In the Blink of an Eye

There is a term used in police work:?in a blink of an eye.?Most of the time, it refers to danger, such as anything can happen in a blink of an eye or that accident occurring in a blink of an eye.?Many times in classes that I have taught, to drive a point home, I would use this term.?It is a term that has instant recognition. Rookies need to hear about the dangers of their new profession, and the veterans must hear it to remind them not be become complacent.?

After a 34-year law enforcement career, the term blink of an eye has taken on a new meaning.?There is some truth to the face: the moments are long, but the years are short.?In a blink of an eye, I went from the interview process to getting hired into law enforcement to my retirement party.?Where did the time go?

From the moment I decided that I would like a career as a police officer, everything I did seem to take forever.?The hiring process of completing the application, waiting for the testing date, taking the written test, waiting for the results, then waiting for the physical testing date, nothing was ever quick.?After the physical test, there was the polygraph test, then the psychological test, followed by more interviews with a lot of waiting between each of the steps of the process.?Finally, I was hired and had to wait for the next academy class.?

The academy took months, 720 hours of classes, testing both mental and physical abilities, and waiting for that graduation day. I began my career walking a beat.?My shift was eight hours of walking, talking, and handling calls and mounds of paperwork.?Every shift seemed to last about a week.?I walked in the snow, ran between the raindrops, and sweated in the summer heat.?I had to wait until there was an opening in a patrol car.

When I finally got a seat in a patrol car, I had to wait for the hot calls.?Sometimes I would find interesting things to fill the time, but for the most part, in the beginning, it was waiting until called.?

When I decided to relocate to Florida from New Jersey and try southern law enforcement, the entire process had to be started again.?The hiring process was a bit shorter but still took weeks.?There was the endless testing, but luckily I only had to attend a shorter version of the police academy.?But as fate would have it, I had to wait until the class was scheduled.

As I gained experience, which by the way, takes time, I had the desire to transfer to other assignments. Some of the assignments I had were Field Training Officer, property crimes detective, swat team operator, undercover narcotics detective, and academy instructor; each came with its own brand of waiting.?Waiting for the opening or someone to retire or waiting to take the required classes; it was always something.

Of course, there was always the waiting for court.?In Florida, every case appears to be tried three times.?First, there is the deposition, the defense’s search to find out what you know and what you did. Second, there is the motion to suppress, did you have all elements of the crime, and was everything obtained legally??Third is the trial itself.?At each level, you are subpoenaed, and once you arrive, the waiting begins.

Each waiting period seems like it will never end, like standing in the rain at an accident scene.?The hours just seem to hang in mid-air, in slow motion.?All those classes, a break every 50 minutes, the standing around waiting your turn at the firearms range, if it pertains to police work, then waiting is always included.

For some, there was the occasional disciplinary wait.?Time goes slow when you are waiting to see the command staff, and you know it will not end well for you.?Even minor meetings take their toll in the minutes running into hours, especially the waiting days prior to the meetings.

Then there is the dead time of investigations and stakeouts.?Long hours of doing nothing but waiting.?Ever been assigned to a wire tape? ?That is like a slow motion moving slower.

In other words, it appears that if it is related to this job, the minutes tick by slowly.?Well, not if you are involved in a chase or a critical incident.?That has the tendency to move quickly until the moment it is over, and then the endless paperwork, court, explanations, or things even worse, such as getting injured on the job, which now creates a super slow day.?Usually, the hospital wait is not very long, but not as long as others have to wait.?The real wait comes as the required paperwork must be completed before you finish your shift.

Waiting for the opportunity to take a promotional exam. Followed by the wait, the command staff picks those to move up the chain. For me, that wait had a happy ending.

Unfortunately, the ultimate wait is that of the funeral procession.?I have attended far too many, and the wait for the pain to ease never really happens.

So, as you can see, the entire career is made up of periods of waiting for this or waiting for that.?This subject, all the waiting, was never spoken about while I was in the academy.

The strange thing about all of this waiting is that it seems like I began this career just yesterday.?It seems like yesterday, I was excited about the upcoming entry test and the nervousness about completing that first application.?Now looking back, I wondered where the time went. ?It seems to have flown by, and the years all melted together.?I don’t really remember the change from being a 21-year-old just pinning on the badge for the first time and the 55-year-old man thanking everyone for attending my retirement party.?When did the others all look so young??The other day I was learning how to shoot my handgun, write a report and shine my shoes.?

Take a moment to stop and think about each moment.?No matter what you are doing, responding to calls, writing a report, cooling your heels outside of the courtroom, or waiting to get your ass chewed by the captain, at the time, it might seem forever, but at the retirement party, you will wish you had just a few more minutes of those times.?