Normally this post would be in an area set up for comments among fellow coppers. But it might be something others may read and reflect on. Might be helpful. Recent years have seen the early deaths of some of my fellow cop/agent friends. Yes, many friends died from gunshots and the like over the years when we carried a badge. These deaths were hard to handle, made us angry, made us think about ourselves, fellow coppers, and our families. But these recent deaths are something else. I think these are the result of our lifestyle back in the day. Especially those of us who worked drug cases. Intense u/c work was immediately followed by decompression at a motel room or bar. There was no other way to release the feeling of adrenaline and relief. There were exceptionally long hours. Before OT we would determine a really bad guy and begin surveilling them 24/7 till they were caught in the act of dealing, armed robbery, safe cracking, something. e did buy/bust operations where we knew there was going to be trouble: gunfire, fights, too many bosses(this is the bane of narcs everywhere-as one of my closest friends reminded me-Its us against them-I had said that once and he has a very, very good memory). Too many times we failed to appreciate our families and our real, true friends. Too long this continues until one or more dies without knowing how much we depended on them and how much we care abut them. I was lucky first at home with a wife who never complained about my amount of time away from home, an early roommate who was a fearless cop and gave me advice and showed me the way by his actions, SBI partners who were brothers more than fellow agents, SBI bosses who were leaders before they were managers(those who know me best DO NOT think Im getting soft-there were one or two I still hold in the same light now as then), a retired DEA agent who I have the deepest respect for and always will, FBI agents and coppers from many agencies who wanted to get the bad guy and could have cared less where the credit fell. Guys in the shop wonder why I will look up and walk over to give some guy a hug. Some guy theyve never seen before. Others a warm hello but no hug..the hugs are for the very special people in my professional life: Brothers and Sisters who always were there and never ran or hid. We did the best we could and we were more successful than not. It was an easy job: We did the right thing!
Posted on: Thu, 13 Nov 2014 13:38:22 +0000
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