About The Badge

Behind The Badge

There is little I can say in the way of explaining what the badge means to me. To many, it's a cliche; "To Protect & Serve!" To some a job. To others a lifestyle. In some cases, even a stepping stone to greater things. To me? It's a calling. I grew up with a silver spoon. There was very little in the world I wanted and nothing I truly needed. I never knew true desperation. My parents broke their backs to be sure that my sister and I were well taken care of. Yet, that didn't stop me from wanting to know what life was like in the lands of disheartenment, a lesson I learned all too well.

Although I've never been at a point where I fully comprehend the misery, I found I could sympathize with those who had. I could feel the pain and despair of a family on welfare; dad working two jobs, mom staying home to take care of the house and kids. The sadness in a child's heart when all he receives for Christmas was the box of Captain Krunch his mother promised him. These are the people I often see so taken advantage of, and the people I truly believe I am paid to protect and serve.

Yet, it's not just about them. It's also about the innocent woman driving home on the highway, minding her own business and following traffic law to the letter... when a vehicle operated by a drunk driver plows into the rear of her car at 115MPH, flames taking over her body, hot smoke becoming her last breaths. The psychotic individual who stopped taking his medications, just long enough to go into an outburst and smash his brothers head in with a steel pipe. The methamphetamine creator/distributor who thinks he's doing good by getting his consumers high, and happy, but is only whittling away at their health in a most agonizing fashion.

The badge, to me, is an oath. That although I might not always agree with the law, I will uphold it.

"I am the police, and I am here to arrest you. You have broken the law. I did not write the law. I may even disagree with the law, but I will enforce the law. I will act professionally and treat you with respect. I also expect to be treated with respect. I will not insult you. I will not brutalize you. I will only use the force necessary to stop you. I will do whatever it takes to place you in custody. I am prepared to deprive you of your freedom and if necessary of your life. I will not hesitate to kill you if you endanger my life or the lives of others. If you run away, I will chase you. If you fight me, I will fight back. If you shoot at me, I will shoot back. You are in this situation because something has gone wrong with your life. Most likely, this moment, has been a long time coming. As it is unlikely this moment may be an anomaly in an otherwise decent and law abiding life. I understand that factors in your life have created easy justification for your actions. Poverty, lack of education, drug abuse, emotional and physical abuse; any one of these may have conspired to rob you of the ability to obey the law. Yet, many other people have endured and transcended much worse circumstances than the ones which have shaped your life, yet you continue to make bad decisions. You are responsible for your behavior. Your actions have made you my responsibility. No matter how you plead, cajole, beg, or attempt to stir my sympathies, nothing you do will stop me from placing you in a steel cage, with grey bars. By law, I am unable to walk away. I am a consequence. I am the unpaid bill. I am fate, with a badge and a gun. Behind my badge is a heart, just like yours. I bleed, I think, I love, and yes, I can be killed. Although I am but one man, I have thousands of brothers and sisters who are the same as me. They will lay down their lives for me, and I for them. You may succeed in stopping me, but you cannot succeed in stopping them. We stand watch together, a think blue line, protecting the prey from the predators. The good, from the bad."