I was a police officer for four years where I worked as a patrolman. Later, I would serve as a United Nations Peace Keeper. In that capacity, I served as a civilian police officer in Haiti. I trained Haitian police officers out in the field. It was similar to the work I performed in the U.S.
A while back, I met a U.S. Marine Veteran. Upon leaving the armed forces, he joined the D.E.A. We struck up a conversation while we were standing and waiting at a Sears register. He was there with his wife and he told me that he was now retired from the U.S. Marines and the Department of Drug Enforcement (D.E.A.). I told him that I had once been a police officer. We joked about the job and some of the daily turmoils. He said something that has always stuck with me. He said, "The thing with law enforcement is that; It's 90% boring, filled with paperwork and 10% sheer terror." He said, "The 10% is what causes the stress, the danger and quite possibly your life." I told him that I agreed with everything he said. I thanked him for the service to our country. We shook hands and parted company.
The police officers recently killed in New York because a mentally ill person was out for vengeance reminds me of that conversation with the veteran. The man wanted vengeance for Ferguson, among other things. Those two officers were like any other officers at work. They wanted to make it home that day, like every other day. But sometimes, the 10% sheer terror finds you as a police officer and becomes your end. Try to imagine what was going on in their minds as the man fired into their vehicle. It is not an end that anyone should have claim their lives.
As a society, there is a small percent of the population that is bad to the bone. The same comparison could be made of law enforcement. There is a small percent in law enforcement that is corrupt and lawless. One has to remember that the overwhelming numbers of people in our society are good and try to do the right thing whenever possible. The same could be and should be said of law enforcement. The fact of the matter is; if they were all bad, we'd all be in dire circumstances or in jail. It is my opinion that two good men died in the line of duty in New York. I don't know them but that is the feeling that I get from first impressions. If I'm wrong, being shot to death is not the way to deal with it. It should be handled through the justice system, even if the outcome is undesirable sometimes. The only thing that I hope for is that there are no "copy cats" to what happened in New York.
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