“Keeping The Streets Safe Is A Calling”, Says A Police Officer

A Watertown police officer on duty outside 39 Waverley Avenue, on the morning of a FBI raid connected with the 2010 Times Square car bombing attempt investigation. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

(In the very words of a Police Officer who left this as a comment on my “About”. It touched the very core of my heart and I wanted to share it with you, my blogger friends)

“Not many understand the Job. Fewer understand that our families bear the burden and brunt of what must be experienced during any given tour of duty, and then carrying the scars, back home at the end of the shift. Being able to be there to help others is the reward of knowing you did your job and helped another person. The reality of it is, I missed birthdays. I missed anniversaries. I worked almost every holiday. I missed social functions. I disappointed my wife and kids by not being there for them, as I was in Central Booking, or the District Attorney’s office, or Criminal Court, or State Supreme Court, or the Grand Jury, or training, or filling an absentee slot that could not go unmanned, or hunting down someone that society could not bear to have loose preying on a community. During my years, I made 574 arrests and earned 48 citations. Many others, did much, much more, and paid a greater price of alienation from friends and family. It’s a thankless job, that only became more and more political in nature, as time progressed. Keeping the streets safe, is a Calling. I continue to notice things amiss with people on the street. Many times, I revert back into an on-duty mode, when something of a criminal nature occurs. Today’s cops, don’t even ask if I was a cop, because when we talk, they know it, within the first few seconds. In my heart and in my brain, I am still, a cop.“

Keeping a balance between time for the loved ones and the demands of the job of protecting us from all evils becomes very hard for a Police Officer. The balance always tips towards public service and keeping our world safe, even if the cost of it is alienation from friends and family or losing a family altogether. He makes these sacrifices to lead a lonely life but that of honor and respect to serve and protect us. Who else in the world would do this for us but a Police Officer? Whenever we evaluate him for his spirit and his courage we must keep the Leader of the Nation’s commitments in sight. His high ideals must be fully understood while making any assessment about him. His personal sacrifices are enormous. Saving lives and helping others at all times is a priority. In his heart and in his brain, a cop remains a cop forever.

A Police Officer—- “Champion Love maker and Leader Of Men”

If you could not feel tenderness and hurt,

if you could live in the poorhouse of not-wanting

and never be indignant,

if you could take two steps away from the beautiful one

you want so much to lie down with,

if you could trust that there is a spirit wife for you somewhere,

a nest, a jewel setting where when you sit down

you know you have always wanted to be,

if you could quit living here and go there,

if you could remember clearly what you have done.

But strong hooks hold you in the wind,

So many people love you.

You mix with the color and the smell and the taste

of your surroundings, Champion Lovemaker and Leader of Men,

You cannot give up your public fascination

or your compassion for the dying.

(Maulana Jalaludin Rumi)

RCMP ()Royal Canadian Mounted Police
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© Samina Iqbal. 2013

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