please read

[antonio]

http://policelink.monster.com/training/articles/132466-confessions-of-a-police-officer

[yzErnie]

No real mention of the fun, exciting and rewarding times we experience in our careers. I found it to be somewhat depressing.

[tyrist]

Yzernie it is a depressing article.

[nobody33]

That sounds like someone who never wanted to be a cop, and is on the verge of 5150 issues. It is sad and depressing, and certainly doesn't represent the job in reality for me.

The cop who wrote that is probably that rare cop who goes to a gory scene and doesn't laugh about it with everyone afterwards, and tells everyone how awful they are for making jokes. They just don't have an outlet for stress.

[antonio]

This is great!! It should be published in every newspaper, in every town!!!

[EOD3]

That sounds like someone who never wanted to be a cop, and is on the verge of 5150 issues. It is sad and depressing, and certainly doesn't represent the job in reality for me.

The cop who wrote that is probably that rare cop who goes to a gory scene and doesn't laugh about it with everyone afterwards, and tells everyone how awful they are for making jokes. They just don't have an outlet for stress.

I don't think I've ever known anyone who hated their job and/or self as much as the author does. I hope she finds a new life soon.

[Ron-Solo]

I've exerienced all the things the author writes about, but I've also experienced the good things that Ernie mentioned.

The feeling of pulling kids out of a burning car when others stood around talking about how it was going to explode.

The feeling when you breathe life back into a baby who had stopped breathing. The bear hug from her grateful dad that was so strong and sincere that it hurt, in a good way.

The grateful smile of an 8 year old when you track down the turd who stole his new bike.

The thank you letter from a teenage girl you talked out of killing herself.

Any one of those things far outweighs all the bad things I experienced combined. There were so many good things over the years.

Ive been at it 32 years, and I'd do it all over again in a heartbeat.

[10-35]

Rant on.

Sounds like what I call a victim cop. The ones that do the job, like a job. Most are not into being cops. They should have gone into other lines of work.

There is a reason COPS is still on TV. Our job rocks. I have done it for 10 years and I have seen some terrible things. I don't dwell on it. I live for the calls, the brotherhood, my partner, my unit, and my friends. It is good and it is fun.

If blood is too much for you or you didn't expect to see it, get an office job where you will be safe. I will still be out here having a great time long after you lied about an injury to retire.

Rant off.

It is an amazing job. You interact with some great people (citizens and co-worker alike). It is stimulating and exciting. It has some down sides. They are few and easy to overlook if you want to.

[BillCA]

How about spending from dusk until almost 2am searching the delta area for a 7-y/o boy who went swimming and got lost? The the look on the parent's faces when you drive up with the boy, cold but alive. That's a priceless thing.

So is coaxing down a 16 y/o girl who has found out she's pregnant, won't abort, fears her father's reaction and knows her mom will forever lecture her about morals... while standing on a bridge over swift current in December. In the end, the parents didn't really care, as long as she was alive.

Real satisfaction is seeing a group of school boys dragging another boy out of sight for a "fight" (while remembering back to a similar event in 5th grade) and just as the bully claims he'll kick the other's behind, step out of the bushes and say "I don't think so." The look on their faces is better than any "Our Gang" acting.

[Ron-Solo]

Yep BillCA, I agree the good outweighs the bad.

[masameet]

I've read other musings by Jill Wragg and you can too by reading her blog. The linked article can be found under 2007. And I guess she loved being a cop, since (reading from her blog) she became one at 21 years of age and recently retired after (I'm guessing) 25 years with the Yarmouth (MA) PD.

She's not a writer by training or profession, so perhaps her stressing the negative -- in LEO eyes anyway -- was unsettling and perhaps unnecessary. But I'm guessing she was thinking of her readers as being primarily non-LEO. Still I cannot see how anyone, LEO or non-LEO, can take offense with her last few paragraphs ...

[Rhythm of Life]

That is some ****.

Makes you think.

[antonio]

I totally agree with you on this I don't think u all read the whole story....

I've read other musings by Jill Wragg and you can too by reading her blog. The linked article can be found under 2007. And I guess she loved being a cop, since (reading from her blog) she became one at 21 years of age and recently retired after (I'm guessing) 25 years with the Yarmouth (MA) PD.

She's not a writer by training or profession, so perhaps her stressing the negative -- in LEO eyes anyway -- was unsettling and perhaps unnecessary. But I'm guessing she was thinking of her readers as being primarily non-LEO. Still I cannot see how anyone, LEO or non-LEO, can take offense with her last few paragraphs ...