Re: Hey Police Officers RANT
Subject: Something to think about.<br /><br /><br />Dedicated to Paramedics, Fire and Police Officers and their<br />Dispatchers:<br /> <br />I wish you could comprehend a wife's horror at 6 in the morning as<br />I check her husband of 40 years for a pulse and find none. I start<br />CPR anyway, hoping to bring him back, knowing intuitively it is too<br />late. But wanting his wife and family to know everything possible<br />was done to try and save his life.<br /> <br />I wish you knew the unique smell of burning insulation, the taste<br />of soot-filled mucus, the feeling of intense heat through your<br />turnout gear, the sound of flames crackling, the eeriness of being<br />able to see absolutely nothing in dense smoke-sensations that I've<br />become too familiar with.<br /> <br />I wish you could read my mind as I respond to a call, Is this a<br />false alarm or a working fire? How is the building constructed?<br />What Hazards await me? Is anyone trapped?". Or to call and ask what<br />is wrong with the patient? Is it minor or life threatening? Is the<br />caller really in distress or is he waiting for us with a 2x4 or a<br />gun?<br /> <br />I wish you could be in the emergency room, as a doctor pronounces<br />dead, the beautiful five-year old girl that I have been trying to<br />save during the past 25 minutes, knowing she will never go on her<br />first date or say the words, "I love you Mommy", ever again.<br /> <br />I wish you could know the frustration I feel in the cab of the<br />ambulance or engine or cruiser, the driver with his foot pressing<br />down hard on the pedal, my arm tugging again and again at the air<br />horn chain, as you fail to yield the right-of-way at an<br />intersection or in traffic. When you need us however, your first<br />comment upon our arrival will be, "It took you forever to get<br />here!"<br /> <br />I wish you could know my thoughts as I help extricate a girl of<br />teenage years from the remains of her automobile. What if this was<br />my daughter, sister, my girlfriend or a friend? What were her<br />parents reaction going to be when they opened the door to find a<br />police officer with hat in hand?<br /> <br />I wish you could know how it feels to walk in the back door and<br />greet my parents and family, not having the heart to tell them that<br />I nearly did not come back from the last call.<br /> <br />I wish you could know how it feels dispatching officers,<br />firefighters and Paramedics out and when we call for them and our<br />heart drops because no one answers back or to here a bone chilling<br />911 call of a child or wife needing assistance.<br /> <br />I wish you could feel the hurt as people verbally and sometimes<br />physically abuse us or belittle what we do, or as they express<br />their attitudes of "It will never happen to me".<br /> <br />I wish you could realize the physical, emotional and mental drain<br />of missed meals, lost sleep and forgone social activities, in<br />addition to all the tragedy my eyes have seen.<br /> <br />I wish you could know the brotherhood and self-satisfaction of<br />helping save a life or preserving someone's property, or being able<br />to be there in time of crisis, or creating order from total chaos.<br /> <br />I wish you could understand what it feels like to have a little boy<br />tugging at your arm and asking, "Is my Mommy okay?", not even being<br />able to look in his eyes without tears from your own and not<br />knowing what to say. Or to have to hold back a long time friend who<br /> watches his buddy having CPR done on him as they take him away in<br />the Medic Unit. You know all along he did not have his seat belt<br />on. A sensation that I have become too familiar with.<br /> <br />Unless you have lived with this kind of life, you will never truly<br />understand or appreciate who I am, we are, or what our job really<br />means to us...I wish you could though.<br /> <br />KEEP SENDING THIS ON. APPRECIATE AND SUPPORT THE LOCAL POLICE <br />OFFICERS, EMS PARAMEDICS, FIREFIGHTERS, and 911 DISPATCHERS<br /> IN YOUR AREA. ONE DAY THEY'LL PROBABLY BE SAVING YOUR<br />PROPERTY OR YOUR OWN LIFE. WHEN YOU SEE THEM COMING WITH<br />LIGHTS FLASHING, MOVE OUT OF THE WAY QUICKLY, and THEN PRAY FOR<br />THEM
<br /><br />As for the buddy system, it's true. Like it or not, whether you want to admitit or not, there are "favors" done for "fellow" persons. My aunt is a corrections officer, she was married to another corrections officer. They lived an worked 300 miles away. When they would come up to visit they and my parents woudl go out. My aunt and her husband would drive to their accomodations DRUNK. I was told of at least four seperate times when they were stopped for suspicion of DUI an dwhen the officer saw their corrections ID, "Have a nice night, drive carefully." Adn that was it. They were proud of it too. Had they ever caused an accident it would not have mattered that they were corrections officers. The passengers in the other vehicle still would have been hurt, or worse. And what if the familiy of the victims found out that my aunt or her husband had been stopped and then let go? Can we say major lawsuit? The problem is we have the foxes watching the henhouse. None will speak ill of another and therefore the good ones get lumped in with the ego-maniacs and the truly pathetic ones.<br /><br />I respect law-enforcement officers for the job they do, because it really is one that most people would not want or be willing to do. But, I detest those who abuse the power and authority that goes with the responsibility that deserves my respect. I automatically respect an officer, but then they must earn it and deserve it from there. Most do, some do not. And to DeputyDawg and the other law-enforcement officers, Thank you for doing a job most would not want, for the selfless dedication a good officer must have to put up with the garbage heaped upon you. But please help in eliminating those who give your profession a black-eye.
