Why I Left the Police Dept. Early

Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God -Matthew 5:9

My speed was 65 mph as I pursued the stolen car through the small residential neighborhood. I called out my speed to the dispatcher while my heart felt it was beating out of my chest. This was what I had signed up for; I was living the dream. Inside the car, I observed four bald heads silhouetted under the amber street lights as the stolen car narrowly missed parked cars on both sides of the roadway. After blowing through a stop sign, I could see car doors opening which indicated to me the suspects were fixing to bail out. I noticed another police car on my bumper and that officer took over the radio calls to the dispatcher so I could concentrate on not crashing. The stolen car slowed to a creep and all of the youngens bailed out and started running. The stolen vehice crashed into a pole and the foot chase was on. My cover officer went one way and I went the other. Eventually, we ended up catching two of the suspects but my foot chase ended up with myself and the suspect rolling into a field full of egret feces. Needless to say, the next night at roll call, I got bashed by the old timers.

Fast forward to 2021. Being a police officer today is nothing like back then. The job has become much more difficult and the public perception has changed. What one officer did in Minnesota has made the rest of the men and women of law enforcement jobs a nightmare. Perception of reality is an illusion. We all live in our own little universes. The human brain filters out 99 percent of what we see and hear. You are what you focus on. When one watches the news, the concious mind blocks out 99 percent and focuses on the narrative the news is selling. The media, like police work has changed. No more can we turn on the news and see unbias journalism. Its all bias now. Back in 1986, CNN was the only news station that covered the Space Shuttle Challenger 51L launch I worked. Look at what the station reports on now. Its all political with a narrative. Fox is the same but from the opposite side. The American public can choose to believe the lie that was created or not. All that is happening is not even about police officers, its about federalizing the police force which helps with what the government is planning. Bottom line, not all cops are racists. I never once witnessed a cop arresting or singling out anyone because of their race. Once again, reality is an illusion.

My last roll call ended. No more putting on the uniform. No more being awakened by scammers or telemarketers at 10 am asking "were you napping?" No, I was asleep, do you nap at 2 a.m.?! No more staying up for 24 hours after attending court at the end of my shift. No more missing my little girl's birthday parties because they are grown now. No more being called a racist. No more does my wife have to worry if I made it through the long, dangerous night. Now I can do what I love doing. Mark Twain once said the two most important days of your life are the day you are born and the day you found out why. I found out why. God bless the rest left to defend our cities from the wrath yet to come.