I heard her complain, never once have I heard her say this it is not fair. "Its life" is what she says. Thank God she has a willing and able husband, my dad, who takes care of her. But his eye sight is going bad, soon he will not be able to see, sure he can go get surgery, with what money? And after my dad goes blind, and my mother cannot work, then what? Are you going to take care of them?
I want you to think about where the world would be today, if it were not for LEOs. That means there will be no 911, no dispatch, no one to care if your child gets abducted. But you don’t think of that when you are getting pulled over because you are speeding, you want to complain, "I’m going just as fast as the guy in front of me" "Why don’t you go get him?" Here is my answer to you, the speeder. Have you ever been fishing? Well then, you surely know you cannot catch them all.
I want to share this with you. This was written by a retired police officer, it sums up everything that I have been trying to say.
"Confessions Of A Police Officer"
Dear Citizens, Neighbors, Friends and Family,
"My name is Jill and I am a cop. That means that the pains and joys of my personal life are often muted by my work. I resent the intrusion but I confuse my self with my job almost as often as you 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, and more graphic. 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’m not flattered by your curiosity about my work. 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 tell you about my day because I don’t want to share the images that haunt me.
But I do have some confessions to make:
Sometimes my stereo is too loud. Andrea Bocelli’s voice makes it easier to forget the wasted body of the young man who died alone in a rented room because his family feared the stigma of AIDS. 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 Rolling Stones’ angry beat assures me that it was ignorance that drove a young mother to draw blood when she bit her toddler on the cheek in an attempt to teach him not to bite.
Sometimes I set a bad example. I exceeded the speed limit on my way home from work because I had trouble shedding the adrenalin that kicked in when I discovered that the man I handcuffed during a drug raid was sitting on a loaded 9mm pistol.
Sometimes I seem rude. I was distracted and forgot to smile when you greeted me in the store because I was remembering the anguished, whispered confession of a teenager who pushed away his drowning brother to save his own life.
Sometimes I’m not as sympathetic as you’d like. I’m not concerned that your 15-year-old daughter is dating an 18-year-old because I just comforted the parents of a young man who slashed his own throat while they slept in the next bedroom. I was terse on the phone because I resented the burden of having to weigh the value of two lives when I was pointing my gun at an armed man who kept begging me to kill him. I laugh when you cringe away from the mess in your teen’s room because I know the revulsion of feeling a heroin addict’s blood trickling toward an open cut on my arm. If I was silent when you whined about your overbearing mother it’s because I really wanted to tell you that I spoke to one of our high school friends today. I found her mother slumped behind the wheel of her car in a tightly closed garage. She had dressed in her best outfit before rolling down the windows and starting the engine.
On the other hand, if I seem totally oblivious to the blood on my uniform, or the names people call me, or the hateful editorials, it’s because I am remembering the lessons my job has taught me.
I learned not to sweat the small stuff. Grape juice on the beige sofa and puppy pee on the oriental carpet don’t faze me because I know what arterial bleeding and decaying bodies can do to one’s decor.
I learned when to shut out the world and take a mental health day. I skipped your daughter’s 4th birthday party because I was thinking about the six children under the age of 10 whose mother left them unattended to go out with a friend. When the 3-year-old offered the dog the milk from her cereal bowl, the dog attacked her, tearing open her head and staining the sandbox with blood. The little girl’s siblings had to pry her head out of the dog’s jaws - twice.
I learned that everyone has a lesson to teach me. Two mothers engaged in custody battles taught me not to judge a book by its cover. The teenage mother on welfare mustered the strength to refrain from crying in front of her worried child while the well-dressed, upper-class mother literally played tug of war with her toddler before running into traffic with the shrieking child in her arms.
I learned that nothing given from the heart is truly gone. A hug, a smile, a reassuring word, or an attentive ear can bring an injured or distraught person back to the surface, and help me refocus.
And I learned not to give up, ever! That split second of terror when I think I have finally engaged the one who is young enough and strong enough to take me down taught me that I have only one restriction: my own mortality.
One week in May has been set aside as Police Memorial Week, a time to remember those officers who didn’t make it home after their shift. But why wait? Take a moment to tell an officer that you appreciate her work. Smile and say "Hi" when he’s 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.
Nothing given from the heart is truly gone. It is kept in the hearts of the recipients. Give from the heart. Give something back to the officers who risk everything they have."
Rretired Police Officer from Massachusetts
So with this I ask you, I beg of you, leave my family alone. Haven’t you heard of the saying "if you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all"? The media should use this every once in a while.
Say something nice to a LEO next time you see them. You never know what they have just seen, witnessed, fought, or even saved. Everyone makes mistakes, nobody is perfect, not even LEOs. But they shouldn’t be chastised for being just the same as you. Because that is what they are, people just like you and me, with a need to serve and protect. Fire Fighters are looked at as heroes because they run into a burning building while every one else is running out. Why is it when, a stranger, is willing to jump in front of a bullet to save your life, he/she is not considered a hero as well. I believe 100% that fire fighters are very much heroes and by no means trying to put them down. I just do not understand why LEOs are not looked at with the same respect. This question has baffled me my whole life. I know plenty of other LEO families and supporters that would back me on this, but with the media on the opposite side of the fence, we are fighting a battle that cannot be won.
I said it once and I’ll say it again, I know not all LEOs are saints. But the men and women that my husband works with on a daily bases are proud to pin on that badge, and the media and the what I like to call "black badges" are making it harder and harder every morning to be proud. I cannot change everything, for I’m just one person, but I can change something. And I have decided that I’m not keeping quite anymore. I am changing the way that I respond to the "bashing" our LEOs. I will fight with my husband and I will fight for him. The worst thing someone can do to me is to put down my family. And the media has crossed the line with me.
Thank You for your patience
Wife of an LEO
Again I feel like I need to say that I know not all LEOs are saints. And if you read my post before this one then you know that I know this on a personal level and not just from ear say. But I believe 100% that most officers are good men and women with good hearts. And I will not stop standing up for them every chance that I get.
Please remember officers die everyday fighting to protect you from the worst of the worst! Show some respect!
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Posted by ElizabethAnn on 2008-06-13 14:17:27 | Rating: | Views: 68
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Ahh Elizabeth, Thank you for the reminder of what we truly owe to the men and women in uniform. Not only to our local officers but to the officers around the world who daily/nightly stand guard so that we can sleep at night. I pray peace for you and your family.
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Posted by heatherslife
on 2008-06-15 00:02:22
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Why did you leave the author's name off and just write "retired cop?" She deserves to be acknowledged for this great story. her name is Jill Wragg.
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Posted by angie453
on 2008-07-03 09:55:18
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