I got to reflecting, this evening, on the various bad things LEO have seen - mutilated bodies, teenaged hookers, OD victims (and survivors), the worst of society, etc.
Edtoomanyletters, Pat, and the rest of you - you have my thanks and my undying gratitude for doing a job that I personally have no taste for - and am not mentally equipped to do. Your collective mental restraint continually amazes me.

Yup and a BIG +1.

It's different that is for sure, many years ago our transit garage got a call, women got pulled under back duals of one of our buses.
They needed our mechanics to got to the site and make sure bus was hooked up correctly so it could be lifted straight up off the elderly women's body to keep things unchanged, I was the only one available that could drive them to the scene in my car as I was just ending my shift, I tell you it was something to be there while the guys went under to hook up and the whole time her body under the wheels was visible to us as we had to be so close to it all, the public could not see as much as they had a tarp to shield the curbside, I can't imagine seeing that all the time.
Not my last time seeing a body, but one of the messier ones.

You're welcome.

While I certainly could do without some of the memories and experiences, it was an unbelievably good way to spend over 26 years.

My hat is off to the men and women who are doing the job now. It is harder than ever to do it.

Ed

As I said - my hat's off to those who do a job I'm not equipped to handle.
Thanks, Ed, Pat, Bluedreaux, et al!

Thank you. It's never the memories of savages that haunt me. It's the victims I can do little about

That is the part that hurts Sir.

Well said.

Thank you, Mr. Shubert. Sometimes we are able to do good things. Things most people could not do without the authority, the badge, and the gun. A lot of us realize that good people need protecting from a lot of bad people. And yes there are a few duds in uniform, but there are lot of very good people who end up doing this.

always lots of complaints about the job they do, but then we all insist that the job be done.................

I agree 100%. It is a job I would not want to do. Especially now with all the problems the officers face.

Thanks to all of you.

Jim

It isn't just the cops. Consider what EMT's & ER docs & nurses have to deal with. They get these injuries after the cops pull them out from under the buses.
Some years ago here, a bunch of high school kids was behind a grocery store huffing gasoline. One idiot lit a cigarette and caught a girl on fire as she'd spilled gas on her clothes. What are the odds...a jogger going by just happened to be a doctor. He was able to get the fire out and saved her life although she was very badly burned.

Rock Chuck, the real difference is that of all people and professions, the Cops are the ones who find or are sent to the worst horrors anyone would imagine. The truly innocent and helpless victims will always trouble me/us. Participating scum,not so much.

I had thoughts about a LE career, but glad in many ways I went another direction. Realistically speaking, at a young age, I did not have the temperament nor disposition for it. I would have reacted violently to the bad ones, and carried the victims with me forever.

I have a female friend who was a LEO and often reminds me that a BAD DAY is when you have to pull a drowned 5-year old from a creek and then sit in the local church and pray with the family while they grieve.

Those that know me, know I have the deepest appreciation for our law enforcement community - and that goes double for our Campfire LEOs.

Great post Mark.

Mark, I echo your thoughts and expression. Yesterday had quite a bit of time with a young man who is a LEO and swat team guy in a large city in the SW. Have known him since he was 11 years old and always he wanted to be a policemen - did the Explorer route when young, followed through all the way and now is in the thick of it.

Due to many of the experiences noted by others above, he is insightful and wise beyond his 27 years - and jaded to a certain extent - but loves his job, is a fine fellow and focused on what is best for us common citizens. I admire him - but know that his job could rip up his life and that of his new bride any time now. Thanks for your post.

Paul, if there was one piece of advice I could give to your friend, it is to get, and keep friends, who are NOT in the LE profession. Spend his free time with his family and those friends. That's not to say he should shun his LE friends, but spend more time with the others.

This will help keep his perspective about the world. He will be a better LEO, father, husband, and friend for it.

Ed

Good post, op.

Thank you Mark. I wouldn't trade the first 25 years for anything. The next 25 is proving a little more challenging.

That's your cue.