Claiming My Voice: From the darkness, the light emerges.

Recently I got to ride with one of my city’s police officers. It was great experience! I learned a lot. I’ll give you some of the take-aways here (I may add more as stuff comes to me):

-Cops are people too: I think the biggest take-away is that I think most police officers are just people. I was taught growing up that those in authority, like the police, were all power hungry ego maniacs and that, left to their own devices, they will use their power to make others smaller. I think this sentiment is perpetuated by society at large or at least the circles I run with. Now, I’m not saying there aren’t officers that are power hungry ego maniacs who use their position to intimidate others but I think its the exception rather than the rule. And to be clear, I’ve thought that for a long time but during my ride along it was confirmed. One of the things the officer and I talked about was how many police departments actually lose the best officers due to the bureaucracy and other frustrating factors. After he shared some thoughts on this I said, “So are you saying that the people who care the most are the ones most likely to stop being cops?” and he said I basically was picking up what he was putting down. I have seen this same phenomenon in other sectors. If we tie the hands of our best workers, they are likely to move on. Now, some of you may mis-read this and think he means the ability to be a shitty cop. No, the details he gave were so much more compassionate and balanced than I would have expected.

-Just chillin’ and scannin’: Sure, there are likely days when everyone is scrambling and its hard to keep up (he said as much), but my ride along was pretty chill and I understand this is much more regular than crazy busy days. Of the 4ish hours that I was with this fine officer, we mostly drove around. There were 2 suspects that he had on his radar but their charges were pretty minor so while we were driving around, we were just kind of keeping our eyes out for them. One has a very specific look so she would have been easy to spot…we did not spot her. At one point, we both smelled smoke…and it smelled like rubber or plastic so we drove around looking for the source. Unfortunately (or fortunately) the smoke seemed to dissipate as quickly as it came and we didn’t find the source. The only time we drove fast or urgently was during a report of a drunk driver. Someone had called it in with the driver’s license plate. We did haul ass to the car owner’s home trying to intercept them but they didn’t come home.

-A new pair of glasses: One of my favorite things is that I got to see my city in a completely new way. There was something about being a passenger (when I am normally the driver) that allowed me to take in my city with new eyes. One sweet/interesting thing was that I had been noticing a full shopping cart on my way to and from work for a few days. One of the people we were looking for supposedly sometimes lives in this one homeless camp. When the officer told me where it was, I told him that I had been noticing that shopping cart near there and had been a bit concerned. He said that he had also noticed it. So we went to the homeless camp. We were doing a wellness check and also looking for this one gal. Maybe I’m naive (I have been accused of such things) but he seemed as concerned about the abandoned cart as I had been. The other thing is that I normally just drive around getting from place to place and I don’t always really look at my city (OK…it’s fall and I’ve been looking at all our beautiful trees but that is not what I’m talking about ;). During my ride along, I was really looking. I was looking at the buildings and landscape. I was looking at the people (many of whom waived at us and smiled). I feel so much more part of my community as a result of really seeing this city and all the things that make it up.

-It’s OK to not agree: I want to be clear here. I don’t agree with every opinion this officer shared with me (and he shared a lot because I asked A LOT) nor do I agree with all the policies this police department has but its ok to not agree and still get along. It’s OK to disagree and still be grateful for the work our officers put in. I heard a thing a while back that most officers fall into one of 2 camps: Those who join the force to “protect and serve” and those who join for “law and order.” Since I suspect that every city’s police force has a mix, my guess is that with both, we get balance. It’s a good thing to find those things that we agree with. AND it’s a good thing to look at those things we don’t agree with and keep and open mind. An open mind doesn’t mean we fall into agreement. It means we can see the opposition’s point and not judge it. And in the balance we actually are stronger and more resilient. Think about pure bread dogs. Pure breads are more likely to have health issues where mutts, like my Hunny and my Finan, are generally healthier and have better lives. Let’s be more like dogs 🙂

And let me lastly say…coming from my own criminal background, it was so nice to be in the front seat of the cop car!