I know some of you have read this before, but thought Id share again... In September 2001, I had just finished my last class at IU in August and was working at the jail in Bloomington while going through the hiring process for the Indianapolis Police Department. IPD, like most police departments, require a polygraph test before you can be hired. My polygraph was the morning of September 11. The night before, I drove up from Bloomington and stayed at Will Vasquez s house so I wouldnt have to drive all the way from Bloomington. At this point, I had been having second thoughts about whether I really wanted to be a Police Officer. Ill be honest, it had more to do with confidence (or lack thereof) that I could make it through the physical training part of the academy than it was a decision whether I actually wanted to enter that career path. I expressed my doubts the night before the polygraph, and thankfully WIll and Jeff Silcox convinced me that I should go. The polygraph started early the next morning. I was led into the polygraph room and began the test that seemed like it lasted forever. At one point during the process, but before I was actually hooked up to the machine, the examiner left the room. He told me this was the usual procedure for him to leave and talk to my background investigator, but I was convinced he had just left the room to laugh about the story I had just told him. He had asked me if I had ever been fired from a job or something to that effect, which of course led into the long story about how I was fired from Holiday World for stealing nachos with cheese. He actually didnt even wait until he left the room before he started laughing. When he returned, the examiner looked at me with a sobering look Ill never forget and said You may not be coming to work for us, because you may be going to war. I asked him to repeat that, and he explained to me that someone had flown planes into the World Trade Center and Pentagon, and that the news was reporting there was another plane unaccounted for. We sat there in silence for a minute, then continued with the test. Anyone who thinks you fail a polygraph because youre nervous, let me tell you...youre wrong. I remember having many things going through my head about what was happening in our Country, but we continued with the test, which I obviously passed, despite my prior nacho pilfering. Once the test was over, I remember leaving the room and going into an office where the TV was turned to one of the many stations showing live video from New York. This was the first time I had seen the devastation, and I was stunned by what I was seeing. After receiving my orders to report for my psychological testing in a couple days, I started to leave the building, which by this point seemed to either be empty because people were allowed to go home, or because everyone was quietly huddled around their TVs. I then returned to Bloomington, listening to the radio on the drive home. I then went home and just sat in front of the TV for hours, taking it all in and wishing I could be there to help in some way. I remember calling the jail and volunteering to be on-call, just so I could have something to do to keep my mind busy. I later was called in to drive a transport. Thankfully, I never went to war, as the polygraph examiner suggested I might. But the response that day by the first responders in New York, Washington, and all over the nation really stuck with me, and I never again questioned whether I wanted to be a Police Officer. Since officially becoming an Officer a few months after 9/11, Ive had the honor of serving with men and women whom I have no doubt would react exactly like the brave police and firefighters did in New York on that day, risking their own lives to save as many innocent victims as they could. Today, September 11, 2014, Im proud to be a Police Officer, and even more proud to be an American.
Posted on: Thu, 11 Sep 2014 20:18:34 +0000
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