Not Dissing The Police

I made a remark in my comments about us not being real police officers. I admit I said it and I kind of regret saying it but it seemed appropos at the time. But for some of us, the phrase "real police officers" is kind of a sore point. The inmates call us police. And rent-a-cops. And wanna-be police. They just do that to get under our skin. But I once had a "real" police officer call me the same thing. He said to me "You just work there because you couldn't make it as a real police officer."

That kind of burned my ass at the time.

I got over it. I know that he's just a jerk. And I don't think he's employed there anymore.

None of my doing.

I'm not dissing police officers. Granted, that guy was a jerk, but you can find them everywhere. I've got a house full of them. Police officers serve a necessary role in society. And when I need them, I'm very glad they are there. During our earlier years with the foster parenting, we got to know several of the local police officers very well. They were good people who did their best to protect and to serve.

And I wouldn't want their job. Really. You've seen here how I act and react to certain things. Do you really want me loose in a car with both a pistol and a shotgun roaming the streets? I'd be a horrible police officer and I know it. I'm not a "people" person. And a police officer needs to be exactly that. All the time.

So, in a way, that jerk cop was right. But for the wrong reasons.

I couldn't make it as a police officer. But then, I don't think he would have made it as a corrections officer, either. He'd have gotten his butt kicked.

At the other camp I used to work at occasionally I'd see police officers dropping offenders off at the prison in a transfer from the county jail. They would turn their weapons in at the sally port and then drive inside, "naked" as it were, to complete their transfer. And they would look out on the yard full of offenders and their hands would go automatically to their empty holsters as they watched. And they were always real happy to get done and drive back out. They were as uncomfortable on the inside as I would be on the outside doing their job.

I'm not a police officer. I am a corrections officer.

And while I'm not always proud of some of the things I do, I am proud of what I am.