Join up? No thanks.I briefly toyed with the idea of applying to join the Police force (it's a force, dammit, not a service), on the basis that if I kept muttering that 'someone should do something' maybe that someone ought to be me. You know, put my money where my mouth is.
And then I thought about all the awful, awful things serving Police officers have to deal with on a daily basis, things like two-week-fermented dead bodies left to rot in a flat because the neighbours didn't give a shit, things like beheaded corpses leaking blood and other fluids into a car mangled almost beyond recognition, things like spouses and children being stabbed to death, and worse. The Police have to deal with the aftermath of people at their very worst, at their most awful, and yet are supposed to remain sane themselves.
I think it takes a special kind of strength (or maybe a special kind of psychosis) to be a good Police officer. I'm not sure I have it, but I'm profoundly grateful to those who do.
A few (quite a few) years ago I was in trouble with the law, and it was my own fault. The officer who dealt with me lied on the paperwork. If he had told the truth, I might well have gone to jail. If I'd gone to jail, however briefly, who knows where I'd be now? Certainly not in a comfortable, white-collar job, earning a decent wage and trying to be a decent uncle to my nephew. That copper exercised his discretion, and in doing so may very well have saved my life.
(And then I thought about all the awful, awful things serving Police officers have to deal with on a daily basis, things like two-week-fermented dead bodies left to rot in a flat because the neighbours didn't give a shit, things like beheaded corpses leaking blood and other fluids into a car mangled almost beyond recognition, things like spouses and children being stabbed to death, and worse. The Police have to deal with the aftermath of people at their very worst, at their most awful, and yet are supposed to remain sane themselves.
I think it takes a special kind of strength (or maybe a special kind of psychosis) to be a good Police officer. I'm not sure I have it, but I'm profoundly grateful to those who do.
A few (quite a few) years ago I was in trouble with the law, and it was my own fault. The officer who dealt with me lied on the paperwork. If he had told the truth, I might well have gone to jail. If I'd gone to jail, however briefly, who knows where I'd be now? Certainly not in a comfortable, white-collar job, earning a decent wage and trying to be a decent uncle to my nephew. That copper exercised his discretion, and in doing so may very well have saved my life.
flake has nothing against your right leg,
Wed 10 Aug 2011, 17:04,
archived)