Monday, January 31, 2011

Can we come up for air?

Yes, this is a little whine, what I like to call Yellow’s freak out moment.

Am I the only one who feels like our officers can’t seem to get a break? They can’t come up for air? Now sure I know that bigger cities might deal with this kind of stuff every day, but my small town seems maybe ONE big thing a year. Not 5 in a week. And I know that it is not just my small town, towns and people all over the nation are facing more violent people. Perhaps it is just the time of year, maybe it is time the poor economy catches up with crime, I don’t know but I don’t like it.

In the 5+ years T-rex has been in Law enforcement I have never felt like the officers were under attack. Maybe because he was “nice and safe” in the jail for most of that time I didn’t notice all the dangers? I don’t know something just seems to have changed. I have been lucky so far in that T-rex has not had to be in the action for much of what has been going on around here, but you can tell it is getting to him, like it is getting to all the guys. Not that he is stressed out and becoming a jerk, but the guys are working in a hyper-vigilant state and that can’t be good 24/7!

Then there are the fires. Yes two. Like I have said before our small town gets maybe one fire a year, and a few small farm fires. A house fire is rare. We have had two in the last month. One seems to have been set by someone who didn't live at the house, but that is just gossip around town. The second one DH was just getting off work when it was reported, so he went long enough to block traffic until the Fire Department got there, and then he went home. But I think he went home because he was tiered, worn out, and it was upsetting. He was there long enough to hear the dog in the house whine and cry before dying. I can just imagine how hard that must have been, being right there hearing the cries for help and yet not being able to do anything about it.

No, T-rex is not a big baby, he does a lot that most people couldn’t do, but he loves dogs, and he is the guy who is there to help but in a moment was unable to do anything. I mean this is the guy who can look Bambi in the eyes say sorry and then blow her brains out. (I think that is a job requirement here actually).

I wonder if a lot of the cops feel like that right now. Hearing cries from other departments, and yet having to sit back and watch as another officer is shot, killed, or put in danger. I am starting to understand why T-rex and the other officers say “just shoot em all” because it quickly becomes a game of “me vs. them”

There is so much more going on here, but like most things in Law Enforcement I don’t know it until the News reports it. But let me just say, I will be happy when T-rex goes back to patrolling the small town for silly teenagers who are making out near kissing rock!

3 comments:

Meadowlark said...

That's one of the reasons I could never be a dispatcher - I would hate not being able to take action. They are pretty amazing people, hearing the pain and being able to deal with it.

Sorry your town is exploding. Ours too -five murders in a year. We normally have one every 5 years. :( Arson galore (empty places thankfully) due to the disastrous real estate market. It's ugly, that's for sure.

Wishing the best for you and yours.

Yellow said...

Meadow, that is a good way to put it our town is exploding. 5 murders in a year?! Wow, yeah we get like one every 10 years! You really can look at the stats from the last 10 years and see that this year already has passed all the years together! It is crazy.

My sociology background (with the help of my dad) Tells me that things could be a lot worse, and should have been the last few years. SO I know that we are lucky so far, but it still stinks to think that this is bad and it might not get better for a long time.

Good Luck to you and yours! I know we are going to need it.

Anonymous said...

Hi! I'm a new reader; love your blog!

I can relate entirely. Our city is going through hell right now. Two years ago, our area lost six officers that were hunted and gunned down because of police hatred. Now, we're dealing with a huge case of "vilify the cop" with no support from our chief or our mayor. We're having anarchist protests downtown every other day. Our officers are told to hold the line and make no arrests while these people spit on them, throw bricks at them, spray pepper spray at them, commit felony assault of others and destruction of public property...it's just ridiculous. Seattle police families are having to deal with vile hatred, worried that our officers are in even more danger than usual because of this media sensationalism.

I feel like I have very few people I can talk to about being a police wife. It's a huge breath of fresh air to "meet" police wives that understand!