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You may take an hour for lunch and several
coffee
breaks each day, but point me out as a loafer for having one cup. You
pride
yourself on your manners, but think nothing of disrupting my meals with
your
troubles. You raise Cain with the guy who cuts you off in
traffic,
but let me catch you doing the same thing and I'm picking on you.
You
know all the traffic laws ... but you've never gotten a single ticket
you
deserve.
You shout "foul" if you observe me driving
fast to a call, but raise the roof if I take more than ten seconds to
respond
to your complaint. You call it part of my job if someone strikes
me, but call it police brutality if I strike back. You wouldn't
think of telling your dentist how to pull a tooth or your doctor how to
take out an appendix, yet you are always willing to give me pointers on
the law. You talk to me in a manner that would get you a bloody
nose from anyone else, but expect me to take it without batting an eye.
You yell that something's got to be done
to fight
crime, but you can't be bothered to get involved. You have no use
for
me at all, but of course it's OK if I change a flat for your wife,
deliver
your child in the back of the patrol car, or perhaps save your son's
life
with mouth to mouth breathing, or work many hours overtime
looking
for your lost daughter.
So, Mr. Citizen, you can stand there on
your soapbox and rant and rave about the way I do my work, calling me
every name in
the book, but never stop to think that your property, family, or maybe
even your life depends on me or one of my buddies.
Yes, Mr. Citizen, it's me ... the cop!
Trooper
Mitchell Brown was killed in the line of duty two months after writing
this article. |