The Thin Blue Line

[Gunbuffer]

My very first day on patrol:

First call of the morning (and my career), man threatening suicide with a shotgun. My FTO and I arrived to find the man standing in the doorway of his home, holding a shotgun. He was kinda half-assed pointing the gun in our general direction, telling us to shoot him or he'd shoot us. I was looking at my FTO and watched in disbelief as the hammer on his Ruger P-90 was wavering back and forth as he applied pressure in case he had to shoot. That image is burned into my mind even now. We finally talked him down and took him to the hospital on a mental health hold.

From the hospital we got dispatched to an accident. I consoled a mother as she held her dying infant and dead toddler, both of whom were properly secured but ejected from the minivan after a runaway semi crashed into them coming out of the mountains on I-70 near Golden.

Last call of the day was a medical assist. A 30-something year old man who died from a heart attack. I helped the volunteer EMT perform CPR in the ambulance but it didn't do any good. When we left the hospital we went to the man's house to inform his wife and children he'd passed.

When we got back to the SO our 10 hour shift had turned into 14. Dave (my FTO) and I sat in the car in silence after I parked for about 5 mins, I think. I told him I wasn't sure that this is what I'd signed up for. He said he'd never had a day like that in 22 years at the department. I came back the next day and we started all over again...but without any of the drama of the previous day.

A few years later my shift sergeant was killed by a man in a grocery store parking lot after he'd killed his wife and store manager (she worked in the store). Tim had been with the department for several years and had 5 kids and his wife was pregnant with his 4th son.

If you've never been in a position like that you can't possibly understand what it's like. That's why people who think they know what it's like to be a law enforcement officer piss me off so much when they spew their stupidity about how police protect each other. Well, yeah...we do. We protect the good ones, we despise the bad ones, despite what you cop-haters think. Don't tell me you know about police corruption because you don't. I don't care what some officer did to you on a traffic stop 30 years ago. You don't know s**t.

Any of you guys or gals still on the job or retired or whatever...you have my respect. I'm here if you need something even though we may be strangers.

Lord. Im glad you came out of that day alive

 

[Snattlerake]

I said I cannot remember my first shift. I remember now. I was thinking about someplace else when I posted that.

How could I ever forget this?

I heard of a small town in Oklahoma that advertised for a police officer.

I, having just graduated college and with a wife and a child on the way, called the chief for an interview for the job. With my three piece suit, I walked into his office right on time as I wanted to make sure the fellow could count on my punctuality.

I introduced myself as he was headed out the door of his office. He said “Come on let’s go for a ride.” I went with the chief and spent the entire day riding with him and meeting people in the community. At 5 PM He drove to his house and told me, “There’s a gun in the glove box, there’s a badge in my middle desk drawer back in the office, pick me up at 7AM.”

I did.

 

[wawazat]

Growing up with a FF dad, I can definitively say all of our first responders and military service members volunteer to take on a burden the average person is unwilling to shoulder. As I became an adult, my dad would share a few more stories of random rides he was on and some of what was seen and had to be done at the Murrah bombing. Id imagine law enforcement includes all of that and probably a little more because if things get violent, it is our LEOs that we expect to engage and take control of the situation while knowing that every step they take will be broken into milliseconds and analyzed over and over again in search of any transgressions.

I know there are times where there isn't a single good decision available but a decision must be made regardless. I know there are times when, after the fact, a different option becomes obvious in hindsight. I also know that the vast majority are trying to provide the best service to the community they can while also trying their best to make it home to their loved ones at end of shift. I am glad there are still people willing to wear the badge for the right reasons. You all live with the burdens of memories long after your last ride and your families endure the ripples from that as well. Thank you all for your service every time you suit up and thank your families for hopefully providing you with love, understanding, and some reprieve when you get home.

 

[golddigger14s]

 

[Snattlerake]

Growing up with a FF dad, I can definitively say all of our first responders and military service members volunteer to take on a burden the average person is unwilling to shoulder. As I became an adult, my dad would share a few more stories of random rides he was on and some of what was seen and had to be done at the Murrah bombing. Id imagine law enforcement includes all of that and probably a little more because if things get violent, it is our LEOs that we expect to engage and take control of the situation while knowing that every step they take will be broken into milliseconds and analyzed over and over again in search of any transgressions.

I know there are times where there isn't a single good decision available but a decision must be made regardless. I know there are times when, after the fact, a different option becomes obvious in hindsight. I also know that the vast majority are trying to provide the best service to the community they can while also trying their best to make it home to their loved ones at end of shift. I am glad there are still people willing to wear the badge for the right reasons. You all live with the burdens of memories long after your last ride and your families endure the ripples from that as well. Thank you all for your service every time you suit up and thank your families for hopefully providing you with love, understanding, and some reprieve when you get home.

Thank your father for us too, even if he was a hose dragger.

Just kidding! I had a lot of friends that were paramedics and fire fighters. A few of them scooped me up a time or two, or three, or four.

 

[OK Corgi Rancher]

We made it into a sport to figure out creative ways of dragging "America's Heroes" out of bed in the middle of the night. Good ole days...

 

[Snattlerake]

View attachment 299817

Forgot one

 

[golddigger14s]

Uh............. no. At least not yet.

 

[Fyrtwuck]

For the most part the Blue Line stands true. I worked for one department where two of the officers tried several times to set me up in situations that would get me fired. One now works for Oklahoma County and the other went to Moore PD.

We later had a Chief who was a retired OCPD Sgt that no one liked. (now deceased). One of his buddies filed a complaint against me after a traffic stop claiming excessive force and the dash cam proved the complaint was false. He was fired by the City Manager for sleeping in his office on duty.

 

[Snattlerake]

In reference to "Buckshot" from Camden, AR, I and a fellow tech have spent several weeks there installing the fire alarm and cameras at a bank. I'm sorry I never got to meet him.

Camden is a nice little town and very confusing to get around in. I have no idea how many times we got lost just driving around at night looking for a place to eat. We finally saw a Pizza Hut and starving, we walked inside and sat down. They looked at us like we killed their momma. Finally, a guy walks over to the table and after smashing a cockroach on our table with his hand casually wiping it onto the floor, he said, "You want to eat here?" As we got up to leave my buddy said, "I guess not."

We finally found a place that had 1 inch thick grilled pork chops.